Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
"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. [Β
] 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.
Synopsis
Texas enters the Akashic Noir Series arena with a dazzling array of terrifying, well-crafted short fiction.
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.)
Editorials
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.)Library Journal
The latest volume in Akashic's well-received series of geographically focused "Noir" anthologies targets a state better known for brutal sun than for murky shadows, but the 14 short stories featured show that the dark places within the human heart can be found in any climate. The editors, copublishers of Cinco Puntos Press, have categorized their selections into "Gulf Coast Texas," "Back Roads Texas," and "Big City Texas" and supply a helpful map to identify their settings for those unfamiliar with Texas geography. Featured authors include both well-known novelists like James Crumley and Joe R. Lansdale and up-and-comers whose previous work has appeared primarily in periodicals. Standout stories include Lansdale's "Six Finger Jack," a pitch-black tale of crime and betrayal in the Piney Woods; Lisa Sandlin's hard-boiled urban detective story "Phelan's First Case"; and Claudia Smith's raunchily disturbing "Catgirl," in which a troubled woman reluctantly recalls a long ago beach vacation with her twin sister, two naΓ―ve high school friends, and her beautiful and amoral mother. Verdict 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.βBradley Scott, Texas A&M Univ., Corpus Christi(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Reviews
Noir and Texas link 14 previously unpublished storiesβtwo first-rate, the rest not bad.
Done to a turn, Claudia Smith's "Catgirl" is a banality-of-evil story centering on four children, girls, aged about 10, and the charismatic mom of two of them. They're nice kids. Maybe the mom drinks more than she should, but essentially these are the people next door. What they get up to, however, you wouldn't want to think of as neighborly. Smith's prose is controlled, shrewdly understated, and the effect is unsettling and shivery. Milton T. Burton's "Cherry Coke" is a tricky little tale about a stranger who wanders into a poker game one night. Coke is the kind of player who can't seem to lose. True enough, he never actually takes a game apart, but at the end of every session he'll pocket winnings. It's the kind of thing, of course, that won't make him universally beloved. Inevitably, there's a confrontation, a nicely staged climax and a satisfyingly enigmatic ending. As for the remainder, they're all determinedly noir, including workaday efforts by well-known figures like Joe R. Lansdale and James Crumley. Coeditor Bobby Byrd contributes a story that fills out the card.
Part of a geographically oriented noir fiction anthology series that began in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir and now includes over 40 more, including Miami, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Moscow and Istanbul Noir. Wait for your town.