In the story, "Dangerous Days" by Emory Holmes II, the first thing that grabbed my attention is, this story is not in a flashback. To me, it seems pretty different than a typical noir mood. The story starts on a holyday and it is also the main character Cravitz's birthday. He seems happy with whatever life offers him. Like a regular noir story, this story is not only about darkness, rainy nights, grimy roads or lonelyness. The characters have friends and family, which is quite different than a classic film noir. In, "Midnight in Silicon Alley" by Denise Hamilton, the story starts with the brutal murder of the main character Russel Chen. This guy is also not a lonely man, like the usual noir film characters. In fact, he has way to much company. He has his wife and two little daughters in his family, he has a mistress and a newborn son with her and he also goes to a brothel where he gets entertained by a teeenager.
Both of the stories have their own interesting styles and surprises. When I read "Dangerous Days", I got a little shock, finding out about Athena. She is the femme fatale, obviously. She used sex to manipulate and kill men, and eventually gets what she wants to get. But, after reading "Midnight in Silicon Alley" I found out that, actually in both of these stories women rule over men. The genere been updated in the case of drugs and the silicon chips matter; this is definitely a noe-noir element.
Leila Chen from "Midnight in Silicon Alley", reminds me of Phyllis Nerdlinger in Double Indemnity. Both of these women are treacherous; they betrayed and killed their husbands out of greed. Both of the story is about murders, greed, money, treachery, femme fatale and the inhumane characteristics of human nature; and those elements connect these stories to noir of the classic period.
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