Noir Nation: International Journal of Crime Fiction No. 1 [Kindle Edition]

Eddie Vega (Editor), Cortright McMeel (Editor), Alan Ward Thomas (Editor)

Book Description

Noir Nation is an eBook journal of international crime fiction and tattoos, the only one of its kind.

Advancing  works of the imagination that explore the darker regions of human experience, the journal includes short fiction, essays, author interviews, and a community forum.

This inaugural issue contains stories of a felon who hates books, a surgeon involved in the lurid murder of a nurse, a 7-11 stickup, the killing and night burial of a kangaroo, an ex-con who returns to prison, a venomous snake used as a murder weapon, a student/teacher romantic affair that promises ruin, revenge on an abusive priest and a Nazi collaborator, a missing mother, a serial killer in the woods, and a ruthless home aid nurse. It also contains a poem by a famous gun moll and a photographic illustrations of tattoo art.

The issue mixes award-winning masters of hardboiled and literary crime fiction Paul D. Brazill, Bianca Bellova, Jean Charbonneau, Tristan Davies, Les Edgerton, Stephen Gibson, Timothy Patrick Gibson, JJ Toner, and Scott Wolven with newer and emerging writers Leah Chamberlain, R.F. Warner, Kevin Hardcastle, Gerald Heys, Kevin Levites, and Yewande Omotoso. It also includes commentary on the state of noir fiction by J. Madison Davis, Alan Ward Thomas, Melodie Campbell, Wendy A. Reynolds, Ann Littlewood, Ann Cleeves, Linton Robinson, and Joe Trigoboff.

Product Details

• File Size: 4101 KB
• Print Length: 231 pages
• Publisher: VegaWire Media (September 9, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005JTMIPW
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #517,118 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent taste of noir September 5, 2011

By Julie Reynolds

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This brand-new journal is like an appetizer tray at a really cool party. I'm not a person who normally reads or enjoys short stories (need more meat), but I gotta say this sampler really satisfied.

The mix of short fiction, academic-ish essays on the meaning of noir, plus a tease of a graphic novel make for a really swell read. An extra bonus for a commuter like me is that text-to-speech is enabled, which means I can listen to Noir Nation on the way to work. (The computer-y Kindle voice kind of adds to the noir-ness.)

The fiction writing is excellent, just literary enough to be meaningful but not experimentally weird enough to be annoying. In other words, it's all readable and gripping. The work is also realistic enough to be truly creepy."FTW" by Scott Wolven and "Jelly Babies" by JJ Toner put you right inside their criminals' minds, while other stories ring quirkily true, including one by ex-con Les Edgerton of a mundane holdup gone not bad but, well, weird. There are a lot of US authors here, but Canada, the Czech Republic and Nigeria are represented, too. (Not sure if editor Eddie Vega can truly claim Brooklyn AND Cuba as nationalities, but hey, what do I know?)

The essays about the noir genre are surprising and thought-provoking, including a variety of writers' opinions as to whether crime fiction should have a moral point. As a sort of noir nonfiction writer myself (I'm a crime reporter), I wrestle with the same question. One writer who's in favor of weaving in some moral matter suggests that stories "immerse the reader in a world they wouldn't encounter otherwise." That, I sense, is exactly what makes noir fun, even when there's a moral lesson lurking in there somewhere....

Oh, and then there's a ballad-like poem by Bonnie of Bonnie and Clyde infamy, with its hilarious reference to the NRA and lyrical lines like: "About the third night/they're invited to fight/by a sub gun's rat-a-tat-tat."

My only sort-of complaint (okay, I have two and they're not really complaints) is that the beautifully drawn graphic story at the end isn't long enough before it leaves us dangling. Which leads to my other complaint: Noir Nation's next issue won't be out until next summer, if I read their website correctly.

