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Berkeley Noir
Berkeley brings its own unique blend of Bay Area noir, complementing the grit and grime that preceded it in San Francisco Noir and Oakland Noir. "Frederick Douglass Elementary" by Aya de León has been selected for inclusion in Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021! "My mom went to Berkeley in the 60s (my main tangential claim to hippiedom), so I'm psyched to see her favorite town get the Akashic noir treatment. San Francisco's hippie silo has long captured the imagination of artists and writers, and I can't wait to read the many stories in this collection, including new works from cult faves such Barry Gifford, Aya de Leon, Summer Brenner, and more."
-- CrimeReads , included in CrimeReads ' Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2020 "Anyone who enjoys seeing a familiar setting from a new perspective will appreciate the gems in this edition."
-- Berkeleyside "This volume proves yet again that noir is discoverable anywhere there are human beings--in this case, a quirky university town on the east side of San Francisco Bay...Another fine entry in a series for the ages."
-- New York Journal of Books "Each story evokes the dark side of a Berkeley neighborhood and pays tribute both to the city's history as a haven for outcasts and as a literary metropolis. If you race through it, consider picking up San Francisco Noir and Oakland Noir. "
-- Diablo Magazine , a Top Ticket choice "At first consideration one might wonder if Berkeley has enough of a seedy underbelly to produce credible settings and stories for such an anthology? The writing proves it does."
-- The Berkeley Daily Planet Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir . Each book comprises all new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city. Brand-new stories Barry Gifford, Jim Nisbet, Lexi Pandell, Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Mara Faye Lethem, Thomas Burchfield, Shanthi Sekaran, Nick Mamatas, Kimn Neilson, Jason S. Ridler, Susan Dunlap, J.M. Curet, Summer Brenner, Michael David Lukas, Aya de León, and Owen Hill. From the A town named after a British philosopher doesn't exactly evoke visions of Goodis or Highsmith. Grifters? Dames? Cops? In Berkeley? On the surface the alleys don't seem that dark, until we look a little closer. Possibly the most iconic visual image of Berkeley does involve cops. It's the film with Mario Savio, atop a police car, declaring, "There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part!" Now there's a statement that sums up the spirit of noir. Berkeley Noir asks, If not here, where? When pulling together this outstanding list of authors, we were constantly reminded of Berkeley's rich literary history, one that swerves through varying shades of noir. Those who helped pave the way for this collection include Anthony Boucher, Janet Dawson, Margaret Cuthbert, Ellen Gilchrist, Linda Grant, Jonathan Lethem, and Barry Gifford. There will always be a place in the heart of this city where even outcasts can feel at home...The search through darkness for an authentic, eclectic voice is the most important ingredient in the rich stew that is Berkeley, California.
-- CrimeReads , included in CrimeReads ' Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2020 "Anyone who enjoys seeing a familiar setting from a new perspective will appreciate the gems in this edition."
-- Berkeleyside "This volume proves yet again that noir is discoverable anywhere there are human beings--in this case, a quirky university town on the east side of San Francisco Bay...Another fine entry in a series for the ages."
-- New York Journal of Books "Each story evokes the dark side of a Berkeley neighborhood and pays tribute both to the city's history as a haven for outcasts and as a literary metropolis. If you race through it, consider picking up San Francisco Noir and Oakland Noir. "
-- Diablo Magazine , a Top Ticket choice "At first consideration one might wonder if Berkeley has enough of a seedy underbelly to produce credible settings and stories for such an anthology? The writing proves it does."
-- The Berkeley Daily Planet Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir . Each book comprises all new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city. Brand-new stories Barry Gifford, Jim Nisbet, Lexi Pandell, Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Mara Faye Lethem, Thomas Burchfield, Shanthi Sekaran, Nick Mamatas, Kimn Neilson, Jason S. Ridler, Susan Dunlap, J.M. Curet, Summer Brenner, Michael David Lukas, Aya de León, and Owen Hill. From the A town named after a British philosopher doesn't exactly evoke visions of Goodis or Highsmith. Grifters? Dames? Cops? In Berkeley? On the surface the alleys don't seem that dark, until we look a little closer. Possibly the most iconic visual image of Berkeley does involve cops. It's the film with Mario Savio, atop a police car, declaring, "There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part!" Now there's a statement that sums up the spirit of noir. Berkeley Noir asks, If not here, where? When pulling together this outstanding list of authors, we were constantly reminded of Berkeley's rich literary history, one that swerves through varying shades of noir. Those who helped pave the way for this collection include Anthony Boucher, Janet Dawson, Margaret Cuthbert, Ellen Gilchrist, Linda Grant, Jonathan Lethem, and Barry Gifford. There will always be a place in the heart of this city where even outcasts can feel at home...The search through darkness for an authentic, eclectic voice is the most important ingredient in the rich stew that is Berkeley, California.
