I swear, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon. I'd planned to do this before I saw Robert Ferrigno's serial fiction in the Seattle Times this week, or read about Gary Phillips's "The Underbelly," which just kicked off at FourStory.org.
But in tomorrow's City Paper, in place of my usual editor's letter, is the first installment of a short noir story called "Sidewalk Tiger." (Part 2, "Stalking the Game," will follow next Thursday, and the final installment a week after that.)
When I say short, I do mean short: the entire story is only 2,100 words. That's because my editor's letter slot only has room for 720 words (if I'm lucky), so I knew whatever I wrote had to work in bite-size installments. Does it? You tell me.
(Hat tip to The Rap Sheet for the Ferringo/Phillips skinny.)
So you're following Connelly's lead!
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ReplyDeleteVery strong, Duane. ... Something about the stuffed animal and the eyes being too close together (creepy). The darkness of violent crime juxtaposed against something so innocent as a child's need to hug something soft and sweet. ... As a former reporter, nothing bothered me more than writing about young victims of accidents or violent crime.
ReplyDeleteThanks, guys. And yeah, I usually steer away from "children in jeopardy" stories--they hit too close to home. But this one... well, you'll see.
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