Saturday, September 27, 2008

"Comes Around" by Chris Rogers

From: Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, December 2008.

This five-page story from the author of the Dixie Flannigan bounty hunter novels features ex-cop Ford Bradshaw. Now retired, Bradshaw takes it upon himself to be an instrument of justice without judge or jury. Early in the story, Bradshaw suspects Jake McGrew, a newcomer to the weekly poker game, is a killer. Bradshaw's follow-up on his hunches actually obscures the outcome, turning expectation on its ear.

Friday, September 12, 2008

"Accidentally, Like a Martyr" by Reed Farrel Coleman

From: The Darker Mask. Ed. Gary Phillips and Christopher Chambers. Tor, 2008.

This story from a anthology of noirish superhero tales is told in the frenetic, poetic stream of consciousness of a crack addict who kills a priest to steal from a church poor box. After this encounter, he gains the power to travel through time, taking the sins of others as his own, clearing their paths to heaven while he is cursed with immortality on earth. A Deity with an Irish brogue calls him the Absolver.