Wall Street Fiction (fun stuff)--

If you are fearing the worse with all the new troublesome news stories coming out about Wall Street this week, then grab a fiction book about the financial world and see if things might be better. Wall Street Noir is another of the Akashic's noir anthology series of short mystery fiction. This one features (mostly) writers with financial backgrounds in 17 stories.

I was surprised to find this title but pleased with the creativity that is out there to focus on this American institution ripe with possible pitfalls. As written in Publishers Weekly these fictional stories find actions of "greed, volatility and desperation often lead to crime." Well, maybe this might let you focus on the troubles of others for a bit.

Wall Street is edited by the Shamus Award-winning author Peter Spiegelman.

Yestersday's News Become New Fiction Books (Hurricane Katrina)

With the recent Hurricane Gustav headlines, the three-year old Hurricane Katrina is back in the American consciousness. Since that time, of course, books about the tragedy have swept up in bookstores and libraries with its share of fiction books. Our library system has at least three adult titles in the mystery genre.

First is James Lee Burke's Tin Roof Blowdown from the long-running series with Iberia Parish Sheriff's Detective Dave Robicheaux. He travels to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to help restore civil order which includes dealing with violent and desperate lawbreakers roaming the streets.

I have a copy of this book at home (a Christmas gift).

Second, I noticed in our new book section months ago, First the Dead by Tim Downs. This book marks the third of the series with forensic entomologist Nick "Bug Man"Polchak, so nicknamed because he is an expert in using bugs to deduce the time and circumstances of death. A member of DMORT, the disaster mortuary operational response team, used by FEMA to assist with mass casualties, Polchak goes to New Orleans when Katrina hits. Some corpses, however, show signs of death before the storm and Polchak's investigation takes a much different turn. First the Dead is also under the Christian fiction genre.

Last is New Orleans Noir, a collection of 18 unpublished short stories edited by Julie Smith. This is the twelfth book of the recent city noir short story series with two sections for the pre-and post-Katrina entries. Well-known writers such as Laura Lippman contribute to this project along with those on the rise.

Another Genre to Mention...

Flipping through a recent Rolling Stone magazine I ran across an ad that really caught my eye. Check this out--(in red, large print) "Kung Fu Noir (Martial Art Fiction Comes of Age)" the ad proclaims.

Well, read further and the author of book promotion (The Cutting Season and Crocodile and the Crane, that is) explains all on his website. Of course, first you may go to the "kung fu noir" website and notice "Arthur Rosenfeld" in red at the bottom. This genre is (as of 2008) primarily: [a] unique blend of traditional martial arts tales (wuxia) with contemporary American crime fiction.

Different, huh? Rosenfeld says so and with a background in Asian culture and philosophy, a martial arts expert and writer of books and magazine articles, he appears to have "the right stuff" to proclaim this new genre. Here's a pix of the talented guy from his website. Our library system has his Crocodile book and would likely get more if these titles keep gaining interest.

Is he is on the start of a big new series for crime fiction? We'll have to see.