Salim Bachi - Paris Noir

(I have no power over their lives. Here or not here, same thing. I floundered around all day whereas the street was straight. I screwed around, I nearly, I don’t know what I nearly did, I nearly did something I didn’t do I didn’t smile enough, I looked pissed off all day, not what you call an honorable exit.)

“When do you get the results?”

“I don’t give a shit.”

“Talk louder, I’m in the shower.”

Nobody pays attention to me with my dickhead and my asshole. The world turns. Women blossom. China is catching up with the rest of the world. I go out without waiting. Waiting for what?

It’s cold, night. Rue d’Alésia, deserted. Shutters closed. Bar-tabac shop lit up. I’m in the café at the very bottom of rue Glacière and rue de la Santé, the light in the jailhouse is diffuse at night, it isn’t lit. Walls eat up the blackness of the sky. Anemic streetlights shining very weakly on the barbed wire. The street is full of murders, fits of madness, creeping illnesses, and a whole planned contagion. The threat of an epidemic, gangrene. Dirty tricks. Everything is maintained there, a shadow zone, like a nuclear power plant. You have the feeling something’s going to happen, finally.

I’m reading a crime book by Albert Camus. Reading and writing for oneself and not counting on other people is a way of being French, being a zero from A to Z. So I’m reading The Stranger . I am that stranger. It’s a way of being out of it, being here by chance, in transit.

“Get out of here,” the manager says. “We’re closing up. You’ve read enough, dickhead.”

“I’m finishing the page, boss.”

I took a step, one step, forward. And this time, without getting up, the Arab drew his knife and held it up to me in the sun. The light shot off the steel and it was like a long flashing blade cutting at my forehead... My whole being tensed and I squeezed my hand around the revolver. The trigger gave; I felt the smooth underside of the butt; and there... is where it all started.

The light went out, the café closed. Everything closed. I finished living for the day. I’ll never know what began.

Salim Bachiis the Algerian author of Le Chien d’Ulysse, La Kahéna, and Tuezles tous. Le Chien d’Ulysse won the Prix Goncourt for best first novel and La Kahéna won the Prix Tropiques in 2004. He has been living in France since 1996.

Didier Daeninckxwas born in Saint-Denis, France in 1949. After working for ten years in a printing office, he began to write and created his series hero, Inspector Cadin. He has won many literary awards, including Le Grand Prix de Lit-térature Policière in 1985 for Meurtres pour mémoire and the Paul Féval prize for lifetime accomplishment.

Doawas born in Lyon and worked as a creator of video games in France and London before finally settling into the dark side of literature. He is the author of several highly acclaimed novels, including Les Fous d’avril, which won the Prix Agostino in 2005, La Ligne de sang, and Citoyens clandestins, which won Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière in 2007.

Jérôme Leroywas born in the north of France. Whether writing short stories that are primarily poetic ( La grâce efficace ) or a science-fiction novel ( Big Sister) , Leroy’s work is always adventurous, dark, and visionary.

Dominique Mainardis the author of the novels Le grand fakir (2001) and Leur histoire, which won the Prix du Roman FNAC in 2002, the Prix Alain-Fournier in 2003, and was adapted into a film by Alain Corneau in 2005 under the name Les Motsbleus .

Laurent Martinwas born in Djibouti in 1966. He is an art historian and archeologist. His first novel, L’Ivresse desdieux, based on a Greek tragedy, won Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière in 2003. His subsequent novels include Latribu des morts, Or noir peur blanche , and Des rives lointaines .

Aurélien Massonwas born in 1975 and became an editorial assistant for la Série Noire at Gallimard, one of France’s premier publishing houses, in 2002; he was promoted to director of the series in 2005.

Christophe Mercierwas born in 1960 and has worked as an editor, literary critic, and translator. He published his first book, Les singes hurleurs sur l’autre rive , in 2003, then Lacantatrice in 2005.

Patrick Pécherotwrote his first novel, Tiuraï, at the age of forty-six. He is the author of eight novels, including Soleil noir , recently published by la Série Noire, an imprint of Gallimard. He won Le Grand Prix de Lit-térature Policière in 2002 for Les brouillards de la butte .

Chantal Pelletierwrote for theater and film before publishing her first novel, Eros et Thalasso , featuring Inspector Maurice Laice. Her subsequent novels include Le chant duBouc and More Is Less .

Jean-Bernard Pouyis a celebrated figure in the French literary landscape and the author of many groundbreaking works of fiction. Born in 1946, Pouy is the creator of the highly acclaimed Poulpe series featuring protagonist Gabriel Lecouvreur. His novel La Belle de Fontenay won the Trophée 813 and Prix Mystère de la Critique; and La Clef des mensonges won the Prix Polar in 1989. He also writes for film and radio.

Hervé Prudonwas born in 1950. His novels include Mardigris, Le Bourdon , and Nadine Mouque , which won the Prix Louis Guilloux in 1995.