This anthology will collect noir and hard-boiled style stories from some of Wattpad's brightest authors, as well as some up-and-comers that I think we'll be seeing a lot of in the future. This dark group will spread their stories across several diff...
When most people think of noir, the first image that pops into our minds is probably a haggard private detective. He's sporting a trench-coat and a fedora, smokes like a chimney, and has a penchant for calling women "dames". It's true, noir first began as the hard-boiled genre, with investigators like Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade from "The Maltese Falcon" or Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe of "The Big Sleep". These characters and their adventures were immensely popular, gaining enthusiastic audiences from their radio plays and critically successful film adaptations.
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For many years, the hard-boiled P.I. was a cultural touchstone for readers who craved more fringe themes of corruption and cynicism. The protagonists were dark individuals who lived in unwholesome times, and viewed the world without the rose-tinted glasses of Norman Rockwell Americana. They weren't afraid of the darkness. They were so surrounded by it, they had become indifferent to it. Just part of the day-to-day.
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Over time, so many other creative people were influenced by the noir and hard-boiled style that it began to bleed into other genres. The impact has fashioned some of the most original and acclaimed media to be experienced via page or screen.
Let's take a look at some examples of how noir has bridged genre gaps, and become one of the most flexible and powerful styles in media.
Sci-fi: Blade Runner (based on Philip K Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"), Dark City, The Matrix, Dan Simmon's "Hyperion"
Fantasy: Neil Gaiman's "American Gods", Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files" series, Richard Kadrey's "Sandman Slim"
Horror: Tom Piccirilli's "A Lower Deep", Lord of Illusions (based on Clive Barker's "The Last Illusion"), In the Mouth of Madness
Action: Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer series, Lee Childs Jack Reacher novels
Neo-noir: Stephen Graham Jones' "All the Beautiful Sinners", Donald Ray Pollock's "The Devil All the Time", Drive, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
The noir flavor is also responsible for interesting subgenres such as cyberpunk and steampunk, comic book heroes like Batman and The Punisher, and even anime/manga such as "Ghost in the Shell" and "Psycho-Pass".
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Noir doesn't shy away from the grit of reality. The protagonist's outlook and narration is usually jaded, often times crossing into straight up nihilism. The supporting cast is manipulative and suspicious, generally working towards their own motives. Dialogue is crisp and hard-hitting, some working with banter and one-liners that stick in our minds.
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In the next chapter, we'll take a look at the theme's that will be explored in this anthology, and how YOU could be featured along with some of Wattpad's most prolific authors.
