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Reverse-Gentrification of the Literary World

Akashic Books

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September 2014 News & Features

EVENT ALERT: Primus, Over the Electric Grapevine!

Join Les Claypool and Larry LaLonde as they celebrate the release of Primus, Over the Electric Grapevine: Insight into Primus and the World of Les Claypool, the definitive oral history of Primus compiled by journalist and author Greg Prato. On Thursday, September 18th, at 7:00 PM, stop by Tattered Cover (2526 E. Colfax Ave.) in […]

“First Time, Last Time” by Robert M. Detman

Harry glances around the room, the trim freshly painted. Someone with money owns the place. Maybe Christiane’s family.

“Does anyone live here?” Harry asks.

Gem sneers at this pretense of familiarity.

“You ask too many questions, man . . .”

Joyce Carol Oates’s Introduction to Prison Noir

To celebrate the release of Prison Noir, the latest in Akashic’s Noir Series, we’re pleased to bring you this decidedly dark sample from the anthology: editor Joyce Carol Oates’s introduction, “Seeds for Next Year.”

“Hana” by Frederick Foote

Hana Irene Carter is showing her fourteen-year-old Asian-black ass this afternoon. She walks through my house and into my kitchen, ignoring me, her grandmother Irene, and four of her other relatives, only smiling at and kissing Emma, my black sheep cousin, on the cheek. She then opens the refrigerator and takes out a beer. She pops the top, takes a long swig, and burps, looking directly at me with an in-your-face, self-satisfied grin.

Before I can act, Irene is up. She pulls the can out of her granddaughter’s hand and dumps the beer out in the sink . . .

“Orange Crush” by Siobhan Lyons

Mondays Are Murder features brand-new noir fiction modeled after our award-winning Noir Series. Each story is an original one, and each takes place in a distinct location. Our web model for the series has one more restraint: a 750-word limit. Sound like murder? It is. But so are Mondays. This week, Siobhan Lyons takes us back […]

“Friend” by Nancy Nau Sullivan

Tater. His real name was Willam Francis McKinny III, but he got the name Tater because he was about as useless as a potato on legs when he drank. His best friend Nick Plakowitz named him that soon after the two of them started stealing Jim Beam from Nick’s dad’s liquor locker in the basement that was set up like a pool hall. Nick poured water in the square booze bottle so his dad wouldn’t know.

Tater said, “He’s gonna know.”

“Nah, he don’t want to deal with it. He too busy with that paint business of his.”

Tater shrugged. Nick’s dad never said a word . . .