Bullets! Blood! Broads! In this issue, the Schlock team takes a walk down the mean streets – gumshoes and all – and delivers what is undeniably our most jam-packed, visually stunning edition yet. The usual mix of gutsy storytelling and humour is there, only bigger and badder: grisly tales of sex and murder exist alongside metatextual labyrinths in a sweaty lather of genre-joy.

To top it all off, it’s also a feast for the eyes. Our cover – along with the illustration for Caron Club – comes courtesy of the wonderfully talented Lia Sáile, whose newly-redesigned website [http://www.scattered-sea.com/] is well worth checking out. Outsider artist Shaun Grech [www.shaungrech.com] has also regaled us with his work, a heady assault on the senses that complements the visceral wallop our contributors have collectively cooked up. Photographer Malicia Dabrowicz lends an eerie atmosphere to the proceedings, while our ‘regulars’ – Marco and Ellen – do what they do best in style.

So pour yourself a shot of bourbon, light that tenth cigarette and get ready to indulge in the seedy pleasures that await you below.

The Abandoned Theme Park Murder
by Marco Attard

Term
by Christian Galea

No Smoke Without Fire
by Krista Bonello Rutter Giappone

Caron Club
by Bettina Borg Cardona

Ogoun’s Horse
by Kris Green

The Humdry Network – Part II
by Teodor Reljic
(part one here)