“Voices” by Jack Dann

I was carefully papering the balsa-wood wing struts of my scale-model Gotha G-V Bomber when Crocker asked me if I ever spoke to dead people. Although Crocker is a member of the Susquehanna River Model-makers and Sex Fiends Association (which doesn’t say much because all you have to do to become a member is hang-out […]

“No One Is Innocent” by Paul D. Brazill

Marty Cook got out of his Mini Cooper, locked up the car and, with Sisyphean resignation, slowly trudged up the hill. He shivered and pulled his long black overcoat close to him. His short breaths appeared in front of him like spectres. The moonlight oozed across the city’s dank cobblestones like quicksilver; creeping between the […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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 […]