“Retribution, with Extreme Prejudice” by Glen Bush

FICTION: “I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. That made me even more nervous, so I started to turn around and answer him but that’s when he hit me with a hard punch to my kidney….”

“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….”

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

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

“Headline: City Mourns Slain Pol, Chicago Style” by David Hagerty

FICTION: “Compared to a generation ago, when bootleggers and gangsters controlled this city, it’s uncommon for an alderman to die violently now, and many people still looked shocked….”

“Eight O’Clock Sharp” by James McCrone

FICTION: “What had been a general resentment of the halfway house and its rules was now a searing hatred….”

“Swamp Witch Blues” by Jason M. Tucker

FICTION: “Heavy, mud-scented air wafted in from the swamp and was warm enough to build up a sweat just sitting. It made everything a bit more miserable.”

“Leaving Rock Bottom” by Robb T. White

FICTION: “If there was a bottom beneath where I stood in that March wind, I didn’t want to know it.”

“Tenderloin” by Steve Carr

FICTION: “I still wear my dog tags. They remind me of who I am, or was…. No one can see the damage but me.”

“Making Amends” by Julian Grant

FICTION: “And then nothing…. I explained to them the importance of making amends, the value of a rigorous moral inventory and doing the right thing….”