Almost a year to the day after he released “Transgressions,” prolific short story specialist John Greco, a Floridian from Brooklyn roots, has published another collection titled “Strange Days.” The 29-story collection again explores dark and seedy themes that encompass marital infidelity, suicides, car crash fatalities, and unexpected appearances from the Grim Reaper and satisfying comeuppance, which more often than not metes out punishment to those who flagrantly violate the moral code.
While the vast majority of the stories run just a few pages in the handsomely crafted monochrome paperback edition, there are a few that probe deeply into character and theme. Right out of the playbook of the British studio Amicus, but uniquely Grecoan, “An Almost Perfect Woman” brings a grieving widower the security he was certain he would never be graced with after tragedy; the brilliantly-plotted “Call Waiting,” where a man is constantly phoned by a mistress who died from an overdose of sleeping pills.
Recalling The Twilight Zone’s “Night Call,” a spooky episode starring Gladys Cooper, Ben joins Carol in permanent slumber in a devilish story of retribution. Greco’s longest is the 22-page finale, “This Gun For Rent,” which brings Greco to his expertise – film noir. One envisions “The Maltese Falcon” in this story of Phillip Spade, a private eye working out of 42nd Street who is approached by a woman who lost her husband. Spade is a Brooklyn Dodgers fan who hates the Yankees for winning too much, dislikes Joe DiMaggio for being a prude, and for being possessive of Marilyn Monroe. Spade is confident the Dodgers will prevail in 1955, a sentiment that comes to pass. The story presents a shocking array of relationships, a real page-turner!
There is always a wistful story in every Greco collection, and in “Strange Days” it is undoubtedly “The Sandwich Shop,” a Mystic, New York, eatery that is forced to close after COVID brings economic fallout. Charlie Bowman, a violinist who passed away, returns for musical bliss, enchanting those who walk past the empty lot. But my favorite of the exceedingly short stories in the collection is “Tommy,” an achingly beautiful remembrance of a man who created a false mise en scene of a brother he never had. The “only child” connotation may have autobiographical implications here, but it’s deeply felt.
One of the best stories in “Strange Days” is “The House Down the Road,” featuring a sexual predator English teacher named Richard Crawford, and the two stories Greco starts with, “No Questions Asked,” about a cheating wife who receives a violent punishment, and “Guilt” a story set over 50 years where a young killer meets his end in the same fashion and setting where he committed the dastardly act. I love many more, but I’ll just add “The Scent of Death,” a TZ “The Purple Testament”-like story about a man’s supernatural power to bring death to many people he encountered. The theme? What goes around comes around.
“Fat Tony’s Brother, (always remember that blood is thicker than water!)” “Poor George,” “Frank’s Bar,” Call Waiting,” An Almost Perfect Woman,” “Alone Time,” the cemetery-set fatalist “Gone Too Soon,” and the perversely disturbing “A Shocking Tale” where a bolt of lightning and an open fly zipper paint the unforgettable climax.
It’s not surprising that I have written a collection of short stories that fall into a theme about movies. I’ve loved movies since I was young.
I was born in New York City, which is one of the great places to live if you love movies.
Back in those days, New York City television played an essential part in my movie development. New York TV was a treasure trove, a repertory theater filled with old films only with commercials. There was The Early Show, The Late Show, The Big Preview, The 4:30 Movie, The Late Movie, Five Star Movie, Chiller Theater,Picture for a Sunday Afternoon, Creature Features, and the best of all, Million Dollar Movie.
Though the timing of the editing was sometimes drastic and haphazard, you were exposed to many movies that otherwise would have been buried in the studio vaults and never seen.
Many of the films Million Dollar Movie presented were from the RKO General vaults and was on every day. Each week MDM played the same movie sixteen times. Twice daily during the week and three times on weekends (when baseball was not in season). Its opening anthem was Tara’s Theme from Gone with the Wind (1939). I drove my mother crazy watching King Kong (1933) one week, Mighty Joe Young (1949) the next, soon followed by Godzilla (1956).
Television was also my introduction to the gangster/crime films I love, particularly the Warner Brothers flicks with its cadre of underworld stars: James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, George Raft, and so many others. The first time I went to a movie theater on my own,
I saw Baby Face Nelson with Mickey Rooney. The theater was the Loew’s Commodore (later to become the Fillmore East). The Commodore was located a few blocks from where we lived. All this activity led to my life of cinematic crime!
