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Be the first to own North Florida Noir. Pre-Order today to recieve a short story from the anothology. North Florida Noir
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From the Introduction to North Florida Noir It hangs beneath the continent like a handgun holstered to the bottom of a table in a double-cross, a state of mind as much as one drawn by lines. In some ways a microcosm of the country in reverse (the north part of the state resembles the south part of the country; the south, the north), Florida is, in many ways, a perverse likeness of the country it so precariously dangles from. If Florida is a handgun, then the area I write about is its barrel, a rough, pitted barrel, its blued finish bearing traces of rust and corrosion. Mine is the backwoods Florida, more LA than Miami—that's Lower Alabama not the West Coast one. I live in and write about the Redneck Rivera, Georgia with a Florida zip code. It's an interesting, colorful, and unique place—both to live in and write about—and most tourist drive right through it or fly right over it. Don't let the sunshine fool you. There's plenty of darkness lurking beneath our spreading oaks, down our dirt roads, inside our mobile homes, beach condos, and back in our river swamps. Film noir or black film was the name the French gave the movies coming out of America following World War II. As French film critics watched the dark, high contrast style of American crime movies, they were the first to recognize that a new movement in cinematic history was taking place, and though heavily influenced by German expressionism, American Film Noir was completely original, utterly unique. Most often associated with film, the term "noir" is increasingly being linked to literature—and rightly so. The earliest examples of film noir were adaptations of gritty crime novels and short stories. Long before the dark side of the screen flickered to life in the smoky, postwar movie theaters of the 1940's, what might be called the noir esthetic could be found in the long since tattered pages of the pulps. Noir's true first appearance wasn't on celluloid, but paper, not on a Hollywood sound stage of the 1940's, but in the pages of Black Mask Magazine in the crime stories of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and others of the 1920's. Whether in literature or film, defining noir isn't easy to do—and it shouldn't be. Part of what makes noir such an engaging and enduring art form is its fluidity and adaptability. Perhaps more than anything else, noir is an ethos—one that resists defining. Clues might include bleak settings, a violent tone, tough and cynical characters, eroticism, existentialism, nihilism and of course, darkness—after all, noir means "black"—but noir is so much more, and can be far less. It's an art form of shadows and should always be partially left in them. Noir is a mind set, a sensibility, a sense of futility, desperation, and isolation. Traditionally, noir has had its setting among urban, mostly nocturnal landscapes, dimly lit bars, seedy motels, greedy corporations, corrupt municipalities, the soulless, often nameless city that never sleeps. But dark deeds aren't just done before the backdrop of tall buildings and in their shadowed alleyways. According to Ecclesiastes , evil happens everywhere under the sun, and the greatest detective of all time said that the isolation of rural areas provides impunity for the crimes committed there, and that the lowest and vilest alleys of the largest cities do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside. The mean streets of north Florida may be desolate rural highways or backwoods dirt roads, but they are no less capable of cruel indifference to criminal acts than their urban analogues. The ubiquitous slash pines remain just as silent as their concrete and steel counterparts in the asphalt jungle when witnessing the wicked and inhumane ways of humanity.
"What fun to see 1940s Panama City, Florida through the eyes of tough, wise-cracking PI Jimmy Riley. This is my kind of book: tough and violent with snappy dialogue and great atmosphere, beautiful women with hidden agendas, and a long lost world that we mostly know through ancient postcards and faded photographs. Get ready for a suspenseful, romantic and historic ride." Ace Atkins, author of White Shadow. "Stylish, retro, and highly entertaining, Michael Lister's PI Jimmy "Soldier" Riley is a compelling new noir hero." Jason Starr, author of Twisted City and Bust "A seductive mix of sudden violence and raw emotion, Michael Lister's THE BIG GOODBYE is a much-welcome contribution to the hardboiled, P.I. tradition. Cool stuff."
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