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Articles by Todd Robins
The Dead Man’s Hand
Wild Bill, when shot by Jack McCall, was sitting with black aces and eights. The dead man’s hand. But two pair, aces high, is not that bad on the merits. As a literary journal with a jones for crime fiction (and maybe a poker game as Elgin Tolliver mentions here River of Sticks – Vautrin), it seems right to conjure a Vautrin-esque dead man’s hand: the four issues that might comprise Wild Bill’s fateful aces and eights.
Vautrin Fall 2023 – The Pleasures of Running a Lit Mag - Vautrin
By Todd Robins / Hey everybody. It’s not like I haven’t wanted to steal an Edwardian jacket from a thrift shop, purple crushed velvet with gold braid. But in Jeff Esterholm’s “Tollund Man,” Jack Sogard actually does it. “Tollund Man” presents a trip through the sixties in the light of the here and now. Stories with voice, for me, are like whatever your favored sweets trip is. I’ve only made it once in my whole life.
Vautrin - Volume 5, Issue 1, Fall 2023 (Paperback)
This issue features seedy goings-on at a Spanish Colonial pile, a lawyer’s scrap with a London tabloid, an old guy who’s haunted by a ghost, and a town team baller with a Napoleon complex. These scenarios, a labor strike right out of today’s headlines, and much more in Vautrin Fall 2023.
One of Scott Phillips' Best Books
By Todd Robins / Maybe I need to get out more, but in a novel reading career that has not been short on works featuring off-center protagonists, I’ve never encountered a guy who can juggle in the neighborhood of four girlfriends at the same time. In Scott Phillips’ new novel, Rake, however, I frankly lost count of the women in the life of the actor who plays Dr. Crandall Taylor in a mediocre or worse American soap opera that becomes a huge hit in Europe.
The Vautrin Summer 2022 Dossier: What Kind of Mojo Do You Seek?
This adventure begins with a wasp. It’s sunny and hot. You’re standing in the driveway, trading stories with the neighbor, who’s watering his flowers. But a wasp keeps hovering. Maybe two. Just above the line of sight. You’re wearing some kind of sombrero, which reminds you of your uncles back east. Early in June, your pop would load everybody in the car. He drove past St. Louis, through Illinois and Kentucky, in search of the Tidewater.
Call for Submissions - Vautrin Summer 2022
Don’t aim. Just shoot. (Jim Carroll even riffed on it in Forced Entries.) Vautrin is open to submissions from April 3, 2022, to May 3, 2022. Gritty urban fiction. Jim Gavin’s Middle Men, Mary Miller’s Always Happy Hour, or Becky Mandelbaum’s Bad Kansas are good examples of what we mean by this. If you’ve written a compelling short story, though, no need to worry too much about “gritty” or “urban.” You may submit the story. Crime/Mystery Fiction. Genre fiction is a fit at Vautrin.
A Preview of Saira Viola’s New Hollywood Novel, "Smoke Show"
By Todd Robins / Think of what’s compelling about literary noir. It depends on the writer’s approach. Patricia Highsmith differs from James Crumley, who differs from Chester Himes, Elmore Leonard, or James Ellroy. The latter three mirror one another in that the language of the street is to the fore. These writers thrive on sound. Ellroy’s American Tabloid, though a chore to get through, ups the ante on sound while offering a singular if narrowly cynical view of America.
Call for Submissions
We are open to submissions until September 1, 2021. Gritty urban fiction. Jim Gavin’s Middle Men, Mary Miller’s Always Happy Hour, or Becky Mandelbaum’s Bad Kansas are good examples of what we mean by this. If you’ve written a compelling short story, though, no need to worry too much about “gritty” or “urban.” You may submit the story. Crime/Mystery Fiction. Genre fiction is a fit at Vautrin.
Pre-Order the Vautrin Winter 2020 Issue Here
A good short story grabs you with a compelling voice while going where you’ve never been. In the Winter 2020 issue of Vautrin, you’ll attend a wild early 20th century soiree, hang with grifters, eavesdrop on a prison writer’s workshop, and tough it out with hard luck characters on the brink of disaster.
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