DARK VOYAGE

My short story “Fetish” is up at Beat to a Pulp, one of my favorite online crime magazines. This is the second tale I’ve published on the site; the first, “Insatiable,” came out in September 2009. (“Insatiable” is currently a finalist for a Spinetingler Award for Best Short Story; voting on the awards is open to the public through April 30, 2010.)

The editors of Beat to a Pulp, David Cranmer and Elaine Ash, are wonderful to work with. They are smart, savvy, and willing to do whatever it takes to make a story work. When I sent them “Fetish,” I knew that it was much longer than the stories they usually publish. David and Elaine asked me to make the story longer, to flesh out a couple of scenes I’d glossed over. I’m grateful that they pushed me to go the distance with it.

Here are the opening lines of “Fetish”:

Paul saw the blonde walk into the bar and stifled his urge to run. Her eyes caught his, and she tossed her long hair back and moved towards him, each step punctuated by the click of a stiletto heel. What the hell was she thinking, wearing black leather boots in the middle of June? Paul sat up straighter and finished his beer.

“Hey, kiddo,” he said as she slithered into the booth opposite him. Her scarlet lipstick matched the shade of her clingy dress. She really should be wearing a bra, he thought, then blushed. It was getting harder to look at her.

“How many times have I told you to stop calling me that, Dad?” she asked. “I have a name, remember?”

I’ve been threatening to start a blog for a while now. A second blog, I should say; I already have one called the Gluten-Free Guidebook. If you have celiac disease or gluten intolerance or a wheat allergy — or if you just like to travel — please stop by. It’s been up and running for just over two years and covers a subject that’s close to my heart (and stomach).

But if you want to read more about my dark side, stick around here. I write crime fiction, and my first novel, THE DAMAGE DONE, will be released this October by Forge. You can find my short stories all over the Internet, on sites such as Thuglit, Beat to a Pulp, A Twist of Noir, and Crimefactory. For years I’ve been writing travel guidebooks for Frommer’s and sneaking the things that really interest me — Gothic architecture, cemeteries, and film noir settings — into them. Now I’m using my travels to places like Prague, Paris, and Peru as backdrops for my fiction. It’s much more fun this way.