Head Over Heels & Other Short Stories
from My Bloody Valentine: a PUNK NOIR Magazine series
It’s a Bloody Sunday today at Punk Noir with four more stories of vindictive valentines. Perfect for a criminal-minded Sabbath.
Cheers always,
– Stephen J. Golds, editor-in-chief
Death is a Box of Chocolates by Jon Gluckman
Having reviewed the footage on the security tape, I concluded my wife, Sheila, and Marty had been screwing behind the dumpsters at our 7-Eleven.
So, I brought home a Whitman Sampler and roses. I wrote a note. It said: “Fuck you, sweetie! Happy Valentine’s Day!” I didn’t let on I’d seen the footage; I wanted to surprise her. I gave her the note after she’d placed the almond dark chocolate on her tongue. She looked at me with ironic, lascivious eyes as she drew it in. “Mmmm,” was the second to last thing she said. The rest was utterly unintelligible.
Bio
Retired English teacher Jon Gluckman writes in a small southern New Jersey town outside Philadelphia, PA, USA. He has published work in Micro-Fiction Monday Magazine, 101 Words Weekly, Mystery Magazine, Grim & Gilded, Mobius Boulevard, Frontier Tales, The Best of Frontier Tales Anthology Vol. 15, Punk Noir Magazine, and Flash Frontier.
Better Than Chocolate by Kenneth M. Gray
Lily smiled when the attractive man entered the bank and got into her line.
She thought he resembled Alain Delon. Fantasy replaced her thoughts of a boring Valentine’s day alone.
The man smiled and handed her the deposit slip. She blushed when their hands touched.
She noticed some writing on the back of the slip:
Roses are red, violets are blue
Never seen a teller as cute as you
I could not help myself, just had to flirt
Now hand over the cash, and no one gets hurt.
Lily smiled. Best Valentine’s Day ever.
Bio
Kenneth M. Gray is retired and lives in New Jersey with his daughter and their two furry overlords, Lola & Lolo. He has stories in his head and has decided to set them free. He is working on and someday hopes to release an illustrated story Gleepglorp; A Tale of Love and Abduction. Until then he continues his obsession with snails. X: @KennethMGRAY2
Seals by Jamey Gallagher
I shot a man on the beach at one a.m.
It was late fall. The waves were black, the sand gray.
There were seals near a cove, bobbing their round heads in the waves and rolling over.
Would you look at that, he said, voice shaking because he wasn’t well versed in the customs of random sex.
I came up behind him and shot him.
At the bar he’d been sitting with a drink in front of him looking depressed when I slid onto the stool next to him.
He’d seemed so happy to have someone to talk to.
Bio
Jamey Gallagher lives in Baltimore and teaches at the Community College of Baltimore County. His stories have been published in more than seventy venues, including Punk Noir Magazine, Poverty House, Shotgun Honey, Pembroke Magazine, Bull Fiction, and LIT Magazine. Look for his collection, American Animism, published by Cornerstone Press in 2025.
Head Over Heels by Victor De Anda
Cupid, guide my arrow straight,
toward the other woman I love to hate.
She took away my man most pure,
with her tight ass and attitude so demure.
My arm is unsteady, give me strength,
for fifty yards is a fair length.
The bitch’s red locks are in my cross hair,
so I release my bow with a rush of air.
The arrow sings as it nears its mark,
just then my man looks back, his eyes so dark.
A grimace seeps into my face as I look in dread,
For my arrow has struck him square in the head.
Bio
Victor De Anda is a writer based in the ‘burbs of Philadelphia. He enjoys watching movies, reading, and searching for good Mexican food. His fiction has been published in Dark Waters Vols. 1 & 2, Guilty Crime Story Magazine, Mystery Tribune, Shotgun Honey, Yellow Mama, and Punk Noir Magazine,with more forthcoming. He is on BlueSky @victordeanda.bsky.social.
These stories appear as part of My Bloody Valentine, a PUNK NOIR Magazine series.
PUNK NOIR, the online literary and arts magazine that looks at the world at its most askew, casting a bloodshot eye over the written word, film, music, television and more.
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Very fond of Kenneth's and Victor here....