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The Best American Essays 2019 (The Best American Series)
By Rebecca Solnit, Robert Atwan. 2019
A collection of the year&’s best essays selected by Robert Atwan and guest editor Rebecca Solnit. &“Essays are restless literature,…
trying to find out how things fit together, how we can think about two things at once, how the personal and the public can inform each other, how two overtly dissimilar things share a secret kinship,&” contends Rebecca Solnit in her introduction. From lost languages and extinct species to life-affirming cosmologies and literary myths that offer cold comfort, the personal and the public collide in The Best American Essays 2019. This searching, necessary collection grapples with what has preoccupied us in the past year—sexual politics, race, violence, invasive technologies—and yet, in reading for the book, Solnit also found &“how discovery can be a deep pleasure.&” The Best American Essays 2019 includes Michelle Alexander, Jabari Asim, Alexander Chee, Masha Gessen, Jean Guerrero, Elizabeth Kolbert, Terese Marie Mailhot, Jia Tolentino, and others.The Best American Short Stories 2013 (The Best American Series)
By Elizabeth Strout. 2013
&“As our vision becomes more global, our storytelling is stretching in many ways. Stories increasingly change point of view, switch…
location, and sometimes pack as much material as a short novel might,&” writes guest editor Elizabeth Strout. &“It&’s the variety of voices that most indicates the increasing confluence of cultures involved in making us who we are.&” The Best American Short Stories 2013 presents an impressive diversity of writers who dexterously lead us into their corners of the world. In &“Miss Lora,&” Junot Díaz masterfully puts us in the mind of a teenage boy who throws aside his better sense and pursues an intimate affair with a high school teacher. Sheila Kohler tackles innocence and abuse as a child wanders away from her mother, in thrall to a stranger she believes is the &“Magic Man.&” Kirstin Valdez Quade&’s &“Nemecia&” depicts the after-effects of a secret, violent family trauma. Joan Wickersham&’s &“The Tunnel&” is a tragic love story about a mother&’s declining health and her daughter&’s helplessness as she struggles to balance her responsibility to her mother and her own desires. New author Callan Wink&’s &“Breatharians&” unsettles the reader as a farm boy shoulders a grim chore in the wake of his parents&’ estrangement.&“Elizabeth Strout was a wonderful reader, an author who knows well that the sound of one&’s writing is just as important as and indivisible from the content,&” writes series editor Heidi Pitlor. &“Here are twenty compellingly told, powerfully felt stories about urgent matters with profound consequences.&”The Best American Short Stories 2014 (The Best American Series)
By Heidi Pitlor. 2014
“The literary ‘Oscars’ features twenty outstanding examples of the best of the best in American short stories.” — Shelf Awareness…
for ReadersThe Best American Short Stories 2014 will be selected by national best-selling author Jennifer Egan, who won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction for A Visit from the Goon Squad, heralded by Time magazine as “a new classic of American fiction.” Egan “possesses a satirist’s eye and a romance novelist’s heart” (New York Times Book Review).The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2014 (The Best American Series)
By Daniel Handler. 2014
“Lively, eclectic and surprising.” — Minneapolis Star TribuneDaniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, author of the enormously popular young adult series A Series of…
Unfortunate Events, takes over as editor for this volume. He will work with the students of 826 Valencia and 826 Michigan writing labs to compile new fiction, nonfiction, poetry, comics, and other category-defying gems, ensuring that “if you need to fall in love with reading again — or just want a reminder that high school students deserve a lot more than their reading lists give them — then this is the book for you” (Bust).The Best American Essays 2021 (The Best American Series)
By Robert Atwan. 2021
A collection of the year&’s best essays, selected by award-winning journalist and New Yorker staff writer Kathryn Schulz&“The world is abundant…
even in bad times,&” guest editor Kathryn Schulz writes in her introduction, &“it is lush with interestingness, and always, somewhere, offering up consolation or beauty or humor or happiness, or at least the hope of future happiness.&” The essays Schulz selected are a powerful time capsule of 2020, showcasing that even if our lives as we knew them stopped, the beauty to be found in them flourished. From an intimate account of nursing a loved one in the early days of the pandemic, to a masterful portrait of grieving the loss of a husband as the country grieved the loss of George Floyd, this collection brilliantly shapes the grief, hardship, and hope of a singular year.The Best American Essays 2021 includes ELIZABETH ALEXANDER • HILTON ALS • GABRIELLE HAMILTON • RUCHIR JOSHI • PATRICIA LOCKWOOD• CLAIRE MESSUD • WESLEY MORRIS • BETH NGUYEN • JESMYN WARD and othersThe Best American Essays 2020 (The Best American Series)
