“Donald Ray Pollack: A Grit-Lit Trailblazer” by William Blick

NONFICTION: “Bizarre, absurdist, and disturbing, Pollack offers striking revelations…. He attempts to conjure the literary ghosts of a forgotten America.”

“Unfruitful Works of Darkness” by Ly Faulk

FLASH FICTION: “Seeing the city isn’t necessary to know what is going down out there. Crime. He can smell it….”

Hope in Uncertainty: Filmmaker Doug Cunningham on Highway

INTERVIEW: “Bad things happen to the characters in the film. But the engagement with those bad things has motivated the characters to start writing their own stories (metaphorically speaking) rather than having their stories written for them….”

“Red Lightning” by Ly Faulk

FLASH FICTION: “As she walked by, I tipped my glass and she winked at me. I watched her go, taking with her my fantasies….”

“Noir with a Social Conscience: Ride the Pink Horse (1946)” by William Blick

BOOK REVIEW: “Using a distinct setting, a complex anti-hero, a series of unsavory, as well as empathetic characters, and most notably, a social heartbeat, Dorothy B. Hughes’ Ride the Pink Horse offers an extremely compelling journey.”

“Jim Dandy to the Rescue” by D. V. Bennett

FICTION: “Seeing her in silhouette, my reaction plummeted to the low level of a lonely, recent dumpee, but when she stepped into the light, my imagination ventured into the realm of shame….”

“Kakure Kirishitan: Our Sacred Oribe” by David Ryan

POETRY: “Hundreds dead outside our garden…Fear marks our quiet burden….”

“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….”