214 pages, Hardcover
First published May 5, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 19, 2022
Part of the 'name-of-city' noir series. Each of the stories is heavy with Berkeley-specific scene setting; as with most anthologies, a few stories are excellent, a few are dogs, and most are somewhere in the middle.
January 29, 2020
Berkeley isn’t the noir town of the Northern California Bay Area. That award generally goes to the fog-shrouded Hills in San Francisco and it’s gleaming golden bridge and to Berkeley’s gritty working class neighbor to the south, Oakland. Despite the title, this “noir” series is often noir in only the broadest sense of the word, meaning crime fiction featuring the dispossessed, the outsider, the ones with angst.
This anthology does capture a bit of the feel of Berkeley from the college town vibe to the tribute to the glory days of the Sixties that is Telegraph Avenue, including a nod to Moe’s, and to the gritty waterfront which is often more Oaktown and less college town. The stories feature house sitting for professors and ferrying grandma’s bloated carcass out to sea. It has ex-cons and wanna-be students. An interesting crew of stories, though no real standouts.
This anthology does capture a bit of the feel of Berkeley from the college town vibe to the tribute to the glory days of the Sixties that is Telegraph Avenue, including a nod to Moe’s, and to the gritty waterfront which is often more Oaktown and less college town. The stories feature house sitting for professors and ferrying grandma’s bloated carcass out to sea. It has ex-cons and wanna-be students. An interesting crew of stories, though no real standouts.
September 10, 2020
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 at Akashic Books
Akashic Noir series
Jerry Thompson author bio
Owen Hill author bio
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
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 at Akashic Books
Akashic Noir series
Jerry Thompson author bio
Owen Hill author bio
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
December 29, 2020
I'll be honest, I was expecting a story from Jerry Thompson. I guess the editor of the series never has a story, but my hopes were up.
This was a mostly ok collection, save the story where the protagonist was a literal rat. That was exciting, and I got some inspiration from the author headshot of that one as well.
This is the one that completes my reading challenge of this year-Bye, Amazon.
This was a mostly ok collection, save the story where the protagonist was a literal rat. That was exciting, and I got some inspiration from the author headshot of that one as well.
This is the one that completes my reading challenge of this year-Bye, Amazon.
October 28, 2020
One day in quarantine I went over to Alexander's Books in downtown San Francisco to pick up some books that I had ordered. It was my first time in a bookstore since shelter-in-place and I felt like a kid in a candy store. I told the man at the counter that I would probably have to pick out another book besides the ones that I had ordered. He said, "How about my book?", which turned out to be Berkeley Noir. Little did he know that earlier this year I had read his previous book, Oakland Noir and that my husband and I had read half a dozen of the Noir series (besides being otherwise very into noir books and movies). The bookseller was Jerry Thompson and we had a nice chat about the Noir series and how he came to edit these local editions. The Berkeley and Oakland editions are so well done and do a great job of evoking the locales they are set in. It's not just the setting and the local landmarks, something about these stories just represent their hometowns. You'll have to read them to find out!
January 4, 2026
2.75 ⭐️
i thought i would feel very strongly about loving or hating this book, as someone from berkeley who knows all the locations mentioned and has a connection to basically each one. but mostly just felt weird reading some of these. there were too many back-to-back stories that involved death when there could be a mix of death and non-death stories for a better balance. there are plenty of ways to write a dark or unsettling story that doesn’t involve death, wish more of that was incorporated. the story from the POV of a rat was a standout and interesting. overall just felt meh, liked some stories & didn’t like others.
i thought i would feel very strongly about loving or hating this book, as someone from berkeley who knows all the locations mentioned and has a connection to basically each one. but mostly just felt weird reading some of these. there were too many back-to-back stories that involved death when there could be a mix of death and non-death stories for a better balance. there are plenty of ways to write a dark or unsettling story that doesn’t involve death, wish more of that was incorporated. the story from the POV of a rat was a standout and interesting. overall just felt meh, liked some stories & didn’t like others.