By André Aciman, Robert Atwan. 2020
A collection of the year&’s best essays selected by André Aciman, author of the worldwide bestseller Call Me by Your Name. &“An…
essay is the child of uncertainty,&” André Aciman contends in his introduction to The Best American Essays 2020. &“The struggle to write what one hopes is entirely true, and the long incubation every piece of writing requires of a writer who is thinking difficult thoughts, are what ultimately give the writing its depth, its magnitude, its grace.&” The essays Aciman selected center on people facing moments of deep uncertainty, searching for a greater truth. From a Black father&’s confrontation of his son&’s illness, to a divorcée&’s transcendent experience with strangers, to a bartender grieving the tragic loss of a friend, these stories are a master class not just in essay writing but in empathy, artfully imbuing moments of hardship with understanding and that elusive grace. The Best American 2020 Essays includes RABIH ALAMEDDINE • BARBARA EHRENREICH • LESLIE JAMISON JAMAICA KINCAID • ALEX MARZANO-LESNEVICH • A. O. SCOTT • JERALD WALKER • STEPHANIE POWELL WATTS and othersThe Best American Mystery Stories 2018 (The Best American Series)
By Otto Penzler, Louise Penny. 2018
#1 New York Times best-selling author of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels, Louise Penny brings her &“nerve and skill—as…
well as heart&” (Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post) to selecting the best short mystery and crime fiction of the year. Writing short stories takes &“Skill. Discipline. Knowledge of the form while not being formulaic,&” contends Louise Penny in her introduction. &“In a short story there is nowhere to hide. Each must be original, fresh, inspired.&” Originality is just what&’s in store for readers of the twenty clever, creative selections in The Best American Mystery Stories 2018. There&’s no hiding from a Nigerian confidence game, a drug made of dinosaur bones, a bombing at an oil company, a reluctant gunfighter in the Old West, and the many other scams, dangers, and thrills lurking in its suspenseful pages. The Best American Mystery Stories 2018 includes T. C. Boyle, James Lee Burke, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Charlaine Harris, Andrew Klavan, Martin Limón, Joyce Carol Oates, and others.The Penguin Book of First World War Stories
By Anne-Marie Einhaus. 2007
An anthology of Great War short stories by British writers, both famous and lesser-known authors, men and women, during the…
war and after its end. These stories are able to illustrate the impact of the Great War on British society and culture and the many modes in which short fiction contributed to the war's literature. The selection covers different periods: the war years themselves, the famous boom years of the late 1920s to the more recent past in which the First World War has received new cultural interest.Salonika burning
By Gail Jones. 2022
Macedonia,1917. The great city of Salonika is engulfed by fire as all of Europe is ravaged by war. Amid the…
destruction are those who have come to the frontlines to heal: surgeons, ambulance drivers, nurses, orderlies and other volunteers. Four of them – Stella, Olive, Grace and Stanley – are at the centre of Gail Jones’s new novel, which takes its inspiration from the wartime experiences of Australians Miles Franklin and Olive King, and British painters Grace Pailthorpe and Stanley Spencer. In Jones’s imagination these four lives intertwine and change, each compelled by the desire to create something meaningful in the ruins of a broken world.The Best American Mystery Stories 2015 (The Best American Series)
By James Patterson. 2015
This anthology of 20 short stories features some of today&’s best mystery authors—from Lee Child to Jeffrey Deaver and Joyce…
Carol Oates.For the 2015 edition of The Best American Mystery Stories, guest editor James Patterson presents twenty tales with all the tension, drama, and visceral emotion of Oscar-worthy cinema. These stories features characters who must make desperate choices: an imaginative bank-robbing couple, a vengeful high school shooter, a lovesick heiress who will do anything for her man, and many others. In one standout entry, Michael Connelly and Dennis Lehane team up to send legendary detective Harry Bosch after a child abductor. The Best American Mystery Stories, 2015 includes Tomiko M. Breland, Brendan DuBois, Janette Turner Hospital, Theresa E. Lehr, Doug Allyn, Andrew Bourelle, Joseph D&’Agnese, Scott Grand, John M. Floyd, Steven Heighton, Richard Lange, Theresa E. Lehr, Lee Martin, and others.&“These edgy tales strike hard and fast but Leave vivid memories behind.&”—KirkusThree British Mystery Novels
