“The Prodigy” by Jim Towns
POETRY: “The burned shell / of the house / sat empty for years….”
Read More “The Prodigy” by Jim TownsNoir, crime, and mystery short stories, scholarship, and so much more
POETRY: “The burned shell / of the house / sat empty for years….”
Read More “The Prodigy” by Jim TownsREVIEW: “The intricately plotted tale of betrayals, informants, and outbreaks of violence is presented in a format familiar to classical theatre but not as common in contemporary filmmaking. The scope of the onscreen narrative is restricted to the tailor shop, the time span is very limited, and the action of the film, while complex, focuses on the importance of some elusive evidence of a ‘rat’ in the Boyle gang.”
Read More “Graham Moore’s Unified and Inventive The Outfit” by Ken HallPOETRY: “No doubt about it, a real moneymaker…. Of course it was going to burn.”
Read More “Le Roi de la Porno” by Charles RammelkampINTERVIEW: “Noir to me is stylistically very interesting because you have this opportunity to explore very intense emotions and situations but to make it in such a stylized fashion, that is still beautiful. That’s what I’m always striving for….”
Read More “’It was raining, but it wouldn’t last’: An Interview with James Kestrel on Five Decembers” by Theresa RodewaldFICTION: “What had been a general resentment of the halfway house and its rules was now a searing hatred….”
Read More “Eight O’Clock Sharp” by James McCroneINTERVIEW: “I realized that ’50s noirs were both more numerous and richer than I had originally imagined…and addressed other subgenres that I felt were essential to understanding midcentury American noir….”
Read More Corporate Gangsters, Rogue Cops, and Big Heists: on Gangster Noir (Preview)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.”
Read More “Swamp Witch Blues” by Jason M. TuckerFICTION: “If there was a bottom beneath where I stood in that March wind, I didn’t want to know it.”
Read More “Leaving Rock Bottom” by Robb T. WhiteREVIEW ESSAY: “Pink Floyd were so cerebral. Dark, but in a post-apocalyptic-cum-dystopian sci-fi kind of way, not a crime story way. However, the anthology, edited by crime writer and memoirist T. Fox Dunham, makes a certain kind of twisted sense.”
Read More “Literary Mixtape: Coming Through in Waves – Crime Fiction Inspired by Pink Floyd” by John TalbirdPOETRY: “goading him to take his life, / Lola claimed it was free speech….”
Read More “Charged with Manslaughter in Her Boyfriend’s Suicide” by Charles Rammelkamp