#Akashic Noir
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Denver Noir, by Cynthia Swanson @ nyjb
Denver Noir, by Cynthia Swanson @ nyjb
“Denver Noir is a fascinating exploration of this sunny city’s dark side.”
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#akashic#Akashic Noir#anthology#book reviews#Cynthia Swanson#Denver#New York Journal of Books#noir#NYJB#short stories
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Hello there Zest le Noir fans.
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nine people you want to know better tag game
tagged by @wastemanjohn - merci!
Last Song: olivia o'brien - josslyn (because it's jealousy hours)
Favorite Color: berry colours and gold!
Last Movie/TV Show: fargo s4 (got pulled into it by the dapper skinny italian hitman, stayed for ethelrida)
Sweet/Spicy/Savory: savoury, but spicy is a close second but like it depends on the flavour? (i think, it's sichuan peppercorn that i don't love.) sweet is best when combined with one of the former.
Relationship Status: single 4 lyf <3
Last Thing I Googled: jason talia ao3 (trying to indoctrinate the algorithm but also i'm too lazy to type it into the search bar on ao3)
Current Obsession: father brown radio dramas, neneh cherry, the normative status of logic (which is the topic of my thesis and will likely drive me insane in the coming months)
Last Book: finished east jerusalem noir from the akashic noir series yesterday. just started palestinian walks by raja shehadeh (reading non-research related nonfiction is so rare for me) and the david hawkes translation of cao xueqin's dream of the red chamber / story of the stone. also tentatively looking into god in pink by hasan namir, but i'll read it properly once i have more free time.
Looking Forward To: february! spring! getting back to the library. more than 8 hours of sunlight per day.
tagging: @firstaudrina, @whispering-imp, @maxwellshimbo, @winter-angst, @esskuesli, @deanwinchesterpregnant, @jensenis-still-deansnumberonefan, @bellezzamortale, @setsailslash, @catfoodsminmo, and anyone who sees this <3 (no pressure of course, i just love those little updates!)
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do you have any noir book reps,. ive seen you read them and id like to get more into the genre
(being fucking normal) a couple!
i lied to you anon. i lied to you under the read more. i'm not normal about this at all
anything by dashiel hammet, dorothy b. hughes, lot of staples in there. if you come across a noir from the 40s/50s chances are it's based on a book and chances are that book is pretty fuckin good. i've got my friends into reading those books and the ones that've made them go 'oh i get it now' have been anything by raymond chandler, and i'm including myself in that group. the first two i read were for research, the other five i tore through because i had to see them. i'm on the last one, playback, and i can't bring myself to finish it because then it will be over. i will, i'll get there eventually, but i'll be very sad because it means my first time reading them will be done. i've read books where i've gone wow, what a turn of phrase, i've very rarely read books where every page has like, seven. me and the girls were posting excerpts in the gc going 'can you fucking believe this'. of his books, the big sleep, the little sister and the long goodbye are considered the best, but if you want my opinion i'd start off with lady in the lake. not that they're hard reads at all, i just think it's the easiest to vibe with if you're only just getting into them. it's a good barometer to see how you feel about the whole thing
“I don't like your manner," Kingsley said in a voice you could have crack a Brazil nut on.
"That's all right," I said. "I'm not selling it.”
i mean jesus christ. fuck
if you're looking at something contemporary, i'll have to admit to a slight gap in my knowledge, i'm mostly into the stuff written from, say, mid 20s to 50s. don't take that as a mark of quality, 'it was only good back then!' or something, more of a taste thing on my part. neo-noir is a cool (if a little nebulous and hard to categorize sometimes) take on the questions noir raises, but there's something interesting to me about seeing the first stabs at it. saying that, akashic books has a collection arranged by location, city, country, so that might be something you're interested in
what's happening in your city? probably some terrible events that leave lives in shambles! that's like, the most interesting kind!!
#text post#the only other book that's made me go JESUS CHRIST every other line was my very very favourite: perfume#which is very different stylistically but jesus fuck. i reread it once a year#don't take me as like An Authority on noir at all i'm just some random. passionate yet deeply unqualified. cool for books! bad for surgeons#also if anybody reading this needs to source an old ass miserable movie or book or whatever and doesn't know how: I Will Do It For You
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12+ International Noir Books by BIPOC Authors
Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.
