Issue 45 / Summer 2012
45 / True Crime
CNF's long-awaited "True Crime" issue brings chills
Who needs air conditioning when Creative Nonfiction’s long-awaited true crime issue brings a welcome chill to any warm day. Wrapped in a noir-inspired cover, CNF #45 includes true stories of unsolved murders, grave-robbing, identity theft, abduction, addiction, and more.
This issue also features an Encounter with Erik Larson, as well as columns on our long-standing fascination with true crime; sex worker memoirs; the ethics of writing about violence; legal help for writers; and side gigs for the nonfiction 99%.
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What’s the Story #45
Recently, a friend of mine was complaining about her husband: “He sits in front of the TV at night or on weekends and watches ‘Law & Order’ reruns,” she exclaimed. “Not all the time, but, really, too often.Our Long-standing Obsession with True Crime
Until quite recently, when someone who actually knew what he or she was talking about took the trouble to correct it, the Wikipedia entry for “True Crime” claimed that the genre originated in 1966 with the publication of Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood.”ENCOUNTER: Erik Larson
What sort of writer devotes himself to portraying scrupulously the vilest of criminals in works of intensely researched creative nonfiction? You might expect a brooding sort, with an aura of menace and obsession.Origami & The Art of Identity Folding
“Fraser. Get Up.” A stream of bright light smacked my eyes. I groaned and rolled over to bury my face in a cool spot on my pillow. “Now.” The tone of the guard’s voice made it clear that she would brook no dissent.Leviathan
"For two hours each morning and two hours each night, Jeremy Woodley and I swam together in the moldy, six-lane pool appended to the back of the high school."Speaking of Ears and Savagery
On June 28, 1997, in Las Vegas, during the rematch fight between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson—a fight billed as “The Sound and The Fury”—things weren’t going well for The Fury.Grave Robber: A Love Story
It was odd hearing his voice on the telephone after I’d seen him on television the night before. He was one of those “Antiques Roadshow” experts in a show out of Arizona, and he was evaluating a handsome red, white and black Navaho chief’s blanket.The Addict
The dream goes like this: I am in a mall, or the post office, or the supermarket, or the bank, with my two children. People mill around us, each face like every other face.Legal Tools for Surviving a Rough Patch
Last year, I went through a rough patch, the kind of month that’s enough to crush a writer’s spirit. One day, I was awash in book contracts—three of them. And then, in rapid succession, I lost them all.PROFILE: Anita Fore
Director of Legal Services for the Authors GuildThe Ethics of Writing About Violence: A Roundtable Discussion
It’s funny how whole generations—millions of people—are connected by historical events: wars, assassinations, murders, television sitcoms, films and, of course, acts of terrorism.Sex Workers Bare All On the Page
True confession writing is nearly as old as the world’s oldest profession.Six Ways of Looking at a Car Crash
We’re sorry; we’re currently unable to make this work available online.The Discovery of My Father’s Gun
My mother and I are having dinner with a few of my father Paul’s cousins when she says, “Did you know Paul had a gun?” A vodka on ice sits in front of her, and a pan-fried branzino.Side Gigs for the Nonfiction 99 Percent
Unless you’ve recently won the Nobel Prize in Literature or your name is Malcolm Gladwell, chances are that you, like me, need to supplement your writing income. Sadly, unimaginative landlords will not accept prose as payment, no matter how convincing a case we make.Solving a Problem
"I had strong creative urges at an early age. When I was about nine years old I drew a landscape using hand-picked stones on a slate sidewalk section in front of my house—a process that took all day."A Kamikaze Attitude
AC Fraser is the winner of Creative Nonfiction’s “True Crime” essay contest. Fraser’s essay recalls time spent in the Vancouver prison system, and the tumultuous lifestyle that led her there. She was arrested for identity theft.