نوآر برانکس

Fiction by Marlon James, Kevin Baker, and more: “Captures the immense diversity... from the mean streets of the South Bronx to affluent Riverdale” (Publishers Weekly). Set amid landmarks like Yankee Stadium and the Bronx Zoo, in crowded streets or leafy enclaves, this collection of crime and suspense fiction, edited by a winner of multiple major mystery awards, showcases both an exceptional lineup of literary talent and the unique atmosphere of New York City's northern borough. Brand-new stories by Thomas Adcock, Kevin Baker, Thomas Bentil, Lawrence Block, Jerome Charyn, Suzanne Chazin, Terrence Cheng, Ed Dee, Joanne Dobson, Robert Hughes, Marlon James, Sandra Kitt, Rita Laken, Miles Marshall Lewis, Patrick W. Picciarelli, Abraham Rodriguez Jr., S.J. Rozan, Steven Torres, and Joseph Wallace. Launched by the summer '04 award-winning, best-seller 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. Brand new stories by: Jerome Charyn, Lawrence Block, Suzanne Chazin, Terrence Cheng, Pat Picciarelli, Abraham Rodriguez Jr., Kevin Baker, S.J. Rozan, Steven Torres, and others. The Bronx is the only New York City Borough on the mainland of North America. Which doesn't stop it from being a country all its own. As any Bronxite will tell you, being from Da Bronx is a permanent condition, no matter where you end up, and Bronx Geography is played from Alaska to Florida, from Paris to Trinidad. Originally a huge farm estate belonging to one Jacob Bronck ("Yonkers' Where's that'" "Just north of the Broncks'." Get it'), the borough has as many diverse social ecosystems as the Amazon has biological ones. For a time in the '70s and '80s the name was synonymous (to non-Bronxites) with a vast urban maelstrom of lawlessness and decay. But the place was always more complicated than that. There's the Bronx Zoo, and the Botanical Garden; there are universities and Yankee Stadium, grand estates and squalid housing projects, the sinking Concourse and nautical City Island. This is not to say crime isn't, potentially, everywhere. Just that the Bronx has more everywheres than most people imagine. The writers represented in Bronx Noir know the borough so well that, reading the book, you'll smell it, feel it, see it, hear it. The sights and scents will be multitudinous and as distinct as the neighborhoods. And everyone of them, in all their glorious mutual contradiction, is the Bronx “Powerful. . . . A redemptive and absorbing work."--The New York Times Book Review, on Spidertown“Scary, sexy, exuberant. . . . Rodriguez has seized a truth of our times . . . and given us a crackling good read."--Los Angeles Times Book Review, on Spidertown“Rodriguez uses the repetitiveness of life in the ghetto itself to make the tension and desperation of Spidertown achingly palpable."--People, on Spidertown“A joy to read! Rodriguez's writing has never been more accomplished, more lyrical, more trenchant, or more humane. In these pages you will find marvels, but also a young man writing with the ferocity of life itself."--Junot Díaz, on The Buddha BookWhen Puerto Rican ladies' man Alex awakes one morning to find a mysterious woman in his bed, he assumes he's suffered another embarrassing blackout. He soon learns, however, that Ava is no one-night stand--in fact, he's never met her before. As her story begins to unfold and her reason for appearing in his bed emerges, it is not just Alex's life that she risks, nor her own, but the entire character of the South Bronx.Abraham Rodriguez, Jr. was born and raised in the South Bronx. His first book, The Boy without a Flag, was a 1993 New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His novel Spidertown won a 1995 American Book Award and was optioned by Columbia Pictures. His most recent novel, The Buddha Book, was published by Picador in 2001. He currently lives in Berlin, Germany Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book is comprised of all-new stones, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. Here, best-selling crime writer S.J. Rozan corrals a diverse crew of celebrated authors to highlight the dark magnificence of her native New York City borough.

You can't pack so much yearnings, so many people, such a range of everything-income, ethnicity, occupation, land use-into a single borough, even one as big as the Bronx, and not force the kind of friction that slices and sparks. The Bronx has been home to bigtime gangsters-from the Jewish organized crime of Murder Inc. and the Italian Cosa Nostra to the equally organized drug-dealing gangstas of today. The Third Avenue El was a Hopperesque symbol of urban hopelessness; it's been demolished, but trains on other lines still rumble through the roofscapes of the borough. Prosperity is increasing and drug use is decreasing, but the public housing projects in the Bronx are some of the nation's largest and remain some of its toughest. Many palces in the Bronx seem hidden in shadows, just as the Bronx itself is in Manhattan's shadow. And dark stories develop best in shadows...

White Trash / Jerome Charyn -- Gold Mountain / Terrence Cheng -- Hey, Girlie / Joanne Dobson -- The Woman Who Hated The Bronx / Rita Lakin -- Rude Awakening / Lawrence Block -- Burnout / Suzanne Chazin -- The Cheers Like Waves / Kevin Baker -- Jaguar / Abraham Rodriguez, Jr. -- Early Fall / Steven Torres -- Hothouse / S.j. Rozan -- Lost And Found / Thomas Bentil -- Look What Love Is Doing To Me / Marlon James -- Home Sweet Home / Sandra Kitt -- A Visit To St. Nick's / Robert J. Hughes -- Numbers Up / Miles Marshall Lewis -- The Big Five / Joseph Wallace -- Ernie K.'s Gelding / Ed Dee -- The Prince Of Arthur Avenue / Patrick W. Picciarelli -- You Want I Should Whack Monkey Boy? / Thomas Adcock. Edited By S.j. Rozan. Contents: White trash by Jerome Charyn Gold Mountain by Terrence Cheng Hey, girlie by Joanne Dobson The woman who hated the Bronx by Rita Lakin Rude awakening by Lawrence Block Burnout by Suzanne Chazin The cheers like waves by Kevin Baker Jaguar by Abraham Rodriguez, Jr. Early fall by Steven Torres Hothouse by S.J. Rozan Lost and found by Thomas Bentil Look what love is doing to me by Marlon James Home sweet home by Sandra Kitt A visit to St. Nick's by Robert J. Hughes Numbers up by Miles Marshall Lewis The big five by Joseph Wallace Ernie K.'s gelding by Ed Dee The prince of Arthur Avenue by Patrick W. Picciarelli You want I should whack Monkey Boy? by Thomas Adcock Presents an anthology of chilling stories, each set in a distinct neighborhood of the Bronx, with contributions by such noted mystery writers as Thomas Adcock, Kevin Baker, Lawrence Block, and Suzanne Chazin. S.J. Rozan, Lawrence Block, Kevin Baker, Jerome Charyn, and others brawl with New York City's most rugged borough.