Manila Noir (Akashic Noir)

—Winner of the National Book Award for Best Anthology from the Manila Critics Circle

“A collection of stories like Akashic’s forthcoming Manila Noir is enough to set a crime-fiction addict’s mouth watering.” —New York Observer

Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.

Brand-new stories by: Lourd De Veyra, Gina Apostol, Budjette Tan & Kajo Baldisimo, F.H. Batacan, Jose Dalisay Jr., Eric Gamalinda, Jessica Hagedorn, Angelo Lacuesta, R. Zamora Linmark, Rosario Cruz-Lucero, Sabina Murray, Jonas Vitman, Marianne Villanueva, and Lysley Tenorio.

From the introduction by Jessica Hagedorn:

“Manila’s a city of survivors, schemers, and dreamers . . . A city of extremes. Where the rich live in posh enclaves, guarded by men with guns. Where the poor improvise homes out of wood, tin, and cardboard and live by their wits. Where five-star hotels and luxury malls selling Prada and Louis Vuitton coexist with toxic garbage dumps and sprawling “informal settlements” (a.k.a. squatter settlements), where religious zeal coexists with superstition, where “hospitality” might be another word for prostitution, where sports and show business can be the first step to politics, where politics can be synonymous with nepotism, cronyism, and corruption, where violence is nothing out of the ordinary, and pretty much anything can be had for a price—if you have the money and/or the connections, that is . . .

As you will see from this steamy collection of stories, all these delicious contradictions serve to enrich and expand our concept of noir. What you will also find are the noir essentials: alienated and desperate characters, terse dialogue, sudden violence, betrayals left and right . . . All the fabulous and fearless writers gathered here have a deep connection and abiding love for this crazy-making, intoxicating city. There’s nothing like it in the world, and they know it.”