May 22, 2020
It could be possible that the series will run out of cities to focus upon. That, I am sure, will not be too much of a problem as thousands of smaller communities await.
The stories in this book offer variety and grit, and most of not all deal with the down-and-out, the disadvantaged and marginalized underbelly of society. Overall, there seemed to be a wide inconsistency in the quality of the short stories in this collection. To me, some were not noir; indeed, there were little better than mediocre.
That said, I have always found the genre of the short story to be illusive. So little space, so much to pack into a story. Like the novel, the short story lives or dies with character and setting description. Too often I found the protagonist in these stories too bland, the settings to be grimly similar.
But that’s me, perhaps. I would not discourage anyone from reading Berkeley Noir. I would suggest you space your reading of the various stories out. I read about Four each day. That may well explain how the stories seemed to overlap each other so much.
The stories in this book offer variety and grit, and most of not all deal with the down-and-out, the disadvantaged and marginalized underbelly of society. Overall, there seemed to be a wide inconsistency in the quality of the short stories in this collection. To me, some were not noir; indeed, there were little better than mediocre.
That said, I have always found the genre of the short story to be illusive. So little space, so much to pack into a story. Like the novel, the short story lives or dies with character and setting description. Too often I found the protagonist in these stories too bland, the settings to be grimly similar.
But that’s me, perhaps. I would not discourage anyone from reading Berkeley Noir. I would suggest you space your reading of the various stories out. I read about Four each day. That may well explain how the stories seemed to overlap each other so much.
February 27, 2022
I’m giving it four stars because I live in Berkeley and enjoyed the locations, as always some stories better than others, 3.7
April 12, 2020
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.
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.
November 3, 2020
I received this book through the Library Thing Early Reviewers page.
This is the 4th anthology from Akashic Books that I’ve read. Each is a selection of short stories in the noir genre. This one did not disappoint. The writing was solid and the plots had good twists and turns. They all have their dark, cynical points of view. But that is noir!
Berkeley may be neighbour to San Francisco and a university town, but it has it’s dark, gritty and deadly side too. Each story is set in a different neighbourhood of Berkeley.
In “Lucky Day,” Mason is in week three of his new job at the Berkeley Public Library. Today the new library director is coming in to see how things are going. The manager had to run out to deal with a few problems but would be right back. Mason should be OK on his own, he knows not to unlock the doors to anyone until the opening time.
When Sharpie, a homeless man who is a regular at the library, starts pounding on the glass doors and appears to be seriously bleeding, Mason unlocks the door to let Sharpie in, planning to call 911 for help. Simple plan that becomes complicated when Mason’s brother, Harry, starts pounding on the door.
Harry is someone Mason doesn’t want to see or deal with. Harry is also homeless and has some serious problems. Things go from bad to worse when Harry barges in. Seems he has a score to settle with Sharpie. So much for Mason’s ‘lucky day.’
There is the tale of the house sitter who helps leave a body in the garden of the house she is setting.
There is the single mother who wants to move her kid out of a low performance school that has a serious bullying problem, to a high achieving school. After jumping through all the hoops, the boy is accepted. What greets the lady and her son on the first day makes the lady wonder if it was the right idea to transfer the boy.
Twisty tales with dark sides. A good read.
This is the 4th anthology from Akashic Books that I’ve read. Each is a selection of short stories in the noir genre. This one did not disappoint. The writing was solid and the plots had good twists and turns. They all have their dark, cynical points of view. But that is noir!
Berkeley may be neighbour to San Francisco and a university town, but it has it’s dark, gritty and deadly side too. Each story is set in a different neighbourhood of Berkeley.
In “Lucky Day,” Mason is in week three of his new job at the Berkeley Public Library. Today the new library director is coming in to see how things are going. The manager had to run out to deal with a few problems but would be right back. Mason should be OK on his own, he knows not to unlock the doors to anyone until the opening time.
