Crime Wave

I was neat, clean, shaved and sober and I didn't care who knew it."

 
That's when the phone rang.
Getting work via email these days takes all the drama out of assignments.

"It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window."

No, it was actually Dave Bamundo from the Wall Street Journal. The topic was crime, and we talked about creating a good Noirish image for an article on a wave of new Crime novels and imprints.

"I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room. "

In truth, I went to my studio and got to work. An overnight deadline and a looming trip to New York the next day.

"Throw up into your typewriter every morning. Clean up every noon."

When I woke up the next morning, the assignment was done. No one was harmed or lying in a pool of blood on the floor. Dave B. got his artwork and I was able to work in a new genre.
 
- apologies to Raymond Chandler.