THUGLIT Issue One - Johnny Shaw, Todd Robinson

Issue 1 THUGLITIssue One

Edited by Todd Robinson

I'm gonna break down this introduction into two parts to avoid confusion-first part is for the Newbies. A welcome, a how-do-ya-do to the world of the wicked that is Thuglit. The other half is for…you know who you are. You know why you're here. Let's get started, shall we?

NEWBIES

How ya doin? New around these parts? Lemme tell ya, you're in the right place…or the worst place imaginable, depending on your sensibilities. But I'm going to plow right ahead and assume that you're reading a mag like Thuglit because you've heard of us and like your literature like we do-nasty.

You haven't heard of us? Well, in our previous incarnation, we ran for five years, then went on hiatus for the last two years. We published some early work from some of the best crime fiction scribblers on the planet. We won so many dang awards that we lost count.

Seriously.

We don't fuck around.

What you're about to delve into is some short fiction that will make your head spin, your heart race, and your grandma weep.

And if you're like us, you're gonna love every goddamn word.

If that's the case? Welcome. You're beginning a journey into the unwashed alley of crime fiction where the men are men, the women are women, the men are sometimes women, the women play with the big boys, and everybody's intentions lean to the unsavory.

If you're not? Go back down into your Mom's basement and blog away about how you've just wasted your Taco Bell wages.

Haters gonna hate.

THUGKETEERS

How's it been, babies?

You miss us?

Aw, now…don't be like that. We missed you too.

C'mere.

Closer.

You know you wanted this. That's why you're here. That's why you came back. I know you was mad, but we had to go away for a while. We needed some space.

But now we're back and it's gonna be better than ever.

You smell nice…

We missed you too. Mmmm, reader, you feel so good. I wanna get up in your occipital-temporal cortex where your voluptuous brain processes written language and thrust these words all deep inside you. Can you feel it? Can you feel how much I want to do it?

That sound good babies?

That feeeeel good?

And now that I've creeped everybody the hell out: Enjoy, bitches!

Todd Robinson (Big Daddy Thug)

08/30/2012

If she pisses, she lives.

Lucy’s gums are bone-white, whiter that the teeth set into them. It is a sign of shock. Her body is shutting down, one system at a time. Kidneys close shop first. If she pisses, it means her body is starting up again. If she doesn’t, her blood will fill with poisons and she will die.