I’m standing outside a sea-front biker bar called the Burning Wheel picking at a tray of greasy-looking meat with a plastic fork. The bar used to be known as the Tenderloin Bar & Grill, but it has been under new management since a failed arson attempt last Christmas. It’s a Friday night, and the mood […]
Roan hated the way the snow gleamed like thousands of shiny diamonds. The diamonds were everywhere, because the goddamned snow was everywhere. The sun’s glare made it look as though they’d struck it rich. But they hadn’t. Not at all. Because Roan had decided to try this job with a dumbass and now both of […]
Danny Nolan drummed his fingers on the motel balcony railing and stared at the crumbling Minneapolis neighborhood below. Mustafa al’Absi stood next to him, scratching the crown of his narrow head. Inside the motel room, a sitcom laugh track roared from a TV turned up loud enough to muffle screams. “I’m surprised the kid ain’t […]
Shoulda lived a different life. Lived it differenter and better and done it all right. I mean, we all make mistakes, but that’s all I done. Shoulda met a good woman and got a good job and did it the way you’re supposed to. But good women never want to fuck me. And good jobs […]
Last week I called up Ron Earl over at Shotgun Honey and asked if I could get some promo in for my new novel, HUSTLE. His answer? NO. Didn’t even think about it, didn’t even take a breath, he just said NO. Then I tried Irvin. Same thing: Flat out NO. (In fact, Chris may […]
We had plastered her picture on every milk carton and Wal-mart wall in a fifty-mile radius. I keep a picture of her in my pocket. One of those school pictures with the generic denim-colored background. It’s been seven years now. Creases mar the surface like lightning strikes across that denim sky. Her eyes, all that […]
He was a good kid. I know there’s going to be other folks that tell you different, but I don’t care. My son was a good kid. He had his problems, yeah. Every kid does. All my other kids did. All ten of them. Andre was the youngest. My baby. I never told anybody this […]
The snow was not as bad as the local news had predicted. Jeanine preferred the NWS forecasters on the weather radio anyway. The radio was the crank kind, for emergencies. She always seemed to be cranking it. The baby drooled orange mush, slouched in his highchair. He rested one fat cheek on his upper arm, […]
Chavez wiped his forehead. Josey’s knee bobbed like a sewing machine on a seam. “I want a fucking lawyer.” “Just cooperate, Josey, okay. If you don’t we’re going to have a needle in your arm.” “You’re a moron.” “I don’t care to work with you, Josey, I don’t. I can talk to the DA, get […]
It had been arranged for Jimmy to meet his Intelligence Corps contact in the snooker hall that evening at 21:00 hours. The bastard was late. Jimmy had another look at his watch and decided to go in rather than wait outside in this sodding awful rain. It was almost as dark and dreary inside as […]
Two weeks ago I was having some after-work brews at Jimbo’s bar. A buddy of mine pointed at Frank McDonnell. The cantankerous fat fart listened to talk radio, believing that America’s been screwed ever since Reagan left office. Don’t get me wrong, I lean right of center, but people who callous their knees from sucking […]
Wait until her roommate, her sisters, her bff, her moms, or her lover leaves her co-op. Wait until the cop in the cruiser outside is sexting his mami mami. Bring a sandwich. Bring protein bars. Bring two bottles of water, piss in the one you empty.
Pray that her little kid is sleeping.
Stay in the car and hunker down. Keep the headphones on, 50 Cent low. Don’t get noticed, don’t let them see the Latin features, the thick nose, the full lips, the Technicolor guayabera, which is under a sweater and a leather jacket anyway, or smell the Jaguar 2000 cologne. Look cool. Just don’t get noticed. But if you get noticed, look cool. Scope for trouble. This is actually a good neighborhood, an up and comer, Southeast East East Williamsburg, brownstones filled with buppies. She’s moved on up, got a piece of the pie.
