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Where Angels Fall: The Noir Collective
John Bowie, author
Welcome to The Noir Collective: Where Angels Fall; inside you'll find three dark, gritty tales.
Twist Of The Blade - MJ Newman
A standalone self-contained short story set within the world of The Crime Syndicate series.
After fleeing south of the border from Glasgow, Malkie Thompson and his crew have established a base in the Midlands. Business is good, but this ain’t the time to get complacent. Malkie’s gotta cover all the bases.
The year is 1994, location HMP Winson Green, Birmingham UK.
Ronnie’s a natural born survivor. Got the knack of seeing into the future. Moment he clapped eyes on the new firm—knew his days were numbered. Always an advocate for self-preservation, he did the smart thing, he reached out.
Little did he know the price he’d pay.
He took the fall. Kept his mouth shut all this time. 10 months to the out. A chance to start over. Trouble is, Malkie Thompson’s got other ideas.
Spitting Feathers - John Bowie
Weston-super-Nightmare Prequel.
It was a wild drunken city, full of modern-day pirates, gangsters, strippers and hellbent riff raff—it was 1990s Bristol.
A hard life’s graft put calluses on Jimi’s fingers. Now he wanted them from guitar strings.
He had a retirement place in mind. A real shit-hole spit ‘n’ sawdust of a bar in Weston-super-Mare: The Hell’s Belles, and he could see his name above the door.
First, he needed to do a little time on account of the gangsters, hussies, strumpets, exstrippers…and one loud mouthed bastard of a parrot he drank with in his local. All master puppeteers of the city—especially that damn parrot!
Video Nasty - Paul Heatley
Danielle is owed money. She's taken part in some illicit under the counter movies, and the director is yet to cough up the cash. Her boyfriend, Mitch, isn't going to stand for this, and Mitch is a dangerous man with a short temper. They want her money, and they'll take blood to get it.
Reviews
British authors Newman, Bowie, and Heatley demonstrate that less is more in this solid anthology. The best of the three is Newman’s “Twist of the Blade,” set in 1994 Birmingham, England. Ronnie, a prison inmate, is hoping just to serve out the remainder of his sentence and begin anew. Then fellow prisoner Monaghan, a lifer who was once a sadistic enforcer, orders wardens to escort Ronnie to a meeting with a stranger named Frank. When Frank tells Ronnie that gangster Malkie Thompson wants him to keep an eye on a new prisoner deemed a risk to Thompson’s business, Ronnie is forced to make some hard choices. In Heatley’s memorable “Video Nasty,” Danielle, who appears in “illicit under the counter movies,” goes to extremes to get the pay the director owes her. Bowie’s “Spitting Feathers,” set in 1990s Bristol, deepens a familiar genre trope—the hard-bitten crook looking to go clean. Desperate lives, with the threat of violence and death always looming, are presented convincingly. All three tales serve as fine introductions to the noir subgenre. (Self-published)
