Around Here by Keith Gilman

I'm ashamed to say it, but I'd never read a Thuglit story until I wandered over to the site today. Keith Gilman's story jumped out at me. It is the story of a local bad boy made good - he became a cop, but still has friends in the old neighborhood. In fact, his friends are a bit jumpy about him making a transition like this. After all, he knows where all the bodies are buried and how the skeletons got in the closets.

Now, with this story, I thought for sure I knew how it was going to end. There are, after all, only so many options. But Mr. Gilman found an option that I hadn't quite considered and that made the story for me. Mind you, my admiration for the story isn't just the plot which had a twist when I didn't think it could. The writing at the sentence level was smooth as silk. Good, self-assured prose is hard to find and Mr. Gilman has it in stock.

Check out the story, then tool around the rest of the issue. It's free, but valuable.