Off-center and Hell-bound

The fall 2006 “Psycho Noir” edition of Hardluck Stories is now available online. Among the authors contributing are Pearce Hansen (“Church Social”), Raymond Embrack (“Yellowhead”), Patricia Abbott (“Hole in the Wall”), and Kaye George (“West Texas Waitin’”). Defining “psycho noir,” editor Dave Zeltserman writes:

To me, Psycho Noir is a natural way to describe Jim Thompson’s best and most psychotic works: Hell of a Woman, Savage Night, Killer Inside Me, Swell-Looking Babe, and Pop. 1280. These are books populated by characters whose perception of reality is just skewed and oft-kilter enough to screw them, as well as anyone with the misfortune of getting too close to them. Reading these books can be both a startling and exhilarating experience as it slowly dawns on you that these characters who are trying so hard to convince you that they’re normal are actually mad, bad, and very dangerous. There’s an energy that buzzes through these books that is hard to find anywhere else in crime fiction. Anyway, this was my definition of Psycho Noir, and this was the challenge I put out there--to write the type of stories that would make Jim Thompson proud--stories that are on the edge of madness--where the protagonists perceptions and rationalizations are just off center enough to send them to hell.

In my opinion, the writers for this issue more than met the challenge. ...

And don’t neglect to appreciate Jean-Pierre Jacquet’s hard-edged, atmosphere artwork for this new issue of Hardluck Stories. A wonderful complement.