Nostalgia City Mysteries

Mark S. Bacon

Category Archives: flash fiction

9:31 am - July 31, 2013 -

Book available; tech issues solved

Mysteries and Murder could be called the “Best of Bacon’s Flash Fiction.”  It’s a collection of flash fiction crime and mystery stories made just for your smart phone.

Some recent technical glitches that made it difficult to find the book on the Ether Books website have now been solved.  To see Mysteries and Murder just go to http://catalog.etherbooks.com/Products/2282.

If you haven’t downloaded the free Ether Book app, you can do that on this site, too.

100 words on crime and cops

Here’s a piece of crime flash fiction that does not appear in any publication.  It’s new.

 Cops’ Weekend Duty

“Stake-outs,  that’s all we ever do.  And here we are on a Sunday morning, doing more stake-out duty.  It sucks.”  Steve’s shoulders sagged as he gripped the steering wheel.

“This ain’t so bad.  We had to get here early.”

“But why us?  Just ‘cuz we screwed up a little on that last case, O’Dwyer says we have to be the ones to get up so damn early this morning.”

“Quit complaining.  We stake-out these prime parking spots for our football tailgate party and the rest of the squad will be buying the beer all afternoon.”

“Yeah, when they get here.”

Categories: book publishers, flash fiction, New mystery book, short stories Tags: , ,
11:34 pm - July 23, 2013 -

More flash fiction

Here’s another sample from “Cops, Crooks & Other Stories in 100 Words.”  This one is not a crime story, but I think it has an element of mystery.

  Southern Duo

Hector and Barney sat overlooking a dusty Southeast country lane one lazy summer afternoon.  Soon, one of them noticed a small object.

“Hey, Barney, see that?”

“See what?”

“On the road.  Looks like a tiny lizard.”

“Ain’t no lizard,” Barney said, “It’s a insect.”

“I tell you it’s a lizard,” Hector said.  “You’re getting old.”

“No I ain’t,” he said.  And with a flap of his wings Barney swooped down, scooped up the skittering object in his beak, and landed gracefully back on the telephone wire.

“Well, was it a lizard?”

“No,” mumbled Barney the blackbird, swallowing.  “A roach. Yum.”

Categories: flash fiction, flash fiction writers, short stories Tags: , ,
1:57 am - July 11, 2013 -

What does “other stories” mean?

Reviews of Cops, Crooks & Other Stories in 100 Words have been good.  One reviewer, however, lamented what he said was the scarcity of crime/detective stories in the book.  Honestly, it’s more than 50 percent.

But yes, “& Other Stories” means there are other genres represented.  Here’s a sample, with apologies to Robert Service.

Strange Things Done in the Valley of the Sun

I never understood why my neighbor, Sam, ever moved to Phoenix from northern Canada.  He hates the heat. In the middle of summer he complained bitterly, then descended into a deep depression.  His wife was concerned.

One day she called me, said Sam had disappeared.  She was worried he might have ended it all.

We searched the house, then I remembered the old chest freezer in their garage.  I threw open the top.

Sam was motionless, his flesh transparent like ice.

“Please close the lid,” said Sam. “You’ll let in the heat. This is the first time I’ve been cool.”

Tucson trail E

Categories: flash fiction, New story, Robert Service Tags: , , , , ,