Easy Motion Tourist by Leye Adenle
The Blue Bar by Damyanti Biswas
The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo, translated by Chi-Young Kim
The Carnivorous City by Toni Kan
Real World by Natsuo Kirino, translated by Philip Gabriel
Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius, translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles
A Death in Denmark by Amulya Malladi
Nothing Is Lost by Cloé Mehdi, translated by Howard Curtis
Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Morena-Garcia
My Annihilation by Fuminori Nakamura, translated by Sam Bett
I Do Not Come to You by Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Louise Heal Kawai
Plus many in the Akashic Books noir series, including:
Kingston Noir edited by Colin Channer
Haiti Noir edited by Edwidge Danticat
Manila Noir edited by Jessica Hagedorn
Nairobi Noir edited by Peter Kimani
Baghdad Noir edited by Samuel Shimon
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Anyway look at all the locations and stories in Akashic's Noir Series!
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Agenda for tonight:
Read more Akashic Noir on the train. I am bouncing between Chicago and New Haven currently. Sherwood Anderson's short story Brothers, originally published in 1921, fucking killed me
Freedrafting
Re-watch Thief (1981) which I have still only seen twice, if you can believe it. Ideally with Ernie sitting on my chest.
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i’m down a couple akashic noir copies and a complete works of ernest hemingway’s short stories, but i’m up a copy of clarice lispector’s complete stories, pessoa’s book of disquiet, and a copy of franz fanon’s wretched of the earth... so who can really say
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South Central Noir (Akashic Noir Series)
South Central Noir (Akashic Noir Series)
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Film Friday: 5 movie selections of the week!
The WhatsOn column is back this week with a carefully curated list of some amusing movies you may watch to spice up your weekend and spend quality time with friends and family!
1. Do Revenge
Do Revenge is a 2022 American teen black comedy film that was written by Celeste Ballard and directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.
The story of Drea, a popular girl who is enrolled on scholarship at Rosehill Country Day High School in Miami, becomes an outcast in society after her similarly popular boyfriend Max secretly discloses a private film of her.
Camila Mendes, Maya Hawke, Austin Abrams, Rish Shah, and Sarah Michelle Gellar are among the actors who star in it. On September 16, 2022, it was made available on Netflix, to generally favorable reviews from critics.
https://youtu.be/GdE9vrE8Okk
2. The Greatest Beer Run Ever
Peter Farrelly is the director and co-writer of the 2022 American biographical military action comedy-drama film titled The Greatest Beer Run Ever.
A man's account of leaving New York in 1967 to deliver beer to his childhood friends who were serving in the Army during the Vietnam War
The movie, starring Zac Efron, Russell Crowe, and Bill Murray, is based on the same-titled book by Joanna Molloy and John "Chickie" Donohue.
The film had its global premiere on September 13, 2022, at the Toronto International Film Festival, and on September 23, 2022, it was released in a few US theaters.
https://youtu.be/NqxziDlZOIo
3. Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art
The largest art fraud in American history is the subject of the crime documentary Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art, which is set amid New York's ultra-rich, ultra-obsessed, and ultra-fast art scene.
In this exciting and mysterious tale of an $80 million clever con that everyone wanted to believe was real, controversy breaks out when an unassuming couple floods the art market with a collection of fake art sold for millions to the prestigious Knoedler Gallery.
After that sold the art to collectors and the art world elite.
https://youtu.be/VbH6mjC4WgI
4. Vikram Vedha (2022)
Pushkar-Gayathri is the writer and director of the 2022 Hindi-language neo-noir action thriller movie Vikram Vedha. It is a remake of their own identical 2017 Tamil film.
An honorable police officer named Vikram is on the lookout for feared thug Vedha. Vedha tells Vikram three stories after he submits, which causes Vikram's understanding of right and wrong to start to shift.
Saif Ali Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Radhika Apte, and Rohit Saraf are the actors who were cast in the movie. Between October 2021 and June 2022, the production took place. On September 30, 2022, the movie received a worldwide theatrical release.
https://youtu.be/hpwnlr-ZHB0
5. Jhund
The life of Vijay Barse, the creator of the NGO Slum Soccer, is the subject of the 2022 Indian Hindi-language biographical sports film Jhund (transl. Herd, unstructured gathering).
The movie, which is based on the life of Vijay Barse, tells the story of a sports teacher who, on the verge of retirement, assembles a football team made up of youngsters from a slum and how just one game could transform their destiny.
