Category: #Anthology

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Manhattan Noir 2: The Classics

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This anthology spans more than a century of noir fiction set in the heart of the Big Apple—”17 sure winners” from Edith Wharton, Donald Westlake, and more (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

The island of Manhattan has been a breeding ground of crime, longing, and discontent since its earliest days as a city—and a natural setting for noir fiction since the genre was invented. And from Harlem to Greenwich Village to Wall Street, it has also been home to many a great writer. After the success of the first Manhattan Noir, dedicated to all-new stories, Lawrence Block combed through the borough’s long literary history to deliver this stellar collection of classics, even stretching the bounds of noir to include poems by Edgar Allen Poe and others. 

Manhattan Noir 2: The Classics features entries by Edith Wharton, Stephen Crane, O. Henry, Langston Hughes, Irwin Shaw, Jerome Weidman, Damon Runyon, Evan Hunter, Jerrold Mundis, Edgar Allan Poe, Horace Gregory, Geoffrey Bartholomew, Cornell Woolrich, Barry N. Malzberg, Clark Howard, Jerome Charyn, Donald E. Westlake, Joyce Carol Oates, Lawrence Block, and Susan Isaacs.


Lawrence D. Zeilinger
4 out of 5 stars
24th Book One of Best in Series
Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2008
Format: Paperback
Masterfully edited by Lawrence Block, Manhattan Noir 2 is a welcome addition to this terriffic series. Of its 17 short stories, what may have been Cornell Woolrich's last (first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1970) is by itself well worth the price of admission. This anthology features stories which first saw print over more than a 100-year time span, from 1891 to 2008. There also is a very short middle section with works by three poets. Poetry accounts for less than 5 per cent of my reading, but these are great. There is the predictable "Raven" by Poe and it isn't a stretch to include him as (perhaps the first) noir author. (What else but noir could you call say, "A Cask of Amontillado"? For the Love of God, Montressor!). But the two other poets represented are also excellent, especially the selections from Geoffrey Bartholomew's "The McSorley Poems" (2001) which made me want to seek out the entire volume. My favorite stories besides the Woolrich are Stephen Crane's very short "The Poker Game" (1902), Langston Hughes' "Spanish Blood" (1934). Damon Runyon's poignant "One-Eyed Johnny" (1941), and Evan Hunter's (Ed McBain's) gritty "The Last Spin" (1948) all in Part I, "The Old School". The stories in Part III are more modern, grouped under the heading "Darkness Visible". I liked all but one of these eight stories which range from 1969 to 2008. My three favorites were grand master Donald Westlake's "Love in the Lean Years", Joyce Carol Oates' "A Manhattan Romance" (which like two others feature a man running from the mob), and editor Lawrence Block's "In For a Penny". As always, kudos to Tim McLoughlin for creating this internationally acclaimed series. This book was released simultaneously with "D.C. Noir 2: The Classics" which is next on my must read list. Also forthcoming in the series are another 15 books, most of which have noir settings in foreign countries and are so titled.
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Las Vegas Noir

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In this chilling portrait of America’s Sin City, lady luck is just as likely to dispense cold hard cash as a cold-hearted killing.

Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.

Brand-new stories by: John O’Brien, David Corbett, Scott Phillips, Nora Pierce, Tod Goldberg, Bliss Esposito, Felicia Campbell, Jaq Greenspon, José Skinner, Pablo Medina, Christine McKellar, Lori Kozlowski, Vu Tran, Celeste Starr, Preston L. Allen, and Janet Berliner.

From the introduction by Jarret Keene & Todd James Pierce:

“‘Ooh, Las Vegas,’ sang the pioneering country-rocker Gram Parsons. ‘Every time I hit your Crystal City, you know you’re gonna make a wreck out of me.’ As Las Vegans, we regularly read about these wrecked lives in newspapers and magazines. We routinely observe people going about their wildly destructive antics on mainstream TV. Often we can’t believe these stories are unfolding in our city. They almost seem like put-ons, elaborate pranks borrowed from atrocious cut-rate screenplays. But there they are, these inhabitants of our city, their mug shots staring us down, making us wonder if what Parsons said is really true—that in Las Vegas your only real friend is the queen of spades . . .

“The stories gathered in Las Vegas Noir are written by longtime residents and avid chroniclers of Sin City, authors who take you far beyond the neon of Caesars Palace and into the neighborhoods too dangerous for CSI. Absolutely cliché-free, these stories are full of flesh-and-blood characters trapped in dire circumstances that only real Las Vegas neighborhoods can spring.”


