Created by Peter Parmantie
(1932-2024)
JOSEPH ANGELLO describes himself as a “short, overweight investigator with a big nose that I stick in everyone’s business.” Not bad, actually. I’d go on to say Joe’s pretty ugly, too. And also one of the more refreshing eyes to come out of the cyber-pulp explosion of the late nineties. (We ended up publishing five of his stories, in fact, so I guess we really liked him).
Pushing sixty, Joe’s cynical, and skeptical and not always a very nice guy, often more than willing to get down and dirty, if that’s what it takes to get the job done in a city so corrupt and perverted that he can’t even bring himself to name it.
And yet, there are also heart-breaking moments when we slip behind the hardened exterior, and see the sad, and maybe even pathetic man under the shell–lonely, mourning the loss of his beloved wife Maude, and doing whatever he can to survive.
Sure, it’s pulp, but it’s the kind of pulp that has plenty of soul.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
After serving in the served in the US Army from 1951-1953, Peter Parmantie attended Illinois State Normal University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history and English and a master’s degree in English. He became an English teacher at the University High School from 1961 to 1997, teaching Bible Literature/Mythology, Science Fiction/Fantasy and what amounted to Freshman English. According to one former student, he was “well known for his penchant for really awful puns, and weekly vocabulary words, where he would hand out a sheet of 10 words and definitions, and you were supposed to pick five to use in a sentence–and he awarded extra points for puns.” He was also known for being a Star Trek fan, and one of his favorite literary characters was John D. MacDonald‘s Travis McGee.
A compulsive reader, starting almost from birth, he cut his teeth on thrillers as an adolescent, kicking his regular studies overboard and educating himself by reading what adults then considered trash. His conclusion? They were wrong. So upon retirement, he set about trying his hand at the genre. We ended up publishing five of his stories here.
SHORT STORIES
- “A Family Affair” (Summer 1999, Thrilling Detective Web Site)
- “It’s All in
- Delivery” (February-March 2000, Thrilling Detective Web Site)
- “Thoroughbred” (June 2001, Thrilling Detective Web Site)
- “Seeming” (Summer 2002, Thrilling Detective Web Site)
- “Full Circle” (Winter 2003, Thrilling Detective Web Site)
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