Amitabh Bachchan, Akash Thosar, Rinku Rajguru, and Ankush Gedam are all featured in the movie. The movie premiered in theaters on March 4 and May 6, 2022.
https://youtu.be/iqydRuNr2yY
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A Review of ‘Nairobi Noir’, a collection of short stories edited by Peter Kimani |
Nairobi Noir, a collection of short stories edited by Peter Kimani. Abuja/London : Cassava Republic Press, 2020, 246 p. With short stories by Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Stanley Gazemba, Ngumi Kibera, Peter Kimani, Winfred Kiunga, Kinyanjui Kombani, Caroline Mose, Kevin Mwachiro, Wanjiku wa Ngugi, Faith Oneya, Makena Onjerika, Troy Onyango, J.E. Sibi-Okumu, and Rasna Warah.
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Episode 183 - One Book One Podcast: Upright Women Wanted
This episode it’s time for One Book One Podcast as we discuss the novel Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey. We talk about spoilers, horse operas, spoilers, relationships, spoilers, queer coming-of-age stories, and spoilers. Plus: Spoilers!
You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or your favourite podcast delivery system.
In this episode
Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jam Edwards
The Book We Read
Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
Other Media We Mentioned
River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Wikipedia)
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (Wikipedia)
The Walking Dead (TV series) (Wikipedia)
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
Links, Articles, and Things
Horse Opera
Episode 029 - Westerns
Smart Bitches Trashy Books review of Upright Women Wanted
Between the Coats: A Sensitivity Read Changed my Life by Sarah Gailey
Jam’s Upright Women Wanted film cast comprised of internet tabletop roleplayers:
Esther: Becca Scott
Cye: Erika Ishii
Bet: Krystina Arielle
Leda: Ashley Johnson
Amity: Aabria Iyengar
12+ International Noir Books by BIPOC Authors
Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.
Easy Motion Tourist by Leye Adenle
The Blue Bar by Damyanti Biswas
The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo, translated by Chi-Young Kim
The Carnivorous City by Toni Kan
Real World by Natsuo Kirino, translated by Philip Gabriel
Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius, translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles
A Death in Denmark by Amulya Malladi
Nothing Is Lost by Cloé Mehdi, translated by Howard Curtis
Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Morena-Garcia
My Annihilation by Fuminori Nakamura, translated by Sam Bett
I Do Not Come to You by Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Louise Heal Kawai
Plus many in the Akashic Books noir series, including:
Kingston Noir edited by Colin Channer
Haiti Noir edited by Edwidge Danticat
Manila Noir edited by Jessica Hagedorn
Nairobi Noir edited by Peter Kimani
Baghdad Noir edited by Samuel Shimon
Give us feedback!
Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!
Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email!
Join us again on Tuesday, October 3rd get ready for Halloween because we’ll be talking about the genre of Horror!
Then on Tuesday, November 7th we’ll be discussing the non-fiction genre of Crafts and Crafting!
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Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the geographical area of the book. Original stories by: Lena Eltang, Sergei Nosov, Alexander Kudriavstev, Andrei Kivinov, Julia Belomlinsky, Natalia Kurchatova, Ksenia Venglinskaya, Eugene Kogan, Anton Chizh, Vladimir Berezin, Andrei Rubanov, and others.
St. Petersburg boasts to have the strongest spirit of all Russian cities, and indeed the dark metaphysics of this city captivate tourists and locals alike. When you think of St. Petersburg noir, some of the greatest literary names immediately spring to mind - Alexander Pushkin, Nikolay Gogol, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Modern day St. Petersburg lavishly offers the scenery and conditions for true noir stories, and the writers in St. Petersburg Noir succeed in concocting their own worlds within this city with stories ranging from mystical to outwardly grotesque. Within this collection, you'll meet characters who populate the narrow streets and unlit inner yards in the vast historical center winking at ghosts from pages of Dostoevsky's novels (Nutcracker); you'll hear of criminal activities settled behind the locked doors of magnificent palaces and museums (The Witch Hour and The Last Skinhead); and you'll follow the path of a police officer on his first day of duty maddeningly chasing a doppelganger... of a corpse (The First Duty).
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I wouldn't mind that post on VNs!
So I was gonna write three different lists, but then after writing the first part I realized this is very long and takes a while to write and nobody cares anyway so I’ll just post my recommended list only. Well, I mean, you asked, but I doubt you wanted all this lol. Thank you for giving me an excuse to talk about this stuff, though. Hope you enjoy my ramblings!
An explanation for what this list is: Sometimes I know a game isn't perfect in many aspects but I still had a genuinely good time playing it, hence why I'm recommending it. Also I should mention that I could talk for hours about some of these games so if anyone’s curious about more of my thoughts, let me know.
