Detroit Noir worth losing sleep over

Sometimes I work way too late. Like until 2, or 3 am. Most of the time by the end of the week, all I want to do is check out at around 11 and sleep until 10 in the ayem.
Yeah, right.
What usually happens is I'm off to one of my girls' (or all three) swim meet, usually out of the house by 7 in the morning. So the thought of working all day coloring animatic frames then high-tailing it to Birmingham tonight for a 7 pm book reading wasn't at the top of the list of things to rejuvenate my weary bones. But man am I glad I went. I was able to meet two extremely talented authors who until this point were either voices on a telephone or email pals. They being Michael Zadoorian (he wrote the wonderful Second Hand) and Dorene O'Brien (she wrote Voices of the Lost and Found, among other things). The two of them, along with Roger K. Johnson (his story in Detroit Noir is Hey, Love) and Craig Bernier (his contribution to Noir is Migration)read excerpts of their stories. It was really exciting to hear four distinctly different voices express their vision of the city, and the people that inhabit it. There are many other stories in the book, from authors I've heard of and some I haven't, but what I find fascinating is that the two editors, E.J. Olson and John C. Hocking, had enough drive and vision to contact the Akashic folks (the publisher) and say, "Hey man, what's the deal? How can you have a noir series and not include the D?" They convinced Akashic that they were the two men to edit it, and we're all the richer for it. A book like this will inspire more fiction from local authors looking for an outlet. The readings were spirited, touching, funny and sad, sort of the feeling I get thinking of my old neighborhood on the city's East Side. I had my book signed by the four authors who read as well as the editors. It was also noteworthy that all the authors were students of WSU professor Christopher T. Leland, who was also in attendance. There was a great crowd, and I think everyone left feeling that it was an evening well spent. Dorene O'Brien, whose book I'm devouring right now, read an excerpt from her contribution, Honesty Above All Else. The stories from her collection of short stories are dark, startling and at times absolutely haunting, and seeing this woman and meeting her in person, it was hard to picture her putting those words on paper. I always find it amazing what disparate images can come from the soul of artists whose exteriors do not match their words. Mike read a touching and witty, The Lost Tiki Palaces of Detroit, with verve and the adman in him was just below the surface. Pick up the book and let me know what you think. Maybe if we're lucky, some of us will get a chance to submit to Detroit Noir, Volume 2. A special shout out to Andrew Brown, an author whose work fits perfectly into that setting. With a little luck and hard work, he'll probably be published nationally before Akashic decides to Call for Entries on DN II.