STORY SHOWCASE #14

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WIRELESS ROAD

by Dwain Campbell

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A little taster…

An American solder swayed over to glad-hand us. “Heyya folks. I’m from Somerton, New Jersey. Used to be in the Big Apple all the time growing up.” I shook his hand and eyed his shoulder patch. Artillery – coastal battery.

“Say,” Bonita piped up, “you wouldn’t happen to know my cousin, Manfred Bassio? I got a letter for Manny from his nonna – she’s on death’s door these days.” She neglected to mention The Bass would be beyond death’s door once we cornered him. Let me connect the dots for you.

The Bass gunned down Tommy Ajello outside a steakhouse in Newark, over a stupid floozy – what else?

Tommy was a second cousin to Frank Costello, who took the killing personally.

Running for his sorry life, The Bass joined the army and got himself posted to the end of the world, Newfoundland. Not far enough to daunt “Bonny and Claud”, who accepted a sweet contract to give The Bass angel wings and a harp. How sweet? Enough scratch to finance Miami Beach for a year, baby. Bonny will love wearing her Rita Hayworth silk gowns in the nightclubs.

The guy brightened. “Sure do. He’s out at Wireless Road in the secure hangar. Top secret, all that jazz.” Loose lips sink ships. Of course, I bought him whiskey. A double. Bonita batted eyelashes, cozied up, and learned that our mark was attached to an Air Force detail. The hangar, isolated on Wireless Road at the edge of the aerodrome, was beside a sky-high radio tower. He was so obliging, or should I say gullible, that he even drew us a serviceable map. I stuffed it in my jacket and bought him one for the road. Bonita slipped him a Mickey and we stepped into the hell-dark street.

About the author

Dwain Campbell is originally from Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada. After his university years in Nova Scotia, he journeyed farther east to begin a teaching career in Newfoundland. Forty years later, he is semiretired in St. John’s and studies folklore in his spare time. Contemporary fantasy is his genre of choice, and Atlantic Canada is a rich source of inspiration. He is author of the collections Tales from the Frozen Ocean and Strange Duty and has contributed stories to Canadian Tales of the Fantastic, Tesseracts 17, Fantastic Trains and Cryptids on the Rock.

We asked Dwain …

K&R: What was the spark or idea that led you to write this story?

DC: Many sparks in conjunction. I like to mash genres together. “Wireless Road’ is a combination of 1940s Crime Noir, Science Fiction, and pulp adventure. Add a spicy gun moll into the mix, and one has several campy themes to weave together.

K&R: Do you have any other work do you have out there, for folks to dig into?

DC: I would love to mention two anthologies of short stories now available on Amazon,

Tales from the Frozen Ocean: 25th Anniversary Rerelease (2024) Originally published in 1999, these are the adventures of Colin Aintree, a young clairvoyant who encounters paranormal and folkloric creatures on the terrible and marvelous island of Newfoundland.

Find it on Amazon here

Strange Duty: Speculative Tales of the Canadian Military (2023)

Thirteen fantastical short stories based on historical battles or campaigns in Canada’s war history. From The Battle of Quebec in 1775 to The Battle of Kapyong in the Korean War in 1951. From The 1st Newfoundland Regiment to the Canadian Special Operations Regiment. From the Royal Northwest Mounted Police to Princess Louise’s 8th Hussars, all are tales of people doing their duty in extraordinary supernatural or alien circumstances.

Find it on Amazon here

A full listing of short story publications.

“Fog on Tap” Canadian Tales of the Fantastic I – Red Toque Books, 2011

“Dollhouse” Canadian Tales of the Mysterious II – Red Toque Books, 2012

“Hermione and Me” – Tesseracts 17, Edge Publishing, 2013

“Anklut Inlet” – Canadian Tales of the Mysterious V, 2015

“Aich-mud-yim” – Hellohorror.com, 2016

“The Witch of Endor” – Fall into Fantasy, Cloakedpress, 2018

“Mickey and Moby” – Teleport Magazine, September 2019

“Special Delivery” – Fantastic Trains, Edge Publishing, September 2019 

“Regatta Ronnie” – A Celebration of Storytelling, Dark Owl Press, 2020

“Ghost Shirt” – Something Wicked This Way Rides, Dark Owl Press, 2021

“Tarnished Knight” – The Protest Diaries, B Cubed Press, 2022

“One Good Turn…” – 99 Fleeting Fantasies, Pulse Publishing, 2022 (flash fiction)

“The Gingerbread Elves” – Spillwords Press online Site, 2022

“Captain Olsen and the Great Bear” – Altered Reality Magazine Online, 2023

“The Water Man” – From the Yonder Vol.4, War Monkey Publications, 2023

“Texaco Thaumaturgy” – Witch Wizard Warlock, Three Cousins Publishing, 2023

“Kitab al-Eanakib” – An Ancient Curse Vol 1, CultureCom, 2023

“Archie” – Cryptids on the Rock, Mud Engen Publishing, 2023

“Fog on Tap” (reprint) – Illustrated Worlds Spring 2025

“The Glassy Button Club” – Leviathan: Victorian Tales of Industrial Horror, Sentinel Creatives, Fall 2025

“George and the Dragon” – Dark Canadiana, Iron Fang Press (Nunavut), 2025

K&R: What’s next for you as a writer?

DC: The short story is my go-to format, but I have been experimenting with novel length Science Fiction and low fantasy. Would like to try self-publishing, though at 67 years of age I am daunted by the technical demands of it all.

K&R: What does “trashy fiction” mean to you, and what do you love about it?

DC: I grew up in the 1960s. Though the heyday of pulp fiction had passed by then, there were still many trashy 25 cent paperbacks that daring could get their hands on. Then there were the lurid True Crime magazine covers at the grocery story check out aisles —wow, that would never fly today. Trash to me means Femme Fatalles and Damsels in Distress, thugs in Fedora hats and cops on the take. It means The Shadow, the Bride of Fu Manchu, and Radar Men from the Moon. I love the genre because it offers campy, kitsch, titillating, illicit thrills to be devoured without parents knowing.

K&R: Hit us with your own favourite “trashy” fiction recommendations!

DC: Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edogawa Rampo.

The Yellow Claw by Sax Rohmer

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

K&R: If you’ve read the rest of the stories in Trash Tales, what’s your favourite and why?

DC: “Big Bang Bull and the God Particle” by Mark Patrick Lynch. It is theoretical science fiction meeting kinky sexual innuendo, all the while laced with clever witticisms and asides.

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