Noir crime fiction is a genre characterized by cynicism, fatalism, and moral ambiguity, and the setting is most often in a city that shows the world as an unhappy, violent place in which many unpleasant people live. It gained in popularity in the 1940s after the Depression and World War II. Readers were disillusioned and no longer believed in clean, happy endings. It became clear that not every crime could be neatly solved, and not every hero could be squeaky clean, and noir fiction reflected that reality for readers. For similar reasons, there was a resurgence of noir fiction in the 1970s, when America was once again in a tumultuous moment in history: the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War. And here we are again...
Denver Noir is one of the latest titles in Akashic Books Noir series, which spans the globe! Milwaukee, Berlin, Rio, Sydney, San Juan and more get the noir treatment from local authors. Check out this stellar list of contributors to Denver Noir - Peter Heller, Barbara Nickless, Cynthia Swanson, Mario Acevedo, Francelia Belton, R. Alan Brooks, D.L. Cordero, Amy Drayer, Twanna LaTrice Hill, Manuel Ramos, Mark Stevens, Mathangi Subramanian, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, and Erika T. Wurth.
Intrigued? Join editor/author Cynthia Swanson, and story contributors R. Alan Brooks, Manuel Ramos, and David Heska Wanbli Weiden at the Sam Gary Branch on Saturday, Oct. 29, at 3 pm for a discussion and readings from Denver Noir! Copies will be available for sale and signing, thanks to BookBar Denver.
