Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms: Stories and Essays

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms: Stories and Essays

by Tim McLoughlin
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms: Stories and Essays

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms: Stories and Essays

by Tim McLoughlin

Hardcover

$23.95 
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Overview

An enthralling collection of short fiction and nonfiction that draw upon McLoughlin's three-decade career in the criminal justice system.

"A wistful Irish sensibility and memories from a 30-year career as a peace officer in the New York City criminal justice system haunt this solid collection...With spare prose, McLoughlin creates memorable vignettes of urban life. Fans of Kent Anderson's Liquor, Guns & Ammo will want to check this out."
Publishers Weekly

"Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms couldn't be more New York. Tim McLoughlin drops a ton of big-city knowledge and wisdom, rich in lived-in detail, with humor that's hard as the sidewalk."
John Strausbaugh, author of City of Sedition

In Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Tim McLoughlin draws upon his three-decade career in the criminal justice system with his characteristic wit and his fascination with misfits and malfeasance. A lifetime immersed in New York City feeds short stories that evoke a landscape of characters rife with personal arrogance and misjudgment; and nonfiction essays about toeing the line when the line keeps disappearing.

An opioid-addicted catsitter electronically eavesdrops on his neighbors only to hear devastating truths. A degenerate gambler stakes his life on a long shot because he sees three lucky numbers on the license plate of a passing car.

In the nonfiction essays, we learn that the system plays a role in supporting vice, as long as it gets a cut. Altar boys compete to work weddings and funerals for tips in the shadow of predatory priests. Cops become robbers, and a mob boss just might be a civil rights icon. McLoughlin shines a light on worlds that few have access to.

A recurring theme in his urban, often New York–centric work is chronic displacement, people standing still in a city that is always changing. These are McLoughlin’s ghosts, these casualties of progress, and he holds them dear and celebrates them.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781617759840
Publisher: Akashic Books
Publication date: 03/01/2022
Pages: 200
Product dimensions: 5.00(w) x 7.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

TIM McLOUGHLIN is the editor of the multiple award–winning anthologies Brooklyn Noir and Brooklyn Noir 2, and coeditor of Brooklyn Noir 3. His debut novel, Heart of the Old Country, was a selection of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program, won Italy’s Premio Penne award, and was the basis for the motion picture The Narrows. His books have been published in seven languages. McLoughlin retired after working for thirty years as a peace officer in the New York City criminal justice system, and divides his time between Brooklyn and Eastern Pennsylvania. 

Table of Contents

Introduction 11

Part I Stories

When All This Was Bay Ridge 17

Scared Rabbit 35

Seven Eleven 45

Rubber Gun 57

The Amnesty Box 73

Indigenous 87

Part II Essays

Ralph and Sam 93

Surfing the Crime Wave 113

Opening Day 127

Maharaja for a Year (1999-2000) 137

Abraham, Martin, and Greg Scarpa 151

Excited Utterances 173

Pimps and Hoes 177

Acknowledgments 197

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