Gritty urban fiction. Crime Fiction. Or gritty urban fiction with crime fiction elements. A touch of mythology, the supernatural. While laughing at the absurdity of it all. That’s the Vautrin mojo. In this issue: Fiction C. R. Resetarits, Quem Quaeritis? Eli Cranor, Mussel Dennis Tafoya, Last Night At Jack’s Saira Viola, The Future’s A Fraud Hector Acosta, El Diablero Zach Vasquez, Panama M. E. Proctor, Bathing Beauty Thomas Pluck, Blue Canaries Jacqueline Freimor, Foreword Michael Bracken, Sparks Curtis Ippolito, The Estate Sale Essay Susan Gusho, A Tale of Two Travelers Elgin Tolliver, River of Sticks Photography by Hannah Miner Design by Beth Golay
Authors
Curtis Ippolito is an Anthony Award Finalist, a Derringer Award Finalist, and the author of the crime novel Burying the Newspaper Man, his debut. Additionally, his short stories have appeared in numerous prominent publications, including Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Vautrin, Mystery Tribune, and Shotgun Honey, as well as being included in several anthologies including the Anthony Award-nominated Trouble No More, and 4:20 Noir. He lives in San Diego, California, with his wife. To learn more about him and what he is working on, visit him at the following links. Website: curtisippolito.com Twitter: @curtis9980 Instagram: @curtis_SD
Although he is the author of several books—including the private eye novel All White Girls—Michael Bracken is better known as the author of more than 1,300 short stories published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Espionage, Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, The Best American Mystery Stories and many other publications. Bracken is editor of six crime fiction anthologies, including The Eyes of Texas and the three-volume Fedora series, and is co-editor (with Trey R. Barker) of the serial novella anthology series Guns + Tacos. Bracken served one term as vice president of the Private Eye Writers of America and three terms as vice president of the Mystery Writers of America’s Southwest chapter.
Eli Cranor played quarterback at every level: peewee to professional, and then coached high school football for five years. These days, he's traded in the pigskin for a laptop, writing from Arkansas where he lives with his wife and kids. Eli's novel Don't Know Tough was awarded the Peter Lovesey First Crime Novel Contest and will be published by Soho Press in 2022. Over the course of his career, Eli's fiction has garnered multiple awards (2018-The Missouri Review; 2017-Greensboro Review). Along with fiction, Eli writes a nationally-syndicated sports column, and his craft column, "Shop Talk," appears monthly over at CrimeReads. Eli is currently at work on his next novel.
