Thanks for checking out Heart of Noir. My name’s Mike, and I’ll be your humble guide and editor. As film noir’s number one fan, I spent three years researching, curating, writing, and designing this site so that other fans around the world have a place to learn, share, and appreciate what I consider to be practically its own art form. 

When I’m not living in the shadows, I teach communications, mostly to grad students, at City University of New York and Johns Hopkins. In a roundabout way, my students motivated me to create Heart of Noir after I realized that none of them had even heard of film noir let alone could name one. This site is my attempt to help expose these extraordinary films to a new generation and prevent them from fading away.

You could also call me a corporate refugee. In an earlier life, I worked in corporate communications for several global consultancies and PR agencies, which had me advising senior management at lots of big, fancy corporations. I’ve also been writing fiction ever since I first picked up a pen (remember pens?). My work has been published pseudonymously in obscure literary journals and anthologies like ThugLit, Pulp Modern, The Westchester Review, The Stockholm Review of Literature, and a few others you’ve never heard of. I studied English literature as an undergrad and later earned an MFA in Creative Writing. If you’re interested in reading some of my work, check out my author site here.  

I love a ton of stuff besides noir too. For example, dogs. And, more recently, birds. Also, old churches. And books, especially Victorian/Gothic novels, mysteries and thrillers, history and theology. I love traveling internationally. I love my big family. I love other kinds of film too, especially Tarkovsky, Bergman, and David Lynch. I live in Rhode Island, where I was born and raised, and for part of the year in Puerto Rico.

Nice meeting you. Enjoy the site.