“Jim Thompson’s Cropper’s Cabin” by Jay A. Gertzman

NONFICTION: “There are three outstanding features of Thompson’s novel: (1) the Shakespearean intensity of love and hate depicted in closely bound men and women; (2) the simmering resentment, shame, and fear existing between Oklahomans and Native American descendants of the Five civilized Tribes; and (3) Thompson‘s and Caldwell’s versions of Southern Gothic melodrama.”

“Penny For Your Thoughts, Or A Razor” by Tia Ja’nae

FICTION: “Doubt makes them keep their awkward greetings to themselves. That suits me just fine. I ain’t out here looking for friends….”

“Resistance to Conformity: Eva Vitija’s Loving Highsmith” by Melanie Marotta

FILM REVIEW: “Vitija’s documentary humanizes Highsmith: she does not come across as various writers and theorists have characterized her as, namely odd or antisocial.”

“Jane Doe #11-12” by Don Thompson

POETRY: “Not all anonymity is equal.”

“Lawrence Tierney: Poverty Row” by Burt Kearns

BIOGRAPHY: “Lawrence Tierney was at loose ends when he learned about the Dillinger picture. Caught in the middle of RKO’s indecision and rejection elsewhere, living in a furnished room with little money, he was considering a way out….”

“No Escape: Three Noir Executions” by Matthew Sorrento

PROSE POEM: “They live on to die, forever….”

“Knowing You’re Good: Joe R. Lansdale on Elmore Leonard” by Andrew J. Rausch

INTERVIEW: “[Leonard] always approached what he did with class. He believed in what he did. He knew he was good, and you have to know you’re good. That’s not the same thing as being immodest. But you don’t jump out of a plane if you’ve never packed a parachute….”

“Zocco Chico” by Kurt McGill

FLASH FICTION: “A soft scraping sound…crepe soles brushing across the threshold…a silhouette appeared in the doorway. A glint of light reflected off blue steel in the hand hanging down by his side….”

“Bring Me the Dead of Jerry Garcia” by Mark Mellon

FICTION: “Manhood and honor cast aside like the useless impediments they were….”

“Back to Troubled Grounds: The Two Jakes” By Anees Aref

“You can’t forget the past…just as much as you can’t change it” –Jakes Gittes (Jack Nicholson) in The Two Jakes The Two Jakes almost never happened. The sequel to the legendary 1974 film Chinatown (directed by Roman Polanski and written by Robert Towne) was a project doomed from the start, with creative clashes behind the […]