Cutting Edge : New Stories of Mystery and Crime by Women Writers

A chilling noir collection featuring fifteen crime and mystery tales and six poems from female authors. Joyce Carol Oates, a queen-pin of the noir genre, has brought her keen and discerning eye to the curation of an outstanding anthology of brand-new top-shelf short stories (and poems by Margaret Atwood!). While bad men are not always the victims in these tales, they get their due often enough to satisfy readers who are sick and tired of the gendered status quo, or who just want to have a little bit of fun at the expense of a crumbling patriarchal society. This stylistically diverse collection will make you squirm in your seat, stay up at night, laugh out loud, and inevitably wish for more. With stories by: Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood (poems), Valerie Martin, Aimee Bender, Edwidge Danticat, Sheila Kohler, S.A. Solomon, S.J. Rozan, Lucy Taylor, Cassandra Khaw, Bernice L. McFadden, Jennifer Morales, Elizabeth McCracken, Livia Llewellyn, Lisa Lim, and Steph Cha. Praise for Cutting Edge "The indefatigable Joyce Carol Oates gathers a strong list of names . . . . Emerging and established authors provide attention-grabbing short works: especially notable are Edwidge Danticat's story on the quotidian horror of domestic violence, Bernice L. McFadden's comic take on the appropriation of racial friendship, and Lisa Lim's illustrations of a grotesque marriage." — Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine "But of course, in the end, it isn't the themes or the innovations on the format of the short story anthology that make the tales collected in Cutting Edge most "feel" as if you were reading Joyce Carol Oates herself. It is the writing. The tight plots and fresh, flowing prose that go about their business until—snap!—the story's well-oiled mousetrap does its job." — New York Journal of Books "The 15 stories and six poems in this slim yet weighty all-original noir anthology . . . are razor-sharp and relentless in their portrayal of life, offering snapshots of dysfunction, everyday toil, and brief joy. It is unusual, however, in its scope, zeroing in not only on what the female characters endure but what they dish out . . . . Each story sears but does not cauterize, leaving protagonists and readers raw . . . . Fans of contemporary crime fiction won't want to miss this one." — Publishers Weekly "This collection of feminist crime tales edited by the one and only Joyce Carol Oates is marketed to 'readers who are sick and tired of the status quo, or who just want to have a little bit of fun at the expense of a crumbling patriarchal society.' Well, isn't that everyone?"--CrimeReads, included in the Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2019 "Oates' stellar anthology of female noir ... is an inclusive homage to the female/feminist perspective ... Taken as a whole, the collection is a surreal yet satisfying journey into the darker side of the female consciousness, a book that, for all its murk and mayhem, celebrates feminine strength, cunning, and determination." -- Booklist "The 15 stories and six poems in this slim yet weighty all-original noir anthology--contributors include Margaret Atwood and Edwidge Danticat--are razor-sharp and relentless in their portrayal of life, offering snapshots of dysfunction, everyday toil, and brief joy ... Each story sears but does not cauterize, leaving protagonists and readers raw. As Oates points out in her introduction, and the stories hauntingly evoke, noir's strength has very little to do with man-centric plots and everything to do with female ascendance. Fans of contemporary crime fiction won't want to miss this one." -- Publishers Weekly "'Is there a distinctive female noir?' asks Oates in her introduction. This collection may not settle that question, but it goes a long way toward supplying candidates for an emerging canon. There are 15 stories here, all but one of them new, and half a dozen new poems ... the average [story] is high enough to satisfy readers of all genders." -- Kirkus Reviews "This collection enlivens ... flattened archetypes by retelling the noir narrative from the new perspectives of teenage girls, women hired hands, and mothers of children." -- Book Riot, included in 9 of the Best Noir Fiction Retellings Joyce Carol Oates, a queenpin of the noir genre, has brought her keen and discerning eye to the curation