Vancouver Noir

September 1, 2018
Fourteen brand-new reasons why life isn't all shiny and bright in the City of Glass.Despite its rainy weather, Vancouver has a sunny disposition: diverse, optimistic, welcoming. But editor Wiebe maintains that it has its share of urban troubles: poverty, drugs, violence. Gentrification may make Vancouver's crime look a little less gritty, but it's just as corrosive, as Timothy Taylor's "Saturna Island" and Robin Spano's "The Perfect Playgroup" prove. And the process of repurposing old neighborhoods has sharp downsides disclosed by Carleigh Baker's "The Midden." Nathan Ripley's "The Landecker Party" shows that criminal intent hasn't skipped the millennials, although Nick Mamatas presents some crooks who still like the old-school ways in "The One Who Walks with a Limp." Vancouver's crime is also equal-opportunity. Women get their share of the action in Linda L. Richards' "Terminal City" and R.M. Greenaway's "The Threshold," although the line between male domination and female empowerment can blur, as Don English reveals in "Stitches." People with disabilities get caught up in mayhem in Kristi Charish's "The Demon of Steveston." And old age is no proof against crime, as S.G. Wong's "Survivors' Pension" and Wiebe's "Wonderful Life" demonstrate.Given the book's mix of wily pros, moody misfits, bewildered bystanders, and a touch of the supernatural, Wiebe makes a strong case that as far as crime is concerned, Vancouver is "a city like any other."

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September 10, 2018
Weibe and the 13 other mostly Canadian contributors to this solid anthology expose the seedy underbelly that belies the Vancouver known to tourists and fans of the many films shot in Hollywood North. One highlight is Linda L. Richard’s “Terminal City,” a surprisingly tense-yet-moving cat and mouse story about a female assassin who falls for her target. Another notable entry is Sheena Kamal’s “Eight Game-Changing Tips on Public Speaking.” This second-person narrative, constructed as an informational article designed for a slimeball of a boss, deceptively mystifies before dropping the hammer down in karmic fashion. In Yasuko Thanh’s shattering “Burned,” three prostitutes gather at a diner in the city’s red-light district. Their conversation gradually reveals the narrator’s dismay as she learns of the criminal heartlessness of her two companions. In Nick Mamatas’s unsettling “The One Who Walks with a Limp,” set in what used to be the city’s Greektown, a young man learns some unpleasant truths about his grandparents and WWII. Not every selection is a winner, but noir aficionados will find plenty to like.

November 15, 2018

The latest Akashic "Noir" collection features stories by Canadian writers, both crime writers and not, residents and expats, with stories all about characters who live in gritty everyday Vancouver, BC, settings. Here readers can explore the financial district through a disgruntled employee in Sheena Kamal's "Eight Game-Changing Tips on Public Speaking." The tips are worthwhile if a little unusual but the story is unforgettable. Sam Wiebe's characters clean up gang activity along Commercial Drive in "Wonderful Life." R.M. Greenway's standout "The Threshold" questions a photographer's morals when he waits to call 911 as a dying man's life drains away, providing the perfect image. Robin Spano's "The Perfect Playgroup" stars a superficial, label-driven woman who is the catalyst for revenge. Crime abounds, affecting regular people who struggle to make rent and care for their families. As Carleigh Baker writes in "The Midden," there are rats in these stories, both four-legged and two-, scurrying through the pages, in basements, on the streets, even in the homes of the well-to-do. VERDICT For fans of the city, noir fiction, and the series.--Frances Thorsen, Victoria, BC

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