Murdaland Issue #1

MURDALAND: Crime Fiction for the 21st Century is a bi-annual literary journal devoted to writing that evokes the ethos and themes of classic crime fiction or film noir. It is dedicated to fiction that evokes the themes and motifs of classic novels and film noir. The first issue came out in the Fall of 2006.**

In the introductory passage to the reprint of the David Goodis novella Professional Man it is said that Goodis was the "poet of the losers." I'd like to quote a line from a story, included here, written by another modern poet, Ken Bruen as an apt description for all the stories contained in issue #1 of Murdaland.

My War - A riveting and straightforward tale of revenge buried in a war.


The Edge of Neighborly Bones - A great deep-south, back woods tale of a man who can't stop taking revenge on his neighbor. The characters obsession with reliving the revenge and finding new ways to exact it is frightening.


Lovers Through All Eternity and Forevermore - A brilliant first person narrative where what we are being told is so far removed from what really happened that we become almost as deranged as the narrator while reading it. The ending sneaks up on you as Lady Justice swoops down.


Eclipse - A gangster’s bookkeeper finds love in an unexpected situation. It is a philosophical tale of a love that haunts a meek man's life and the realization that maybe the wrong choice was made.




Scouts - A love affair goes wrong and why a grown man in a Boy Scouts uniform is ALWAYS creepy.


Felon - One of the highlights. Felon has its own infectious slangy rhythm that just keeps you bobbing right along with it. It offers up many glimpses into the wild ride of a life that a con has. It is at times funny, heart-breaking, tragic & subtle. It tells in plain language the reasons for him committing his crimes and why it’s the reason that all crimes are committed. When the narrator talks about the sense of control that he has when pulling a job he describes himself as




And Ivy Leaves the Door Unlocked - A man whose daughter dies and marriage broke up crosses paths with a pair of traveling con artists. At times it is so creepy as it approaches a near pedophilia that gave me chills.


Frank Hamm - A complex house of mirrors that is the mind of a man who is possibly psychotic. His psychosis is a palpable anthropomorphized...something. I don’t doubt the narrator’s insanity but I do doubt what is real and what is happening. Very Interesting.


Evangeline - The character is both so old and young all at the same time.


Nasty Jay - A boxer on the down side of his career who has an interesting relationship with his best friend and his wife. Sensing discord in the arrangement he invokes Odin and takes his revenge in a very primal way.


Maria's Misfortune - A vignette of junkies in Baltimore and what happens when one OD's. Scary because it is real.


Spadework - A revenge tale that imparts upon us the importance of doing some things by hand. Stands as a reminder that a father will do anything for his children and especially his daughter.


Boars - A fast paced tale of revenge and the ease with which partners in a crime will drop each other at the first sign of trouble.


Undertakers Story - Quite simply the unnerving story of a pervert whose actions further isolate him from the world.


Scarecrow - An aging recluse recounts his "experiments" on nine young girls over the years and the subsequent revenge that the town takes on him upon discovery.


House of Tears - An aging criminal goes to rob the house of a reclusive record producer and bites off more then he can chew.


Something is Out There - A quiet and haunting tale. Their power lies in its subtlety and may be the most powerful story in the issue.


Words are Cheap - How far will a man go to impress a woman? In Ken Bruin’s world pretty damn far. Plus it might be the only crime story ever written with the line:




Professional Man - A classic Goodis tale, I hope that future generations of readers won't forget about the works of Goodis of which this is a great introduction.


Reading a collection of stories like this that is filled with a diverse amount of styles and writers one question that comes to mind upon completion is, 'Will you go out and buy any other stories and novels from any of the writers? For me the answer is yes. I am sufficiently intrigued by more then one of these writers to go out and find other stories by them. That in and of itself may be the highest compliment that I can give it.


There are no real duds in the bunch but some of them reveal themselves, when compared to some of the others, to be simple tales simply told.


Reading them all some common themes emerge. Revenge is chief among them. Loss is present throughout. Some of the stories make your skin crawl as they take you well outside of your comfort zone. A lot of the stories culminate in violence or deal with the aftermath of it. These stories are populated with the disturbed, demented, dysfunctional, disoriented, delusional & the damned. When you pick up the rock there they will be: the squiggling and the squirming, shying away from the light.


**Taken from the Murdaland website


--Brian Lindenmuth