That's sad. Like the article mentioned, nowadays teaching is just for the purposes of testing, not awareness of current events. That's why so many high-school grads can't spell, read or point out Spain on a map.
Ellery Queen Magazine ... yeah, they aren't bad - 2,500-8,000-word submissions, $0.05-$0.08/word ... just that their hard-boiled stories can't have "explicit sex or violence".
... what's the use of BEING hard-boiled if you don't have those two things, and some (OK - a LOT) of gratuitous drinking to boot?
Hard-boiled (Mike Hammer, Phil Marlowe, Sam Spade) were always my favorites, so it's the genre I'd love to write in. Maybe someday ...
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"My Walker Is Deadly"
A Hard-Boiled Mystery
by SifuPhil
I gummed the last of the office bottle and tossed it in the corner to keep company with all the rest. The blue-haired babe sitting in front of my desk, showing far too much support-hose, was a tricky customer.
"Mr. Phil ... may I call you Sifu?" she asked, a wrinkled lid slowly descending then elevating, her idea of a wink.
"You can call me anything but late for dinner, doll", I grumbled, keeping an eye on the hat pin sticking conveniently out of her bonnet ...
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