Lone Star Noir (Akashic Noir) - Softcover

James Crumley; Luis Alberto Urrea; Joe R. Lansdale; Milton T. Burton; Sarah Cortez; Jessica Powers

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1936070642 ISBN 13: 9781936070640

Publisher: Akashic Books, Ltd., 2010

Synopsis

"Sure to be of regional interest and to appeal to fans of noir or 'dark' fiction, this spicy black brew of sinister thrills is not for the squeamish or the easily offended."
--Library Journal

"Unsettling and shivery."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Crime, like politics, is local. The folks at Akashic Books understand this . . . "Lone Star Noir" is a solid collection. Heck, it better be -- the state's red clay looks like dried blood. Noir grows out of the ground here."
--Austin American-Statesman

"What makes Texas noir different from any other noir? Is it just that the gumshoes wear cowboy boots? . . . Akashic Books finally turns its attention to the biggest state in the Lower 48, but all that land just means more places to bury the bodies. As father-son editing partnership Bobby and Johnny Byrd observe in their introduction, this isn't J.R. Ewing's Lone Star State. This is the Texas of chicken shit bingo, Enron scamsters, and a feeling that what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico. [...] So what defines Texas noir? Who knows, but you better pray that blood doesn't stain your belt buckle."
--Austin Chronicle

Includes brand-new stories by: James Crumley, Joe R. Lansdale, Claudia Smith, Ito Romo, Luis Alberto Urrea, David Corbett, George Weir, Sarah Cortez, Jesse Sublett, Dean James, Tim Tingle, Milton Burton, Lisa Sandlin, Jessica Powers, and Bobby Byrd.

Bobby Byrd is the co-publisher of Cinco Puntos Press in El Paso, Texas. As a poet, Byrd is the recipient of an NEA Fellowship, the D.H. Lawrence Fellowship awarded by the University of New Mexico, and an International Residency Fellowship.

John Byrd, co-publisher of Cinco Puntos Press, is co-editor (with Bobby Byrd) of the anthology Puro Border: Dispatches, Snapshots & Graffiti from La Frontera. He is also a Spanish-to-English translator and a freelance essayist.

About this title

About the Author:

Bobby Byrd: Bobby Byrd—publisher, poet and essayist—is the copublisher of Cinco Puntos Press in El Paso, TX. In 2005, for their work as publishers and for their involvement in the cultural communities of Mexico and the American Southwest, he and his wife Lee Merrill Byrd received the Lannan Fellowship for Cultural Freedom. As a poet Byrd is the recipient of an NEA Fellowship, the D.H. Lawrence Fellowship awarded by the University of New Mexico, and an International Residency Fellowship (NEA/Instituto de Belles Artes de México). His most recent book of poems, White Panties, Dead Friends and Other Bits and Pieces of Love, received the Southwest Book Award (2008). He is also the coeditor, with his son John William Byrd, of the border nonfiction anthology Puro Border: Dispatches, Snapshots, & Graffiti from La Frontera.

John William Byrd: John William Byrd is copublisher of Cinco Puntos Press in El Paso, TX. He is coeditor of the border nonfiction anthology Puro Border: Dispatches, Snapshots, & Graffiti from La Frontera (Cinco Puntos, 2002). As a Spanish-to-English translator, his credits include The Festival of the Bones/El Festival de las Calaveras: The Little Bitty Book for the Day of the Dead by Luis San Martin and the novel Out of Their Minds: The Incredible and (Sometimes) Sad Story of Ramon and Cornelio by Luis Humberto Crosthwaite. Byrd is also a freelance essayist, writing articles for online publications about culture and music.

From Publishers Weekly:

Divided into three sections (Gulf Coast, Back Roads, and Big City), Akashic's Texas noir volume offers mostly unknown names among its 14 contributors. Highlights include Joe R. Lansdale's darkly hilarious "Six-Finger Jack," in which a greedy Texan tries to earn ,000 for killing a crook with more than the usual number of digits; James Crumley's sardonically funny "Luck," in which obnoxious twins push a killer over the edge; and Dean James's "Bottomed Out," about one man's twisted fight to keep his job. Solid reads by lesser known talents include Sarah Cortez's poignant Houston story, "Montgomery Clift"; Jessica Power's gripping "Preacher's Kid"; and Bobby Byrd's bone-chilling El Paso ode, "The Dead Man's Wife," more horror than noir. Some will wonder why the editors missed genre writers known for their Texas settings such as Sandra Brown, Jon Land, Jan Grape, Scott Cupp, Bill Crider, Laurie Moore, Nic Pizzolatto, and Lewis Shiner. (Nov.) (c)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Akashic Books, Ltd.
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1936070642
• ISBN 13: 9781936070640
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 276
• Editor: Bobby Byrd, Johnny Byrd