Man’s Best Friend & Other Short Stories
from My Bloody Valentine: a PUNK NOIR Magazine series
Hello Punks and Noirists, welcome to the inaugural PUNK NOIR SubStack.
Bear with me whilst I get to grips with this infernal format and we’ll dress it up a little later. Or maybe we won’t and we’ll just keep it punk.
I’m here at in your house today, eating from your fridge and perusing your book shelves because in Japan it’s the 1st of February and that means it’s time for another PUNK NOIR series, My Bloody Valentine. And that’s you my friend. You’re my bloody valentine.
So to kick off this bloody month of love, we have four truly excellent stories for you. And all written in under 100 words. Now that takes some literary talent. Most folks couldn’t or wouldn’t.
If you enjoy these stories, please help spread the word. Share them with your friends, your enemies, your moms and all those you know who are in need of a little doomed love this chilly month of February.
A lot of us writers get left out in the cold, let’s help to spread a little Punk Noir warmth.
Cheers always,
– Stephen J. Golds, editor-in-chief
Man’s Best Friend by Lawrence Kithcart
She said it was allergies, and I let the lie go.
I don’t blame her. I drove her to it. To him. I’m cold and distant, don’t see her needs till it’s too late. I forgot her birthday last year, and this month should have had flowers and candy, dinner and romance. But I didn’t daydream through Cupid’s high holy day. I planned something special. Jeff didn’t like peanut butter. Anaphylaxis. But his dog did. He liked his dog, and the dog liked Jeff. A lot. Liked to lick his face too. Perfect delivery system.
Bio
Lawrence Kithcart lives in Monroe, NC with his wife and a vast array of teenagers, dogs and cats. None of them, to the best of his knowledge, have ever done anything like this. Lawrence works too much but still finds time to write as long as it doesn’t take away from showing his wife how much she means to him. He reads a lot, and hopes it gives you the same joy as it does him. He can be found on Bluesky @amityvandal, and on Instagram under his alias, Lawrence Kithcart.
Dead Ringer by Cindy Rosmus
How he looked at her made me sick.
Years back, we’d fucked. Savagely. On that cellar floor, on his son’s clean clothes I had to wash again. I’ll rot for that.
Watching her behind his bar, pouring shots, with those shark’s eyes. Smiling.
He would make her bleed, too.
His own daughter . . . and granddaughter.
Who looked like him.
Who slyly smiled back.
Suddenly, that knife she sliced limes with was stuck in his neck. Screams. Blood splashed on me, and my phone, as I called 9-1-1.
Then shoved the blade in, deeper.
Bio
Cindy Rosmus originally hails from the Ironbound section of Newark, NJ, once voted the “unfriendliest city on the planet.” She talks like Anybody’s from West Side Story and everybody from Saturday Night Fever. Her noir/horror/bizarro stories have been published in places like Shotgun Honey, The Yard, Punk Noir, Danse Macabre, The Rye Whiskey Review, Under the Bleachers, and Rock and a Hard Place. She is the editor/art director of Yellow Mama and has published seven collections of short stories. Cindy is a Gemini, a Christian, and an animal rights advocate.
Ice Child by Karen Grose
It was only a box of chocolate.
But I knew my dream girl deserved it. Problem was my paper-route paid $4 a week, Valentine’s Day was three days away, and the box cost $9.99. Highway robbery.
Undeterred, I entered the store. Smiled at the cashier, who was busy with another customer, then strode to the back for a smooth five-finger discount.
My mom said fifth grade was too young for these things, but she’s wrong. Without that first box, my dream girl wouldn’t be buried in my backyard fifty years later. The heart wants what the heart wants.
Bio
Karen Grose is from Toronto, Canada. Her debut novel, The Dime Box, was selected by Amnesty International for its 2021 Book Club. Her second is Flat Out Lies, and All June Left Behind is coming Spring 2025. She has flash, poems, and short stories published by Roi Faineant Press, Paddler Press, Punk Noir Magazine, Epistemic Literary Magazine, Hooghly Review, Bunker Squirrel Magazine, and Superior Shores Press. Track her down on X: @kgrose2, IG: karengrosewrites, or on Facebook.
Down the Drain by Andrew Monge
Cassie knew about my anxiety.
It makes no sense that she’d wait behind the closed shower curtain, naked except for the heart-shaped pasties over her nipples, attempting a sexy surprise for Valentine’s Day.
When I saw the fabric twitch, I launched myself at the stall and found that, holy shit, someone was behind it! I grabbed the intruder’s head and smashed it against the wall multiple times before letting the body drop.
Cassie’s body.
Now her life is over, and mine is swirling down the drain.
Bio
Andrew Monge (X/Bluesky) lives in Minnesota with his wife and kids. A computer programmer by day and a voracious reader by night, he is a lifelong introvert who only finds his voice while writing. His work has appeared in Punk Noir Magazine, Trash Cat Lit, Urban Pigs Press, and Shotgun Honey.
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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A great start to the series. These 100-words challenges are always striking. Yes, you can write a crime story in 100 words! Try it!