Review: Sharp and lethal.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 23, 2012
Julia Madeleine's STICK A NEEDLE IN MY EYE jabs you in the head and heart with seventeen short stories that are as sharp and lethal as a crazed tattooist's  needles.These are stories of people on the margins, at the bottom and over the edge.STICK A NEEDLE IN MY EYE runs the whole gamut of genre and sub-genre from noir, crime, horror, Gothic, dirty realism and back again.The stories are sad, scary and addictive. And as black as ink.The collection opens with 'The Plan' - a quirky and blackly-comic prison story - and ends with the aching noir torch song, 'Celeste'.Along the way you get 'Schmo,' a twisted love story; the painfully tense 'Candy From Strangers'; 'Crazy Town', which takes a look at a marriage that is far from blissful, and the chilling 'Communty Service.'And lots more.STICK A NEEDLE IN MY EYE is a great collection from one of the best dark fiction writers around, and is very, highly recommended.