Alright, now that that's out of the way ...
How to Take Off Your Mask / How to Fool a Liar King / How to Sing to Open Your Heart (f/m): This is a trilogy of smaller, single-RO games where you can take one of two routes depending on how you act, and they’re all interconnected where you get to meet and interact with the previous games’ characters in the sequel games. I went into this expecting very little but what I got blew me away with how funny, charming and cute the games were. They don’t take themselves too seriously, at one point an angsty male character monologues deeply about some shit, and another one just slides into frame and starts mocking him. It was so fucking funny, holy shit. Also, a central theme is literally racism against catgirls? Which is monumentally stupid, and probably the games’ main flaw, especially in the final game where it pairs up a catgirl with a catgirl racist, but that one still ends with a literal bisexual queen literally making a man her malewife because she fell in love with his cooking, so like ... It speaks for itself. My favorite game of the three is the second one, where you get to play a punchy fake catgirl and romance a pink-haired prince. And honestly, all the female protags in these games are lovely and a breath of fresh air, and the male characters are fun and not abusive assholes either. There’s full Japanese voice acting, and two out of three female protags are literal catgirls who pepper in “nya” and “mya” into their dialogue, and it’s just treated as a quirk of their catgirl race. I AM NOT KIDDING. Yet somehow it never comes off as cringe, because it doesn’t take it self too seriously. These games are just cozy. That’s the only way I can describe them. Cozy and hilarious. Play them yesterday.
Dream Daddy (m/m): Man tumblr did this game dirty. This is just a cute, wholesome daddy dating simulator with gorgeous art.
Coming out on Top (m/m): So you know Dream Daddy? What if it was EXTREMELY, MAJORLY NSFW? Though I realize how bad the comparison really is, the only thing these games have in common is that they’re gay dating sims and don’t have an anime art style and oh, yeah, they’re both really well-written. Or at least, extremely funny. COOT (heh) is DDADDS’ horny older cousin, and I first encountered the game on a lesbian letsplayer’s YouTube channel. Yes I watched a lesbian play a gay porn game and it was GOOD. I was there for the cringe and fun and got surprised by how genuinely funny and sometimes actually touching the game was. I can’t give it my universal endorsement because it’s not a game for everyone, as I said, it’s extremely NSFW and the menu theme literally includes the singers screaming “SEX SEX” at the top of their lungs. There’s more to this game than the porn, but there’s just so much porn. It can be censored in the settings but it’s unavoidable. However, I still think it’s worth a look just because of how funny it is and how charming the characters are. If you don’t want to play it yourself, at least watch Anima’s playthrough of it. It hasn’t aged super well in some spots but I still go back to it every now and then.
Akash: Path of the Five (f/m): This game markets itself as a more “professionally produced” western dating sim, and that’s accurate in some superficial aspects. The game is pretty poorly written, but it’s absolutely gorgeous and has really good English voice acting by actual professional voice actors. The premise is quite self-indulgent, but I genuinely respect that about it. You play as the only female elemental in a village with only men, and all five of your classmates want a piece of you. It’s clear the writers have put some thought into the lore and worldbuilding of this world, but barely any of it comes through in the actual writing and plot, which is basically just a vehicle for you to get together with your boy of choice. The ROs aren’t very well-developed either, and the plot is the same in every route with only minor variations depending on which guy you pick, up to the point where the protag has the same voice lines in some parts regardless of which guy she’s talking about. It also has one extra half-route that’s so bad and pointless I genuinely wonder why they wasted resources on making it instead of spending a bit more on the writing/adding some variations to the main plot. So why am I recommending this game? Well, it’s pretty, and it sounds nice. This game is a himbo, gorgeous but dumb as rocks. Enjoy it for what it is. I know I did. Get it when it’s on sale, I think if I hadn’t gotten it at half-price I would’ve felt a bit more cranky about it. Also Rocco is bae.
