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Reverse-Gentrification of the Literary World

Akashic Books

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Tag: New Jersey Noir

Joyce Carol Oates’s Introduction to Prison Noir

To celebrate the release of Prison Noir, the latest in Akashic’s Noir Series, we’re pleased to bring you this decidedly dark sample from the anthology: editor Joyce Carol Oates’s introduction, “Seeds for Next Year.”

“Live for Today” by S.A. Solomon (from New Jersey Noir)

En route to her job at the morgue, Jinx walked on JFK Boulevard to the PATH station at Journal Square. It was hot for June, the evening cloud cover an airless ceiling pressing on the street. A grimy storefront diorama displayed mannequins behind plate glass, girls with bald heads and painted-on lashes, clad in cheap, thin dresses. They stood frail against the hard gray light. Commuters hustled by, indifferent to the girls’ orphaned gazes . . .