Sketches of Gotham by Ike Swift offers a concentrated, compelling experience within fiction / literary. This concise work presents carefully drawn characters and purposeful plotting that together explore themes of choice, consequence, and human connection. The prose is precise and economical, balancing vivid scenes with clear pacing to maintain narrative momentum. Ideal for readers seeking a thoughtful, accessible read, the book is well-suited to book clubs and classroom discussion. Its in...

Gritty all-new crime stories set in the bustling Texas city, by Ben Fountain, Kathleen Kent, James Hime, and many more.In a country with so many interesting cities, Dallas is often overlooked—except on November 22 every year. On that day in 1963, Dallas became American noir. This collection of crime stories takes its inspiration from the darker corners of everyday life in a city that many associate only with a historic assassination—or a glitzy TV show about oil fo...

Now available in paperback, William C. Banfield’s acclaimed collection of interviews delves into the lives and work of forty-one Black composers. Each of the profiled artists offers a candid self-portrait that explores areas from training and compositional techniques to working in a exclusive canon that has existed for a very long time. At the same time, Banfield draws on sociology, Western concepts of art and taste, and vernacular musical forms like blues and jazz to provide a frame for t...

"A must-read book by Croatian authors available in English. A collection of crime stories set across Zagreb, each one by a different Croatian writer."--Time Out (Croatia)"Zagreb, Croatia--its culture and its touchstones--will be terra incognita for many U.S. readers...Notable is Nora Verde's 'She-Warrior,' in which a young woman's carefully planned anarchist activities are smacked down by a triple helping of reality."--Publishers ...

"If ever a city was made to be the home of noir, it's Chicago. These writers go straight to Chicago's noir heart" (Aleksandar Hemon, National Book Award finalist and New York Times–bestselling author of The Lazarus Project).Chicago's rough-and-tumble tough-guy reputation may have been replaced in recent years by the image of a tourist- and family-friendly town—but that original city isn't gone. The hard-bitten streets once represented by James Far...

Sixteen stories reveal the dark side of Arizona's capital, including tales from #1 New York Times–bestselling authors Lee Child and Diana Gabaldon.Even a desert metropolis has its share of cold-blooded criminals. Along with suburban sprawl, Phoenix is home to shady developers, police corruption, and organized crime. Being close to the country's southern border makes it a hot spot for trafficking humans, guns, and drugs. Though known as the Valley of the Su...

O-H-Oh-No! Fourteen storytellers reveal a gritty side to C-Bus in this collection of crime tales.Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city.With stories by: Lee Martin, Robin Yocum, Kristen Lepionka, Craig McDonald, Chris Bournea, Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Tom Barlow, ...

Southern California is not all sun, sand, and surf in this gripping collection of noir tales from T. Jefferson Parker, Don Winslow, Maria Lima, and others.San Diego is home to miles of beaches, Balboa Park, a world-famous zoo, and some of the country's most expensive home and resort real estate. Yet the city also houses a few items that aren't actively promoted by the visitor's bureau: a number of the country's most corrupt politicians, border-related crimes, terro...

Named a Pick of the Week for the week of February 29th by Publishers Weekly"Grouped under three headings, the 13 stories in this outstanding entry in Akashic's noir series capture the gloomy underside of Sweden's capital, portraying the hopelessness of those trapped in what Larson and Edenborg in their introduction call the city that devours your soul."--Publishers Weekly, Starred review"Coedited by local a...

"St. Louis gets a turn to show its dark side . . . [A] spirited, black-hearted collection" including a story from New York Times–bestselling author John Lutz ( Kirkus Reviews).A vibrant Midwest metropolis, St. Louis has a rich, multicultural history of art and literature—both high and low. That duality is embraced here in an anthology that spans the reaches of noir, from violent criminality to bad luck and bad attitudes.St. Louis Noir

This anthology of Mississippi crime fiction "has produced a unique, delicious flavor of noir" with stories by Ace Atkins, Megan Abott and more ( New York Daily News).From poverty to state corruption, Mississippi has a well-deserved reputation for trouble. Could there be a connection between its many misfortunes and its rich literary legacy? Mississippians from Tennessee Williams and Eudora Welty to Richard Ford and John Grisham certainly know how to tell a...

"A new collection of short fiction stories explores a seedier side of this beach town filled with murder and mystery."— KAZU FMIn Akashic Books' award-winning series of original noir anthologies, each book comprises all new stories set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city. Following in the footsteps of Los Angeles Noir, San Francisco Noir, San Diego Noir, Orange County Noir, and Oakland Noir, "we get a series ...