One Shot Kill #2
a PUNK NOIR Magazine series
Welcome Punks, Poets and Perps to Issue 2 of my small crimes experiment — can a crime story be told in a single sentence? Yes. The answer is Yes. Enjoy!
~ S
— Issue Two —
Featuring: Jessica Russo, Fred Shrum, III, Merlin Flower, Erin Britton, Madeleine Armstrong, Pam Ebel, Irv O. Neil, Tammy Blakley, Gavin Turner and Roy Dorman…
You wanted an open relationship, I gave an open casket.
Jessica Russo is an elementary teacher that writes darkly comic short fiction. Her motto is less is more when it comes to writing.
He finally found his daughter in the woods with a bloody knife and a dead man.
Fred Shrum, III is the author of “Psalms of the Street Sweeper” and “Tourist Trap”. He is the EIC of Skyway Journal. Find him on Twitter @fshrum
“Not deep as it looks, just jump,” she said with a wry smile.
Merlin Flower is an independent artist and writer.
“Nature made me do it,” said the cuckoo to the now emptynester.
Erin Britton (@EzzBrit) is the current cozy crime correspondent for Crime Fiction Lover and former editor of NB Magazine. Her reviews and articles have also appeared in Prairie Schooner, Independent Book Review, San Francisco Book Review, Split Lip, and The Coil, among others. When not reviewing books, she’s a freelance editor and proofreader.
I’ve captured the fucking flag and the boss is on the forest floor, red paint exploded at his temple like blood, the last time that prick’s gonna pass me over for promotion.
Madeleine Armstrong has won the Hammond House short story prize, and been published by Bunker Squirrel, Flash Fiction Magazine, Fussub, Hooghly Review, and WestWord. She’s a journalist and runner, and lives in London with her husband, son and two cats.
Since you can’t stand my voice anymore I won’t tell you the gun pointed at the back of your head is loaded.
Pam Ebel is a teller of stories in many genres. They have appeared in Shotgun Honey. I have several stories in the 2020 and 2021 BOULD AWARDS ANTHOLOGY available on Amazon.
I finished strangling Maisie with the teal scarf she’d vamped me into buying her after Sunday brunch in Koreatown.
Irv O. Neil is a longtime freelance writer and magazine editor. His first story for Punk Noir was “The Clown Inside Her” in October 2025. His neo-noir novel Fate of a Stripper, and his slice-of-life stories about New York City, are available as Kindle ebooks on Amazon.
The last man who called me darling, and didn’t mean it, is with all the others who tried that shit with me at the bottom of the bayou feeding the crabs.
Award winning author Tammy Blakley lives in the Pacific Northwest. She completed her first manuscript with no formal training and a total lack of adult supervision. She has previously published stories in Punk Noir Magazine, Urban Pigs Magazine, Pistol Jim Press and Stone’s Throw. Find her on Twitter @tammy_blakley and Bluesky @tammywritesbooks.bsky.social
Turns out diamonds don’t have best friends, and neither did the bullets that just left Detective Kowalski’s gun.
Gavin Turner is a BOTN nominated writer from the UK. His short fiction and poems are published with JAKE, Punk Noir, Voidspace, Dark Horses and Roi Faineant press. He has released two poetry collections, The Round Journey (2022) and A Mouthful of Space Dust (2023). You can reach him @GTurnerwriter on twitter.
Father Edward Connor’s prison life is about to get a lot more interesting, as Jimmy Simms, one of the boys he’d molested years ago, has just been sent up for murder.
Roy Dorman is retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Benefits Office and has been a voracious reader for over 70 years. At the prompting of an old high school friend, himself a retired English teacher, Roy is now a voracious writer.
I love these! With a special mention for Erin Brutton's "Cuckoo"!