New Orleans Noir: The Classics (Akashic Noir) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 161775384X ISBN 13: 9781617753848

Publisher: Akashic Books, Ltd., 2016

Synopsis

"One installment of noir stories from New Orleans wasn't enough, so Akashic and editor Julie Smith came back with a follow-up focusing on the 'classics.' That means you'll get a healthy portion of noir stories from across New Orleans written by the likes of Tennessee Williams and Eudora Welty, along with more modern offerings from Poppy Z. Brite, Ace Atkins, and Maurice Carlos Ruffin."
--CrimeReads, included in "New Orleans: The Crime Fiction of Carnival"

"[An] irresistible sequel to Smith's New Orleans Noir....Anyone who knows New Orleans even slightly will relish revisiting the city in story after story. For anyone who has never been to New Orleans, this is a great introduction to its neighborhoods and history."
--Publishers Weekly, Starred review

"Ten years after the publication of the original New Orleans Noir, Akashic's 'Noir' series returns with a follow-up....Each entry is strong, but the collection is worth reading alone for Poppy Z. Brite's 'Mussolini and the Axeman's Jazz,' a delirious and brutal ghost story....Strongly recommended for fans of the Akashic anthologies and Hard Case Crime mysteries and lovers of New Orleans fiction. Devotees of Southern gothic fiction (e.g., the works of Flannery O'Connor and Tom Franklin.) will also find much to enjoy."
--Library Journal, Starred review

"Smith, who edited Akashic's original New Orleans Noir (2007), goes back for a second trip to the Big Easy."
--Kirkus Reviews

"A riveting read."
--Back to Books

"Eighteen diverse stories...capture the feeling of this fascinating city. New Orleans Noir: The Classics embraces the city's rich literature and spans two centuries, from the pre-Civil War era to post-Katrina."
--Underrated Reads

"This anthology really has the feel of New Orleans....I enjoyed this batch of stories. Good ones all the way through. Give it a try."
--Journey of a Bookseller

Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each volume comprises stories set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city.

Classic reprints from: James Lee Burke, Armand Lanusse, Grace King, Kate Chopin, O. Henry, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, Shirley Ann Grau, John William Corrington, Tom Dent, Ellen Gilchrist, Valerie Martin, O'Neil De Noux, John Biguenet, Poppy Z. Brite, Nevada Barr, Ace Atkins, and Maurice Carlos Ruffin.

From the introduction by Julie Smith:

"A glittering constellation of writers has passed through New Orleans--including Mark Twain, Sherwood Anderson, O. Henry, and even Walt Whitman, to name some of the not-so-usual suspects. Then there are the ones whose sojourns here are better known, the ones on whom we pride ourselves, such as Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Ellen Gilchrist, and James Lee Burke.

It was an anthologist's feast--just about everybody who came to New Orleans wrote about it. But there were surprises as well...

If you're from New Orleans, the neighborhood theme will resonate like Tibetan temple bells. And yet, surely every city has similar hoods, similar behavior patterns, similar travails--and has had them forever. 'Indeed,' wrote Voltaire, 'history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.'"

About this title

About the Author

Julie Smith is an Edgar Award winner for best novel, and the author of four mystery series set in New Orleans and San Francisco. A former journalist, she has worked for newspapers in both those cities and now lives in New Orleans. She is the owner of booksBnimble, which publishes mysteries and other quality works digitally. In 2007 Smith edited the best-selling anthology New Orleans Noir for Akashic Books.

From Publishers Weekly

The 18 stories in this irresistible sequel to Smith’s New Orleans Noir run chronologically from Armand Lanusse’s “A Marriage of Conscience” (1843), about an unusual social custom of the day, to Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s “Pie Man” (2012), a powerful examination of ethnic tensions in post-Katrina New Orleans. Famous bylines punctuate the book, but even the lesser-known authors hold their own. Former New Orleans police office O’Neil De Noux’s “The Man with Moon Hands” has particular relevance in view of recent controversial police shootings. Ace Atkins’s “Last Fair Deal Gone Down” mixes New Orleans’s traditions of music and crime. There’s one outright ghost story, Poppy Z. Brite’s “Mussolini and the Axeman’s Jazz,” a surrealistic swirl of time travel and assassination. Anyone who knows New Orleans even slightly will relish revisiting the city in story after story. For anyone who has never been to New Orleans, this is a great introduction to its neighborhoods and history. (Mar.)\n

About this edition

• Publisher: Akashic Books, Ltd.
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 161775384X
• ISBN 13: 9781617753848
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 300
• Editor: Smith Julie