ThugLit! Issue 18 (July/August 2015) delivers again what readers expect out
of this series. Characters on the edge money wise or in other ways doing
questionable things in order to survive. They may not hate baseball and apple
pie and may even crack a joke or two, but they are also folks that probably
would steal from you as you lay bleeding out in the street. Not necessarily bad
folks, but since you are dying and don’t need your stuff and they do, all is up
for grabs.
After a very brief introduction, ThugLit!
Issue 18 gets going with “Waylon, On Rerun” by Michael Pool. Bad enough
Waylon is a thief. Currently, he is stealing a bunch of stuff from some guy’s
house. The fact that he plans to opportunistically take advantage of a mentally
challenged guy to help him steal the large television is worse.
The world has gone to hell and the
fact that Joseph Skelter can’t smoke the real thing in his own office is proof.
Smoking an e-cig and blowing the vapor at a client is just not that intimidating.
His latest client is Arthur Brennan and he needs some intimidation in the worst
way. Lawyer Joseph Skelter is already
annoyed with him before he starts explaining what his problem is in “Proof of Death”
by Mike Madden.
There are dead people inside the
house at 222 Foxglove Avenue. At least two are down when one looks through the mail
slot in the door. Booster is going to have to go inside and assess the
situation as most likely something went wrong as the people inside were cooking
drugs. He will be the only person going in the house in “Canary” by Mathew J.
Hockey because the place is probably about to blow.
“The Fair” by Dan J. Fiore is a bit
different in its format. The story unfolds via a transcript of a detective’s
interview with a Gale Hough. There was some sort of event at the Fair and Gale
Hough was, at very least, a witness.
The wrestler Krusher Kompanski is
supposed to go into the WWE hall of Fame in September. Unfortunately, he isn’t
alive to receive the award. Our narrator explains why in “The Konpanski
Incident” by Joseph Rubas.
Liz is once again waiting on her
boyfriend, Rich. Sitting in the car is an industrialized area of Gary with an
envelope of cash is making her rather paranoid. Rich and Liz have a plan to get
out in “The Calumet” by Amanda Marbais.
Matt wants to drive his wife to work
in “X” by Angel Luis Colon. Normally, she would drive her own car, but she has
a bunch of papers to grade and needs to get them done now. The kids of today
are far different than previous generations and one in particular has created a
growing problem.
The park is crowded in Anaheim,
California as tourists make the Micky Mouse empire a little richer ever second.
Threats come from inside the park as well as outside as the Mickey Mouse empire
has a long reach for the entertainment dollar. Sometimes a problem has to be quietly
fixed and that is where Manero comes in by way of “Shadows of the Mouse” by
Garret Elliot.
The eight tales here in ThugLit!:
Issue 18 are all good ones. People do their jobs. Sometimes they live
to fight another day. Sometimes they don’t. It is called life and it ain’t
easy. As it clearly states on the cover these are Stories of Crime. It isn’t
feel good happy times in these neighborhoods and one does what is necessary to
make a buck the hard way. Along that path there are some flashes of dark humor
and some folks even get out alive making this read not quite as dark as earlier
ones in the series.
Thuglit: Issue 18
Edited by Todd Robinson
Thuglit Publishing
June 2015
ASIN: B010PJ0SPM
E-Book
(Paperback also available)
132
Pages
$1.99
Material
was purchased via funds in my Amazon Associate account in order to read and
review.
Kevin
R. Tipple ©2015
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