Berkeley Noir (Akashic Noir)

Berkeley Noir is an anthology of noir short stories that take place in Berkeley, that famous next-door neighbor of San Francisco known for its protests and activism. In many ways, this anthology fulfills all the stereotypes of Berkeley while challenging them and subverting them with other stories. I think the editors, Jerry Thompson and Owen Hill, did a superb job of selecting stories.Rather than organizing their stories by some emotional theme, they went for simple geography. The different sections of the anthology are grouped by locale and yet that creates a sort of emotional geography of its own as different neighborhoods have different vibes.I loved “Hill House” the housesitting nightmare and the self-sacrificing love and grief of “The Tangy Brine of Dark Night.” One of my favorite stories is “Lucky Day” about a relatively new employee of the Berkeley Public Library. “Eat Your Pheasant, Drink Your Wine” has a truly original narrative voice. That’s true of “Every Man and Every Woman Is a Star” as well and now I have got to read more by Nick Mamatas. Susan Dunlap’s “The Law of Local Karma” will feel familiar and solid to fans of Dunlap which I am. “Dear Fellow Graduates” is one of those short stories with a punch line and I loved it. I thought “Frederick Douglass Elementary” was thought-provoking and all-too-real. “Righteous Kill” feels very topical as it has a unique solution to gentrification.There were only two stories I did not care for. “Identity Theft” was simply too horrific for me despite being well-written. I admire the skill and shrink from the subject. However, nothing can save “Boy Toy” which felt like nothing more than the taxonomy of sailing. Here’s the thing, some people do research and it informs their writing. Others do research and it becomes their writing. It seems as though the author took an illustrated diagram of a sailboat and decided to use every specialized word in it. It did not contribute to the story, it detracted.I liked Berkeley Noir a lot. I love the Akashic Noir series and my favorites in the series are those where the authors feel no need to show off by stretching the boundaries of noir and instead seek deeply into noir fiction. In my opinion, going deep into traditional noir shows more understanding than stretching noir out of its traditional space. This Thompson and Hill did very well. It’s no blemish on this that I did not like every story. Liking every story in a multi-author anthology would be weird and indicate the editors didn’t do a good job of including diverse points of view and stories. I expect to dislike at least one story in every anthology with multiple authors. As usual, this newest addition to the Noir series is excellent.I received an e-galley of Berkeley Noir from the publisher through Edelweiss

BERKELEY NOIR, edited by Jerry Thompson and Owen Hill, is a new (2020) addition to Akashic Books’ award-winning Noir Anthology series.Each title beckons the reader to a new city, state, country and/or region with stories set in distinct neighborhoods or locations.Each title opens with a map of the area with ‘human body silhouettes’ pinpointing the street, neighborhood or area where the particular story takes place. (I am particularly fond of the map and refer to it often while reading.)Then there is the Introduction written by the editor(s). The Introduction sets the tone, the atmosphere of the area in question. BERKELEY NOIR is edited by Jerry Thompson and Own Hill. Berkeley, California is the main character in this anthology.BERKELEY NOIR is divided into three parts: From the People’s Republic — Directly Across from the Golden Gate — Company Town, with sixteen original stories by the following authors: Lexi Pandell, Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Mara Faye Lethem, Thomas Burchfield, Barry Gifford, Shanthi Sekaran, Nick Mamatas, Kimn Neilson, Jason S. Ridler, Jim Nisbet, Susan Dunlap, J.M. Curet, Summer Brenner, Michael David Lukas, Aya De Leon, and Owen Hill.BERKELEY NOIR is not the grittiest, most cringe-worthy title I have read in this series, but noir permeates each and every story. BERKELEY NOIR centers more on the academic side of noir. Kirkus Reviews calls BERKELEY NOIR “the crime without the grime.”Every story is notable, stunning, fantastic and noir-worthy.Some of my favorites include:“Barroom Butterfly” by Barry Gifford is short, humorous, ironic. A story doesn’t have to be grisly to be noir. I would call this one a ‘noir parable’.“Eat your Pheasant, Drink your Wine” by Shanthi Sekaran is very unique and intriguing. The narrator is a rat named Lothlorien. Lothlorien relates a very tragic story.“Boy Toy” by Jim Nesbet. I enjoy reading about sailing because I know absolutely nothing about it. This is sailing with a noir twist. My favorite line is “At perhaps 20 knots the wind made quite a racket as it foraged through the huddled shipping, on the prowl for the unbattened, the unstayed, the carelessly lashed.” (p. 149)I heartily recommend this title and this series. Please read and enjoy BERKELEY NOIR, published by Akashic Books.

For some years now, Akashic Books in New York has published a series of anthologies, all involving original noir-style short stories based in a particular town (or, in some cases, state or even country). I’ve read several, including stories set in Boston, San Francisco, Vancouver and Montreal, all places I know; having spent my teenage years in Berkeley, California, I was happy to pick up this latest volume. I was not familiar with any of the authors (although one is a friend of my brother), but as I’ve found with this series in general, the stories are all well-written and quite enjoyable. As with any original anthology, each reader will have his/her own favourites; in my case, those include Lexi Pandell’s “Hill House,” “Lucky Day” by Thomas Burchfield, J.M. Curet’s “Wifebeater Tank Top,” and my favourite, “Dear Fellow Graduates” by Michael David Lukas. I’m sure my enjoyment of these stories, and the book as a whole, is in part due to the fact that I knew the locations being described, in most of the stories anyway, so for me there were a lot of “ah-ha, I remember that place!” moments; but even if you’re not familiar with Berkeley, if you are a fan of good old-fashioned noir fiction, this volume (and this series) is well worth your time. Recommended!