New Haven Noir

by Amy Bloom (Editor)

Overview

Amy Bloom masterfully curates a star-studded cast of contributors, including Michael Cunningham, Stephen L. Carter, and Roxana Robinson, to portray the city’s underbelly.

 “[It’s] a kick to see Elm City haunts and issues weaved into short stories of intrigue by writers who know the turf.” —New Haven Register

Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city. Amy Bloom masterfully curates a star-studded cast of contributors, including Michael Cunningham, Stephen L. Carter, and Roxana Robinson, to portray the city’s underbelly.

Brand-new stories by: Michael Cunningham, Roxana Robinson, Stephen L. Carter, John Crowley, Amy Bloom, Alice Mattison, Chris Knopf, Jonathan Stone, Sarah Pemberton Strong, Karen E. Olson, Jessica Speart, Chandra Prasad, David Rich, Lisa D. Gray, and Hirsh Sawhney.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617755415
Publisher:	Akashic Books, Ltd.
Publication date:	07/25/2017
Series:	Akashic Noir Series
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	1,107,874
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Amy Bloom is the author of three novels, three collections of short stories, a children’s book and a collection of essays. She has been a nominee for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, Tin House and numerous anthologies here and abroad. She has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, among many other publications, and has won a National Magazine Award for Fiction. Her best-selling novel, Away, was an epic story about a Russian immigrant. Her most recent and best-selling novel, Lucky Us, came out in 2014. She lives in Connecticut and taught at Yale University for the last decade. She is now Wesleyan University’s Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: Skull & Bones

“Crossing Harry” by Chris Knopf (Union Station)

“Callback” by Sarah Pemberton Strong (Audubon Arts District)

“A Woe for Every Season” by Hirsh Sawhney (Dwight)

“Sure Thing” by David Rich (Long Wharf)

“I’ve Never Been to Paris” by Amy Bloom (East Rock)

Part II: Down and Out In Elm City

“The Secret Societies” by Roxana Robinson (Beinecke Library)

“The Boy” by Karen E. Olson (Fair Haven)

“Evening Prayer by Stephen L. Carter (Dixwell Avenue)

“Second Act” by Jessica Speart (Food Terminal Plaza)

“The Gauntlet” by Jonathan Stone (Edgewood Avenue)

Part III: Death or Glory

“Innovative Methods” by Alice Mattison (Lighthouse Point Park)

“Spring Break” by John Crowley (Yale University)

“Silhouettes” by Chandra Prasad (Wooster Square)

“The Man in Room Eleven” by Michael Cunningham (Chapel Street)

“The Queen of Secrets” by Lisa D. Gray (Bradley Street)

Editorial Reviews

★ 06/12/2017
Town-gown tensions highlight several of the 15 stories in this stellar Akashic noir anthology set in the Elm City. In “Evening Prayer,” Stephen L. Carter movingly presents the world of white Ivy League privilege as seen through the eyes of an African-American boy whose father alternates between his positions as a respected church deacon and as an obsequious employee at a segregated hotel. Editor Bloom’s “I’ve Never Been to Paris” is a nicely downbeat whodunit centered on the murder of a Yale English professor killed with a bust of Herman Melville. Roxana Robinson demonstrates that violence is not essential to noir in “The Secret Societies,” the lead of which cloisters herself in Yale’s Beinecke Library in a race to finish writing a biography of a reclusive author before a rival does. And an aspiring actress falls for a deli man in Jessica Speart’s “Second Act,” which leaves a nicely nasty aftertaste. In contrast to other recent volumes in this acclaimed series, this entry is particularly strong on established authors, many of whom have impressive credentials outside the genre. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"The anthology brings together writers who take varied approaches to the idea of noir in the Elm City. Some stories are historical, some are contemporary. All the classic New Haven landmarks are there, including plenty of Yale. But there’s also the more obscure — and maybe more interesting — parts of the city where the tourists don’t typically go: Long Wharf, Lighthouse Point Park, Dixwell Avenue, the Food Terminal Plaza, and so on. The full sweep of New Haven’s character is on display in the anthology."

Connecticut Magazine

"Fifteen of New Haven’s literary lights have put ink to paper (or bytes to screen?) to summon that “noir” city of the imagination that lurks just below the rapidly gentrifying surface."

New Haven Independent

"New Haven may be best known for Yale University, but its criminal dimensions run as deep as anywhere else on the Eastern Seaboard. Contributors include Stephen L. Carter, Chris Knopf, Karen E. Olson, and Jessica Speart."
—Publishers Weekly; included in Fall 2017 Adult Announcements, Mysteries and Thrillers

"The anthology brings together writers who take varied approaches to the idea of noir in the Elm City. Some stories are historical, some are contemporary. All the classic New Haven landmarks are there, including plenty of Yale. But there's also the more obscure—and maybe more interesting—parts of the city where the tourists don't typically go: Long Wharf, Lighthouse Point Park, Dixwell Avenue, the Food Terminal Plaza, and so on. The full sweep of New Haven's character is on display in the anthology."
—Connecticut Magazine

"A star-studded cast of contributors curated by Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing Amy Bloom fill the pages of New Haven Noir, featuring original stories from Michael Cunningham, Stephen Carter, Roxana Robinson, Assistant Professor of English Hirsh Sawhney and many others."
—Wesleyan University Newsletter

"A strong and highly enjoyable collection of diverse noir stories that truly give the reader a vibe for the City of New Haven. Get it for yourself or for the Yalie in your life."
—Wildmoo Books (blog)"

From the Publisher

2017-06-20
In an Ivy League town, Bloom (Lucky Us, 2014, etc.) turns Yale's motto—Lux et Veritas—on its head, finding darkness and deceit in every corner of New Haven.The university features prominently in these 15 new stories. Hirsh Sawhney's "A Woe for Every Season" highlights the dark side of being a faculty spouse. Jonathan Stone's "The Gauntlet" describes the challenges of five undergraduates living in a marginal neighborhood. Editor Bloom's "I've Never Been to Paris" chronicles the woes of a junior faculty member who can't seem to get out of her own way. John Crowley takes Yale into cyberspace in "Spring Break." And Roxana Robinson's "The Secret Societies" shows that even the solemn hush of the Beinecke Library can be the backdrop to dark doings. But danger lurks off campus as well. An actress finds trouble at Long Wharf in David Rich's "Sure Thing." A commercial artist tangles with sister lingerie models and his own complicated past in Wooster Square in Chandra Prasad's "Silhouettes." A plumber finds peril in a three-story Audubon Court brownstone in Susan Pemberton Strong's "Callback." Karen Olson's "The Boy" chronicles the changes across the Q Bridge in Fair Haven. And Alice Mattison's "Innovative Methods" tells the chilling tale of what a teenage runaway faces in Lighthouse Point Park. The stories Bloom chooses share a strong sense of place, detailing the quirks that make every corner of New Haven distinctive. But it's the lucid writing and clear, compelling storylines that make her dark tales shine. Maybe she offers a noir version of Light and Truth after all.

Kirkus Reviews