Down These Mean Streets

The Dark Side of the City

By: Larry Correia, Kacey Ezell - editor

Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Cary Hite, Allison Hiroto, Alexander Cendese, Tim Lounibos, Kimberly M Wetherell

New fantasy and science-fiction stories with a hard-boiled noir twist—focusing on the mean streets of the city.

“Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.” (Raymond Chandler)

Humans have always been fascinated by darkness. Especially the darkness of a city at night, when the black sky is made ever more inky by the pools of illumination dropped under streetlights. We harken to the sound of streetcars in the distance. We are drawn to the garish flash of club signs and marquees. We love the danger of shadowed alleyways, of wealth and poverty living side by side.

We love the city. It’s a part of us.

Whether the mean streets be in an alternate past charmed with dark magic or the dirty alleyways of futuristic crowded space stations, the city—and its darkened streets—will always fascinate us. Here then, an anthology of all new stories of science fiction and fantasy with a hardboiled noir twist that acknowledge that the city is a living, breathing entity...and it isn’t always on our side.

Stories by: Laurell K. Hamilton, Larry Correia, Kacey Ezell, Mike Massa, Steve Diamond, Robert E. Hampson, Chris Kennedy, Marisa Wolf, Griffin Barber, Robert Buettner, Hinkley Correia, Casey Moores, Patrick M. Tracy, and Dan Willis.

©2024 Larry Correia and Kacey Ezell (P)2023 Audible, Inc.

Not very exciting

I didn’t love this collection of mediocre stories. None of them grabbed me. They are readable enough but not engaging.

Fabulous!

I loved all the stories! Can't wait for the next anthology in this Noir theme.

Good Stories

This is a good collection of short stories that seem to mostly have the hard-boiled PI (or something close to it) as their theme. Some of them are set in fantasy worlds and some in science fiction. It's highly entertaining and exposed me to a lot of authors I hadn't read before. Well worth your time.

Mix of OK and unlistenable

Honestly, I’m a bit surprised Correa put his name on this. Some of the stories were pretty good.

Some were little more than mental masturbation for the author.

It might be more tolerable if it was read, rather than an audible book (so the more pompous aspects could be skimmed )- but in general it’s a “do better”/fairly obvious half-assed money grab.

A great collection of excellent stories

This is a bunch of top flight nuor stories all tied tightly to the cities they are set in. A good use of your time and reading budget.