The Cocaine Chronicles

by Gary Phillips, Jervey Tervalon

"The best stories in The Cocaine Chronicles . . . are equal to the best fiction being written today."
-- New York Journal of Books

"While The Cocaine Chronicles is a hard, honest, uncompromising read and might not be for the faint of heart, the stories it tells all have to do with a drug that's been around for a while and is not going anywhere. Also, some stories offer a bit of hope, which shine through as invitations to never give up."
-- Austin Post

"The perfect stocking stuffer for your uncle in AA."
-- New York Observer

" The Cocaine Chronicles is a pure, jangled hit of urban, gritty, and raw noir. these stories are addicting."
--Harlan Coben, award-winning author of Just One Look

"Every story is A+. All contributors are top notch. . . . Should be required reading for writers who want to master the craft of the short story."
--Cherry Bleeds

Original stories by Susan Straight, Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Ken Bruen, Jerry Stahl, Nina Revoyr, Bill Moody, Donnell Alexander, Deborah Vankin, Robert Ward, Manuel Ramos, and others.

Gary Phillips writes for several mediums from novels to screenplays to comic books, and lives in Los Angeles, California.

Jervey Tervalon is the author of All the Trouble You Need , Understand This , and the Los Angeles Times bestseller Dead Above Ground . He lives in Altadena, California.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Crime, Anthologies, Drugs, Ebooks

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2005

About the author

GARY PHILLIPS has been a community activist, labor organizer and delivered dog cages. He’s published various novels, comics, short stories and edited several anthologies including South Central Noir and the Anthony award-winning The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir. Violent Spring, first published in 1994 was named in 2020 one of the essential crime novels of Los Angeles. He was also a writer/co-producer on FX’s Snowfall (streaming on Hulu), about crack and the CIA in 1980s South Central where he grew up. Recent novels include One-Shot Harry and Matthew Henson and the Ice Temple of Harlem. He lives with his family in the wilds of Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Badly Drawn Girl · Rating 2 out of 5]

With a topic as dynamic and dramatic as cocaine, one would imagine limitless possibilities for short stories. But apparently that wasn't the case for the writers of this short story anthology. The majority of the stories are stale stereotypical ramblings by writers who obviously have no experience with the drug and are unable to imagine anything beyond the same media fueled drivel. Violence, sex and paranoia may be a part of the cocaine experience for some, but there is so much more to the drug and people's attraction to it. The only story that rose above the muck was "Disco Zombies" by Gary Phillips.

During the introduction to this anthology, the editors write "Every contributor to this anthology stepped up and delivered. We are very grateful to each for coming through on relatively short notice and relatively minimal pay." Unfortunately, the short notice and minimal pay may play a large role in the lack of quality material. I hope someone else takes this on because the idea is a solid one, and there is so much left to say and explore about the topic.

[AD LAND · Rating 2 out of 5]

Any short story collection will have stories ranging from very good to so-so. This collection is an exception in that most of the stories are seriously so-so. Here's the plot for 80% of the collection:
Things were not good.
I/we/they did coke.
Things got much worse.

For me, the standout exception was CAMARO BLUE, which could fit in almost any collection. SERVING MONSTER, although rambling, had its moments. If you're a zombie fan, and it seems that includes everyone on the planet, the collection ends with DISCO ZOMBIES, notable for opening with the most confusing fight scene ever. Though I didn't much care for this last story, I give an extra star to the picture at the end of the author, Gary Phillips, smoking a big cigar in front of a Western Union sign and looking very swaggerish. That's a story in itself.

[Darrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

short stories about cocaine (sellers, dealers and for one story... zombies!)

good read

all talented contributors

[Woody Chandler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slightly more upbeat than Speed, but not by a whole lot. Anal intake was eye-opening, for sure.

[Lars · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 or 3 stories are good, the rest is dull and uninspiring. Would not recommend.

[iwasbornaramblinsam · Rating 2 out of 5]

A couple of the stories were decent, but none evoked the intensity I would expect given the subject.

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever been on a night out with friends and your not drinking or maybe your the designated driver, well this book is a bit like that. The night starts off well and everyone is having fun, then the more alcohol that is consumed the more the conversations and behavior of your once composed friends start to go down the toilet in a swirl quicker than the toilet flush!

I have always observed that the conversations of people when drunk or high start to take on a bit of the fantastic and the ridiculous element, thus making them extremely funny when your the sober person listening to them. This book is like being out in a bar and eavesdropping on some of those stories, very very funny and clever.

[Kristen Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of people say it was bad or not worth reading and I would disagree.. I found one or two of the stories almost impossible to follow because it was clear the authors were writing to achieve a 'drug induced' perspective and I just couldn't figure them out. Some of the stories endings are shocking and others just sad. It gives a good variety of perspective from different people. I read quite a bit of drug related or addiction books and I won't say it was a favorite but I'm not sorry I read it either.

[I.B. FREEMAN · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible. This book should be used for toilet paper. It had such a striking cover but the stories are dull and make no sense. I cant believe that some of the author who wrote stories for this book have won awards. I thought I was reading a collection of works from a bunch of 7th graders

[Bunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with most short story collections some are better than others. Gives an interesting perspective as to what an author can do when given such a broad subject that generally seems to be so narrowed down automatically.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird. And good. But mostly weird.

[David Dziorney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories were alright but a lot of them I found myself skimming through. I figured with a book about cocaine there would be some better stories.

[Hafsa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was hoping it would be more interesting. The stories were dry and I only found about two or three readable. The other stories seemed to be going nowhere and frankly, were boring.

[Frank · Rating 1 out of 5]

Of the 17 short stories, only 4 or 5 were good.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wide and bouncing array. Many authors really stepped out of themselves.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were a couple stories that I sort of glossed over because they didn't grab me but such is the case with any anthology. Otherwise I adored this.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

some of the stories I loved, some were OK, some I couldn't get past the 2nd page. interesting mix of shorts with only one common thread.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the Lee Child short story, Ten Keys for Octavian.

[ems · Rating 1 out of 5]

Grocery-store-checkout-line-worthy writing.