By Thomas Brown, David Stuart Davies, Nikki Dudley. 2018
Three authors, three mysteries. Lynnwood, by Thomas Brown, was a finalist in the People’s Book PrizeThe unthinkable is happening in…
Lynnwood ‒ a village with centuries of guilt on its conscience.Who wouldn’t want to live in an idyllic village in the English countryside like Lynnwood? With its charming pub, old dairy, friendly vicar, gurgling brooks, and old paths with memories of simpler times.A Taste for Blood, by David Stuart DaviesTwo plots running parallel... you won’t see what’s comingTwo laser-sharp detectives, two thought-provoking cases and two skilful plots.Featuring private investigator Johnny (One Eye) Hawke, and his one-time colleague in the police force Detective David Llewellyn. Llewellyn is investigating the chilling crimes of a top psychiatrist and his scheming patient who the doctor believes has knuckled under his authority. Hawke is on the case of a mysterious suicide in Edgware Road... soon discovered as not your average suicide.The guts and insight of the two investigators bring both cases to a head ‒ though you won’t even begin to see how until you have turned the last pages.Ellipsis, by Nikki Dudley”Right on time,” Daniel Mansen mouths to Alice as she pushes him to his death. Haunted by these words, Alice becomes obsessed with discovering how a man she didn’t know could predict her actions. On the day of the funeral, Daniel’s cousin, Thom, finds a piece of paper in Daniel’s room detailing the exact time and place of his death.As Thom and Alice both search for answers, they become knotted together in a story of obsession, hidden truths and the gaps in everyday life that can destroy or save a person.Ellipsis is a thriller stemming from what is left unsaid, what bounces around in the mind and evaporates when trying to remember. Can there be a conclusion when no-one seems to know the truth?Reviews of the three titles are available on individual title pagesThe World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories: First Annual Collection (World's Finest Mystery & Crime Stories #1)
By Doug Allyn, Lawrence Block, Jeffery Deaver. 2000
In the tradition of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror and The Year's Best Science Fiction, The World's Finest Crime…
and Mystery Stories, First Annual Edition finally fills the void for those with a hunger for the best mystery and suspense stories of the past year.Including such bestselling authors as Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth George, Faye Kellerman, Jonathan Kellerman, Ed McBain, Anne Perry, and Ruth Rendell, plus many, many others, this volume will positively blow the competition away. For, unlike the other various mystery anthologies, The World's Finest Crime and Mystery Stories collects stories from writers around the globe, including Britain's Silver Dagger short-fiction award winners. It will also be almost twice as big, weighing in at more than 200,000 words, and will arrive two months before the competition.This comprehensive anthology promises to be the definitive annual collection of the very best mystery and suspense stories the world over.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.The World's Finest Mystery & Crime Stories, Second Annual Collection: Second Annual Collection (World's Finest Mystery & Crime Stories #2)
By Lawrence Block, Jan Burke, Dorothy Cannell. 2001
It's not easy to collect, in a single volume, the finest mystery and suspense fiction the world has to offer,…
but The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories: Second Annual Collection rises to that challenge, inviting you to discover what Kirkus Reviews dubs " . . . the year's anthology of choice."In his Second Annual collection, Ed Gorman once again brings together the year's most powerful fiction by such outstanding authors as Lawrence Block, Stuart M. Kaminsky, Ed McBain, Joyce Carol Oates, Ian Rankin, and Donald E. Westlake. The volume also abounds with fresh new stories by newer authors, from U. S. publications, and also from sources on other shores, including England, Germany, and the Netherlands.Ed Gorman set benchmark for great mystery and suspense fiction with the First Annual Collection. Overflowing with award-winning authors and terrific stories, The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories: Second Annual Collection also promises to be a treasure for anyone who loves a mystery.More than 200,000 words of superlative mystery and suspense fiction from around the world, with stories by:Lawrence BlockJan BurkeDorothy CannellClark HowardPeter LoveseyJoyce Carol OatesNancy PickardBill PronziniIan RankinAnd many othersA Banquet of Mystery and Crime FictionFor those who love outstanding mystery and crime reading, award-winning author and editor, Ed Gorman, has once again collected the best stories of the year from around the world. Immerse yourself in stories that baffle, tantalize, and delight, by the following authors:Miguel AgustíDoug AllynNoreen AyresRobert BarnardLawrence BlockJan BurkeDorothy CannellStanley CohenMat CowardPeter CrowtherBrendan DuBoisJurgen EhlersPete HamillJoseph HansenEdward D. HochClark HowardStuart M. KaminskyRichard LaymonGillian LinscottPeter LoveseyJohn LutzChristine MatthewsEd McBainBob MendesDenise MinaJoyce Carol OatesGary PhillipsNancy PickardBill PronziniRobert J. RandisiIan RankinLes RobertsPeter RobinsonS. J. RozanKristine Kathryn RuschDonald E. WestlakeAt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.Small Pleasures: A Novel
