Your Turn in the Shadows: A Call for Guest Writers
I Want To Hand You The Keys To This Substack!
I’ve been thinking about something lately—about how the best conversations aren’t monologues, how the richest investigations come from multiple perspectives, how the darkness looks different depending on where you’re standing.
So here’s the deal: I want to hand you the keys to this Substack.
What I’m Looking For
I’m opening up space for readers to write guest pieces for the Sonny Trueheart Substack. Not just comments or responses, but full essays, analyses, stories, or meditations that you want to share with this community.
The only real constraint? Your piece should connect to one or more of these threads:
Noir cinema or literature — The classics, the obscure, the neo-noir, the international takes. What speaks to you about this genre? What have critics missed? What does noir look like in your country, your language, your tradition?
Themes from The People’s Detective — Surveillance and being watched. The performance of morality. Power and its abuses. Justice versus law. The private eye as a figure of resistance or complicity. Communities protecting themselves. What it means to be a detective when the system itself is suspect.
Contemporary noir — How do noir’s themes manifest in our current moment? Algorithmic surveillance, corporate power, media manipulation, the gig economy, climate collapse, or the corruption that hides in plain sight?
The detective as archetype — What does the detective figure mean now? How has it evolved? Who gets to be a detective? What about amateur sleuths, true crime obsessives, journalists, activists, or whistleblowers?
Hard-boiled philosophy — Cynicism and idealism. Existentialism in the mean streets. What noir teaches us about living in a fallen world.
The aesthetics of darkness — Visual style, narrative structure, moral ambiguity, the poetry of urban decay, shadows and light, voiceover and flashback.
But honestly? If you can make a compelling case for why your piece belongs here, I’m listening. The noir tradition is broader and deeper than any checklist.
What This Can Be
A critical essay on a film, novel, or TV series
A personal narrative that intersects with noir themes
A short story that embodies noir sensibility
An interview with a creator working in the tradition
A photo essay or visual meditation
A manifesto about what noir means in 2025
Something I haven’t imagined yet
Guidelines
Length: 800-3,000 words (flexible for the right piece)
Voice: Your own. Don’t imitate mine. Bring what only you can bring.
Quality: Well-written, thoughtful, original. I’m looking for pieces that respect this community’s intelligence.
Rights: You retain all rights to your work. We’re just sharing it here.
How to Submit
Email your pitch or completed piece to nicholasbaham@gmail.com with the subject line: GUEST SUBMISSION - SONNY TRUEHEART
Include:
A brief bio (2-3 sentences)
Your piece or a detailed pitch (200-300 words for pitches)
Any relevant links to your previous work (optional)
I can’t promise I’ll publish everything submitted, but I promise I’ll read everything with genuine attention. If your piece isn’t quite right for this platform, I’ll tell you why.
Why I’m Doing This
Because the stories we tell about power, corruption, justice, and survival don’t belong to any one person. Because noir has always been a democratic form—born in the pulps, speaking to the masses, skeptical of authority. Because some of you have been thinking about these things longer or harder or differently than I have.
Because I want to know what you’re seeing in the shadows.
The night is big enough for all of us.
Send me your darkness. Send me your light. Send me the truth as you see it.
—Sonny Trueheart
Submissions are open now. I’ll begin reviewing pieces immediately and will feature selected works in upcoming editions.
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Until the next time, this is the People’s Detective, Sonny Trueheart, signing off and asking you to be good to yourself and to one another!
From Oakland with Love,
Sonny Trueheart