Slaking the noir craving

Hardluck Stories has updated with its spring edition, guest edited by Charlie Stella. It’s a killer issue, and I’d say this even if I weren’t in it. I’ll let Charlie introduce the story:

Remember all those big mouths used to talk trash and could never walk the walk? A quiet woman with a lifelong desire (some might call it a dark one—but not me) has no reason (not anymore) not to fulfill all her wishes and prove the old adage about which ones to watch out for.

I wrote the first draft of “Keely Sings the Blues” in a near-gulp a few months ago after the first line popped into my head. You get a line like that, you have to figure out what happens next. The story is also, in its own way, the most personal I’ve published to date.

But that’s my contribution. As for the rest of the issue, there’s Duane Swierczynski’s must-read gonzo interview of Ken Bruen, stories from some of my favorite new writers like Trev Maviano, Stephen D. Rogers, and Patrick Lambe (along with Charlie Stella’s prequel to his novel JIMMY BENCH-PRESS), and much more. Like I said, this issue kicks serious ass.