“Why?” by Gerald So

Allie asked in a stolen moment why I joined up to fly. Leaving the ground for fun was nuts enough, she said. Why do it for war? I didn’t want to fly straight, I said honestly. Straight was too easy. I wanted to buck and roll. So what if cannons and planes shot at me? […]

“A Tragedy of the Common Man: Sam Ross’ He Ran All the Way (1947)” by Jay Gertzman

She, humming: “Got a man, crazy for me, he’s funny that way.” He, blustering: “If I have to live, I’ll [kill to] do it.” Sam Ross’ He Ran All the Way (Farrar Straus, 1947; Lion books, 1950) is one of the best noir crime novels of the classic period and one which offers the deepest […]

“The Myths” by J.D. Smith

One: The gun just went off. People can say what they want, but that doesn’t mean I have to believe them. This is just what people say when they don’t know what they’re doing, or they know damn well what they’ve done and they’re trying to cover their ass. It turns out the same either […]

“It’s a Noir World” by Woody Haut

“It’s a screwed up, bitched up world . . .” (Lou Ford in Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me) Was it always like this? The feeling that nothing is real. Not just ersatz, but a fake of a fake, a photograph of a photograph of the world falling apart. That food you’re eating, it’s probably […]

“Walking Amsterdam” by Patricia Abbott

He was waiting for his luggage at Schiphol Airport when he spotted her. She was wearing the somber, seal-gray coat he had given her last Christmas, and it was only the crimson scarf at her throat that caught his eye. They had decided it was silly for her to meet his plane. He had outlined […]

“Bar Room Butterfly” by Barry Gifford

Roy’s grandfather subscribed to several magazines, among them Time, Field & Stream, Sport, and Reader’s Digest, but the one that interested Roy most was Chicago Crime Monthly. One afternoon Roy came home from school and found his grandfather reading a new issue. “Hi, Pops. Anything good in there?” “Hello, boy. Yes, I’ve just started an […]

“Bail, and Other Bonds” by Joseph Hirsch

1. Order of the Purple Heart It was just like the bastard to not tell me he was in town for all this time, and to wait until something serious happened before he got in touch with me. I don’t know how he got my cell number, but he called me at work, while I […]

“Steak-n-Cheese” by Mike Madden

Deangelo Roccella jerks the classic ‘73 Nova into a space and kills the engine. He draws a comb from the pocket of his Ralph Lauren and runs it through his jet black hair, pausing to admire his Sicilian good looks in the rearview. “Well, Cisco,” Deangelo says. “They got steak and they got cheese. So […]

“The Good Cat” by Vicki Hendricks

I had no name till Dad took me home. Now I answer to Lickrish, Buddy, and Son—when I feel like it. I gave up chasing lizards, squirrels, and birds, and climbing trees, for Dad. None of it was as good as his fingers behind my ears, his soft belly-lap, and the tang of his silky […]

“Easy Go” by Rick Ollerman

Gene McFarlane was a Florida cracker, so called because of the place where he was born, the family he was born to, and the way he lived his life, especially in those days of the early 1980s. His older brother had a lot to do with that life, given that he assumed responsibility for raising […]