Moscow Noir

Moscow Noir
Author: Natalia Smirnova
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2010
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1936070065

The more one watches Moscow, the more it looks like a huge chameleon that keeps changing its face; and it isn't always pretty. Despite its stunning outward lustre, Moscow is above all a city of broken dreams and unrealised utopias, and all manner of scum oozes through the gap between dream and reality. Moscow Noir is an attempt to turn the tourist Moscow of gingerbread and woodcuts, of glitz and big money, inside out; an attempt to show its fetid womb and make sense of the desolation that reigns there.

St. Petersburg Noir

St. Petersburg Noir
Author: Julia Goumen
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2012-08-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1617751227

“Fourteen uniformly strong stories in [this] outstanding noir anthology devoted to Russia’s second city . . . an ideal backdrop for crime fiction.” —Publishers Weekly The origins of St. Petersburg’s rich noir tradition come from the city’s history, urban landscape, and the weather. The freezing winds from the Baltics give rise to hopelessness, despair, and the darkest of humor. The swamps upon which the city was built cloak it in a thick haze that inspires ghostly tales and furtive behaviors. In St. Petersburg Noir, you’ll find original stories by Lena Eltang, Sergei Nosov, Alexander Kudriavstev, Andrei Kivinov, Julia Belomlinsky, Natalia Kurchatova & Ksenia Venglinskaya, Anton Chizh, Vladimir Berezin, Andrei Rubanov, Vadim Levental, Anna Solovey, Mikhail Lialin, Pavel Krusanov, and Eugene Kogan. “The Russian soul is well suited to a style defined by dark, hard-edged moodiness in underground settings. With St. Petersburg, the tsar’s ‘Window on Europe,’ we get European-style existential angst as well—not to mention the scary sociopolitical realities of the new Russia . . . For all sophisticated crime fiction readers.” —Library Journal “A riveting collection. An insightful ‘tour’ of St. Petersburg. And a spellbinding introduction to Russian literature and perspective.” —Killer Nashville

Portland Noir

Portland Noir
Author: Kevin Sampsell
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2009
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1933354798

In a city full of police controversies, hippie artist punk houses, and overzealous liberals, Portland, Oregon, is a place where even its fiction blurs with its bizarre realities. Brand-new stories by: Gigi Little, Justin Hocking, Christopher Bolton, Jess Walter, Monica Drake, Jamie S. Rich (illustrated by Joelle Jones), Dan DeWeese, Zoe Trope, Luciana Lopez, Karen Karbo, Bill Cameron, Ariel Gore, Floyd Skloot, Megan Kruse, Kimberly Warner-Cohen, and Jonathan Selwood. Editor Kevin Sampsell is a bookstore employee and writer. He is the author of a short story collection, Creamy Bullets (Chiasmus Press), and the upcoming memoir The Suitcase (HarperPerennial, summer 2009). He is also the editor of The Insomniac Reader (Manic D Press) and the publisher of the micropress Future Tense Books.

D.C. Noir 2

D.C. Noir 2
Author: George P. Pelecanos
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2008
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1933354585

Pelecanos has established himself as D.C.'s reigning King of Noir, but here he pays tribute to the city's other great chroniclers of darkness, past and present, including Edward P. Jones, Paul Lawrence Dunbar and Richard Wright, among others.

Pittsburgh Noir

Pittsburgh Noir
Author: Kathleen George
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2011
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1936070936

Pittsburgh has recently been called 'the most liveable city in America' - yet the old image of smoky skies and steel mills spewing forth grit has never quite disappeared. Its history as a dirty industrial centre is part of its inhabitants - and part of their toughness. The people of the steel city fight. What is Pittsburgh to noir and noir to Pittsburgh? It certainly has its rough streets and grisly murders. But dark crime stories depend on something in addition to killing. In Pittsburgh Noir, the real story is the dark underbelly of existence.

Brussels Noir

Brussels Noir
Author: Michel Dufranne
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2016-07-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1617754633

“Brussels, Belgium’s cosmopolitan, multilingual capital, has it[s] criminal underside, as shown in the 13 dark—and sometimes darkly humorous—stories” (Publishers Weekly). From the historic city center to the Palais de Justice to the pubs, this collection contains crime fiction tales, often with a touch of the surreal and the dystopian, that reveal the stranger and seamier side of the city known as the “capital of Europe.” Includes brand-new stories by Barbara Abel, Ayerdhal, Paul Colize, Jean-Luc Cornette, Patrick Delperdange, Sara Doke, Kenan Görgün, Edgar Kosma, Katia Lanero Zamora, Nadine Monfils, Alfredo Noriega, Bob Van Laerhoven, and Émilie de Béco. “A perfect choice for those who love noir or those who love armchair traveling, this assortment of short stories gives the reader a glimpse into what life in the Belgian capital is like. An excellent entry in Akashic Books’ noir series, which began with Brooklyn Noir more than a decade ago, Brussels Noir takes readers through the underbelly of yet another fascinating locale.” —Shelf Awareness for Readers “Akashic Books deserves kudos for their fine service to noir . . . If these volumes are designed to give crime writers a nifty forum and also capture the local flair and flavor, Brussels Noir is a fine come-hither.” —New York Journal of Books

Memphis Noir

Memphis Noir
Author: Laureen P. Cantwell
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2015-11-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 161775420X

“A collection of stories celebrating the underbelly of the city, its ghosts, and the characters that give Memphis its rich patina of blues.” —Memphis Flyer The Home of the Blues knows how darkness can permeate a person’s soul—and what it can drive you to do. It’s the soundtrack to a city that’s made up of equal parts hope and despair, past and present, death and rebirth. On the streets of Memphis, noir hits the right note. Memphis Noir features stories by city standouts Richard J. Alley, David Wesley Williams, Dwight Fryer, Jamey Hatley, Adam Shaw, Penny Register-Shaw, Kaye George, Arthur Flowers, Suzanne Berube Rorhus, Ehi Ike, Lee Martin, Stephen Clements, Cary Holladay, John Bensko, Sheree Renée Thomas, and Troy L. Wiggins. “A remarkable picture of contemporary Memphis emerges in this Akashic noir volume . . . Something for everyone.” —Publishers Weekly “Covers train cars and Beale Street, hoodoo and segregation, Nathan Bedford Forrest and, of course, Graceland, and even includes a graphic novella.” —Memphis Flyer “Captures the subtlety of the Memphis ethos, where blacks and whites, rich and poor, are intimately entwined. The collection—fifteen stories by some of the city’s finest writers—bleeds the blues and calls down the dark powers that permeate this capital of the Delta.” —The Commercial Appeal (Memphis) “The new anthology Memphis Noir is replete with murders, ghosts, gangsters, a sharp-toothed baby, Boss Crump, and high water on the bluff.” —Memphis Magazine

Stockholm Noir

Stockholm Noir
Author: Nathan Larson
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2016-03-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1617752975

"Stockholm Noir "joins "Copenhagen Noir "and "Helsinki Noir "in powerfully representing the Akashic Noir Series in Scandinavia.

Rio Noir

Rio Noir
Author: Tony Bellotto
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2016-06-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1617753122

With Rio Noir, the Akashic Noir Series delves for the first time into South America.