“A stimulating anthology of 14 futuristic L.A. fables . . . Some of the best of these tales seem illumined by the humanistic spirit of the late Ray Bradbury, poet laureate of Southern California fantasy literature.”
—Wall Street Journal

“[Speculative Los Angeles] is a swath of tales that are both wildly imaginative and emotionally grounded, speculations that not only imagine our possible futures but illuminate the collective anxieties of our unsettled and unsettling present.”
—Los Angeles Times

“Speculative Los Angeles is a thrill ride of grand ideas and warnings. Take a place that already defines the future of culture, add fourteen unbound minds, and you get a collection that wows the imagination like no other.”
—Michael Connelly, author of the best-selling Harry Bosch series

“The problem of buying books for others can be solved by offering the equivalent of the literary box of chocolates: the anthology . . . For Californians, or people who just like the West Coast, there’s Speculative Los Angeles, edited by Denise Hamilton.”
—Washington Post, recommended by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

“Speculative Los Angeles is a new venture from Akashic Books, which has published an impressive series of original anthologies of noir fiction centered on various cities. This is the first in a series doing the same thing for speculative fiction, beginning with LA.”
—Locus Magazine

“Accessible, challenging, and fun by turns, Speculative Los Angeles possesses everything a fan could want.”
—New York Journal of Books

“As a city, Los Angeles is, itself, a bit stranger than fiction, all at once it is both a major American metropolis sprawling hundreds of square miles across Southern California and a collection of smaller, multicultural neighborhoods that can change from block to block. It’s a place where there is both great wealth and abject poverty, where natural disasters are only a moment away and where you can go skiing and hit the beach all in the same day, if you’re especially intrepid.”
—AirTalk with Larry Mantle (KPCC)

“14 writers explore the fantastic in short stories that crisscross L.A. county, taking readers into alternate pasts, supernatural presents and dystopian futures . . . Speculative Los Angeles shows the breadth of worlds that can be created inside Los Angeles.”
—Los Angeles Daily News

“The 14 narratives Hamilton has gathered present us with a vision of Los Angeles refracted, grounding the fantastic in the real.”
—Alta Journal

“14 outstanding stories of weird and uncanny happenings in the City of Angels . . . Each story presents a fresh take on the magic and strangeness of LA past, present, and future, and the characters are representative of the diverse region, caught in situations ranging from surreal to chilling. Readers should snap this up.”
—Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review, Pick of the Week

“Many [stories] have a distinctly gritty and postapocalyptic flavor that takes advantage of a uniquely L.A. vibe.”
—Library Journal

“Los Angeles is a particularly appropriate and broadly appealing place to begin the series, given its outsized role in the American imagination . . . This appealing and varied collection offers 14 speculative stories set in neighborhoods around Los Angeles, but with interests that go beyond the local.”
—Shelf Awareness for Readers

“The contributing authors skillfully capture the presences of different Los Angeles neighborhoods that become characters all on their own, teetering on the precipice of many possibilities . . . An excellent collection of what-ifs that will pique readers’ imaginations.”
—Booklist

“Echoing Akashic’s popular city-specific ‘Noir’ series, this first in what promises to be an intriguing new run of books looks at weirdly wonderful Los Angeles and sees changelings, dirigibles, jacaranda men, psychic death cults, robot nursemaids, a walled-in canyon for the rich, and an alternate city where Spanish land grants endured. With brand-new stories from Aimee Bender, Alex Espinoza, Francesca Lia Block, Charles Yu, Duane Swierczynski, and more.”
—Library Journal, Barbara Hoffert’s Prepub Alert

“Here we have 14 writers from that city weaving speculative stories of changelings, black holes, robot nursemaids and much more weirdness besides.”
—David M. Kelly

A Booklist Shout ‘n’ Share Title to Watch (July 2020)

“The stories here move among all of Los Angeles’ gritty and bright corners.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“There is something for everyone here.”
—Exclusive Magazine

Critical praise for Los Angeles Noir:

Winner of an Edgar Award (for “The Golden Gopher” by Susan Straight)

A Los Angeles Times Best Seller

Winner of a Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Book Award

A Book Sense Notable Pick

Two stories selected for Best American Mystery Stories 2008 (“Mulholland Dive” by Michael Connelly and “The Hour When the Ship Comes In” by Robert Ferrigno)

“These seventeen very different stories confirm just how many places LA has become . . . Janet Fitch, as usual, operates at a scary level of intensity. Her story, ‘The Method,’ opens with a string of zippy one-liners that out-Chandler Chandler . . .”
—Los Angeles Times