Anti-requiem: New Orleans Stories [Kindle Edition]

Louis Maistros (Author)

Book Description

Now formatted in full color for Kindle Fire HD!

A collection of short fiction and essays (much of which is previously unpublished) from the author of the critically acclaimed New Orleans novel, "The Sound of Building Coffins."

This expanded and illustrated version contains two special preview chapters from the novel-in-progress, "Holy Meaux," seen here for the first time, as well as several new essays not included in the previous edition, and a sampling of letters and private journal entries that chronicle the author's personal journey through the City of New Orleans in the last 18 years. This collection is also now fully illustrated with unusual and original photographic images of the city taken by the author. The images will appear in black and white for users of "e-ink technology" Kindles, but full color for users of the Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD or any of the Kindle apps (Kindle for PC, iPad, iPhone, etc..) that support color graphics. This edition also includes an interactive table of contents.

From the heartbreaking to the hilarious, Anti-requiem is unique journey through a side of New Orleans that is rarely seen.

Table of Contents:

NEAR TRUTHS (fiction)

New Orleans, December 24, 1994
Gwen
Unexpected
Twitterheads
Calisaya Blues
Unpublished Interview With Buddy Bolden
You and Yer Big Goopy Brain
Heckler
Gleeby Rhythm is Born
Charity Hospital


HARD TRUTHS (non fiction)

ON GOD AND FAMILY IN NEW ORLEANS:
Grace Medicine: A Story of Coco Robicheaux
Letter to Donald Harington about God and Bill Clinton
Letter to a Friend about Stanley
Dear Booker
Their Generation
Unpacking
ON CRIME AND PAIN IN NEW ORLEANS:
How Much For This?
Letter to a Friend on the High Cost of Living in Fear in New Orleans
Wild West Down South
How We Get By
ON WRITING:
Filling the Holes of History with the Poetry of Music
Letter to a Friend on The Incompatibility of Writing and Publishing
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Writer (A letter in response to a young writer who is feeling the fear)
Random Thursday Night at the Gold Mine
ON BELOVED NEW ORLEANS:
The Case For Kindness During Hurricane Season
Sense of Place
Hot 8 Here Now
The Mighty Muffuletta: A Ritual

3 SONGS:
Go Down, Water
Dreamless
Glory

CODA:
Anti-requiem

Praise for The Sound of Building Coffins:

"Louis Maistros has written a lyrical, complex, and brave novel that takes enormous risks and pulls them all off. He is a writer to watch and keep reading, a writer to cherish."
-Peter Straub

"A thing of wonder, unlike anything in our literature. No novel since A Confederacy of Dunces has done such justice to New Orleans."
-Donald Harington, winner of the Robert Penn Warren Award

"The Sound of Building Coffins is easily one of the finest and truest pieces of New Orleans fiction I've ever read."
-Poppy Z. Brite

"Maistros creates a city that is part dream, part hallucination. His New Orleans embodies both the grim reality of a particular time and the city's eternal, shimmering beauty."
-Susan Larson, New Orleans Times-Picayune

"The Sound of Building Coffins a macabre and utterly hypnotic feat of literary imagination..."
-Philip Booth, St. Petersburg Times

"The multiple plot lines smoothly interlock like simultaneous horn solos in an early Louis Armstrong single, and the steady flow of closely observed details and dialogue are a consistent pleasure."
-Joab Jackson, The Baltimore City Paper

"For me, it was the perfect book, at the perfect time, and I will cherish it forever."
-Ray Shea, TheRumpus.Net

"This book sings out in true jazz fashion-wildly inventive, oddly formed yet perfectly made, and never a sour note."
-The Anniston Star

"A sprawling, complex, and ultimately absorbing work."
- Baltimore Magazine

Product Details

• File Size: 8054 KB
• Print Length: 212 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0037HOM5W
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,802 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
  • #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Arts & Photography > Photography > Photo Essays
  • #75 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Short Stories

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written stories and sketches about New Orleans and its people September 28, 2011

By Israel Drazin TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a collection of stories, sketches, and essays about the city of New Orleans, its citizens, leaders, visitors, and crime. Many "are the transients who came to town looking for a place to belong, a place that accepted misfits and rejects, no questions asked. (Also) locals who have been here for seven generations," as well as those who now or who in the past passed through. Some are clear thinkers; others seem a little crazy. These are "half made up stories" that reflect the truth of a city and people in trouble as seen through the clear eye of a sharp observer who may sometimes seem somewhat pessimistic. But, then, New Orleans is a city where twice as many people are murdered than are given government checks for hurricane damage.

This is Maistros' second book. The first, a novel, received wide acclaim. The stories sometimes seem surreal. Sometimes it is the protagonist who is speaking in his or her own way of speaking. Every entry is well-written, fun to read, and informative.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Stories Range from Brilliant to Boring September 19, 2011

By George Perrine

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Anit-Requiem is in three parts: Near Truths, Hard Truths and Coda. When I read the first part, I felt I had found an author who really knew what the short story form was all about. These are wonderfully quirky portraits of the odd and eccentric street people of New Orleans--I will treasure these short shorts and reread them often in the future. On the basis of part one, I recommended this book to several people, who like me search for interesting "free" books on Kindle.

But then came parts two and three, and the book became a very uneven mismash of fiction, articles and sermonettes. Oh, and "previews" of coming attractions, or drafts of the next book appeared like commercials on a PBS station.

