Chicago Noir

by Neal Pollack (Editor)

Overview

This isn’t someone’s dream of Chicago. It’s not even a nightmare. It’s just the real city, unfiltered. Chicago Noir.

“The population of Chicago Noir is as diverse as any crowd at the lakefront fireworks show . . . As representative of Chicago as Oprah, MJ and a Gold Coast hot dog.” —Chicago Sun-Times

“Chicago Noir asks us to consider whether Chicago is, specifically, a noir city and, more significantly, how noir plays out in the current landscape . . . Its stories push us to think about how noir might still be relevant beyond a bad-ass sort of nostalgia.” —American Book Review

Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.

Brand-new stories by: Neal Pollack, Achy Obejas, Alexai Galaviz-Budziszewski, Adam Langer, Joe Meno, Peter Orner, Kevin Guilfoile, Bayo Ojikutu, Jeffery Renard Allen, Luciano Guerriero, Claire Zulkey, Andrew Ervin, M.K. Meyers, Todd Dills, C.J. Sullivan, Daniel Buckman, Amy Sayre-Roberts, and Jim Arndorfer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781888451894
Publisher:	Akashic Books, Ltd.
Publication date:	09/01/2005
Series:	Akashic Noir Series
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

NEAL POLLACK worked as a reporter for the Chicago Reader from 1993–2000, where he wrote the “Petty Crime” column, among many other assignments. He’s the author of three books of satire, including the cult classic The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature and the rock ‘n’ roll novel Never Mind the Pollacks. He provided annotations and an introduction for Akashic’s publication of John Adams’s A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America and is the editor of Chicago Noir. His short fiction has appeared in several anthologies and magazines, and he’s a regular contributor to Vanity Fair and Nerve.

Table of Contents

Introduction

“Goodnight Chicago and Amen” by Luciano Guerriero (99th & Drexel)

“The Gospel of Moral Ends” by Bayo Ojikutu (77th & Jeffery)

“Dear Mr. Kleczka” by Peter Orner (54th & Blackstone)

“The Near Remote” by Jeffery Renard Allen (35th & Michigan)

“Destiny Returns” by Achy Obejas (26th & Kedvale)

“The Great Billik” by Claire Zulkey (19th & Sacramento)

“Maximillian” by Alexai Galaviz-Budziszewski (18th & Allport)

“All Happy Families” by Andrew Ervin (Canal & Jackson)

“Monkey Head” by M.K. Meyers (Grand & Western)

“Zero Zero Day” by Kevin Guilfoile (Grand & Racine)

“Arcadia” by Todd Dills (Chicago & Noble)

“Alex Pinto Hears the Bell” by C.J. Sullivan (North & Troy)

“Pure Products” by Daniel Buckman (Roscoe & Claremont)

“Death Mouth” by Amy Sayre-Roberts (Roscoe & Broadway)

“Like a Rocket with a Beat” by Joe Meno (Lawrence & Broadway)

“Marty’s Drink or Die Club” by Neal Pollack (Clark & Foster)

“Bobby Kagan Knows Everything” by Adam Langer (Albion & Whipple)

“The Oldest Rivalry” by Jim Arndorfer (I-94, Lake Forest Oasis)

Editorial Reviews

"Chicago shouts noir from the top of the Sears Tower to the nether regions of Wacker Drive, from the crime-ridden West Side to the moneyed taint of the North . . . Perhaps most impressive about Pollack’s collection is the wide variety of writers selected to contribute."

Newcity

"Marshaling the talents of eighteen award winning and acclaimed writers, most of whom have professional and/or personal ties to Chicago, Pollack . . . pays homage to the city that epitomizes the noir genre . . . Demonstrating crisp, riveting pacing, dialog redolent with sardonic despair, and dark, nihilistic atmosphere, nearly all the entries are stellar examples of noir at its best."

ForeWord

"The latest urban noir anthology provides the audience with eighteen delightful tales that pay homage to the ethnic neighborhoods and to the sports teams."

Midwest Book Review

"The stories that editor Pollack has chosen to represent his former hometown vary wildly in voices, approaches and style . . . New interpretations, juxtaposed with classic structures, bring together the different faces of Chicago: North and South, old and new."

TimeOut Chicago

"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

While not up to the standard set by Brooklyn Noir, the inaugural volume in Akashic's city-themed noir series, the Chicago entry offers 18 all-original stories that illustrate Chicago's great ethnic diversity, pay homage to its sports teams (particularly the Cubs) and invoke its cultural past from jazz to Prohibition. Unfortunately, most of the selections lack the kind of visceral punch the best noir stories carry. One wishes, too, that the editor had been able to add some familiar names associated with Chicago crime fiction (e.g., Max Allan Collins, Sara Paretsky, Barbara D'Amato) to what is largely a roster of lesser knowns. The standout is perhaps Kevin Guilfoile's cleverly imagined and brilliantly executed tale, "Zero Zero Day," about a man obsessed with monitoring police calls. Also notable are C.J. Sullivan's "Alex Pinto Hears the Bell," about an aging boxer given one last shot at capturing some ring glory; Pollack's "Marty's Drink or Die Club," where traditions are upheld at all cost; and Achy Obejas's "Destiny Returns," which describes the strange odyssey of a Cuban refugee who achieves cult status as a drag queen in her new home. Agent, Daniel Greenberg at Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. (Sept.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Dust off those black-and-white TVs. The success of Akashic Books's Brooklyn Noir anthology has spawned a series of successors, of which these are just two. Both are geographically focused and contain original stories by emerging writers. Of the two, San Francisco Noir gets the nod, if only because it seems closer to its noir roots. David Corbett's "It Can Happen" delivers a tightly plotted story of family inheritance that would fit neatly into the pages of Black Mask. Reflecting changing conditions, multicultural authors are well represented here, and female writers definitely make their mark. Kate Braverman's wittily observed tale of the love/hate relationship between two Sex and the City types is topped only by Michelle Tea's story of a prostitute who just can't say enough about her Bernal Heights hideaway. Eddie Muller shows off his noir bona fides in a pitch-perfect story of a long day that ends on a lucky note. The Chicago volume pays homage to the city's musical, criminal, and gritty past, with strong efforts by Joe Meno, Kevin Guilfoile, and Neal Pollack. Each might have served as the basis for a Twilight Zone episode. Promised future volumes include one on Washington, DC, edited by George Pelacanos, and one on Dublin, edited by Ken Bruen. There's enough here to cause us to want more. For all larger public libraries.-Bob Lunn, Kansas City P.L., MO Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal