Heartbreaker & Other Short Stories
from My Bloody Valentine: a PUNK NOIR Magazine series
Good morning to my friends, my enemies and all those indifferently inclined.
Today on the 5th day of our Bloody Valentine Series I’m bringing you four more brutal tales of love gone awry. These four were some of my favorites and one of them is the author’s first ever publication, which is something I always like to see. It’s the whole reason I do this actually. Can you guess which one?
Anyways, on to the stories and the reason you’re here. If you enjoy them please do LIKE and SHARE.
Much love on this tough Wednesday.
Cheers always,
– Stephen J. Golds, editor-in-chief
Meet Me at the Railroad Tracks by Kathryn Prater Bomey
Rachel savored Evan’s shock when he spotted her at the railroad tracks.
“Expecting someone else?”
Evan raised his voice over a train whistle. “The Valentine wasn’t signed.”
Tiffany approached the duo.
“Ev?” she asked. “Why did you ask me to meet here?”
“I didn’t.”
His confusion was delicious.
Rachel stepped toward him. The ground vibrated beneath her feet.
“Evan, tell Tiffany how long we’ve been dating.”
His face paled. He backed up toward the tracks.
Tiffany gasped. “You’re seeing both of us? Unacceptable.”
The train horn blasted.
“I agree.” Rachel gave Evan a hard push—onto the tracks. “Entirely unacceptable.”
Bio
Kathryn Prater Bomey’s short fiction has been published in Black Cat Weekly, Shotgun Honey, and the anthologies Three Strikes—You’re Dead! and Crime in the Old Dominion. Her work is forthcoming in Hooked on Urban Legends —and Murder and The Dame was a Dick. She has served as president and secretary of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime. As a manager of a strategic communications team at a global nonprofit and a former journalist, her nonfiction writing has appeared in magazines, blogs, and daily newspapers. Follow her on Facebook.
Heartbreaker by Francelia Belton
I could watch her, study her, inhale her to my heart’s content because she never saw me.
That’s how it was with the pretty ones. You were invisible.
I found this month’s beauty in the corner café. She flirted with the handsome, too smooth barista as he handed over her cappuccino. He made all the ladies swoon, but always broke their hearts in the end.
Three weeks later, the police arrested the Casanova. My amour was dead. Everyone knew she was his latest acquisition. He was the heartbreaker, after all.
Not me.
I always love them until their dying breath.
Bio
Francelia Belton writes crime stories because committing a real one would disappoint her family. As a kid, she got hooked on shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. Inspired by what amazing tales could be told in half an hour, she was naturally drawn to short fiction. Love, loss, and betrayal are reoccurring elements in her stories because why else do good people do bad things?
BEAUTIFULDANGEROUS by Pierre-Louis Goblet
“I couldn’t stand it anymore” said the man, still lying on the ground.
The police stepped in. Officer Ross saw her body on the bed, head covered by a pillow.
“I’m so sorry, but I had to. Her eyes were telling me to do it!”
Ross reached over the corpse, lifted the pillow, and the second he saw her angelic face, he understood.
“The poor guy couldn’t stand her perfection. It reminded him of how pathetic he was.”
“It’s dangerous being beautiful in this ugly world” said his fellow officer.
Bio
Pierre-Louis Goblet was born in France in the year 2000. He studied Cinema during his high school years and is now working in this industry.
At the same time, he developed his passion for the noir genre, both in cinema and in literature. He loves the works of authors such as James Ellroy, Donald Westlake, Elmore Leonard, and filmmakers like Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder or Otto Preminger.
A Valentine’s Day Surprise by Chuck Brownman
Giddy with anticipation at her first Valentine’s Day date in ages, Debbie hurried to the barn.
Eligible men were scarce. So when Ricky started paying her attention weeks earlier, she’d flirted back, ignoring the rumors of his crank addiction.
Still wondering why Ricky wanted to meet out here, she pulled open the heavy door.
And there he was. Six feet of dark hair, dimples and that amazing smile.
Then she froze. Outside, men’s voices. Boots crunching gravel.
“Ricky, what’s this?”
“I hand you over, they clear my debt.” Ricky’s smile transformed into a razor’s edge. “Sorry, kid. Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Bio
Chuck Brownman’s short crime fiction has been published in several anthologies, including the Eyes of Texas, and several volumes of the annual Death Edge Tales anthology. He’s a past winner of the Arizona Mystery Writers Short Story Contest and was a finalist in the Criminal Element.com short fiction contest. His most recent stories appear in Shotgun Honey, multiple seasons of the Mysteries to Die For podcast/anthology, on the Kings River Life Mysteryrat’s Maze website, and on Punk Noir. Another story will appear later in 2025 in the Chop Shop Season 2 Anthology.
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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Wow, that Chuck Brownman story!