International Crime Fiction #3
The India Issue
If you like crime fiction, then you might like this. Its 368 pages are value for money. The editor, Eddie Vega, says in his introduction, “Noir Nation is a search for beauty, dark and brutal. We can hear the initial call in these lines from W.B. Yeats’ masterful poem “Easter 1916”:
In the casual comedy;
He, too, has been changed in his turn,
Transformed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
“There is a turning away from the light and the banal, the casual comedy, and a turning to the murderous passions and dark depravities of human nature and transgressive political bodies. In real life, such turns result in death, disfigurement, and prison. In literature, we can live and relive the mechanics vicariously and safely through the prism of the imagination.”
With over 1.2 billion residents, India is not only the world’s most
copious producer of crime pulp, it is also its hungriest consumer. Even in her
chirpy feel-good Bollywood films, guns and gangsters vie with the singing and
the dancing. Although the work of many Indian writers of crime noir are not to
be found in fashionable bookstores—next to the hardcover books of Jhumpa
Lahiri, Salmon Rushdie, and Vikram Seth—they are in much more popular spots:
the stalls and book carts of A. H. Wheeler & Co. found among the 8,000
railway stations that serve India’s 25 million daily commuters, riding 71,000
miles of uneventful track. That is India’s open secret: crime novels stay close
to their devouring readers. This needs commemorating. Hence Noir Nation No. 3:
The India Issue—with stories that are dark, brutal, and beautiful to the eye
that loves the shadows—where the dark angels flock.
Illustrated with stunning Mehndi tattoos, Noir Nation's India Issue contains over thirty entries from some of the very best literary crime fiction writers in the world, among them Suparn Verma, Samrat X, Yaeer Talker, Bianca Bellova, JJ Toner, Richard Godwin, Simon Rowe, Graham Wynd, David Siddell, and Meeah Cross-Williams; and ace contributions from emerging noir writers Alastair Keen, Terrence P. McCauley, Frauke Schuster, Ryan Gattis, Chelsea L. Clemmons, Gila Green, Paul Alexander, Carmen Tudor, and Anthony Pioppi; and established hard-boiled wunderkinds Jonathan Sturak, Ed Lynskey, Mark Mellon, Christopher L. Irvin, and Nik Korpon, The issue also includes essays on noir-related poetry, music, and the visual arts by Atar Hadari, Vicki Gundrum, and Robert Brunet and two works of classic noir: "The Turkish Brothel" by the late Cortright McMeel and "The Perfect Courtesan" by Kshemendra.
This issue is dedicated to the memory of Cortright McMeel
(1971-2013), ‘Co-founder of Noir
Nation, visionary writer & publisher of dark tales, loving husband
& father, luminary teacher of writing, literature, and life.’
Amazon.com e-book here
Amazon.co.uk e-book here
You can buy the paperback with all those gorgeous colours here
post-free worldwide
Next up is #4, surprisingly. The
Canadian Issue.
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