“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 […]

Preview: “Fernando Ayala’s The Bitter Stems (1956)” by Jeremy Carr

At Film International, Jeremy Carr reviews Fernando Ayala’s The Bitter Stems (Los tallos amargos, 1956) from Flicker Alley: The imagery is not only its most strikingly noirish attribute, but it’s among the more dazzling of any film, of any genre.

“Get Back Again” by M.T. Williams

FLASH FICTION: “There was always some bottom feeder trying to take what I built….”

“LA Christmas Present” by Tony Dawson

PROSE POEM: “Now Rambo’s at home on paid leave….”

“Walking the Fine Line: Leonardo Padura and ‘Havana Noir’” By William Blick

NONFICTION: “Padura has had to walk a fine line in his writing as he faces restrictive elements from the Cuban government, while being realistic about the state of his society….”