of an outstanding anthology of brand-new top-shelf short stories (and poems by Margaret Atwood!). While bad men are not always the victims in these tales, they get their due often enough to satisfy readers who are sick and tired of the gendered status quo, or who just want to have a little bit of fun at the expense of a crumbling patriarchal society. This stylistically diverse collection will make you squirm in your seat, stay up at night, laugh out loud, and inevitably wish for more. Featuring brand-new stories by: Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood (poems), Valerie Martin, Aimee Bender, Edwidge Danticat, Sheila Kohler, S.A. Solomon, S.J. Rozan, Lucy Taylor, Cassandra Khaw, Bernice L. McFadden, Jennifer Morales, Elizabeth McCracken, Livia Llewellyn, Lisa Lim, and Steph Cha. From the introduction by Joyce Carol Oates: "The particular strength of the female noir vision isn't a recognizable style but rather a defiantly female, indeed feminist, perspective. Cutting Edge brings together a considerable range of twenty-first-century female voices, from sociological realism (Cha) to Grand Guignol surrealism (Oates); from erotic playfulness (Bender) to dark fairy-tale determinism (Khaw). Here is a brilliantly deadpan graphic story by Lisa Lim, and here are brilliantly executed poems by Margaret Atwood. Artwork by Laurel Hausler is striking and original, sinister and triumphant; Noir Dame (on the front cover) is the perfect image of a mysterious beauty, far more than merely skin-deep, and essentially unknowable." "Swift, hard-boiled novel...Shadowy zealots exist everywhere, whether in conference rooms or interrogation rooms or?most often?in rooms that can serve as both." ? New York Times Book Review "Abdoh paints a gripping portrait of a nation awash in violence and crippled by corruption....Captivating." ? Publishers Weekly "Abdoh...gives readers a visceral sense of life in a country where repression is the norm, someone is always watching, and your past is never really past. Recommended for espionage aficionados and for readers who enjoy international settings." ? Library Journal "A fascinating glimpse of contemporary Iran through the familiar story of childhood friends whose paths are beginning to diverge irreversibly." ? Shelf Awareness "A penetrating look into contemporary Tehran." ? Kirkus Reviews "Salar Abdoh is an acute observer of the patterns, flaws, and simple beauties of everyday life...[ Tehran at Twilight is] an unpretentious, cross-cultural political thriller that rings true in the way only a skillfully crafted novel can." ? San Francisco Book Review "Abdoh's restraint with the brutality in present-day Iran in no way tamps down the adrenalin that keeps his characters in action...Goodness and mercy eventually carry the day, within limits, and this relatively new author may already have potential readers looking forward to his next novel." ? The Buffalo News "New history and a fresh take on the same old dirty tricks result in a clever and compelling tale." ? The National (UAE) "Abdoh is superb... Tehran at Twilight is an impressive work of fiction...Abdoh's talent is obvious from the first scene in the story until the bittersweet end." ? CounterPunch Magazine "Abdoh's Iran is a place where the question isn't if one has been complicit, but rather the extent of one's complicity." ? What If Knits Included in Library Journal 's "Books That Buzzed at BEA" Roundup, the first word on titles and trends from Barbara Hoffert , Editor "Abdoh deftly captures the uneasy atmosphere of 2008 Tehran, swirling with betrayal and corruption." ? Library Journal , Books for the Masses/Editors' Picks BEA 2014 The year is 2008. Reza Malek's life is modest but manageable?he lives in a small apartment in Harlem, teaches "creative reportage" at a local university, and is relieved to be far from the blood and turmoil of Iraq and Afghanistan where he worked as a reporter, interpreter, and sometime lover for a superstar journalist who has long since moved on to more remarkable men. After a terse phone call from his best friend in Iran, Sina Vafa, Reza reluctantly returns to Tehran. Once there, he finds far more than he bargained for: the city is on the edge of revolution; his friend Sina is embroiled with Shia militants; his missing mother, who was alleged to have run off with a lover before the revolution, is alive and well?while his own life is in danger. Against a