Three short stories about Chicago women and their battles with heroin addiction and the drug game.

Living in Chicago, a city affectionately known as Chiraq, sometimes you have to become heartless to survive. In his 6th full length novel, Y. Blak Moore weaves an urban tale that mirrors parts of society only some of us know to exist. From the beginning Heartless drags you under like a strong current and refuses to let you go. Experience a torrent of emotions as you meet Pat, a single mother of four. Pat knows all too well just how heartless the Chicago streets can be as she watches them transform her children into a scammer (Dee), shooters (Nayshawn and Jayshawn), and someone (her daughter Shay) that will do any and everything for money. In a place where sex and drugs are currency and life is cheap, Pat tries to keep her children on the straight and narrow, but it might already be too late.

The mammoth 85th Anniversary Issue of The Unique Magazine features: FICTION: "Heart of Ice" by Tanith Lee; "Creature" by Ramsey Shehadeh; "The Yellow Dressing Gown" by Sarah Monette; "The Talion Moth" by John Kirk; "Detours on the Way to Nothing" by Rachel Swirsky; "Black Petals" (new Elric novella) by Michael Moorock. SPECIAL FEATURE: The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years. POETRY: "A Compleynte on the Deth of Sir William Thatcher, Sumtyme Ycleped Ulrich of Lichtenstein" by Geoffrey Chaucer. NONFICTION: Interview: Jeff VanderMeer chats with weird fantasy novelist China Mieville; Weirdism: Stephen Geigen-Miller on his pulp-fiction heritage; Lost Pages: Ira Marcks presents a snapshot of modern Innsmouth...; Lost in Lovecraft: ...and Kenneth Hite explores why H.P.L.'s characters sought asylum in Arkham; Excerpt: Csilla Csori discusses the science of Dune's gholas and how to raise the dead; The Bazaar: Cherie Priest meets a steampunk Cthulhoid amulet crafter; The Cryptic: Darrell Schweitzer on the enduring power of the Blob; The Library: Book reviews.

Have you ever been betrayed by someone close to you? Someone you love like a brother? Jonathan "JC" Collins has, by not one, but three of his "best" friends. After having to serve a lengthy prison sentence because of their disloyalty, he's out of the joint and has revenge on his mind. The three friends that caused him to spend most of his adult years locked away will have to pay for their past sins against him. During the 90s while JC was in the penitentiary, they all rose to power on the Chicago streets and he knows they owe their success all to him. Now he's free and he doesn't want their phony apologies or a few bucks. He wants everything they have, and he's not asking; he's taking.