Santa Fe Noir

by Ariel Gore (Editor), Katie Johnson (Contribution by), Candace Walsh (Contribution by)

Overview

Santa Fe joins Phoenix as a riveting Southwest US installment in the Akashic Noir Series.

“Pure entertainment by a collection of impressively skilled storytellers, Santa Fe Noir is especially and unreservedly recommended.” —Midwest Book Review

Akashic Books continues its award-winning 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.

Brand-new stories by: Ana Castillo, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Byron F. Aspaas, Barbara Robidoux, Elizabeth Lee, Ana June, Israel Francisco Haros Lopez, Ariel Gore, Darryl Lorenzo Wellington, Candace Walsh, Hida Viloria, Cornelia Read, Miriam Sagan, James Reich, Kevin Atkinson, Katie Johnson, and Tomas Moniz.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617757228
Publisher:	Akashic Books, Ltd.
Publication date:	03/03/2020
Series:	Akashic Noir Series
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	959,200
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Ariel Gore is a Lambda Literary and Alternative Press award–winning editor and the author of eleven books, including The Hip Mama Survival Guide, Atlas of the Human Heart (a finalist for the Oregon Book Award), and Bluebird: Women and the New Psychology of Happiness. Her memoir The End of Eve and her novel We Were Witches both won New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards. Her spell collection, Hexing the Patriarchy, is out now from Seal Press. She has taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the University of New Mexico and currently teaches online at literarykitchen.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: A Land of Entrapment

“The Sandbox Story” by Candace Walsh (Eldorado)

“All Eyes” by Katie Johnson (Aspen Vista)

“The Cask of Los Alamos” by Cornelia Read (Los Alamos)

“The Homeless Detective” by Darryl Lorenzo Wellington (Cerrillos Road)

“SOS Sex” by Hida Viloria (Casa Alegre)

Part II: The Children of Water

“Táchii’nii: Red Running into the Water” by Byron F. Aspaas (Pacheco Street)

“Waterfall” by Elizabeth Lee (Ten Thousand Waves)

“The Night of the Flood” by Ana June (Casa Solana)

“La Llorona” by Israel Francisco Haros Lopez (Santa Fe River)

Part III: What It Feels Like to Be Haunted

“Close Quarters” by Jimmy Santiago Baca (Drury Plaza Hotel)

“Divina: In Which Is Related a Goddess Made Flesh” by Ana Castillo (La Fonda on the Plaza Hotel)

“Hunger” by Miriam Sagan (St. Catherine Indian School)

“I Boycott Santa Fe” by Tomas Moniz (Rancho Viejo)

Part IV: What We Do with the Bodies

“Buried Treasure” by Kevin Atkinson (Santa Fe National Forest)

“Nightshade” by Ariel Gore (Santa Fe Railyard)

“Behind the Tortilla Curtain” by Barbara Robidoux (Southside)

“Me and Say Dog” by James Reich (Santa Fe Plaza)

Editorial Reviews

01/06/2020

As noted in the introduction to this solid Akashic noir anthology, Santa Fe, N.Mex., and environs is less the Land of Enchantment, per the tourism slogan, than the “Land of Entrapment,” where characters are inexorably tied to or haunted by the area’s long history and uneasy mix of cultures. One highlight is Hida Viloria’s “SOS Sex,” a traditional crime story in which a property appraiser stumbles onto a sex trafficking racket that ties to a long-ago family tragedy of his own. In a more off-beat vein, Cornelia Reed’s scathing “The Cask of Los Alamos” retells Poe’s revenge tale “The Cask of Amontillado,” but this time set at the 1945 test of the first atomic bomb. For many of the selections, however, crime is secondary or even nonexistent, as in Jimmy Santiago Baca’s unsettling “Close Quarters,” in which a Chicano writer is visited by the ghosts of his ancestors. The quality of the 17 entries varies widely, but the book’s diverse group of writers will provide readers with unexpected perspectives on this centuries-old city and its people. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Because each story is identified by the neighborhood or specific location in which it takes place, Santa Fe Noir is a veritable road map of the city and surrounding area. It stretches from El Dorado to the Southside, Casa Solana and Cerrillos Road to the Santa Fe National Forest. The protagonists of the stories are psychotherapists, vagrants, teenagers, and gig workers. They drink and smoke. They drop acid and have sex. And more than a few are guilty of murder (or at least of justifiable homicide)."

Pasatiempo

"There is a real charm to the local specificity of Santa Fe Noir, and it’s a pleasure to discover how different imaginations can channel the chiaroscuro energy of well-known places."

Santa Fe Reporter

"If you picture Santa Fe, New Mexico, only as a sunny, vibrant, colorful Southwest arts mecca, this anthology will shred that image with feral claws."

Roundup Magazine

2019-11-24
Shepherded by Lambda Literary Award winner Gore, 17 contributors offer peeks at the dark side of a city known for clean living with an arty edge.

Editor Gore quotes Christine Gledhill's description of film noir as "a struggle between different voices for control over the telling of the story." But the stories in this installment of Akashic's project to paint the world black complement rather than compete with each other. There are straight-up crime stories, like Hida Viloria's "SOS Sex" and Candace Walsh's "The Sandbox Story." There are spooky ghost tales, like Jimmy Santiago Baca's "Close Quarters," Ana Castillo's "Divina: In Which Is Related a Goddess Made Flesh," and Israel Francisco Haros Lopez's graphic short story "La Llorona." Family drama has its turn in "I Boycott Santa Fe" by Tomas Moniz and "Behind the Tortilla Curtain" by Barbara Robidoux. So does love gone wrong, as in Byron F. Aspaas's "Táchii'nii: Red Running Into the Water." But perhaps the most poignant stories are the ones that turn Santa Fe's promises of physical beauty and spiritual healing against it. In Elizabeth Lee's "Waterfall," a spa where clients flock in hopes of rejuvenation becomes the scene of a grisly crime. A pristine Aspen forest turns into a deadly trap in Katie Johnson's "All Eyes." And an organic farm hides a terrible secret in Gore's own "Nightshade." Danger lurks even in the water, as Ana June's "The Night of the Flood" proves.

Readers will never look at hand-thrown pottery, heirloom tomatoes, or spectacular sunsets the same way again.

Kirkus Reviews

"Readers, if you like noir and you like Santa Fe, this is a must-read!"

Eldorado Living Magazine