By Clare Chambers. 2021
In the best tradition of Tessa Hadley, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Ann Patchett—an astonishing, keenly observed period piece about an ordinary…
British woman in the 1950s whose dutiful life takes a sudden turn into a pitched battle between propriety and unexpected passion."With wit and dry humor...quietly affecting in unexpected ways. Chambers' language is beautiful, achieving what only the most skilled writers can: big pleasure wrought from small details."--The New York TimesLONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION1957: Jean Swinney is a feature writer on a local paper in the southeast suburbs of London. Clever but with limited career opportunities and on the brink of forty, Jean lives a dreary existence that includes caring for her demanding widowed mother, who rarely leaves the house. It’s a small life with little joy and no likelihood of escape.That all changes when a young woman, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts the paper to claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth. Jean seizes onto the bizarre story and sets out to discover whether Gretchen is a miracle or a fraud. But the more Jean investigates, the more her life becomes strangely (and not unpleasantly) intertwined with that of the Tilburys, including Gretchen’s gentle and thoughtful husband Howard, who mostly believes his wife, and their quirky and charming daughter Margaret, who becomes a sort of surrogate child for Jean. Gretchen, too, becomes a much-needed friend in an otherwise empty social life.Jean cannot bring herself to discard what seems like her one chance at happiness, even as the story that she is researching starts to send dark ripples across all their lives…with unimaginable consequences.Both a mystery and a love story, Small Pleasures is a literary tour-de-force in the style of The Remains of the Day, about conflict between personal fulfillment and duty; a novel that celebrates the beauty and potential for joy in all things plain and unfashionable.Dixie City Jam (Dave Robicheaux #7)
By James Lee Burke. 1994
From two-time Edgar Award–winner and New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke comes a thrilling novel—now available in ebook—that…
pits Dave Robicheaux against the worst opponent he’s encountered yet.It&’s out there, under the salt of the Gulf of Mexico, off the Louisiana coast—a buried Nazi submarine. Detective Dave Robicheaux of the New Iberia Sheriff&’s office has known of its existence since childhood, when he was terrified by nightmares of the evil Nazi sailors just offshore. Then, as a teenager he stumbled upon the sunken sub while scuba diving—but for years he kept the secret of its watery grave. But decades later, a powerful Jewish activist wants the sub raised, and Robicheaux&’s knowledge puts him at the center of a terrifying struggle of conflicting desires. A neo-Nazi psychopath named Will Buchalter, who insists that the Holocaust was a hoax, wants to find the submarine first—and he&’ll stop at nothing to get Robicheaux to talk. With colorful characters, flawless plotting, and devilishly clever dialogue, Dixie City Jam is a spine-tingling suspense novel you won&’t want to miss!Burning Angel (Dave Robicheaux #8)
By James Lee Burke. 1995
From the New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke comes another brilliant Dave Robicheaux novel—now available in ebook—featuring the…
Louisiana detective in a race to solve a murder before more blood is shed.The Fontenot family has lived as sharecroppers on Bertrand land for as long as anyone can remember. So why are they now being forced from their homes? And what does the murder of Della Landry—the girlfriend of New Orleans fixer Sonny Boy Marsallus—have to do with it? Marsallus&’s secrets seem tied to those of the Fontenots. But can Detective Dave Robicheaux make sense of it all before more bodies drop? In James Lee Burke&’s intense and powerful crime novel, Robicheaux digs deep into the bad blood and dirty secrets of Louisiana&’s past—while confronting a ragtag alliance of local mobsters and a hired assassin. In the suspenseful series that continues to be both a critical and popular success, Burning Angel will keep you glued to the pages until the breathtaking finale.East Jerusalem Noir
