L.A. Man: Profiles from a Big City and a Small World
The O. Henry Prize Stories 2016
We Dropped a Bomb on You: The Best of Slake I-IV
O. Henry Prize Stories Collection Is Here!
Joe Donnelly’s “Bonus Baby” brings us to the ball game but from inside the very center, from the pitcher’s point of view. The story takes place during a game—not just any game but a possible perfect game. We see how the pitcher’s life has led him to this moment. The pitcher’s tics, familiar to any […]
Reboot
Originally published in Vegas7 ~ YOU ARE A YOUNG MAN attending journalism school at Berkeley, and you develop a serious crush on L___, who is skinny and has white teeth, honey hair and a winsome smile that seems born of the California you’ve been dreaming about after several long winters in the Rocky Mountains. Only […]
Fifty Minutes
Originally published in Slake: Los Angeles, #2 Crossing Over, 2011. Selected for Best American Mystery Stories, 2012, Robert Crais, Editor. By Joe Donnelly and Harry Shannon The client is a balding, sunburned man with soft, forgettable features. Running late, he enters the office at 7:02 p.m. and nearly knocks a small Buddha statue from its […]
Dear S
Originally published in Swink. Please accept my apologies for the ol’ shuck and jive number I did when you called from New York. Yes, I was turning the conversation back to you, like I always do. I’m sorry; I seem to lack the energy to spin my broken record on the phone. Not to mention, […]
Sunday
Originally published in the LA Weekly ~ You really don’t remember, Was it something that he said? Are the voices in your head calling, Gloria? Gloria, don’t you think you’re fallin’? The first time Rudy went up to the jukebox and found “Gloria,” the one by Laura Branigan, it was simply annoying. We would have […]
33
Originally published in the LA Weekly Thirty-three. It’s a tough one. A lot of all-time greats went down at 33. Jesus was 33 when they hung him up on that cross. So was Keith Relf of the Yardbirds when a high-voltage shock unplugged him forever. Rushton Moreve from Steppenwolf was born to be wild but not to see 34. […]
