What is noir? According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, it’s “crime fiction featuring hardboiled cynical characters and bleak, sleazy settings.”

You could say that. But being a noir writer, myself, I see it as a state of mind. A character’s bad attitude. Nice people doing bad things that turn around and bite them back. A bad guy getting what he deserves. Noir isn’t for everyone, but it’s definitely for me. And I’m not alone.

On Sunday, June 3rd, I was pleased to be among “my own kind,” at Shade, in the West Village. The “Noir at the Bar” reading/gathering lasted from 6–9:30 P.M. and was hosted by Todd Robinson (“Big Daddy Thug,” editor of Thug Lit) and Glenn Gray, another noir great.

As editor of the cutting edge ezine Yellow Mama, I enjoyed meeting YM alumni Gray, Thomas Pluck, and Richie Narvaez. In person, they were as charming as their gritty works promised.
 

I was up first, with “Dishes, Dishes, Dishes,” a story that appeared in A Twist of Noir back in July 2011. What an audience! A few minutes earlier, the crowd was talking loudly and laughing. But the place was dead quiet when my colleagues and I read our stuff.

When Narvaez read the excerpt from his story "Unsynchronicity," I shut my eyes and saw the whole story play out, like a film. It was that beautiful and visual. "Unsynchronicity" is part of his collection Roachkiller and Other Stories.

Other readers included Pluck (“Black-Eyed Susan”), Jason Starr (Tough Luck), Justin Porter (“The Headstone”), Jonathan Hayes (A Hard Death), Jen Conley (“Metalhead Marty in Love”), and Todd Robinson (Dirty Words), himself. Robinson sported one of the coolest T-shirts, ever (an ax-wielding bunny rabbit), and presented us with Thug Lit tees (Wish I could wear mine to work!). Readers also got copies of the original story collection Noir at the Bar. Other noir collections were raffled off.

I was proud to be part of this event and delighted that so many noir fans came to meet us. Hope we can do it again real soon.