Lawrence D. Zeilinger
4 out of 5 stars
How could Vegas not be noir?
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2008
Format: Paperback
Verified Purchase
I was hoping for a little more casino action, but the 16 stories comprising this great new addition to the Akashic noir series conceived by Tim McCloughlin is one of the better ones. The best thing about the Akashics is how they introduce us to some of the finest new talent writing in this genre today. It's where I discovered Charlie Stella and Ken Bruen, amongst many others. This is the 10th title of the already-published 20; another 15 are forthcoming. All have thumbnail photos and bios of the authors at the end of the books, giving further information about the writers and their other work. This one is divided into three sections: Sin City, Neon Grit, and Tales from the Outskirts. My favorite stories are the five in the first section. John O'Brien's "The Tik" is about a man who returns to his woman's house after a prolonged absence and re-enacts a dark ritual with a strange drug and a woman the couple picks up on a late-night prowl of the strip and lures home. David Corbett's "Pretty Little Parasite" concerns a woman drawn into the world of cocaine dealing and the junkie undercover cop she enables. Tod Goldberg's "Mitzvah" is about a pair of aging Chicago gangsters who for years have posed as rabbis and preside over a private cemetery which is a perfect dumping ground for the Mob. Scott Phillips' "Babs" covers an ex-stripper he visits while on his way back to L.A., to pick up a package of meth for a friend. One of the finest stories is Vu Tran's "This or Any Desert" about an Oakland cop who travels to Vegas to avenge the abuse his ex-wife suffers at the hands of her new husband. In Part Two, my favorite was Pablo Medina's "Benny Rojas and the Rough Riders" whose protagonist is a Cuban exile landing a new life on the boulevard of broken dreams. In Part Three, I especially liked Bliss Esposito's "Guns Don't Kill People". Schockingly, I learned John O'Brien, author of "The Tik" and to whom he and his sister this book is dedicated, came to a tragic end at 34 years old in the eighth year of a prodigal writing career. He produced many fine short stories and three brilliant novels including the now-famous "Leaving Las Vegas". Two weeks after learning it was to be made into a movie, he inexplicably blew his brains out. Next on my to-read list: Havana Noir and Detroit Noir. For the latter, Akashic couldn't quite swing Elmore Leonard, but landed one of Motor City's finest scribes, the superbly prolific Loren D. Estleman. Hats off to editors Jarret Keene and Todd James Pierce for ferreting out these terrifying tales from Vegas' dark side.
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Detroit Noir

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This drive through the dark streets of the Motor City “is one of the best in Akashic Books’ noir series. You cannot go wrong with this anthology.”—Reviewing the Evidence
 
From crime stories in the classic hard-boiled style to the vividly experimental, from the determination of those risking everything to the desperation of those with nothing left to lose, Detroit Noir delivers unforgettable tales that capture the city’s dark vitality.
The collection includes stories by Joyce Carol Oates, Loren D. Estleman, Craig Holden, P.J. Parrish, Desiree Cooper, Nisi Shawl, M.L. Liebler, Craig Bernier, Joe Boland, Megan Abbott, Dorene O’Brien, Lolita Hernandez, Peter Markus, Roger K. Johnson, Michael Zadoorian, and E.J. Olsen.
 
“Few cities are as well suited to the genre as Detroit, with its embattled inner city and history of urban decline and blight, and the editors have assembled a talented lineup to do it justice.”—Publishers Weekly

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Wall Street Noir

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This anthology explores the dark side of finance from Manhattan to Bangkok and Tel Aviv, featuring new stories by Jim Fusilli, Lauren Sanders and more.
 
Wall Street often looks like a gleaming world of high-end professionalism where decisions to buy or sell are guided by expertise, formulas and dispassionate strategy. And sure, that’s one version of Wall Street. Let’s call it the CNBC edition. But this book is about another place, just beneath that shiny surface: a place where fear and greed have always held sway. Think WorldCom or Tyco; think Enron. Think Gordon Gekko.
 
Wall Street Noir illuminates a place whose boundaries have spread well beyond Trinity Church and the East River. In today’s global economy, Wall Street is everywhere: a borderless, virtual city encompassing Midtown Manhattan, Main Street, U.S.A., the maquilas of Honduras, the office towers of Shanghai, and the brothels of Bangkok. It’s a shadowy metropolis, as the stories in this exciting collection reveal, and one that’s far more Jim Thompson than Warren Buffet.
 
Wall Street Noir includes brand-new stories by John Burdett, Henry Blodget, Peter Blauner, Jason Starr, Megan Abbott, Reed Farrel Coleman, Stephen Rhodes, Twist Phelan, Tim Broderick, Jim Fusilli, David Noonan, Richard Aleas, Lawrence Light, James Hime, Mark Haskell Smith, Peter Spiegelman, and Lauren Sanders.

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Los Angeles Noir

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Los Angeles Noir brings you tales of crime and passion and betrayal from some of the most innovative and celebrated writers working today.

—A Los Angeles Times best seller, Book Sense Notable Pick, and SCIBA Book Award Winner

Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.

Brand-new stories by: Michael Connelly, Janet Fitch, Susan Straight, Héctor Tobar, Patt Morrison, Emory Holmes II, Robert Ferrigno, Gary Phillips, Christopher Rice, Naomi Hirahara, Jim Pascoe, Neal Pollack, Scott Phillips, Diana Wagman, Lienna Silver, Brian Ascalon Roley, and Denise Hamilton.

From the introduction by Denise Hamilton:

“Los Angeles is the birthplace of all things noir . . . Maybe it’s the seductive blur of artifice and reality, the possibility of shucking off the past like last year’s frock and reinventing yourself beyond your wildest dreams. Maybe it’s the desperation that descends when the dream goes sour, the duplicity that lurks behind the beauty, the rot of the jungle flowers, the riptides off the sugar sand beaches that carry off the unwary. Writers like James Cain, Dorothy B. Hughes, Nathanael West, Chester Himes, and Raymond Chandler understood both the hope and the horror that Los Angeles inspires, and they harnessed this duality to create their masterpieces . . .

With Los Angeles Noir, we’ve brought you the ethos of Chandler and Cain filtered through a contemporary lens, showcasing some of the most innovative and celebrated writers working today. Open these pages and you’ll embark on a literary travelogue that stretches from the mountains through the hardscrabble flats to the barrios and middle-class suburbs, the mansions of the wealthy, and the shores of the Pacific Ocean where we finally run out of continent. The breadth of talent on display is as exciting and diverse as the city itself.”