Noir fiction, also called hardboiled crime fiction, is a uniquely American style of writing that was established and pioneered by authors such as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler in the 1920s and '30s. In the classical sense of the word, noir is often associated with detective short stories and novels. The primary elements that comprise classical noir fiction are an unsentimental viewpoint toward crime, violence, sex, alcohol, and drugs; gritty realism; a protagonist with an ambiguous moral code; and the femme fatale: a seductive female character who manipulates the male protagonist in order to make him unknowingly accomplish her ulterior motive.

Now we have a new series of noir fiction by Akashic Books filled with short stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.

CHICAGO NOIR

The City of Chicago has spent much time and money over the last decade marketing itself as a tourist-friendly place for the whole family. It's got a shiny new Millennium Park, a spaceship in the middle of Soldier Field, and thousands of condo buildings that seem to spring from the ground overnight. Chicago's rough-and-tumble tough-guy reputation has been replaced by a postcard with a lake view.

But the old city's not gone. The hard-bitten streets once represented by James Farrell and Nelson Algren may have shifted locales, and they may be populated by different ethnicities, but Chicago is still a place where people struggle to survive and where, for many, crime is the only means for their survival. The stories in Chicago Noir reclaim that territory.

Chicago Noir is populated by hired killers and jazzmen, drunks and dreamers, corrupt cops and ticket scalpers and junkies. It's the Chicago that the Department of Tourism doesn't want you to see, a place where hard cases face their sad fates, and pay for their sins in blood. These are stories about blocks that visitors are afraid to walk. They tell of a Chicago beyond Oprah, Michael Jordan, and deep-dish pizza. This isn't someone's dream of Chicago. It's not even a nightmare. It's just the real city, unfiltered.

What's covered in Chicago Noir:

• 99th & Drexel - "Goodnight Chicago and Amen" by Luciano Guerriero
• 77th & Jeffery - "The Gospel of Moral Ends" by Bayo Ojikutu
• 54th & Blackstone - "Dear Mr. Kleczka" by Peter Orner
• 35th & Michigan - "The Near Remote" by Jeffery Renard Allen
• 26th & Kedvale - "Destiny Returns" by Achy Obejas
• 19th & Sacramento - "The Great Billik" by Claire Zulkey
• 18th & Allport - "Maximillian" by Alexai Galaviz-Budziszewski
• Canal & Jackson - "All Happy Families" by Andrew Ervin
• Grand & Western - "Monkey Head" by M.K. Meyers
• Grand & Racine - "Zero Zero Day" by Kevin Guilfoile
• Chicago & Noble - "Arcadia" by Todd Dills
• North & Troy - "Alex Pinto Hears the Bell" by C.J. Sullivan
• Roscoe & Claremont - "Pure Products" by Daniel Buckman
• Roscoe & Broadway - "Death Mouth" by Amy Sayre-Roberts
• Lawrence & Broadway - "Like a Rocket with a Beat" by Joe Meno
• Clark & Foster - "Marty's Drink or Die Club" by Neal Pollack
• Albion & Whipple - "Bobby Kagan Knows Everything" by Adam Langer
• I-94, Lake Forest Oasis - "The Oldest Rivalry" by Jim Arndorfer