“The 14 stories in Akashic’s Barcelona volume hew closely to the bleak spirit of the noir genre, whether reaching back to the 1920s [. . . ] or chronicling chaotic immigrant-infused present-day Barcelona.” — “Each [contributor] presents his or her own personal picture of the city, and as a whole, the anthology projects a many-hued sense of place. As portrayed here, Barcelona is a city that looks different from every angle.” — Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. Brand-new stories by: Jordi Sierra i Fabra, Imma Monsó, Santiago Roncagliolo, Francisco González Ledesma, Valerie Miles, David Barba, Isabel Franc, Lolita Bosch, Eric Taylor-Aragón, Antonia Cortijos, Cristina Fallarás, Raúl Argemí, Teresa Solana, and Andreu Martín From the introduction by Adriana V. López & Carmen Ospina: “Its physical beauty alone, surrounded by mountains with a view of the sea, was cause enough for architect Antoni Gaudí to raise his version of Candy Land upon its soil; a daily impetus for the city’s mimes and living statues to claim a spot along Las Ramblas and transform it into their stage. But don’t be fooled: Barcelona, with all its illustrious color and exterior fineness, hasn’t always been able to curb the darker yearnings of its Hyde to its Jekyll. Blame it on a bubbling, repressive concoction made with a pinch of Church, a touch of Crown, and a large dose of General Francisco Franco to stir up the insides of its very independent and anarchic Catalonian spirit. One that has allowed it to conserve its own language and modus operandi from the rest of Spain, and that has always attracted the vanguard to create under the sereneness of its palm trees and Mediterranean light . . . "Repression, vice, immigration . . . the fourteen stories within will divert your eyes from Barcelona’s lively Ramblas and Gaudi spires, opening them onto the city’s tainted side. One that will never appear in any recommended walking tour.”