When Sharpie, a homeless man who is a regular at the library, starts pounding on the glass doors and appears to be seriously bleeding, Mason unlocks the door to let Sharpie in, planning to call 911 for help. Simple plan that becomes complicated when Mason’s brother, Harry, starts pounding on the door.
Harry is someone Mason doesn’t want to see or deal with. Harry is also homeless and has some serious problems. Things go from bad to worse when Harry barges in. Seems he has a score to settle with Sharpie. So much for Mason’s ‘lucky day.’
There is the tale of the house sitter who helps leave a body in the garden of the house she is setting.
There is the single mother who wants to move her kid out of a low performance school that has a serious bullying problem, to a high achieving school. After jumping through all the hoops, the boy is accepted. What greets the lady and her son on the first day makes the lady wonder if it was the right idea to transfer the boy.
Twisty tales with dark sides. A good read.
May 19, 2020
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!
November 25, 2020
I have definitely become a fan of this Akashic Noir series of short story collections. "Berkeley Noir" contains stories that are simultaneously poignant and shocking. It conveys a definite sense of a seething undercurrent beneath a shiny, upscale veneer. Several stories capture the vulnerability that accompanies loneliness in a manner that makes the reader struggle to resolve the morality of the characters' choices. In others, love ameliorates morally ambiguous choices. Very good read!
October 20, 2024
A bunch of noir(ish) short stories set in Berkeley? A bit of a gimmick, but I still enjoyed it. What can I say? It's pandering, but it's pandering to me. Reading about locations I know is fun!
The cover image is also a bit (intentionally?) funny because it looks almost exactly like the covers of course "readers" I remember buying from Copy Central as a student. Sort of ruins the noir atmosphere though!
My favorite story—and the only one that really nailed Berkeley qua Berkeley—was "Every Man and Every Woman is a Star" by Nick Mamatas: a marxist occultist yoga instructor runs into an (also occultist) tech tycoon.
A bit silly, yes, but totally on-point, lovingly taking the piss out of characters I could 100% imagine in Berkeley. Straight-up Marxists overusing the word "praxis"? Yep. Magic/spirtualism/etc? You bet. Techies? Oh boy, yes. Counting me, to be honest. There's even a real-world tech founder running some sort of personal project up in the hills in the old Hillside School building.
The Berkeley locations also fit the story perfectly. I even learned something: Willard Park was locally known as Ho Chi Minh Park by activists during the Vietnam War, and I imagine some still think of it that way. And I've always secretly imagined the hills around the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve are hiding something.
The other stories were a bit hit-or-miss. None of them were quite as fun as the occultist hippies—except maybe Shanthi Sekaran's "Eat Your Pheasant, Drink Your Wine"—but I still enjoyed a few of them. None of them really felt like Berkeley though; the Berkeley-specific details were either superficial or forced, and the stories would fit just as easily in some other city or, at most, some other college town.
In hindsight, I'm pleasantly surprised there was even one story that felt totally situated in Berkeley.
The cover image is also a bit (intentionally?) funny because it looks almost exactly like the covers of course "readers" I remember buying from Copy Central as a student. Sort of ruins the noir atmosphere though!
My favorite story—and the only one that really nailed Berkeley qua Berkeley—was "Every Man and Every Woman is a Star" by Nick Mamatas: a marxist occultist yoga instructor runs into an (also occultist) tech tycoon.
A bit silly, yes, but totally on-point, lovingly taking the piss out of characters I could 100% imagine in Berkeley. Straight-up Marxists overusing the word "praxis"? Yep. Magic/spirtualism/etc? You bet. Techies? Oh boy, yes. Counting me, to be honest. There's even a real-world tech founder running some sort of personal project up in the hills in the old Hillside School building.
The Berkeley locations also fit the story perfectly. I even learned something: Willard Park was locally known as Ho Chi Minh Park by activists during the Vietnam War, and I imagine some still think of it that way. And I've always secretly imagined the hills around the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve are hiding something.
