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Introduction |
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The Horror/Crime Issue The original name for this issue was The Horrific Side of Crime. After that, Harry Shannon and I debated several other names, including: Where Horror meets Crime and When Horror is Criminal, but in the end we chose simplest way to describe the theme for this issue, stories that straddle the line between horror and crime. This issue was Harry's brainchild, as well as the idea of inviting some of the best crime and horror writers in the business to participate, writers whose works tend to fall right down this very same horror and crime line. And these writers delivered, fuck, did they deliver. These are brilliant, dark noirish stories, one and all. I've never been so proud to publish an issue of Hardluck. To Harry for putting this together, to all the writers who contributed stories, to Pat Lambe for coming up with just the right photos to accentuate these stories and to Charles Ardai for his thoughtful essay, thanks for being part of this.
Now onto the stories:
'Punk' by Ken Bruen tells the story of a hitman whose job is never done. Ken's brilliant fierce poetic vision is in full force with this story.
'Beauty' by Ed Gorman mixes a beauty pageant with a hitman, producing maybe the nastiest story Hardluck has ever had the privilege to publish.
JA Konrath's 'The Confession' is told completely in dialogue and provides a neat twist on a confession about abuse suffered and retribution paid in full.
Pat Lambe's 'Second Choice' is a lean noirish story about the consequences of being your own judge, jury and executioner.
'The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday' by Adrian McKinty is a harrowing story of rescue in the heart of Egypt. Plus it also demonstrates what you can do with a claw hammer.
'A Handful of Dust' by Harry Shannon provides a cat and mouse game between a hitman and his target.
Robert W. Walker's 'Shy One Pearl' provides a haunting Lucas Stonecoat story from his Edge series about a desperate search for a missing girl ... who's being returned piece by piece.
My own story, Flies, is about a writer, his Bull Terrier and an infestation of flesh-eating flies.
-- Dave Zeltserman
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