Tag: noir

A Dark Night #noir #poetry #EdgarAllenPoe

famous poets, Famous Writers, horror

Edgars desk

Gather my last notes

sleep never so desired

always more elusive

more muddied in the mire

against eyelash moth fluttered

taunting at my face

stopping for full moments

slumber could not erase

those errant memories

pass me, you and I

never have I slept

since the day you died

 fingers momentary

clasp about my throat

end this misery

 “goodbye” all you wrote

 my end you had predicted

 tables then were turned

shot in desperate dark

the killer in hell will burn

fresh white like a lily

purest scent I’d known

now a dusty red

stained the step toward home

your whisper doth entice

it draws me near the fire

wings might easily ignite

lay next to you my desire

work must yet be done

before I lay my head

I gather darkest dream

you villains breathe in dread

We celebrate your gift of using the pen to write Noir. Thank you Edgar for your inspiration to many writers

Happy Birthday

“R” Evil Rides by Leslie Moon

a to z challenge, new cago

red glow Harley B&W

Today is the “R” for A to Z challenge. This week I am stepping into the writer’s circle and writing a week- long serial set in the metropolis of NewCago. It’s a bit noir, crime and even some fiction. Though this is a serial, I do understand some of you will be dropping by via A to Z so you can read each day as stand alone microfiction.

The NewCago series – Missed , Never, Oldest Trick, Poison, Quill

 

” Mrs. Rhanovic…” I screamed as I ran to pick up a fuzzy slipper in the middle of the street.

Every morning, I see this dear old lady getting her New Cago Daily. Sometimes the delivery guy is mean and throws it on the curb.

But why is her slipper in the  middle of the road? I retrieve the slipper and feel a gust of wind blow open my coat.

“Too late, Sammy, she bit the dust this morning. No bright-eyed detective to protect this fair citizen of New Cago. Seems you always fail those closest.”

Recently, I had a premonition of doom. A motorcycle with red flames lurked in the corners. I could never see the face of the rider.

“Yeah, I can’t die either. Seems like I’m the Yin of your Yang.” His evil chuckle struck my gut.

My mind tried to wrap around the idea of evil that could not die.

“You demon.” I shook the slipper as he drove off.

I tried hard not to imagine what cruelty was being inflicted by this piece of road slime.

‘I’ll find something to curb your malice…’ I thumbed through Luz’s books of cures for evil.

 

And today are some great bloggers to meet :

“Q” Quill by Leslie Moon #atozchallenge

a to z challenge, Fiction

Today is “Q” for A to Z challenge. This week I am stepping into the writer’s circle and writing a  microfiction serial set in the metropolis of NewCago. It’s a bit noir, paranormal, crime and even some fiction. Though this is a serial, I do understand some of you will be dropping by via A to Z so you can read each day as stand alone microfiction.

The NewCago series – Missed , Never, Oldest Trick, Poison

Edgars desk

Murder is certainly not a new concept even the techniques get rehashed.

I was just cleaning up a scene where the victim had been stabbed with a poisoned quill – his own.

“Check his manuscripts,” I heard a whisper pass my ear.

” Luz, honey where do I start? There are piles of books and notebooks.”

“We need you to move on here, Sam.” The officer in charge was hustling to get behind the evening’s bars.

I put several notebooks in a satchel while he wasn’t looking and hoped he hadn’t heard me talking to my dead girlfriend.

***

That night- I was nodding off, with a notebook in my hands, when I heard a voice. “This is what they killed me for.”

The notebook opened to a page where the words were in his blood, “High officials are taking bribes from the gang bosses.”

“That’s not news.” I shook my head at the realization I was talking to another dead person.

“Yeh, but pretty boy is selling us out. You don’t do his bidding, he turns your kids and grandkids into body parts.”

“I’ve heard whispers of a chop shop for organs. I was hoping it was a sick rumor.”

“Nope, our guy is hi-bred evil. He’s turning the best and brightest into canned goods.  He killed me for the articles I sent to the Daily that will never get printed.  Not Now.”

“Ok Pen Man, there’s a red circle around his name.”

I grumbled under my breath, “Luz, The list is getting long. Too long.”

And then there was the morning news to deal with…

new cago daily

Some A to Z bloggers worth visiting today:

784.
804.

“P” Poison Has Its Uses #atozchallenge

a to z challenge, Fiction, new cago, Photography, Poetry

white bloody rose

I heard a banging on the steel grated door.

“Umm huh. Yeah I’m coming. Hey Peely.”

“Here this is for you.” The errand boy, who we were both so found of, handed me a box.

Inside was a hat I had admired for months, The card underneath in her handwriting.

“Peel, ya know what I hate most about this town?”

“Yeh, Sam, I know. It’s so damned lonely.”

“Tonight a few people are gonna wish they were just lonely. ”

I looked under the envelope flap and saw four names circled in red.

“Hey Peel ya got plans tonight? I need a special delivery…. ”

****

“Just one sniff of these beautys, that’s all that’s needed, Peel. ”

“I’ll make sure that he takes a big whiff. ”

“You must be subtle. Remember this guy can sniff out trouble like a shark. As he looks at the card, make a comment like:   ‘The more expensive these damn flowers the less they smell. And then: “Oh I’m sorry, sir, did I just say that out loud?”