So on the basis of the Near Truths, I rate this four stars and strongly urge you to "buy" this freebie and read at least that much. Take the brilliant and leave the boring, but it's worth a read.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully done! October 3, 2010

By Lambchop

Format:Kindle Edition

A spectacular collection of stories . . . delicious and thick with atmosphere. An unexpectedly deep treasure. This is the kind of richness you read again and again for the taste as much as the words.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Unusual tales July 8, 2012

By Grammashe

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Very much a change of pace for me. Enjoyed the eclectic nature of the tales. Have recently visited New Orleans and this helped me to understand some of what I saw and experienced there. It is a truly unique city ,these tales represent it well.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful New Orleans stories and essays June 10, 2012

By Anne M. Hunter VINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This original version of Anti-Requiem (an expanded version is now
available, and this free one feels a bit like an ad for that one and
the author's novel) contains fifteen stories, essays, and op-ed pieces that
told me a lot about modern New Orleans, both before and after Katrina.
The author wrote them in different voices, some in a low-down, gritty
style that tries to capture the spirit of jazz and life at the bottom,
and some more conventionally. All seemed quite powerful to me. Even
the editorial pieces were interesting, and told me sad things about
New Orleans now, or at least recently.

The variety of the stories was fascinating, and I appreciated the
author's voice. I recommend them to anyone who enjoys modern short
stories and is interested in New Orleans. I'm definitely interested
in reading the author's other work.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow, this was quite a find April 14, 2012

By Annie

Format:Kindle Edition

Wow. The writing here blows me away. This author has a gift. Details beautifully observed. The characters come alive on the page. Can't say enough good things. Would encourage any lovers of fiction out there to get this one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good collection of stories April 14, 2012

By Owen

Format:Kindle Edition

The author has a gift. This collection of stories comes vividly to life with the first one, Gwen. Incredible attention to detail and psychological landscape creates three-dimensional characters you won't soon forget.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars True reflection of New Orleans May 23, 2013

By Leesh

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

great photos and stories, makes you feel like you are there in the story. brings me back to my visit

More About the Author

Louis Maistros is a longtime resident of the New Orleans 8th Ward neighborhood. His work has appeared in publications such as the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Relix Magazine, the Baltimore City Paper, Entrepot, and many others. He is also an accomplished art photographer, and has been called "a wizard with light, shadows, and colors" by Louisiana Poet Laureate Julie Kane. He is mildly self-conscious about the fact that he shares a birthday with Lee Harvey Oswald, and is currently working out a conspiracy theory about that -- in the form of a novel-in-progress tentatively entitled "Holy Meaux."

"One has to write with considerable authenticity to pull off a story steeped in magic and swamp water that examines race and class, death and rebirth, Haitian voodoo, and the beginnings of jazz in 1891 New Orleans. Maistros's gritty debut novel follows the interconnected lives of the Morningstar siblings--all lovingly named by their father after disease-- as they wrestle with a powerful demon, con outsiders, kill and die, die and are reborn. The plot is complex and magical, grounded in the history of the city, without being overly sentimental. There is a comfort with death as a part of life in this work that reveals deep feeling for the city and its past. Of course, every novel about New Orleans must have a good hurricane. Like the one in Zora Neale Hurston's classic Their Eyes Were Watching God, this hurricane destroys the city while making hope possible. Highly recommended for all fiction collections, especially where there is an interest in jazz."
--Library Journal

"This book sings out in true jazz fashion -- wildly inventive, oddly formed yet perfectly made, and never a sour note."
-- The Anniston Star

"Louis Maistros has written a lyrical, complex, and brave novel that takes enormous risks and pulls them all off. He is a writer to watch and keep reading, a writer to cherish."
-- Peter Straub

Maistros creates a city that is part dream, part hallucination. His New Orleans embodies both the grim reality of a particular time and the city's eternal, shimmering beauty. And, with the book's title, he provides us with a new and unforgettable metaphor for the sound of hammers at work, whether boarding up for a storm or rebuilding after one."
-- Susan Larson, New Orleans Times-Picayune & USA Today

"(The Sound of Building Coffins is) a macabre and utterly hypnotic feat of literary imagination, an extended tale of voodoo and jazz in the Crescent City, circa the turn of the 20th century. The novel is so fluently delivered that it sometimes feels as if it were being channeled via the same spirits - evil and good - that inhabit these richly drawn characters. Maistros, a New Orleans record-store owner and former forklift operator with no formal training as a writer, has crafted a work spiked with historical characters and events, so striking and original that it probably deserves a place on the shelf of great fiction from his adopted hometown."
-- Phillip Booth, St. Petersburg Times

The Sound of Building Coffins is set in turn-of-the-century New Orleans, where, explains Maistros, residents have 'a long and curious relationship with death, a closeness, a delicate truce.' In spite of all of the death and violence and betrayal, Coffins is also filled with love. Love moves characters to commit terrible acts, but it also drives them to right their wrongs. Love offers second chances, sometimes in this life and sometimes in the one beyond."
-- Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"The Society of North American Magic Realists welcomes its newest, most dazzling member, Louis Maistros. His debut novel is a thing of wonder, unlike anything in our literature. It startles. It stuns. It stupefies. No novel since A Confederacy of Dunces has done such justice to New Orleans."
-- Donald Harington, winner of the Robert Penn Warren Award

"The Sound of Building Coffins is easily one of the finest and truest pieces of New Orleans fiction I've ever read."
-- Poppy Z. Brite

"A writer of lesser ability would have been swallowed up in the swirling complexity of such a plot, plunging it to the level of a silly period piece regional novel. However, The Sound of Building Coffins is different. Maistros keeps his head above water and pulls off an admirable story because of his keen research into the history of New Orleans and his compelling style that is fired by his use of foreboding imagery.The Sound of Building Coffins is riveting. It is a good read and a remarkable first novel."
-- Endtype: A Canadian Literary Magazine