Neo-noir Stories

The customers don't remember her. The drugs don't have her name. Anna built her life on being overlooked. Then the fentanyl arrived. Now Shoupe is watching. Barry's operation is fraying. And Rafe Cameron is circling closer than he should.

DISCLAIMER! PLEASE IGNORE MY CLICHÉ DEADBEAT SYNOPSIS AND GIVE MY STORY A CHANCE! IT'S WAY BETTER THAN THE SYNOPSIS ITSELF!😭🙏 Former FBI agent, Bob Eli Bennett has been laying low for three years in the big city of Chicago as a small time, local detective after his unprecedented fallout with the FBI. When a series of petty crimes in Chicago's outskirts spiral into something far more darker, Bob rediscovers a chilling conspiracy involving a global tech company, corrupt officials and ruthless gangs. Enlisting the help of the famous journalist Mark Robinson, Tessa Thompson, a dedicated FBI liaison and Mike Jefferson, a fast talking police officer at the CPD. Bob races against time to thwart to malevolent plans of a sinister cartel whose very existence jeopardizes the safety and well being of the country at large to which Bob must decide how much he's willing to risk to complete his mission. Highest rankings:#7 in crimedrama, #1 neo-noir, #13 in gang violence, #1 corruptgovernment, #6 in pageturner, #31 in investigation, #3 in crime solving, #5 in actionpacked and #18 in undercover.

James Frederick was born in a city that never sleeps, where fairytales exist. James always had hopes and dreams...types of dreams that, he wished he succeeded. But now he doesn't.... But he quickly learns that the flashy city hides secrets darker than any nightclub. Between becoming a theif to learn things bad people do to becoming a vigilante. So on and, so on. James must navigate a world where the line between friend and foe is as blurred as the city lights at midnight. Even if it's to protect, to save...or to punish.

Vicehaven A city with neon veins and rotten bones. Towers of glass cracked like old teeth; alleys that stank of stale beer, piss, and yesterday's blood. The streets glowed orange in the rain but the glow only made the gutters shine darker, slick with oil rainbows and cigarette ends drowning in puddles. Here, everything is borrowed - your breath, your heartbeat, your time. Everyone owes a debt, and Vicehaven always collects. Some pay with silence. Some with skin. Most with their souls. Down every corner, you can hear its appetite: bottles breaking, sirens crying, the wet slap of fists in the dark. And above it all, neon sings its false lullaby, buzzing signs painted over brothels and casinos - lipstick smeared across a corpse. The Devil runs this city. He wears suits cut sharper than knives, gold in his smile, blood on his hands. And the angels? They left a long time ago, their wings sold, their halos pawned, their names long forgotten. Vicehaven doesn't raise saints. It only fattens devils.

When a forensic analyst uncovers proof that an elite police division is framing an underground activist collective for state-sanctioned assassinations, he abandons his badge to infiltrate the crew-only to find that dismantling a corrupt system means risking his life alongside the fierce rebel leader he is falling for. In a city choked by corporate control and state surveillance, justice is decided before the crime even happens. Sean Lin, a quiet and meticulous forensic analyst for the Special Investigations Division (SID), discovers the fatal truth behind the murder of a reformist senator: the ballistic report framing an underground rebel crew known as The Forge was logged thirty minutes before the trigger was pulled. Wiping his terminal and vanishing off the grid, Sean infiltrates the collective under the guise of an exiled law dropout. But earning the trust of Arc-the crew's fiercely protective, battle-hardened leader-is a trial by fire. As tensions flare between Sean's belief in institutional evidence and Arc's radical direct action, an undeniable spark ignites in the quiet shadows of their hidden garage. When the SID orchestrates a catastrophic mass casualty trap to permanently crush the resistance, Sean's true identity threatens to tear them apart just as the countdown to detonation begins.

[THE FOLLOWING STORY IS ONLY A FIRST DRAFT. IT WILL BE SUBJECTED TO EDITS AND REVISIONS AS NEEDED. THIS DISCLAIMER WILL BE REMOVED ONCE THE FINAL VERSION IS DEEMED SATISFACTORY.] [Currently in hiatus.] When a threat steps into the light, will those threatened step into the dark? The city of Santa Isabela is home to wealthy families of the highest status. Wealthy families with a hidden past. But the skeletons in their closet have dug themselves out. And they will not linger. The beginning of a conflict sparked from a devastating blood feud begins to catch fire. And it starts with the attempts on the De Stellaes's lives. Two siblings, faced with imminent danger. Eyes that see only those that it fears. Assassins who manage to disappear like ghosts in the wind. A menace that was lost decades ago has risen from the shadows, conspiring to bring vengeance against them. Though they are not without their own devices. In searching for the answers, they will either need to light a fire, or have no choice but to jump into the dark.

