Istanbul Noir edited by Mustafa Ziyalan and AmySpangler

Surrounded by two seas, split by the Bosphorus Strait, and pierced by the Golden Horn, Istanbul stretches between Europe and Asia. A city at once ancient and modern, it is the quintessential postcard-perfect metropolis. But don't let the alluring vistas fool you--beneath its veneer of a beautiful meeting place of cultures, religions, and ethnicities lies a heart of darkness seething with suppressed desire, boiling with frustration, and burning with a fervor for vengeance. If there is a city with its own unique brew of noir, Istanbul is it.

From the pitch-black and the ephemeral to the realistic and the surreal, from the open-hearted and the fanatic to the malicious and sadistic, from the butcher out for meat to the lamb who wants to live, these stories rip away the enchanting façade to reveal the shadowy side of Istanbul's soul.

Comprised of entirely new stories by some of Turkey's most exciting authors--some still up-and-coming, others well-established and critically acclaimed in their homeland--as well as by a couple of "outsiders" temporarily held hostage in the city's vice, Istanbul Noir introduces a whole new breed of talent. As you succumb to the wiles of the city's storytellers, however, be warned--their narrators are notoriously unreliable, and their readers even more so.

Year: 2008

Paperback