How the Hula Girl Sings by Chicago-based novelist and playwright Joe Meno (
Wikipedia), a recipient of the Nelson Algren Literary Award and a Pushcart Prize, is his standalone literary suspense novel exploring the aftermath of a crime, in which one of the participants, now out on parole in small town Illinois, embarks on a localized journey of self-discovery to find hope in the wreckage of his life, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Akashic Books, who are generously running a holiday advent calendar promotion (their books are couponable at Kobo, BTW, and they do the excellent Akashic Noir mystery anthology series), who are reprinting it from its original 2001 publication from small press Punk Planet.
Currently free until midnight December 21st directly @
the publisher's promotional blogpost (DRM-free ePub & Mobi available worldwide), and you can read more about the book on its
regular catalogue page.
You can also read an unrelated online freebie short story, a noir suspense, by the author over at the publisher's blog:
Disappears, and also a
Q&A with the author as well.
Description
A young ex-con in a small Illinois town. A lonely giant with a haunted past. A beautiful girl with a troubled heart. Strange and darkly magical, How the Hula Girl Sings begins exactly where most pulp fiction usually ends, with the vivid episode of the terrible crime itself. Three years later, Luce Lemay, out on parole for the awful tragedy, does his best to finds hope: in a new job at the local Gas-N-Go; in his companion and fellow ex-con, Junior Breen, who spells out puzzling messages to the unquiet ghosts of his past; and finally, in the arms of the lovely but reckless Charlene. How the Hula Girl Sings is a suspenseful exploration of a country bright with the far-off stars of forgiveness, but still dark with the still-looming shadow of the death penalty.