H2O

From the publisher, Martin Sugarman,
regarding the story, Melancholy Baby.

“Bravissimo, Jeff. Starbuck's coffee on
me. I liked the twist in your story; a
splendid piece of writing traditional noir
narrative with zero naiveté and formal
ingenuity of crossed destinies of
traumatophile characters.”

Hey, does anyone know what
“traumatophile” means?

It’s 1947. Petty crook Johnny Rocco, masquerading as
Johnny Dalmas, a piano player at the notorious Seal Beach
gambling joint, The Airport Inn, has his eyes fixed on one last
score. But, Big Nick Capro, the crooked chief of police, has
other ideas. And when the take-down comes Johnny is in for
a life-size surprise, a surprise with ruby-red lips and a figure
you could pray to.

Toss out PC in this tongue-in-cheek, old fashion crime story
set in the days when the great mystery scribes, hard boozing
guys with names like Hammett, Chandler, and Goodis
pounded out pulp stories for two cents a word.

Watch for future issues of H2O and follow Johnny Rocco as
he wanders the gritty, mean streets of Los Angeles beach
communities searching for the big score where there is none,
where every shadow can be deadly, and where the freaks in
this circus all carry guns...