Sunday, March 19, 2023

SMFS Members are 2023 International Thriller Award Finalists

 

The 2023 International Thriller Award Finalists in seven categories have been announced. Again this year, SMFS list members are represented in the “Best Short Story” category. Those members are:

 

Barb Goffman for “The Gift.” (Land of 10,000 Thrills: Bouchercon Anthology 2022, Down & Out Books)

 

Smita Harish Jain for "Publish or Perish.” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: September/October 2022)

 

Josh Pachter’s translation of Dominique Biebau's short story, "Russian for Beginners." (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: March/April 2022)

 

Anna Scotti for "Schrödinger, Cat" (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: March/April 2022)

 

Winners will be announced at ThrillerFest XVIII on Saturday, June 3rd, in New York City. For more information, including the full list of all the finalists this year, go to the International Thriller Writers website.

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

SMFS Member Podcast News: Peril in Pasadena by Edith Maxwell

 

The current AHMM podcast features SMFS list member Edith Maxwell's short story, Peril in Pasadena.  The story originally appeared in the September/October 2022 issue of AHMM. The podcast is available here for free.

 

Website Episode Description:

Edith Maxwell, who also writes under the name Maddie Day, is the Agatha-winning author of the Quaker Midwife Mysteries. Here, she reads her story "Peril in Pasadena" (AHMM Sept/Oct 2022), which features 1920s private eyes Dorothy Henderson and Ruth Skinner in a case involving a woman astronomer.

https://edithmaxwell.com

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

SMFS Member Publishing News: The Refusal Camp: Stories by James R. Benn


Today is publication day for SMFS list member James R. Benn’s new book, The Refusal Camp: Stories. Published by Soho Crime, the short story collection is available in audio, digital, and print formats from the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors.

 

Publisher Description:

These dazzling stories show a crime fiction veteran at the height of his career.

In his first-ever collection, the award-winning author of the Billy Boyle World War II mysteries presents an eclectic mix of new and previously published mystery stories rife with historical detail and riveting wartime storytelling.

“The Horse Chestnut Tree” explores betrayal and murder during the American Revolution. In the speculative work “Glass,” an atomic supercollider and the breakdown of the time-space continuum change the lives of two cousins devoured by greed. “Vengeance Weapon,” a historical thriller about an enslaved Jewish laborer working at the Dora concentration camp, looks at how far someone will go to get revenge. And for his Billy Boyle fans, Benn delivers “Irish Tommy,” a police procedural set in 1944 Boston featuring Billy’s father and uncle.

Full of terror, action, amusement, and bliss, The Refusal Camp is a must-have collection from a crime fiction veteran at the height of his career.

Monday, March 13, 2023

SMFS Member Publishing News: Shade Tree Mechanic by Hugh Lessig


SMFS list member Hugh Lessig’s short story, Shade Tree Mechanic, was published yesterday in Black Cat Weekly #80. Published by Wildside Press, the issue is available here in digital format.

 

Website Description:

Our 80th issue has some great tales for you, starting with an original mystery by Hugh Lessit (thanks to Acquiring Editor Michael Bracken) and a great reprint by Jim Thomsen (thanks to Acquiring Editor Barb Goffman). Plus we have a pair of detective novels, the first featuring New York-based private investigator Nick Carter, and the second another original Hardy Boys mystery. If you read the later editions, you will be shocked to find how much was changed from the originals. These are not the watered-down Hardy Boys most of us read as kids. Give it a read.

On the science fiction and fantasy side, we have a Frostflower & Thorn tale by Phyllis Ann Karr, as she brings her famous duo to a world created by M. Coleman Easton...in collaboration with Easton. Great fun. Plus classic SF by Mike Curry, Robert Silverberg, Robert F. Young, and Murray Leinster.

 

Here’s this issue’s complete lineup:

 

Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure:

“The Shade Tree Mechanic” by Hugh Lessig [Michael Bracken Presents short story]

“Clear as Glass” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery]

“The Ride Home,” by Jim Thomsen [Barb Goffman Presents short story]

The Little Glass Vial, by Nicholas Carter [novel]

The Tower Treasure, by Franklin W. Dixon [novel]

 

Science Fiction & Fantasy:

“A Glassmaker’s Courage,” by Phyllis Ann Karr and M. Coleman Easton [short story]

“Metamorphosis,” by Mike Curry [short story]

“Come Into My Brain!” by Robert Silverberg [short story]

“Bbruggil’s Bride,” by Robert F. Young [short story]

The Gadget Had A Ghost, by Murray Leinster [novella]

SMFS Member Publishing News: Cat Scarf Advice by Joan Leotta


SMFS list member Joan Leotta’s short story, Cat Scarf Advice, appears online today at Spillwords.Com. You can read it here for free.

Saturday, March 11, 2023

Thursday, March 9, 2023

SMFS Member Publishing News: Reciprocity by Cate Moyle

 

SMFS list member Cate Moyle’s short story, Reciprocity, appears in the recently released, Bang!: an anthology of modern noir fiction. Published by Head Shot Press, the book is available at the publisher and Amazon.

  

Publisher Description: 

Noir: 

the boulevard 

of broken dreams

 

In this anthology of twenty-two crime stories there are crooks and crooked cops, lost and missing persons, those running and those hiding, femme fatales, avocados, downbeat PIs, deadbeat insurance investigators, hotel detectives and unsavory gangs, those doing wrong and those done wrong by, fated lovers and failed robberies; even Inspector Maigret at the infamous château in Roissy. Why not take a shot?

 

The table of contents is as follows:

Introduction 

BANG! 

Out of Town – Tim Lees

Salamander – Douglas Thompson

Savour Life – Jamey Gallagher

Time To Say Goodbye – Roxanne Dent

Avocado Noir – Charles West

The Also-Rans – Benedict J Jones

A Stretch of Ground – Grant Tracey

 

BANG!

BANG!

 

Payday – Saira Viola

Slap Happy – Andrew Humphrey

The Last Best Thing – Mia Dalia

Reciprocity – Cate Moyle

Shall We Not Revenge – Gary Fry

Blow Jobs and the Meaning of Noir – Maxim Jakubowski

Going Clean – Gabriel Heller

 

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

 

Film Noir – Yvette Viets Flaten

Neon Graveyard – Melissa Pleckham

Fifty Shades of Maigret – Rhys Hughes

Angel Wings – Jenean McBrearty

Slimeball – Leif Hanson

The First Suspect – Brian Howell

The Liao Women – Song Gao Lei

Highway 29 – Mike O’Driscoll

 

Purchase “Bang!” in our store.