A noir short story published in Hardluck Ezine.
http://www.hardluckstories.com/fall2004/Hardluck%20Stories/Cold-Myers.htm
Reviewed by Bob Tinsley - http://theshortofit.blogspot.com/2004/12/cold-fire.html
Monday, December 06, 2004
Cold Fire
"Cold Fire" by Cathy Myers, Hardluck Stories, Fall, 2004Unlike most of the stories that I've reviewed so far, this one had no speed-bumps, nothing that threw me back into the real world. Smoothly written . . . I was going to say easy to read, but somehow that doesn't seem right. Easy in the sense that the prose flowed, but not easy emotionally.This is a story that turned all of my expectations around. It wasn't until the ninth paragraph that I suspected Maxy was a woman. It wasn't until the twelfth paragraph that I knew she was a woman. The whole story was like that, the author leading you on, letting you make your conventional assumptions, then turning them around.This is an emotional story, not of emotions expressed, but of emotions repressed. They are there, hidden beneath the surface, roiling and conflicting, but you don't realize it until the end. Then you get hit between the eyes with a 2x4.This is a story that's going to stay with me a while.
About Me
- Cat
- C.R.Myers is a Texan—born and bred in the Lone Star State. A English/Drama teacher by profession, she received her M. A. from the University of Texas at Tyler. As a teacher and professional speaker, she designed and implemented her own creative course as well as writing college sketches, which were performed on a local television station. She decided to start writing seriously only within the last few years. Since then, she has written eleven novels. Black Ice/Shadowed Road was her first published novel. Since then, Through the Shadows, Red, Red Rose, Lady’s Game, Shattered Illusion, and Blonde Logic have been published as well as nine other stories sold to area newspapers and magazines. Through her writing, she has received cards and letters from fans from all over the US and fifteen different countries. The books have sold well and the reviews have been strong, leading to seven book signings and two out of state appearances. Two of the books have been chosen as books to be presented in Austin at the Texas Book Festival.