NEW JERSEY NOIR

Edited by Joyce Carol Oates - to be released November 2011

This is a selection of brand new short stories and poems by some of our favorite authors. With over 50 books published in the "Noir" series, it was nice to find that the newest is set in New Jersey.

Being from New Jersey, of course I'm partial to our state and NEW JERSEY NOIR does not disappoint.  Forget the wonderful farms in south Jersey and the rolling hills, lakes and mountains in the north, this book is the turnpike of New Jersey; a seamier and scarier vision.

I expected that more of the authors would actually be from New Jersey, but with stories from the likes of S.J. Rozan, Lou Manfredo, Robert Pinsky and Alicia Ostricker, crossing state lines was not a problem.  Not a fan of poetry, but having grown up in Newark, I found myself calling friends to read parts of C.K. Williams' thought provoking and poignant NEWARK BLACK: 1940 - 1954.

Thoroughly enjoyable, NEW JERSEY NOIR is a wonderful compilation; you can't miss with this one!

ISBN 978-1-61775-034-2
Pub. Date:  November 1, 2011
280 pages
Available in Hardcover

HEART OF THE CITY, Nine Stories of Love and Serendipity on the Streets of New York

by Ariel Sabar - to be released January, 2011

In HEART OF THE CITY, Ariel Sabar introduces us to nine couples who met by chance at different landmarks or places in New York City from the 1940's through present day.

The lenghty introduction in the book delves into the environmental and psychological effects of physical space on human interaction.  The author infuses architecture into each story, providing us with short historical vignettes.  Being married to an architect who is currently pursuing a PhD in Urban Planning, this was especially enthralling.

As I finished reading each couple's story, my mind was racing with questions.  What happened to them?  What became of twenty-five year old Chris and forty year old Tina who met on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty in 1988?  Are they still married twenty-two years later?  Or Joey and Willis who met in Central Park so many years ago?  Mr. Sabar very deftly provided the answers to all of my questions in the postscripts.

This is a beautiful, fascinating and intelligent book about the impact of our physical environment and the happenstance of meeting and falling in love.  HEART OF THE CITY was a delight to read.

FIRST THRILLS

Introduced and edited by Lee Child - available in harcover

As I've mentioned before, I'm not really a fan of short stories but I always buy the ones written by mystery writers so I can find authors whose books I haven't read.

FIRST THRILLS is a collection of 25 short thriller or mystery stories written by different authors and introduced and edited by Lee Child. Some of the stories are really good; i.e., THE THIEF by Gregg Hurwitz, THE BODYGUARD by Lee Child and THE GATO CONUNDRUM by John Lescroart to name a few. Some are okay and others were pretty mediocre, which is typical of this type of compiled work.

Since this volume had more good than bad stories, I think you'd enjoy FIRST THRILLS.

BEFORE YOU SUFFOCATE YOUR OWN FOOL SELF

by Danielle Evans - to be released in September 2010

I've never been a big fan of short stories. They remind me of the 45 records I used to buy when I was a teenager. On the "A" side was the hit song you wanted to purchase, but the "B" side was usually a song you had never heard or didn't like but the music companies weren't going to sell you two "A" songs on one 45.

BEFORE YOU SUFFOCATE YOUR OWN FOOL SELF is a wonderful book of short stories that doesn't have any "B" sides; they're all "A"s. Danielle Evans has written stories that deal with the difficulties of family life, friendships, reaching adulthood and inequality in equal measure for African-American and biracial protagonists.

There is honesty, pain and beauty in each of the stories. My favorite was "SNAKES", the story of a young biracial girl's summer with her white grandmother. Ms. Evans' characters find hope and joy despite their heartbreaking situations making BEFORE YOU SUFFOCATE YOUR OWN FOOL SELF a delight to read.