Jim Nisbet (1947–2022) was an author based in San Francisco, California.
He authored 13 novels, six books of poetry, and dozens of short stories. His novel Dark Companion was shortlisted for the Hammet Prize, and he is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee. In 2024, Nisbet was posthumously honored with the Jay and Deen Kogan Award at NoirCon. His books have been translated and published in French, German, Japanese, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, Greek, Russian, and Romanian.
He also ran a studio designing and building “electronics furniture”—consoles and cabinetry for audio and video production studios.
Praise for Jim Nisbet
“Nisbet is one of those writers who love to dig in and tinker with the workings of genre fiction, then send his stories soaring off in unexpected directions. Readers find the results either unfathomable or inefffable. Number me among the alter.” Eddie Muller, from the The San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Book Review
“Lethal Injection is an unheralded masterpiece of the noir genre. Everyone who loves noir should read this brilliant book.” James Ellroy
About Dark Companion: “Jim Nisbet has a voice so original . . . it might remind you of a younger Kurt Vonnegut. . .” Chicago Tribune
About Prelude to a Scream: “Equal parts Kafka and Jim Thompson.” Booklist
Jim Nisbet Interview on French TV, in English
Courtesy Editions Payot & Rivages-Rivages
1. Le Commencement: The Beginning
2. La Poesie: Poetry
3. Les Personnages: Characters
4. Les Roman Noirs 1: Novels part 1
5. Les Roman Noirs 2: Novels part 2
Celebration of the Life of Poet and Writer Jim Nisbet 
Event recorded April 15, 2023
Hosted by Green Arcade
WATCH HERE
Friends, relatives, neighbors, and members of the literary and artistic demimonde read selections from Jim Nisbet’s writing and remembered the brilliant and beloved author and friend.
“One of the most unique voices in noir fiction……Nisbet narratives routinely detoured into myriad side-subjects in which he deployed his relentless curiosity and wide-ranging intellect. He was especially adept at revealing the terror lurking within onrushing cultural trends, be it digital technology, organ transplants, homelessness, the so-called “war on terror,” or the societal chasms caused by rampant capitalism.” – Eddie Muller, American author and the founder and president of the Film Noir Foundation
Find here a complete list of novels, including translations and publishers, and books of poetry by Jim Nisbet.
Jim Nisbet Novels
Snitch World, 2013
Old and Cold, 2012
The Spider’s Cage (Ulysses’ Dog), 2012
A Moment of Doubt, 2010
Windward Passage, 2010
The Octopus on My Head, 2007
Dark Companion, 2006
The Syracuse Codex, 2005
The Price of the Ticket, 2003
Prelude to a Scream, 1997
Death Puppet, 1989
Lethal Injection, 1987
The Damned Don’t Die (The Gourmet), 1981