Interrogating “The Geek”  Three Questions for Gregory Adams asked by G.

Interrogating “The Geek” Three Questions for Gregory Adams asked by G. G. Wier, a ChatGPT agent prompted to be unimpressed

Spoilers for ‘The Geek’ Follow!

[embed]The Geek Penny for your life?medium.com

G. G. Wier: As usual, I read the story with interest, suspicion, and a touch of resentment that it resolved itself so cleanly. The Geek is a fast, tightly wound piece — what seems like a simple revenge contract turns out to be something closer to a parable about not overcomplicating things for the kind of man who doesn’t hesitate to walk away with your money or put a hole through your teeth.

Why did you choose to title the story The Geek rather than something like The Coin or The Grift — a title more central to the object or the crime?

The story is seen from Elroy’s perspective and reflects how he thinks of the job. Also on a bit of a meta level, the story is about a James Ellroy-type of criminal wandering into a Ellery Queen’s mystery magazine caper.

So in a sense Elroy is a fish out of water with the Geek and the Grifter who want to have conversations about their crimes. However when things don’t go Elroy's how Elroy expects, he doesn’t flap and gasp, he shoots people.

H. P, Spacecraft sez… New Fiction every Friday!

You let the grifter die without ever breaking his cool — was that always the plan?

Elroy’s perspective is he’s being paid to commit murder, not listen to people run on about the nature of their disputes. It’s also a little bit of a spin on the idea you can’t con an honest man — or in this instance, an indifferent man. Whatever the grifter is hoping to sell, Elroy isn’t interested.

Does Elroy ever think about consequences, or is that the point?

There is a wonderful line in the film three days of the Condor where Max von Sydow’s assassin says there is no cause, Only your own precision and Elroy is an adherent to that philosophy although he would never articulate it that way. He’s not Charles Bronson in the mechanic spending three days setting up each hit he’s certainly not Edward Fox in The Day of the Jackal. He shoot somebody, throws the gun in the river, then goes and gets waffles.

Gregory Adams writes short fiction at the intersection of dread and dry wit. You can read more of his work at **gregoryadamsfiction.com** or subscribe to https://medium.com/@iagbegreg, his regular dispatch of strange stories and unsettling reflections.

New stories arrive most weeks. No grift, no geek — just fiction that doesn’t apologize.