Click on the image for the full post by Julia Madeleine, artist of word and skin.
Noir Nation 2 gets a mention in Top Canadian Tattoo Blog…
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A foretaste of Noir Nation No. 2
This wonderful Geisha tattoo was created by Julia Madeleine, whose short story “Mama’s Boy” will be appearing in Noir Nation No. 2. The photo will be one of about 23 other such photos in the issue. Here is an excerpt of Madeleine’s story.
Moma’s Boy by Julia Madeleine
“Okay, drop your pants,” Jones said.
The freckled girl behind the counter handed him the ruler he’d requested. She gawked at the two of them like they were a couple of crack-heads about to pull an armed robbery.
“Right here?” Devin looked around himself. “I can’t do that here.”
“Sure you can, go ahead,” Jones said.
“I can’t just drop my pants in the middle of the fucking Business Depot.”
“Nobody’s looking at you. Just do it.” Jones smiled, all pale white and fresh-faced like some Skittles eating grad student trying to obliterate his goody-two-shoes image with as many tattoos as his skin could accommodate. He was raw-boned with course red hair hanging down to his waist that he held back with an elastic. He leaned on a cane that was topped with a fat, brass cobra head with jewelled eyes.
“I’m not dropping my goddamn pants,” Devin said, swiping a sweaty hand back across his forehead and shaved scalp, as a heat rose to his cheeks.
Jones thrust the ruler at him and said, “Come on man, we’ve got to measure it.”
Devin noticed an old lady with hair like a puff of cloud standing a few feet away, obviously overhearing the exchange. She scowled and peered at them over the tops of her glasses. Stupid old biddy with her hateful eyes. He’d like to slap that look right off her smug mug.
“I’ll go to the washroom and do it,” Devin said, turning away.
“Fine, do it in the washroom, just measure the damn thing already.”
Devin returned a few minutes later and tossed the ruler on the counter.
“Thirteen inches,” he said.
The girl behind the counter dropped her jaw. The old lady eyeballing them, reached for her purse on the counter, sliding it closer to herself.
Continued in Noir Nation No. 2 – Coming Soon!
Noir Nation takes a turn from which there is no return…
Noir Nation has taken a turn from which there is no return. The new tag line says it all: Crime fiction, film noir, and tattoos…
Initially, we were developing a tattoo theme for Noir Nation No. 2. But after having spent a year talking to tattoo artists and photographers and immersing ourselves in the ever widening gyre of expressive ink, it occurred to us that the enthusiasm we had developed for the art form could not be contained in one issue. More importantly, in our research and wanderings we developed strong relationships — with Julia Madeleine, for example, a tattoo artist and crime writer, and with Tom Vater, a crime writer and tattoo scholar living in Thailand — that suggested we would never experience a shortage of art to accompany our literary content.
As we put the finishing touches on Issue No. 2, we will be posting about some of the photographers who generously lent their work to make this the most talked about crime fiction publication in the world — one we have yet to publish. We have been fielding e-mails from around the world from writers and photographers who heard about it from those involved, asking if we were still taking submissions. The message was amplified on Twitter and Facebook.
And so here we are: Noir Nation, a magazine of crime fiction, film noir, and tattoos… Coming to you by Sept. 15.
(In our next post about the direction of Noir Nation, we will review the whys & wherefores of why it took a year to release Issue No. 2. A tale of hubris and tragedy.)
Noir Nation creates buzz at Toronto Tattoo Convention
The second issue of Noir Nation, which we have been calling the “Tattoo Issue” from its inception, has been generating worldwide buzz. (More on that in a future post.) We are especially delighted that the international tattoo community has begun to embrace the issue. It seems a match made in heaven, as tattoo artist and crime fiction writer Julia Madeleine suggests in her recent blog. A snippet of it is below. Click on the image to see her full post.— The Editors.
