The latest issue of Black Clock, number 10, is the Noir Issue and it contains a story, "The Moldau Case," that has been written by Brian Evenson.
The whole issue is worth your while, especially the countdown of the 70 books, movies, etc. that make up what Editor Steve Erickson considers Essential Noir. The thing that caused me to go from picking it up from the shelf to taking it to the casher though, was Brian Evenson's name on that back cover. I find it very difficult to put a journal back down on the shelf if it has Evenson's name on, or inside, it. I don't think I'm alone.
"The Moldau Case" fits alongside many of Evenson's other works. There is, as Matt Bell noted frequently appear, in his excellent essay in the last The Quarterly Conversation, the characters with single names - in this case Stratton, Harbison, and Moldau. The only other person, or possibly two persons, are not named, nor described at all - just appearing via phone conversations. There is violence - Stratton has killed his wife and two kids, spreading their "meat and gristle and bone" throughout five of the rooms of his home; Harbison, at the time the story is taking place, has Stratton strapped to a huge table in his basement and has been removing body parts from him (reasons? Sorry, no spoilers here) - and the constant threat of violence as seen as Harbison discussed Moldau early in the first section (first of two that is):
"Meanwhile, I will slowly formulate a judgment about how likely he is to be a detriment, and whether it would be in my best interest to kill him."
There's even an organization, in fact it's called The Organization, that has operatives that don't know anything that might be considered "above" their position. All of this rolls together to tell you, if you've loved Evenson's work in the past, you'll love this story to
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