Politics Noir: Thirteen Darks Tales from the Corridors of Power

by: Gary Phillips, Editor

Published by: Verso of N. Y., London

Reviewed by C. L. Rossman

This thriller anthology, a collection of 13 stories digs down into everything that is deep, dark and dirty about politics, everything you ever suspected was at the secret heart of this second oldest profession. Stories by well-known authors like Twist Phelan, Black Artemis, Gary Phillips and Pete Hautman are here, and many of the writers have multiple published novels and are book award winners.

The stories themselves pull no punches, such as:

“Negatives Nixons,” by Mike Davis, the tale of an alleged photograph showing you-know-who in a compromising position with the former FBI Director.

“Madam Secretary’s Lover Man;” by Jake Lamar, a story giving Condi Rice a secret (and fatal) taste for lovers; along with other stories with more obvious fictional themes

“Pork,” by Pete Hautman, about the battle of wills between a stubborn architect and a determined artist in designing a public building

“Ambition” by Michele Martinez, where a new political PR aide will do anything to get ahead—until she runs into an old master of the game

“The Mayor’s Movie” by Sujarta Massey—about the disenfranchised women of an Muslim town, who strive to be rid of an oppressive imam.

Politics Noir has just about every kind of plotting, scheming, dirty trick known to the profession—and what surprised me was the use of well-known names in some of these stories. They lend an air of reality and immediacy. The anthology is published by Verso “an imprint of New Left Books,” as it says inside the cover, so I guess you can see where they’re coming from.

Anyway, for those who like to get to the seamy underside, and read about everything they’ve ever suspected was wrong with politics, this is the book for you.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

Web site: http://www.GDPhillips.com