“If the wife or mistress is around, she may inhale first. ” Peel’s eyes grew big.

“That’s okay it takes several minutes to take effect.”

“What if I demonstrate?”

“Yes, Peel that would work fine except then you would be poisoned. Hmm wait a minute. Can we plug your nose?”

“I have some of those foam ear plugs. ”

“Ok, yeah cram them up your nose right before the delivery. Use a little Vaseline as a seal.”

“This had better work. ”

“Careful this guy suspects his grandmother. PLEASE Don’t go getting yourself dead.”

“I won’t, Sam.”

Lately, People I care about find themselves under headstones…

cemetery rose

732.

Oldest Trick in the Book by Leslie Moon #atozchallenge

a to z challenge, Fiction, flash fiction, new cago, Photography

Today is the “O” for A to Z challenge. This week I am stepping into the writer’s circle and writing a week long serial set in the metropolis of NewCago. Its a bit of noir, crime and even some fiction. Though this is a serial, I do understand some of you will be dropping by via A to Z so you can read each day as stand alone microfiction.

The NewCago series – “Missed” , Never

 

newcago blood

 

I looked at my watch – 5 pm time for the cops to crawl into hiding.

I inhale Courage every night before 6. It’s my dead lover’s not mine.

A long blood curdling scream bites into the last flicker of day and night begins.

Decency’s doors are closed and it’s just me and the bad guys.

 

***

After banging around in the trashbin of Newcago,  I needed a drink.  I salivated at the thought of a tall one and a cheese steak.

As soon as I entered Tony’s, I noticed the dame – she was a looker. I couldn’t get a read on the guy beneath the brim.

“Yeah, the regular,” I nodded as I slumped on a stool. Sally and I go back to days when drinks came from the spigot behind the barn.

I couldn’t help but hear dollface gagging.  I rushed to stop her fall; too late the white stuff was bubbling from her mouth, her eyes glazed over.

Something, besides the guy under the shadowy brim, was missin- the large sparkler around her wrist.

“Baby, Newcago is not for the likes of you. These gangsters are old school, girls are cheap…”

I bent over and looked in her vacant eyes. “Didn’t no one tell ya, the playing is for keeps!!!”

I slammed the gin and tonic down. Sal failed to muster a smile.

“Watch your back, Sam.” She whispered in the grey light before dawn.

Lily

There’s so much to enjoy about the A to Z Challenge in April – many people to meet and many fine posts to enjoy.

atoz-oldbook-01-wb

No Kidding #newcago #noir #flashfiction

flash fiction, Friday Fictioneers, new cago

goats_and_graves_3_randy_mazie

As I was hanging on the endless ladder, I heard a sound

“Sam you have had some interesting things cross your path but a goat?”

Somehow it gave me the incentive to climb faster.

There it was like a shoebox diorama of a distant past: a woman reading a book, a kid trotting about an untended grave site, peaceful death.

In angst I sighed.  “The people in NewCago have sacrificed so much for the sake of power and a few coin.”

There was no longer peace in Newcago streets even death was noisy as the ghostly victims could tell you.

Thanks to Rochelle our Fictioneer extraordinaire for the weekly prompts and for Randy Maize and the photo prompt for this week.

This is my final Newcago episode for Friday Fictioneers. I have decided to create a weekly series that will pull some of the elements from these stories and expand on them.

Go to page 2 to read last week’s Newcago serial and access the entire series

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

All Rung Up #flashfiction #noir #newcago

flash fiction, Friday Fictioneers, new cago

 

rescuers

I was through the guarded door.

I realized it was more like a portal to…

The bleeding woman was gone.

Curious, the place seemed somewhat familiar.

I was precariously perched on a ladder with no top and no bottom – just endless rungs.

I could taste the sepia colored air – thick and dank like fires were always ablaze.

From somewhere and nowhere, I heard a bloodcurdling scream.

The scream reverberated in the ladder’s metal.

I knew this was not Newcago.

Tho it seems wherever I go there is mayhem.

For a moment I looked down, considering.

“Climb I must,” I smirked.

NewCago is a noir, metropolitan area that is plagued with a string of perhaps para normal bad guys. Sam (a private detective) seems to be the only one who can stay alive long enough to protect the citizens. How long can his luck last???

Follow Sam as he leaves Newcago and enters another world.

these are the previous “episodes” of the New Cago series:

Week 13 Holographic Deception

Here’s a list of the previous stories (the clues were week 11 & 12)

Week 10 in Newcago Serial No Dial Tone

Week 9 in Newcago serial Gathering Bodies

Week 8 in Newcago serial No place to hide

Week 7 in Newcago serial They were Pink

Week 6 In Newcago Serial You poison filled wasps

Week 5 in Newcago Serial The Doom Cycle

Week 4 in Newcago Serial Helpless

Week 3 in Newcago Serial When the Lights Go On

week 2 in Newcago Serial  Can’t Kill The Thirst

Week 1 in Newcago Serial Secret Weapon