A thrilling account of the mysterious, solipsistic Duke, living amongst London's high class in the 1970s. The Duke views humanity as one of the greatest mistakes ever made, and desires total despotism in which he is the supreme ruler over all mankind. In his ever-consuming desire, the catalyst of his schemes arises with the arrival of an unlikely woman whose attendance at the lavish Centre, which totally interrupts his womanizing in favour of the destruction and corruption of a woman whom he regards as pure, moral, and intellectually favourable-a woman whom he saw as above everyone else, someone similar to himself, an outcast. ________________ This is my first real book that I intend to finish, I'm only publishing here to get feedback/see how people receive it! I am super enamored with older English literature, and took much inspiration from the dystopian genre in particular, so enjoy! :)

In the third installment of the Marvin Missions series, the hard-boiled tulpa gets a strange request from Ellen.

In the dead of night, a storm stops halfway down the street. Detective Carter wants answers. Professor Sloane wants meaning. Both find Novaire, and the line between reality and myth begins to blur.

"The Death of David Pickett" is a speculative cyberpunk mystery set in 2023 San Francisco as a prequel to the 2042 near-future science fiction thriller "1% Free." Part-time archivist and full-time scenester Jesse Steinfeld digs deep, questioning the enigmatic death of charismatic local political activist David Pickett as urban tensions mount. While popular demonstrations occupy San Francisco's Mission District in the name of a revolutionary "Mission Commune," bringing the city to the brink of social insurrection, Jesse realizes nothing is as it seems in Pickett's cryptic life and mysterious demise. The full-throttle street politics of today collide with tomorrow's slow-motion apocalypse in this explosive tale of identity, mortality, technology, and reality in the city by the bay.

After returning from a dangerous mission that left his friend and partner, the werewolf: Emilia, in a coma, Anargrin is sent on another mission: to hunt down a rogue vampire. A rogue vampire with no consistent modus operandi and who is exceedingly good at hiding its tracks. So much so even the veteran Anargrin is forced into desperate speculation. But worst of all: drive him into desperate measures. Measures that drives Anargrin to wonder; does the ends truly justify the means? Going to be published on Royal Road.

He gave up everything to protect the one thing that mattered most - his child's smile

A rain-soaked train station. A silent woman dressed in wealth and silence. A man caught between curiosity and temptation. When he answers her call, he finds her sitting alone on a deserted platform, drenched and wordless, her eyes locked on the lifeless engine. She doesn't speak. And yet, she radiates secrets heavy enough to crush the night.

An Indigenous noir Short Story in the vein of Cormac McCarthy and Dennis Lehane, Hobo With the Shotgun follows a homeless man navigating a frozen prairie city where justice is personal and mercy is rare.

In a quiet remote town, a former military officer named Rudolfo Ariego arrives to redeem himself. Rudolfo expects to find a chance to rebuild his damaged reputation, but instead, he discovers a town shrouded in eerie silence. As he investigates the place, he finds a cryptic document hinting at a series of unsolved murders. That's when he finds out that his determination to solve a big case blinds him to the truth that he truly desires.

Red Script is a psychological thriller about power, manipulation, and the dangerous act of turning lives into stories-where the most unsettling truth is not who committed the crime, but who stayed to read it.

At the edge of fate in the heart of Manhattan, two lovers paths cross in a flowering start of something more than desire and their innocence is soon discovered to be all but an illusion.

In the high-stakes world of the Ledger Project, memory is a currency and identity is a biological hard drive. Mark Alexander, a man living a quiet suburban life in Yonkers, believes he is an aspiring entrepreneur caught in a forbidden attraction to his sister-in-law, Sarah. However, his reality shatters when a violent home invasion reveals his life is a sophisticated bio-data simulation. As the boundaries between his "programmed" memories and a dark conspiracy dissolve, Mark discovers that his young daughter is actually the Asset; a living repository for encrypted global data. Caught between multiple "versions" of his wife, Elena, and a shadowy agency, Mark must navigate a labyrinth of false identities and experimental technology. The story culminates in a reality-bending choice: to remain a pawn in a repetitive digital loop or to seize control of the Architect's chair, only to realize that the "Asset" he loves may have already breached the walls of the real world.

In the quiet, wealth-laden streets of Salt Lake, a man of power is found dead. Rajat Roychowdhury, an industrialist with a web of secrets, is discovered slumped over his desk in his grand mansion. At first glance, it looks like a natural death-a man in his sixties, a history of heart problems, a glass of scotch by his side. But Detective Ananda Bose knows better. The subtle clues-the untouched medication, the lingering scent in the air, the too-composed widow-speak of something far more sinister. As Bose peels back the layers of deceit, he finds himself tangled in a case where every suspect has a motive, every clue leads to a darker truth, and every step brings him closer to danger. From the high-rise offices of business tycoons to the shadows of Kolkata's underbelly, the case spirals into a deadly game of power, betrayal, and greed. And when the truth finally surfaces, Bose will have to confront a killer who has always been one step ahead.

A collection of noir-style short stories. In a city where crime rules the streets, this collection offers a glimpse into a few of their lives. In a few unrelated events, watch the city collapse into anarchy as the infamous Face-Changer - a criminal who has hideous plastic surgery to stay ahead of the law - tries to take control of it all. Soon to be adapted into a play to be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2015.