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Reverse-Gentrification of the Literary World

Akashic Books

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Catalog » Browse by Title: M » Mexico City Noir (Mexico)

Mexico City Noir (Mexico)

Edited by:

Mexico City enters the Noir Series arena, edited by one of Mexico’s most revered novelists.

$19.95 $14.96

Available as an e-book for:


What people are saying…

“Set across Mexico City in a variety of neighborhoods, the stories feature a cast of characters as diverse as the city, from homeless people to young children to innocent passersby. This is a strong collection, both for the way it showcases outstanding short fiction in the noir style and for the way it demonstrates how a strong sense of place can drive a narrative.”
Booklist

“With volumes devoted to numerous US cities and quite a few foreign capitals, it sometimes seems as if Akashic Books’ expanding line of noir story anthologies will wind up covering virtually every major metropolis on earth . . . The warped humor here, especially in Taibo’s contribution about the struggle for the soul of an embattled street corner, is part of the survival mechanism of people who have seen too much of life at its worst but must keep laughing anyway.”
San Francisco Bay Guardian


Description

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: Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Eugenio Aguirre, Eduardo Antonia Parra, Bernardo Fernández, Óscar de la Borbolla, Rolo Diez, Víctor Luiz González, F.G. Haghenbeck, Juan Hernández Luna, Myriam Laurini, Eduardo Monteverde, and Julia Rodríguez.

From the introduction by Paco Ignacio Taibo II:

Twenty-one million residents in the metropolitan area. An infinite city, one of the biggest in the world, a fascinating blanket of lights for those arriving on planes; a huge Christmas tree on its side—red, green, yellow, white; mercury, tungsten, sodium, neon. A city gone crazy with pollution, rain, traffic; an economic crisis that’s been going on for twenty-five years. A city famously notable for the strangest reasons: for being the urban counterpoint to the Chiapas jungle; for having the most diverse collection of jokes about death; for setting the record for most political protests in one year; for having two invisible volcanoes and the most corrupt police force on the planet . . .

Mexico City Noir may not be sponsored by the city’s department of tourism, but if anyone, from anywhere on earth, were to ask whether the writers recommend visiting Mexico City, the response would be both firm and passionate: ‘Yes, of course.’ Because this is the best city on the planet, in spite of itself.

Check out The Uncomfortable Dead by Paco I. Taibo II and Subcomandante Marcos.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: Above the Law
“I’m Nobody” by Eduardo Antonio Parra (Narvarte)
“Private Collection” by Bernardo Fernández (Vallejo)
“The Corner” by Pacio Ignacio Taibo II (Doctores)
“The Unsmiling Comedian” by F.G. Haghenbeck (Condesa)

Part II: Dead Men Walking
“BANG!” by Juan Hernández Luna (Roma)
“Judas Burning” by Eugenio Aguirre (Calle Tacuba)
“Violeta Isn’t Here Anymore” by Myriam Laurini (Hipódromo)
“Outside the Door” by Óscar de la Borbolla (Barrio Unknown)

Part III: Suffocation City
“A Squirrel without a Tree” by Rolo Diez (Centro Histórico)
“God Is Fanatical, Hija” by Eduardo Monteverde (San Fernando)
“Of Cats and Murderers” by Víctor Luiz González (Colonia del Valle)
“RENO” by Julia Rodríguez (Buenos Aires)

Listen to Marisa Arbona-Ruiz read Myriam Laurini’s “Violeta Isn’t Here Anymore” on NPR’s Alt.Latino.


Book Details

  • Paperback: 250 pages
  • Published: 2/1/10
  • IBSN: 9781933354903
  • e-IBSN: 9781936070749

Author

PACO IGNACIO TAIBO II was born in Gijon, Spain and has lived in Mexico since 1958. He is the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, which have been published in many languages around the world, including a mystery series starring Mexican Private Investigator Hector Belascoaran Shayne. He is the coauthor of The Uncomfortable Dead (What’s Missing is Missing) and is the editor of Mexico City Noir. He is a professor of history at the Metropolitan University of Mexico City.

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