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

"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 "This all original anthology features 15 stories, in which a lot of bad men get their comeuppances, by Steph Cha, Edwidge Danticat, S.J. Rozan, and other women authors. Margaret Atwood contributes six poems." --Publishers Weekly, Fall 2019 Adult Announcements (Mysteries & Thrillers) 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.

About the Author :
Joyce Carol Oates is the author of a number of works of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. She is the editor of New Jersey Noir and Prison Noir and a recipient of the National Book Award, the PEN America Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Humanities Medal, and a World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey, and was recently inducted into the American Philosophical Society.

Review :
'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" Fifteen stories (and six ditties by Margaret Atwood) that view the conventions of noir fiction through female eyes. The most surprising aspect, given all the writers are women, is that the victims of crime/betrayal/despair are as likely to be shes as hes. Drowning, stabbing, shooting, beheading: the fun is endless.-- "The Times of London" This collection enlivens . . . flattened archetypes by retelling the noir narrative from the new perspectives of teenage girls, women hired hands, and mothers of children.-- "BookRiot, included in 9 of the Best Noir Fiction Retellings" 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 indefatigable Joyce Carol Oates gathers a strong list of names for Cutting Edge: New Stories of Mystery and Crime by Women Writers. 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"