The other stories were a bit hit-or-miss. None of them were quite as fun as the occultist hippies—except maybe Shanthi Sekaran's "Eat Your Pheasant, Drink Your Wine"—but I still enjoyed a few of them. None of them really felt like Berkeley though; the Berkeley-specific details were either superficial or forced, and the stories would fit just as easily in some other city or, at most, some other college town.
In hindsight, I'm pleasantly surprised there was even one story that felt totally situated in Berkeley.
August 18, 2020
Read my full review here: http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.c...
Isn’t Berkeley a nice city, full of wonderful, young, progressive college students? I always thought so, but not so fast. Berkeley Noir exposes the underbelly of this idealized city. As the editors’ say, “Where’s the noir in that perfect view of the Golden Gate, cutting-edge lettuces served in a ghetto dubbed ‘gourmet,’ the parking lot with reserved spaces for Nobel Laureates?” “Grifters? Dames? Cops? In Berkeley?”
There are sixteen stories in Berkeley Noir, but very few of them follow classic “Noir” patterns. One that does is The Law of Local Karma by Susan Dunlap. It is a cop drama with a body, a perp, some cops, and an unsolvable case. Lucky Day by Thomas Burchfield is a neo noir story about a worker at the Berkeley Public Library.
A favorite story is The Tangy Brine of Dark Night by Lucy Jane Bledsoe. In it, a young woman goes out into San Francisco Bay to bury her grandma. She is stopped by the police on the way, with a kayak sticking out of trunk and a dead grandma strapped into the front seat. Another brief but great story is Barroom Butterfly by Barry Gifford in which Roy’s grandfather introduces him to noir fiction. The review in Publisher’s Weekly notes that “Readers will be glad that many of these tales are fun in a way that traditional noir isn’t.” The editor of the book, Jerry Thompson says, “There are no happy endings in noir.”
As you know, I enjoy Akashic’s Noir series. I am currently reading Addis Ababa Noir and Tampa Bay Noir, and will report on them later this week. Join me in some great short stories.
Isn’t Berkeley a nice city, full of wonderful, young, progressive college students? I always thought so, but not so fast. Berkeley Noir exposes the underbelly of this idealized city. As the editors’ say, “Where’s the noir in that perfect view of the Golden Gate, cutting-edge lettuces served in a ghetto dubbed ‘gourmet,’ the parking lot with reserved spaces for Nobel Laureates?” “Grifters? Dames? Cops? In Berkeley?”
There are sixteen stories in Berkeley Noir, but very few of them follow classic “Noir” patterns. One that does is The Law of Local Karma by Susan Dunlap. It is a cop drama with a body, a perp, some cops, and an unsolvable case. Lucky Day by Thomas Burchfield is a neo noir story about a worker at the Berkeley Public Library.
A favorite story is The Tangy Brine of Dark Night by Lucy Jane Bledsoe. In it, a young woman goes out into San Francisco Bay to bury her grandma. She is stopped by the police on the way, with a kayak sticking out of trunk and a dead grandma strapped into the front seat. Another brief but great story is Barroom Butterfly by Barry Gifford in which Roy’s grandfather introduces him to noir fiction. The review in Publisher’s Weekly notes that “Readers will be glad that many of these tales are fun in a way that traditional noir isn’t.” The editor of the book, Jerry Thompson says, “There are no happy endings in noir.”
As you know, I enjoy Akashic’s Noir series. I am currently reading Addis Ababa Noir and Tampa Bay Noir, and will report on them later this week. Join me in some great short stories.
June 22, 2022
This is the sixth Noir collection by Aksahic Books that I have reviewed for Library Thing. They have been consistently good with a variety of stories. Berkeley Noir, covering a town I've never been to, continues the trend. I tend to read the stories out of order based on length, author, and how I'm feeling at the time. So I was a little worried when the first few that I read didn't leave a last marIk on me. Then I hit "Eat Your Pheasant, Drink Your Wine" by Shanthi Sekaran, which had such a unique twist for this series that I ultimately ended up on the positive side. "Wifebeater Tank Top" and "The Tangy Brine of Dark Night" were also highlights for me.
March 2, 2023
I’ve read a dozen or so of the Noir books, and this one was rather weak. But I’ll keep reading them.
March 21, 2023
Inn Kensington doesn’t have booths. Otherwise, fairly accurate.
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