Edited by Jerry Thompson and Eddie Muller, this is a collection of stories that reveals all the dark complexities of this increasingly prominent city. In the wake of other settings in the popular Akashic Noir Series comes the latest California installment, Oakland Noir. Masterfully curated by Jerry Thompson and Czar of Noir Eddie Muller, this volume will shock, titillate, provoke, and entertain. The diverse cast of talented contributors will not disappoint. Here are brand-new stories by Nick Petrulakis, Kim Addonizio, Keenan Norris, Keri MikiLani Schroeder, Katie Gilmartin, Dorothy Lazard, Harry Louis Williams II, Carolyn Alexander, Phil Canalin, Judy Juanita, Jamie DeWolf, Nayomi Munaweera, Mahmud Rahman, Tom McElravey, Joe Loya, and Eddie Muller. From the introduction: Jerry Thompson: I think what we've put together in Oakland Noir is a volume where this city is a character in every story. He's a slick brother strutting over a bass line and tambourine duet. She's a white chick heading to farmer and flea markets to sell crafts and get hooked up with some fine guy with dreadlocks and a criminal record. And it's in the faces of the young and fearless pounding keyboards and snapping fingers, Snapchats, and Facebook timelines. It's the core of not only Black Lives Matter but all lives matter. We are the children of fantasy and of the funk. Eddie Muller: These days, writers and readers aren't denying the darker parts of our existence as much as they used to, especially in crime fiction. Some writers just do it for fun, because it has become the fashionable way to get published. You know, "gritty violence" and all that. The genuine darkness in noir stories comes from two places-the cruelty of the world's innate indifference and the cruelty that people foster within themselves. If you're not seriously dealing with one, the other, or both, then you're not really writing noir.