When I began writing, it seemed like a natural extension to write the type of stories I liked to watch and read. One of my earliest tales, The Green Light (a revised version is included here), was film-related. More recently, while working on my next short story collection, I realized about half of my new stories involved a movie theme. I soon had enough stories to put a book together with a movie-related theme. Out of this came the book you are reading, The Late Show and Other Tales of Celluloid Malice. Of the eight stories included six are brand new. Two were previously published; the aforementioned, The Green Light (initially appeared in Murder with a Twist which is no longer available.). Finally, there is Benny and Slaughter originally included in Bitter Ends. I took the liberty of including it so that this collection of film-related themed tales is complete. Plus, I like the story and hope it will find new readers. I hope you enjoy it.
“Transgressions” is a masterfully–written collection dripping with delicious irony!
Once again, former Brooklynite John Greco has treated his readers to hard-hitting tales dripping with delicious irony, comeuppance, violence, and twisted morality. His opening salvo, “The Hitchhiker,” a Hitchcockian tale, plays on the “not everyone is what they appear to be” as a screwdriver becomes a gruesome murder weapon. A drive-in theater playing two Roger Croman classics and a smoking addiction brings a fiery death to the main character in “Emily Has Risen.” In another story, a car plunges off a bridge, and an Officer and a girl are found drowned, all with a delicious twist of irony.
One of Greco’s best stories is “Knock Knock Knock,” a fabulous Edgar Allan Poe/Fargo hybrid, in which the wood-chipper in the latter envisioned. One might think of Boris Karloff’s Thriller “A Good Imagination” in “The Anniversary,” where the wife is smothered with a pillow, and an alligator appears. “Dream Lover, partially set in Anton’s Trattoria and involving a meal scam, will have some of us craving gnocchi and broccoli rabe.
Greco’s love for felines shines through in ‘The Orange Tabby,’ a delightful story with a rare happy ending. This heartwarming tale will leave readers with a sense of warmth and connection.
“The Librarian” features Greco’s excellent knowledge and appreciation of film noir and James M. Cain. In “Lenny the Lip,” bullets cut down Joey’s Barber Shop customers. My favorite of the 30 stories is “Family Tradition,” which I consider Greco’s descriptive writing masterpiece in the distinguished batch. Moon Lake is the setting, and the finding of Corrine’s body recalls the Tim Hunter film “River’s Edge.”
Greco is a master of dialogue and end-of-your-seat suspense. This collection could not be more strongly recommended!
TRANSGESSIONS, my latest collection of short stories is out now as an eBook and paperback. You can order your copy here. If you like it please consider leaving a review on Amazon and Goodreads.
I just want to update everyone on my forthcoming new collection, “Harbor House and Other Dark Tales.” The eBook is now available to pre-order on Amazon (Click here). Publication date is only one week away – September 6th. The paperback version will be forthcoming.
“Harbor House” includes a varied collection of sixteen all-new stories. Below are the titles…
Harbor House
Love and Hate
The Next Door Neighbor
Believe
Big Carmine
Room 111
A Permanent Solution
So Many Books, So Little Time
And Then She Was Gone
I Would Do Anything for You
That Stuff Will Kill You
A Morning Walk in the Woods
Dwayne
Sorry for Your Loss
Bad Luck
Jacqueline
Below is a short excerpt…
1902
Everyone in the coastal town of Laurel, Maine, knew the history of Harbor House. Built in 1902 along the rocky shores of the Atlantic, Harbor House has survived over one hundred years of cold winters, snowstorms, icy winds, and death. The large house was built by Joshua Holt and his two sons, Jedediah and Samuel. One year after its completion the Holt family, which included Joshua’s wife Becky and youngest child, Kate, were all killed while boating in the Atlantic. An unexpected and merciless storm capsized their boat.
Legend has it Joshua was knocked unconscious while Jedediah and Samuel both drowned attempting to save their mother and sister. No one knows for sure what happened since there were no witnesses or survivors. What is known is the bodies of the entire family were washed ashore and eventually buried on their large property. Their names carved into pieces of wood used as markers.
After the tragic death of the Holt family, Harbor House remained empty until 1910. During that time, stories spread, mostly by the local teens, that Harbor House was haunted by the spirits of the Holt family. Some kids claimed to have seen Joshua’s ghost in the house crying and calling out to his wife, Becky. Older teens and a few adults claimed to have heard the oldest son, Jedediah, scream out the name of Eleanor Crane, his bride to be. Eleanor was supposed to have been on the boat trip with the Holt family. She bowed out at the last moment because of illness. What is known is that two months after the Holt family drowned, Eleanor, who had been distraught over her fiancé’s death, was found dead. Her body draped over Jedediah’s grave. The cause of death was cyanide, an ingredient her father used in his photography studio. Rumors spread she was pregnant with Jedediah’s baby at the time of her death.
If you have not pre-ordered yet, why not do so now?
John Greco Author/Photographer 