Impersonator & Other Short Stories
from My Bloody Valentine: a PUNK NOIR Magazine series
Here we are… The day after Valentine’s. Hopefully everyone had a romantic time and didn’t spend the night out in the woods digging a shallow grave… or if they did they already had the hole dug to save time…
Anyways, that’s 15 days of stories. 15 days of extremely well-written, original stories and I’m immensely proud of everyone who submitted their work and shared it with us all.
I hope this series brought you a little joy and/or inspired you.
That’s the whole reason I’m doing this. You make it all worthwhile. I’m rooting for you. Seriously.
I’m considering doing 1984 as a theme next time around as things in the world are getting rather Orwellian these days.
Enjoy the final four stories and over the coming week I’m going to highlight some of my favorites from this month, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
Cheers always,
– Stephen J. Golds, editor-in-chief
Valentine Accidents by Wil A. Emerson
“You slept with her on Valentines?”
Ruthie dabbed at her red nose and then blew it into the Egyptian linen handkerchief Trevor offered moments before.
“An accident,” Trevor said with a tremor, his cheeks flushed. “We were in the back room, the heel on her stiletto broke. I offered to help. Then the strap on her dress slipped off her shoulder. All of a sudden, she had me in an embrace. Her lips on mine. The next thing I knew, I was inside her…it was an accident.”
“This isn’t,” said Ruthie. The smell of cordite filled the room.
Bio
Wil A. Emerson writes a slew of short stories while waiting for the great American novel to be auctioned. Her stories are often about the dead or deadly, sliced with humor, they’ve appeared in multiple national and international publications. A contributor in the past, this Valentine short, a crime of passion, was not written by ‘accident’…well intended for My Bloody Valentine challenge.
Impersonator by Devin Misko
They were in room 22 at a downtown hourly rate motel.
Martel arrived thirty minutes after the PI called.
She screamed when the door burst wide. Her mouth quit working when he brandished the Remington. He shot both until echoes pained his ears.
Grey matter stuck to gaudy wallpaper. The bedsheet grew maroon amoebas. After a while, she stopped breathing.
The cigarette burned close to his skin. An ashtray overflowed atop a Magnavox screening rainbow bars. He stared at the gun as sirens closed in.
Love was a stranger Martel had never truly known; his heart a transient impersonator.
Bio
Devin Misko resides in Memphis, Tennessee. He has an adult son. His stories are dedicated to his late mother. He has been published in Shotgun Honey and Punk Noir Press.
Unsettled by Charlotte Hamrick
Then horror crept up from her stomach to her scalp: raspberry juice-like liquid under the woman’s stilettos slipping, slipping, slipping until her shaky hands and knees slam into the brick wall of his body.
Two glasses of pink champagne and a vase of roses wait on the coffee table.
The woman grabs her head in her hands, sticky with warm blood, as though to claw out the truth.
Sudden movement across the room: a reflection shimmers in the terrace glass backlit by city lights glittering like thousands of gushing cuts, a pale hand holds a blade glistening red, redder, reddest.
Bio
Charlotte Hamrick is a New Orleans writer whose work appears in a number of literary journals and is included in Best Small Fictions 2022 and 2023. Her Fiction, CNF, and Poetry has been nominated, short-listed, and long listed for multiple literary things. She is Managing Editor for Reckon Review.
The Odd Man Out by J.J. Landry
The server smiles, “I’ll be back with your change.”
You say, “It’s all set.”
Her smile widens. She says, “Thank you.”
You stand up, button your coat, and leave.
You stand outside the restaurant, watching through the window as she moves from table to table. You glance at your watch. Her shift ends soon. You know what to do.
You light the candles and open her boyfriend’s wine. She’ll be thrilled to see you when she gets home.
She walks in through the door, sees the dead body, and screams.
From behind, you whisper, “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Bio
J.J. Landry lives in the Cincinnati area with his wife and kids. He enjoys reading and writing about crime fiction and WWII. His work has appeared in several publications.
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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Finishing with a flourish from JJ!
love to all and all of us love to you.