Portland Noir
This collection is comprised of works of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors’ imaginations. Any resemblance to real events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published by Akashic Books
© 2009 Akashic Books
Series concept by Tim McLoughlin and Johnny Temple
Portland map by Sohrab Habibion
ePUB ISBN-13: 978-1-936-07043-5
ISBN-13: 978-1-933354-79-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008937354
All rights reserved
Akashic Books
PO Box 1456
New York, NY 10009
A
LSO IN THE
A
KASHIC
N
OIR
S
ERIES:
Baltimore Noir
, edited by Laura Lippman
Bronx Noir
, edited by S.J. Rozan
Brooklyn Noir
, edited by Tim McLoughlin
Brooklyn Noir 2: The Classics,
edited by Tim McLoughlin
Brooklyn Noir 3: Nothing but the Truth
edited by Tim McLoughlin & Thomas Adcock
Chicago Noir,
edited by Neal Pollack
D.C. Noir
, edited by George Pelecanos
D.C. Noir 2: The Classics,
edited by George Pelecanos
Delhi Noir
(India), edited by Hirsh Sawhney
Detroit Noir
, edited by E.J. Olsen & John C. Hocking
Dublin Noir
(Ireland), edited by Ken Bruen
Havana Noir
(Cuba), edited by Achy Obejas
Istanbul Noir
(Turkey), edited by Mustafa Ziyalan & Amy Spangler
Las Vegas Noir
, edited by Jarret Keene & Todd James Pierce
London Noir
(England), edited by Cathi Unsworth
Los Angeles Noir
, edited by Denise Hamilton
Manhattan Noir
, edited by Lawrence Block
Manhattan Noir 2: The Classics,
edited by Lawrence Block
Miami Noir,
edited by Les Standiford
New Orleans Noir
, edited by Julie Smith
Paris Noir
(France), edited by Aurélien Masson
Queens Noir
, edited by Robert Knightly
Rome Noir
(Italy), edited by Chiara Stangalino & Maxim Jakubowski
San Francisco Noir,
edited by Peter Maravelis
San Francisco Noir 2: The Classics,
edited by Peter Maravelis
Seattle Noir
, edited by Curt Colbert
Toronto Noir
(Canada), edited by Janine Armin & Nathaniel G. Moore
Trinidad Noir
, Lisa Allen-Agostini & Jeanne Mason
Twin Cities Noir
, edited by Julie Schaper & Steven Horwitz
Wall Street Noir
, edited by Peter Spiegelman
F
ORTHCOMING:
Barcelona Noir
(Spain), edited by Adriana Lopez & Carmen Ospina
Boston Noir
, edited by Dennis Lehane
Copenhagen Noir
(Denmark), edited by Bo Tao Michaelis
Haiti Noir
, edited by Edwidge Danticat
Indian Country Noir
, edited by Liz Martínez & Sarah Cortez
Lagos Noir
(Nigeria), edited by Chris Abani
Lone Star Noir
, edited by Bobby Byrd & John Byrd
Los Angeles Noir 2: The Classics
, edited by Denis Hamilton
Mexico City Noir
(Mexico), edited by Paco I. Taibo II
Moscow Noir
(Russia), edited by Natalia Smirnova & Julia Goumen
Mumbai Noir
(India), edited by Altaf Tyrewala
Orange County Noir
, edited by Gary Phillips
Phoenix Noir
, edited by Patrick Millikin
Richmond Noir
, edited by Andrew Blossom, Brian Castleberry & Tom De Haven
T
ABLE OF
C
ONTENTS
K
AREN
K
ARBO
S.E. Twenty-Eighth Avenue
The Clown and Bard
L
UCIANA
L
OPEZ
St. Johns
Julia Now
A
RIEL
G
ORE
Clinton
Water under the Bridge
F
LOYD
S
KLOOT
Oaks Bottom
Alzheimer’s Noir
D
AN
D
E
W
EESE
Highway 30
The Sleeper
J
ONATHAN
S
ELWOOD
Mount Tabor
The Wrong House
M
ONICA
D
RAKE
Legacy Good
Baby, I’m Here
Samaritan Hospital
B
ILL
C
AMERON
Seven Corners
Coffee, Black
J
AMIE
S. R
ICH
& J
OËLLE
J
ONES
Montgomery Park
Gone Doggy Gone
J
ESS
W
ALTER
Pearl District
Virgo
C
HRIS
A. B
OLTON
Powell’s City of Books
The Red Room
J
USTIN
H
OCKING
Burnside Skatepark
Burnside Forever
Z
OE
T
ROPE
S.E. Eighty-Second Avenue
Hummingbird
M
EGAN
K
RUSE
Powell Boulevard
Lila
K
IMBERLY
W
ARNER
-C
OHEN
Sandy Boulevard
People Are Strange
I
wonder how people think of Portland from the outside. Is it a hippie haven where everyone reads Ken Kesey and hangs out at open mike night? Is it the gray, grungy, junkie-riddled streets of early Gus Van Sant movies? A cheap, trendy town full of myopic record labels and zinesters? Sex worker paradise? Bookstore heaven? A place where New Yorkers come to feel important and/or relaxed? Some wet old logging town that somehow became “one of the best cities in America”?
Yeah, it’s all that and a fancy coffee spilled on your Gore-Tex jacket (the same one you soiled with microbrew last night).
People who live in Portland love being here, despite its imperfections. We tend to love our mayors (even the currently scandalous Sam Adams) despite the sketchy police force, and we cherish the great public transportation even when every other neighborhood is being torn up for renovation. The restaurants are amazing and the music scene seems like it’s in a perpetual heyday. If Portland was Seattle’s kid nephew in the past, these days it’s more like Seattle is our creepy old uncle. (Sorry, I didn’t mean to get off track.)
I moved here in summer of 1992. I grew up in Eastern Washington and lived in a few places before this (even Seattle). I’m not ashamed to admit that I moved here partly because of Powell’s, the giant bookstore, where I eventually started working. I wanted to live in a city that valued reading and geeked out on books.