Portrait in Smoke / The Longest Second by Bill S. Ballinger (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

Nicholas Litchfield is the founder of the literary magazine Lowestoft Chronicle, author of the suspense novel Swampjack Virus, and editor of ten literary anthologies. His stories, essays, and book reviews appear in dozens magazines and newspapers, including BULL, Colorado Review, Daily Press, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Shotgun Honey, The Adroit Journal, and The Virginian-Pilot. He has also contributed introductions to numerous books, including seventeen Stark House Press reprints of long-forgotten noir and mystery novels. Formerly a book critic for the Lancashire Post, syndicated to twenty-five newspapers across the U.K., he now writes for Publishers Weekly. You can find him online at nicholaslitchfield.com.