Mystic Destinies: Serendipity of Aeons (f/m): Yes that’s the full title, no I don’t know what it means either. You may have noticed how most of the games so far I’ve enjoyed because they don’t take themselves too seriously? Well, this one does. It takes itself SO FUCKING SERIOUSLY. Like, way too seriously. It’s a little embarrassing at points because baby, you’re an urban fantasy dating sim. Calm down. But the game has gorgeous art and 3 out of 5 routes are very good. The last route, the one with your teacher, is both the most problematic yet somehow the one that breaks down the very concept of a dating sim within its own narrative (yes, this shit gets fucking META) and it got so wild at the end that 1) I still listen to the soundtrack for that route and 2) I still remember it to this day despite finishing it ages ago. My favorite route is Shou, he’s a sweetheart, but the mindfuck route is so buckwild that I think the game is worth playing just for that. There’s also a route that’s like a neo-noir mystery? I Do Not Know. This game is many, many things and it does them so sincerely and tries so hard, you can’t help but respect it. It doesn’t always stick the landing but man, just let this thing take your hand and wax poetic at you for a bit. Also get this one at a sale because it’s very expensive to get the full version. I got it for 9 bucks on itch.io and I felt that was a fair enough price, I’d say I wouldn’t have minded paying more for it because there’s a lot of content to enjoy and/or be baffled by.
Arcade Spirits: This one’s a bit more weird from what I recall, and I honestly couldn’t tell you much about it, but I remember having a very good time with it and recommending it to a friend when she was going through some tough times and she said it made her feel better. I remember it making me feel better, as well. This is a VN about an arcade and the ROs are wonderfully diverse, with very real human conflicts that get explored in each of their routes. It can get quite existential and heavy at times, but in the end it’s a kindhearted game that I think everyone can enjoy. The main character was also, how you say, mood. It’s a game about getting possessed by a video game and then learning self-love.
Ebon Light (f/m): This one’s free/name your own price on itch.io so go play it. It’s a weird plot where you play as a girl who ate an elven relic? And then the elves kidnap you because you’re the relic now. All the ROs are extremely pasty (like, literally white, as in literally the color white) dark-haired elves, except for one, who’s an extremely pasty blond elf, so ... diversity? I honestly don’t know what this game is aside from unique. I used to be a bit put off by the art style but now I think it contributes to the general atmosphere. It’s a weird game that technically doesn’t do anything groundbreaking but still left an impression of “huh. weird” in my mind and I think more people should play it. The ROs are all pretty generic dating sim archetypes but done well, with bonus points to Duliae who’s just a massive creep and I love him, and also Vadeyn who’s the only bitch in this house I respect. The worldbuilding is honestly a bit buckwild and I can’t give enough credit for how unique the elves’ culture is in this game. Definitely give it a go.
Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds / Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms (f/m): These two are newer releases of an older Japanese visual novel. I wouldn’t call it a dating sim, it’s ... it’s more of a super depressing historical fantasy epic with some minor romance aspects awkwardly wedged in. It’s seriously some of the heaviest and most grimdark shit I’ve ever played in a VN/otome. I don’t understand why it’s a dating sim, it doesn’t read like one, it’s just historical fantasy based on real world events with characters based on real people, and they kill and they die and they grieve and they suffer. The games are literally about the downfall of the Shinsengumi, there’s no way of avoiding everything going to shit and you get to watch and be in the middle of it all as they struggle to stay alive and relevant in a world that doesn’t need them anymore. And there’s the protag in the middle of it all, being useless and submissive and bland just the way the usual otome protag is. I don’t think these games are necessarily fun, and the romance is certainly a lot more downplayed and deeply problematic just based on the age differences alone with some of the men, but the sheer amount of horror and sadness in these games make them stand out above its peers. It’s like watching a war movie. Since most of the characters are based on real people, they feel like real people instead of the usual otome archetypes, and they are so, SO flawed, it’s interesting to just watch them deal with the shit the world throws at them. It’s an Experience, and if you’re up for it, I think it’s worth the time.
Cinderella Phenomenon (f/m): This game is free on Steam so go get it. You play as a really, genuinely shitty princess who gets cursed to be poor and forgotten and she has to help one of the ROs break his fairy tale curse so that she can learn about being a good person herself and return to her normal life. This game doesn’t look like much, but it has a genuinely well-written main character who’s actually at the center of each of the stories and in the overarching plot instead of just being around to make eyes at the real protagonists, aka the love interests. Aside from the main character, my favorite part of this game’s writing is how each route slowly but very smoothly expands upon the overarching intrigue. If you play them in a certain order, you get more and more info revealed to you that you didn’t see in other routes, gaps are filled in as you find out more about what actually happened and why, but every route also stands on its own as a full experience and none is more canon than the rest. There’s also some really heavy emotional parental abuse explored, which I found quite potent at times. The romances themselves were alright, I think Karma and Waltz were my faves.
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