By Rawya Jarjoura Burbara. 2023
In East Jerusalem Noir—published simultaneously with West Jerusalem Noir—the Akashic Noir Series turns its gaze to one of the world’s most fascinating…
locales, in this volume from the perspective of Palestinian writers; translated from Arabic. "East Jerusalem's thorny politics run through each of the thirteen stories comprising this sturdy entry in Akashic's long-running regional noir series, which is being published simultaneously with West Jerusalem Noir . . . Written with passion and empathy, the volume's strength lies in giving voice to the varied experiences of Palestinians who live, work, and write in one of the world's most complicated cities. It's a fascinating glimpse of life under occupation." —Publishers Weekly FROM THE EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION: "When you move through the streets of Jerusalem today, you will notice that history surrounds you from all sides. You hear Adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, recited by the muezzin from the Dome of the Rock; you hear the bells of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the Christians pray, accompanied by the voices of the Jewish worshippers at the Wailing Wall. You are filled with awe and stand helpless to do anything except feel both joy and sadness at the same time. Your feelings mingle, your thoughts get confused, and you peer at the sky waiting for God's mercy and relief . . . The stories here are varied, and I did not interfere with the writers' content. I asked them to portray the city of Jerusalem as they live it, as they feel it, as they appreciate it, as they fear it, as they want it to be, and as they imagine it in the past, the present, and the future . . . And now we put the black box in your hands! Kindly open it to reveal the secrets of Jerusalem and its people, who wake up to the sound of a forgotten rooster from a previous era to declare the beginning of a new dawn, so that life will not stop recording its new diary entries." Featuring brand-new stories by: Nuzha Abu Ghosh, Ibrahim Jouhar, Osama Alaysa, Rahaf al-Sa'ad, Ziad Khadash, Mahmoud Shukair, Iyad Shamasnah, Rafiqa Othman, Dima al-Samman, Majid Abu Ghosh, Muhammad Shuraim, Jameel al-Salhout, and Nuzha al-Ramlawi. Translated from Arabic by: Roger Allen, Marilyn Booth, Catherine Cobham, Raphael Cormack, Sawad Hussain, Dr. Nazih Kassis, Nancy Roberts, and Max Weiss. East Jerusalem Noir is being published simultaneously with West Jerusalem Noir, edited by Maayan Eitan. The companion volume explores the city with brand-new stories by Israeli authors.No trace (Gabe Ahern #2)
By Michael Trant. 2023
'Did you have to kill them all?' It's the question Gabe Ahern has been running from since he bust open…
a major criminal operation - and left a dozen men dead. He knows that one day the 'bad guys' will come for revenge. A skilled dog-trapper, Gabe has one rule- leave no sign, leave no trace. And for the last year he's been successfully hiding out on a friend's remote cattle property in the Pilbara. But when Goldmont Station opens its gates to a bunch of city folk eager for an authentic outback experience, Gabe can feel eyes on his back. Are all these visitors really tourists? In the space of 24 hours, the station's helicopter falls from the sky... the phones and internet go down...and one of the guests turns up dead. With major flooding suddenly cutting off all exit roads, Gabe fears he's as trapped as the dogs he hunts. And that his bloody past has finally caught up with him.Chicago Noir: The Classics (Akashic Noir #0)
By Harry Stephen Keeler, Sherwood Anderson, Max Allan Collins, Richard Wright, Nelson Algren, Fredric Brown, Patricia Highsmith, Barry Gifford, Stuart M. Kaminsky, Libby Fischer Hellmann, Sara Paretsky, Percy Spurlark Parker, Sandra Cisneros, Hugh Holton, Stuart Dybek. 2014
"In this superior entry in Akashic's noir series, Meno offers nearly a century of Chicago crime fiction....Familiar bylines abound: Max…
Allan Collins, Richard Wright, Nelson Algren, Sherwood Anderson, Fredric Brown, Patricia Highsmith (with an excerpt from her novel The Price of Salt), Stewart M. Kaminsky, Sara Paretsky. Others may be less familiar to mystery specialists, but all turn in impressive performances."--Publishers Weekly, Starred review"Richard Wright, Nelson Algren, and Sandra Cisneros are not crime-fiction writers, and yet their Chicago certainly embodies the individual-crushing ethos endemic to noir. Meno also includes stories from writers who could easily have been overlooked (Percy Spurlark Parker, Hugh Holton) to ensure that diverse voices, and neighborhoods, are represented. Add in smart and essential choices from Fredric Brown, Sara Paretsky, and Stuart Kaminsky, and you have not an anthology not for crime-fiction purists, perhaps, but a thought-provoking document all the same."