There is a kindred spirit in horror and noir fiction. Stories of moral ambiguity and monstrous nature of human beings are their bread and butter. Tom Piccirilli made his name in horror before shifting his skill set into the literary noir of his recent novels like Midnight Run and Cold Shot. Stephen King cites such authors as Jim Thompson and James M. Cain as critical favourites.

One author who I think fits as a link between horror and noir that does not get enough attention is Nelson Algren (1909-1981). Best known for the movie adaptation of his novel The Man with the Golden Arm (which won Frank Sinatra the Oscar for best actor for his portrayal of a junkie jazz musician), Algren's work is often brooding, brutal, dark and intelligent. In his short fiction collection The Neon Wilderness, Algren turns the spotlight on the underclass. Hookers, soldiers, labourers, musicians and misfits all struggle against inner and outer turmoil in post war Chicago. His novels delve even deeper. Walk on the Wildside, The Man with the Golden Arm explore the seedy side of the depression and the jazz era, while the Devil's Stocking takes the injustice done to boxer Rubin "Hurrican" Carter and gives it fictional form and treatment. His long essay "Nonconformity" is a trenchant and essay on the evils of McCarthism that crept up during the filming of Man with the Golden Arm. Algren received disdain and praise for his work, but he could count Hemingway as one of his champions. He was also screwing around with feminist Simone de Bevoir, then "wife" of Jean Paul Sartre. I'm sure Hemingway would have approved.

Algren is for those who want an eye witness report on the dark side of the tracks of American life. Exploring his cannon, you'll find much horror and occasional redemption. Regardless of the tragic or noble end of his characters, Algren makes you think hard about those shadowy spaces of life where people of good manners fail to tread, and yet are filled with as much drama and darkness as any other.