The Best Short Stories Of Philadelphia

An anthology of short fiction inspired by the city of Philadelphia

Residents of Philadelphia have been nagging Akashic Books for years to see their own entry in the award-winning Noir series. The time has finally arrived - but the city must beware as there may be no recovery from the tarnishing of this collection of 15 original crime stories. Features brand-new stories by Diane Ayres, Cordelia Frances Biddle, Keith Gilman, Cary Holladay, Solomon Jones, Gerald Kolpan, Aimee LaBrie, Halimah Marcus, Carlin Romano, Asali Solomon, Laura Spagnoli, Duane Swierczynski, Dennis Tafoya and Jim Zervanos.

One of John Wideman’s most ambitious and celebrated works, the lyrical masterpiece and PEN/Faulkner winner inspired by the 1985 police bombing of the West Philadelphia row house owned by black liberation group Move. In 1985, police bombed a West Philadelphia row house owned by the Afrocentric cult known as Move, killing eleven people and starting a fire that destroyed sixty other houses. At the heart of Philadelphia Fire is Cudjoe, a writer and exile who returns to his old neighborhood after spending a decade fleeing from his past, and who becomes obsessed with the search for a lone survivor of the event: a young boy seen running from the flames. Award-winning author John Edgar Wideman brings these events and their repercussions to shocking life in this seminal novel. “Reminiscent of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man” (Time) and Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song, Philadelphia Fire is a masterful, culturally significant work that takes on a major historical event and takes us on a brutally honest journey through the despair and horror of life in urban America.

A collection of the best short fiction, poetry, and essays published by Philadelphia Stories between 2004 and 2014. This volume, published in celebration of Philadelphia Stories' tenth anniversary, includes work by Philadelphia-area writers as well as winners of the magazine's national contests - the Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction and the Sandy Crimmins National Prize for Poetry.

Stories from an important, if little noticed, neighborhood of Philadelphia

Philadelphia is America's most historic and most misunderstood city. This collection of short stories with essays, quotes, and tidbits sprinkled throughout, takes the reader on a journey in and around Philly, using fiction and history to weave compelling tales about just a handful of the 1.5 million people that call it home.

These stories and essays, for the most part, take place in the city of Philadelphia. Taken together, they paint the portrait of a young scholar trying to find his way in the big city. From the halls of academe through his transition into the "real world," the stories chart his progress, his love life, his triumphs and his failures as he tries to find within himself who he is and where he belongs on this planet. Just because most of the characters are still in their twenties doesn't mean the stories should be labeled coming-of-age stories. Most of the stories have no moral, and there are more questions than answers to be garnered from most of them. Finally, not all the stories are uplifting, but at least they are honest and may offer some insight into this perplexing world of which we are all a part.

This new collection of short stories by Joe MacDougall brings the underside of Philadelphia to life through rich and raunchy dialogue and creates a canvas full of characters that become three dimensional and exciting all of the senses. Each story is a different take on what it means to be a Philadelphian: tough, with that in-your-face attitude served up with a cheese steak and beer. MacDougall carries us into the seamy side and has us swim in the slime without guilt or remorse. We are voyeurs witnessing their lives and are happy to vicariously succumb to our dark side for just a little while. We all know these people, and MacDougall leads us to the realization that they have always been around, and always will be.