“Street Sweeping in the City that Works” by David Hagerty

FICTION: “A fresh breeze off the lake carried away the roar of cars and the decaying scents of the city. Yet before he’d passed the trinket shop, two police officers blocked his way….”

“Uncanny Valley” By Gary D. Rhodes

POETRY: “I had to remind myself, / uphill or down, / never to speak of this again….”

“No stupid moves: Frank Oz’s The Score” By Anees Aref

REVIEW ESSAY: “Thieves should respect their elders, too.”

“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….”

“Jonathan Latimer, Skilled Artisan of the Crime Genre: Headed for a Hearse (1935)” By WIlliam Blick

BOOK REVIEW: “Demonstrates a degree of mastery of plot, character, and structure as the mystery is solved with all twists and turns readers have come to expect from the genre….”

“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….”