backdrop of corrupt clerics, shady fixers, political repression, and the ever-present threat of violence, Abdoh offers a telling glimpse into contemporary Tehran, and spins a compelling morality tale of identity and exile, the bonds of friendship, and the limits of loyalty An Iranian American returns home to help a friend and finds his life in danger: "Remarkable . . . a smart, eloquent novel." #8212;Dalia Sofer, author of The Septembers of Shiraz The year is 2008. Reza Malek's life is modest but manageable#8212;he lives in a small apartment in Harlem, teaches at a local university, and is relieved to be far from the blood and turmoil of Iraq and Afghanistan, where he worked as a reporter, interpreter, and sometimes lover for a superstar journalist who has long since moved on to more remarkable men. But after a terse phone call from his best friend in Iran, Reza reluctantly returns to Tehran. Once there, he finds far more than he bargained for: the city is on the edge of revolution; his friend is embroiled with Shia militants; and his missing mother, who was alleged to have run off before the revolution, is alive and well#8212;while his own life is now in danger. Against a backdrop of corrupt clerics, shady fixers, political repression, and the ever-present threat of violence, this novel offers a telling glimpse into contemporary Tehran, and spins a riveting morality tale of identity and exile, the bonds of friendship, and the limits of loyalty. "[A] swift, hard-boiled novel . . . Shadowy zealots exist everywhere, whether in conference rooms or interrogation rooms or#8212;most often#8212;in rooms that can serve as both." #8212; The New York Times Book Review "A gripping portrait of a nation awash in violence and crippled by corruption." #8212; Publishers Weekly "A smart political thriller." #8212;Laila Lalami, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of The Moor's Account "Gives readers a visceral sense of life in a country where repression is the norm . . . Recommended for espionage aficionados and for readers who enjoy international settings." #8212; Library Journal "A fascinating glimpse of contemporary Iran through the familiar story of childhood friends whose paths are beginning to diverge irreversibly." #8212; Shelf Awareness Joyce Carol Oates pulls out all the stops in this chilling female-centric noir collection featuring brand-new writing from Margaret Atwood, Aimee Bender, Edwidge Danticat, and more. Joyce Carol Oates, a queenpin of the noir genre, has brought her keen and discerning eye to the curation of an outstanding anthology of brand-new top-shelf short stories (and poems by Margaret Atwood!). While bad men are not always the victims in these tales, they get their due often enough to satisfy readers who are sick and tired of the gendered status quo, or who just want to have a little bit of fun at the expense of a crumbling patriarchal society. This stylistically diverse collection will make you squirm in your seat, stay up at night, laugh out loud, and inevitably wish for more. Featuring brand-new stories by: Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood (poems), Valerie Martin, Aimee Bender, Edwidge Danticat, Sheila Kohler, S.A. Solomon, S.J. Rozan, Lucy Taylor, Cassandra Khaw, Bernice L. McFadden, Jennifer Morales, Elizabeth McCracken, Livia Llewellyn, Lisa Lim, and Steph Cha. From the introduction by Joyce Carol Oates: The particular strength of the female noir vision isnt a recognizable style but rather a defiantly female, indeed feminist, perspective. Cutting Edge brings together a considerable range of twenty-first-century female voices, from sociological realism (Cha) to Grand Guignol surrealism (Oates); from erotic playfulness (Bender) to dark fairy-tale determinism (Khaw). Here is a brilliantly deadpan graphic story by Lisa Lim, and here are brilliantly executed poems by Margaret Atwood. Artwork by Laurel Hausler is striking and original, sinister and triumphant; Noir Dame (on the front cover) is the perfect image of a mysterious beauty, far more than merely skin-deep, and essentially unknowable. Cover and interior art by Laurel Hausler. Iranian ex-pat Reza Malek's quiet professorial life is upended when he returns to Tehran to help his best friend Sina Vava who is involved with Shia militants -- Friendship, betrayal, and international intrigue populate this brilliant novel in the tradition of Graham Greene and John le Carré