Bummer! That's a long time to wait for another gem like this. Read more ›

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful Noir September 25, 2011

By Cormac Mac

Format:Kindle Edition

This has everything in it, including kangaroos and snakes used as weapons. Very original as well as compelling, if slightly bizarre at times. This was sent to me by a friend for my birthday! He said I had a warped sense of humour, a bit like most of the writers in this anthology. Plus Irish crime king, Sam Millar, said he loved it. It must be sick!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars New resource for Noir fans February 25, 2012

By William Linden

Format:Kindle Edition

What will hopefully be a long-continuing effort offers a forum for what I expect will be called "noveau noir". Some pieces are gemlike, others call for strong stomachs. There should be something for everyone in the shadowy fandom.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Addicted to Noir November 23, 2011

By mgattuso

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

There should be warnings about stories like these. I almost stopped reading Noir Nation at RF Warner's "A Dog of a Different Breed." But I'll be damned, the next day I read it again. Warner had scared me into thinking I didn't like it, but his sharp style and cunning writing overrode my fear.
Then there's Kevin Hardcastle's first sentence in "Work" - In the dark and pisswet alleyway Daniel stood under one meager light. - Damn! Hardcastle keeps it going all the way through, edgy and beautiful, no waste.
Tristan Davies' "Surgeons" will make you schedule a visit with your gynecologist, if you have one..
Each story has something memorable and different from anything I've read, which could be true of any collection, but Noir Nation offers death, dancers, sex, revenge, beer and drugs, cold landscapes and crazies and prisoners (not just in prison)- stuff that pulls you in, takes you beyond your typical life to the atypical and makes you realize that with one move you could be headed in a noir direction. The interview and essays are informative, especially for someone new to noir, like me. The writing throughout is TIGHT.

You can get Noir Nation anywhere with an e-connection, fitting since it's an international e-journal. I use Amazon's free Kindle for PC. Still, I'd like to be able to hold Noir Nation in my hands, to give a copy to friends.. but this isn't to be, at least not yet.. which is a con, if you can judge a book by the way it's delivered.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A lovely dark ride September 30, 2011

By Steve Fisher

Format:Kindle Edition

Really enjoyed the sample and look forward to reading the whole mag. Holding back one star out of hope that the next issue might be even better. Noir rules. You might consider a greater mix of styles, as all the stories I read had a very similar voice/tenor. But, as I said, have only read the sample so far. Just wanted to give you a thumb's up already.

4.0 out of 5 stars Some astoundingly good shorts April 13, 2013

By Bordeaux Dogue

Format:Kindle Edition

Written by authors i was aware existed.

Some i would certainly like to follow, being a fan of gritty, mean, noir.

A compilation worth a place in the genre's collection.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars noir nation is eye opening September 28, 2011

By Gene Machine

Format:Kindle Edition

i am probably being stingy by giving this only 3 stars, but i don't usually trust 5 star reviews and that doesn't mean this isn't worth reading because it is and i recommend it because it opened up something new for me: crime short stories. normally i read graphic novels and some crime novels.

i found this by mistake because i am into comics and graphic novels and was looking for a noir comic. This said it has graphic novels in it, but turns out it only has one. The comic is really good, especially the art, but like one of the reviewers above said was really too short and since i don't trust 5 stars and felt it could have had more graphic novels in it i took off one star. maybe i'm just not a nice person, so take this as a grain of salt. also the comic didn't fill the page like the cover did, but another gn I got on kindle was the same, so it's probably not their fault. still the comic art was great, but i couldn't find anything else online by the writer jon danko(?) or the artist which is listed as just danda, but the art was really good, simple but with a hand drawn texture which we don't get much of in the glossy comics these days. the cover of noir nation is AWESOME! if anyone knows any comics this danda artist did please let me know!

so the 3 stars is more about my expectations than the writing in it, which like i said was really good and something new, at least for me.

this is a collection of short stories, which i don't normally read but this is changing my opinion on this and made me wonder what i've been missing. these are crime stories that are pretty dark and a couple of them are really dark and gritty.... one is about a rape and another is about a doctor who is a privately a perverted sex maniac which was scary because in real life you could have a doctor like that and never know it. pretty creepy. and one is about a jewish guy who kills a nazi and makes it look like a suicide.

these stories are different from the crime books i've been reading, because they really put you right in the head of the criminal, which again was down right creepy. there is also a story about a teacher who has sex with a student and i don't want to spoil it but that story made me late for work because i could't put it down, which was only in part because i wish i'd had a teacher like that :->, but like i said i'm not that nice a person, so whatever.

still anyone who is into crime books and comics and looking for something new i think you'd like to check this out. it was worth the $8 price and lasted a lot longer than a graphic novel that costs twice as much. Read more ›