A PUNK NOIR Magazine series
“If you want to know who your friends are, get yourself a jail sentence.”
Another Bukowski quote above to kick this writing challenge off.
I gave my newborn baby daughter the name of a friend who I know for a fact would hide me from the law and angry crowds of pitchfork wielding villagers if things ever came to that.
That’s the best kind of friend in my book.
What I’m saying is —
Friends do come and go. The good ones stick around. The fake ones fade fast. In the writing scene this fact of life can be a tad more extreme I sometimes feel.
Chino Moreno put it best on Cypress Hill’s Rock Superstar,
We’ve got a lot of sharks out there… try’na take a bite of somethin’.
What’s hot… lot of chameleons out there… try’na change up,
Anytime somethin’ new comes along…
Everybody wants a bite
Don’t happen overnight.
And so, the month of MAY is dedicated to all the shams, all the fakes and all the fraudsters. The users and the manipulators.
“Champagne For My Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends.”
Word Limit: 300 words
Submissions Open: April 1st until April 25th
Submit below
punknoirmag@yahoo.com
Stephen J. Golds
Stephen J. Golds was born in North London, U.K, but has lived in Japan for most of his life. He speaks the language pretty well and makes great takoyaki.
He writes primarily in the noir and dirty realism genres and is the editor-in-chief of Punk Noir Press. Some of his writing influences are Charles Bukowski, John Fante, James M. Cain, Tobias Wolff, Sarah Kane and Jim Thompson.
He enjoys spending time with his daughters, reading books, traveling the world, boxing and listening to old Soul LPs. His books are Say Goodbye When I’m Gone, I’ll Pray When I’m Dying, Always the Dead, and Shadows Slow Dancing in Derelict Rooms. His poetry collections are Poems for Ghosts in Empty Tenement Windows I Thought I Saw Once, and Half-Empty Doorways and Other Injuries. He also has a short story and poetry collection titled Love Like Bleeding Out With an Empty Gun in Your Hand.