--Booklist"The fifteen short stories comprising Chicago Noir: The Classics, which are knowledgeably compiled and deftly edited by Joe Meno, are true gems of the noir literary tradition....Chicago Noir: The Classics is a consistently entertaining and will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to community library Mystery/Suspense collections."--Midwest Book Review"I've always enjoyed reading noir. Dark, ironic mysteries are a good read to me. Since this collection includes old classics as well as some new stories, I knew it would be good....I wasn't disappointed."--Journey of a Bookseller"Chicago Noir The Classics does everything anthologies and noir are supposed to, but this title achieves an unheralded goal that deserves notice....This is wonderful diversity, coming both unexpected and unhearalded. Anthologies are supposed to convey a sense of having covered the territory, Joe Meno has. Ethnically diverse city, ethnically diverse plots. Better, Chicago Noir The Classics showcases diversity as normal, everyday. This adds inescapable satisfaction to a sense of the editor's having covered the territory."--La Bloga"A worthy addition to the Akashic Books noir series."--Book ChaseAlthough Los Angeles may be considered the most quintessentially "noir" American city, this volume reveals that pound-for-pound, Chicago has historically been able to stand up to any other metropolis in the noir arena.Classic reprints from: Harry Stephen Keeler, Sherwood Anderson, Max Allan Collins, Richard Wright, Nelson Algren, Fredric Brown, Patricia Highsmith, Barry Gifford, Stuart M. Kaminsky, Libby Fischer Hellmann, Sara Paretsky, Percy Spurlark Parker, Sandra Cisneros, Hugh Holton, and Stuart Dybek.From the introduction by Joe Meno:"More corrupt than New York, less glamorous than LA, Chicago has more murders per capita than any other city its size. With its sleek skyscrapers bisecting the fading sky like an unspoken threat, Chicago is the closest metropolis to the mythical city of shadows as first described in the work of Chandler, Hammett, and Cain. Only in Chicago do instituted color lines offer generation after generation of poverty and violence, only in Chicago do the majority of governors do prison time, only in Chicago do the dead actually vote twice."Chicago--more than the metropolis that gave the world Al Capone, the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, the death of John Dillinger, the crimes of Leopold and Loeb, the horrors of John Wayne Gacy, the unprecedented institutional corruption of so many recent public officials, more than the birthplace of Raymond Chandler--is a city of darkness. This darkness is not an act of over-imagination. It's the unadulterated truth. It's a pointed though necessary reminder of the grave tragedies of the past and the failed possibilities of the present. Fifty years in the future, I hope these stories are read only as fiction, as somewhat distant fantasy. Here's hoping for some light."Las Vegas Noir (Akashic Noir #0)
By Jarret Keene, Todd James Pierce. 2008
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. Launched by the summer '04 award-winning bestseller Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. 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. Brand-new stories by: John O’Brien, David Corbett, Scott Phillips, Nora Pierce, Bliss Esposito, Felicia Campbell, Jaq Greenspon, José Skinner, Pablo Medina, Christine McKellar, Lori Kozlowski, Vu Tran, Celeste Starr, Preston L. Allen, Tod Goldberg, and Janet Berliner. ?? Las Vegas provides the classic sophistication and darkness necessary for a deadly noir story. Stylish, sultry, brimming with ambition and greed, the characters that populate this literary Las Vegas are pushed to the extremes of human experience. From the neon glitter of the Strip to the treacherous views of Red Rock Canyon and Boulder City, from the desperation of Naked City to the racial tensions of the Westside, no other location offers so many different avenues leading to serious trouble. Many legendary authors have turned their attention to Vegas to investigate the city's moods and mysteries. Now, the most recent crop of acclaimed writers explore the secret neighborhoods and byways of America's most sinful city, offering readers not only compelling noir tales but also an insider's understanding of this steamy oasis. These authors take readers beneath the surface flash of Freemont Street and the Strip and into the gritty multicultural environs of underground Vegas. Jarret Keene is author/editor of three books, including the poetry collection Monster Fashion, the alt-travel tome The Underground Guide to Las Vegas, and the unauthorized rock bio The Killers: Destiny Is Calling Me. He lives in Las Vegas. Todd James Pierce is the author of three books, including the novel A Woman of Stone and the short story collection Newsworld, which won the 2006 Drue Heinz Literature Prize. He is an assistant professor of English at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo, California.??