We all float down here.

Let me tell you a little about the world I live in.  Tony Soprano is still breaking legs, Max Cady is doing a thousand pullups in his prison cell, waiting for the day he walks out into the world to bring vengence to the lawyer that sent him up the river, Michael Corleone is in the men's room looking for the gun taped behind the toilet, and Travis Bickle is standing in front of the mirror with a gun saying, "You talkin' to me?"

I grew up on this shit.  I am the Cable Guy; raised by the boob tube and nurtured by the silver screen and pulp fiction.  Call me crazy, but when Michael Madsen dances to Stuck In The Middle With You and slices the cop's ear off with a straight razor I get a little tingle up my spine.

And yes, The Deer Hunter was one of my favorite movies of all time.  Yet when I wrote the story, Nothing Left To Lose, I wasn't consciously thinking about it for one second.

I was on facebook and saw a post from Joe Clifford that my favorite flash site, The Flash Fiction Offensive was in need of submissions.

The first story I had published online was Catching Up, which was accepted by DZ Allen for his Muzzleflash magazine.  Mr. Allen was an assistant editor of Out of the Gutter, and Muzzleflash was his baby.

He went on to accept a handful of other stories from me over the course of a couple of years before he decided to shut the site down and concentrate on his own writing.

After a short hiatus, The Flash Fiction Offensive was born; created by a couple of other assistant editors from Out of the Gutter.

As anyone reading this probably knows, eventually the very talented David Barber eventually took over duties at FFO and did an exceptional job.  Now Joe Clifford and Tom Pitts are at the helm continuing to put out quality fiction.

Am I biased?  Sure I am.  But I can afford to be.  Read any story in the FFO archives by any of the writers who have been published there and you will find some damned fine stuff.

So when I saw the post calling for submissions at oh, two something in the morning, I put a pot of coffee on, sat down to my laptop, and pounded out the first thing that came to mind.

It was fast, it was violent, and yes it was inspired by one of my favorite movies of all time.  But I really wasn't think Deer Hunter when I wrote it.  The next day when I read it and carved a couple hundred words off...yeah, I saw it then.  A similarity, a homage that bleed out of my subconscious.

Man was I happy when I read Joe Clifford's flattering introduction and saw that he pointed out the connection.  So what are you waiting for, go here http://www.outofthegutteronline.com/2012/07/nothing-left-to-lose.html and read it.  And while you're at it, peruse the archives of this great Ezine.  Or else.  I know where you live. :)