SMFS Member Deborah Lacy’s short story “Taking Care” appears
in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine:
May/June 2018. Available at their website
as well as at Amazon
and elsewhere.
Sunday, April 29, 2018
Little Big Crimes Review: The Canary Islands Crime Boss by Glenda Young
Little Big Crimes: The Canary Islands Crime Boss, by Glenda Young: "The Canary Islands Crime Boss," by Glenda Young, in Noirville, Fahrenheit Press, 2018. Poor Jimmy. An accountant isn't su...
SMFS Member Gigi Pandian WINS an Agatha!
SMFS member Gigi Pandian, nominated
in Best Short Story category for the Agatha Award this year for “The
Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” (Henery Press)
won last night at Malice Domestic. The
picture on this post was supplied by SMFS member Art Taylor on Facebook.
Established in 1989, Malice Domestic™ is an annual fan convention in the metropolitan Washington
D.C. area that celebrates the traditional mystery, best typified by the works
of Agatha Christie, containing no explicit sex, excessive gore, or violence.
Congratulations GIGI!!!!
Saturday, April 28, 2018
SMFS Member Publication News: O'Neil De Noux
SMFS
Member O'Neil De Noux has a
historical mystery short story in the new issue of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine:
Issue 2. “The Gorilla Murders” was first published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine:
July/August 2004 (Volume 49, Nos. 7 and 8) and is set in 1889 New Orleans.
Detective Jacques Dugas (also seen in The French Detective published in
2014 by Big Kiss Productions) investigates a series of murders in the French
Quarter where witnesses describe a gorilla as the killer.
SMFS Member Publication News: Carlos Orsi
SMFS member Carlos Orsi reports that his story, “The Glass Floor” appears in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine: May/June 2018. His tale is a locked room murder mystery with illegal gambling and South American politics added to the mix.
SMFS Members Nominated for the Arthur Ellis Awards
The 2018 Arthur Ellis Awards nominees for the best in Canadian
Crime Writing have been announced by the Crime Writers of Canada. There are
eight categories. This year three SMFS members are finalists in two categories.
They are:
Best Novella Category:
M. H. Callway for “Snake Oil” published in 13
Claws: An Anthology of Crime Stories (Carrick Publishing).
Vicki Delany for Blood And Belonging: A Ray Robertson Mystery
(Orca Book Publishers).
Best Crime Short Story:
Sylvia
M. Warsh for “The Ranchero's Daughter” published in 13 Claws: An Anthology of Crime
Stories (Carrick Publishing).
Winners will be announced at the Arts
& Letters club in Toronto on Thursday, May 24, 2018. More information on
the Arthur Ellis awards can be found at their website.
Friday, April 27, 2018
Thursday, April 26, 2018
SMFS Member Publication News: Peter DiChellis
SMFS member Peter DiChellis had two stories published
recently that are available to read online. Peter’s You-Solve-It mystery “The
Action Hero Murder” appears at Over My Dead Body!
and his crime-horror story “Gravedigger Blues” was reprinted at Story
and Grit (originally published at Yellow Mama in 2013).
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Monday, April 23, 2018
Little Big Crimes Review: The Curse by Mark Edwards
Little Big Crimes: The Curse, by Mark Edwards: "The Curse," by Mark Edwards, in Night of the Flood, edited by E.A. Aymar, and Sarah M. Chen. Down and Out Books, 2018. This...
Saturday, April 21, 2018
Thursday, April 19, 2018
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
SleuthSayers: Epiphany of a Blue-Collar Writer
SleuthSayers: Epiphany of a Blue-Collar Writer: by Michael Bracken Art Taylor and me trying to out-charm one another. At the 2017 Bouchercon in Toronto, Art Taylor and I were paired ...
Monday, April 16, 2018
2018 Derringer Awards Voting April 16–May 15
Due to the late announcement of the 2018 Derringer finalists, Awards Coordinator Jay Hartman has made the following modifications for this year's vote to determine the winners:
A) Allow all present SMFS members to vote
B) Suspend new Shortmystery memberships until the vote is over
C) Extend the voting period from April 15 to May 15
D) Conduct the voting through polls within the main SMFS site
E) Make the winners announcement as soon a possible after the polls close
The finalist stories have been uploaded for reading here.
All Shortmystery members as of April 16, 1:15 p.m. EDT may vote here.
The polls will close automatically or manually by Noon EDT May 15 so the official winners announcement can appear here on the SMFS Blog and be shared with the public from that afternoon onward.
A) Allow all present SMFS members to vote
B) Suspend new Shortmystery memberships until the vote is over
C) Extend the voting period from April 15 to May 15
D) Conduct the voting through polls within the main SMFS site
E) Make the winners announcement as soon a possible after the polls close
The finalist stories have been uploaded for reading here.
All Shortmystery members as of April 16, 1:15 p.m. EDT may vote here.
The polls will close automatically or manually by Noon EDT May 15 so the official winners announcement can appear here on the SMFS Blog and be shared with the public from that afternoon onward.
Sunday, April 15, 2018
2018 Derringer Award Finalists
As judged by Shortmystery member volunteer panels and announced on Shortmystery by Derringer Awards Coordinator Jay Hartman:
For Best Flash (Up to 1,000 words)
For Best Short Story (1,001-4,000 words)
For Best Long Story (4,001-8,000 words)
For Best Novelette (8,001-20,000 words)
Congratulations and good luck to the 2018 Derringer Award finalists.
An April 16–May 15 vote of all present Shortmystery members will determine the winners, and the official winners announcement will be published here on the SMFS Blog.
For Best Flash (Up to 1,000 words)
- "Cold Turkey" by Patricia Dusenbury, Flash Bang Mysteries ed. Brandon Bourg (Summer 2017)
- "Happy Birthday" by Alan Orloff, Shotgun Honey ed. Jen Conley, Angel Luis Colón, and Nick Kolakowski (June 15, 2017)
- "Final Testimony" by Travis Richardson, Flash Fiction Offensive ed, Hector Duarte Jr. and Rob Pierce (July 10, 2017)
- "Fishing for an Alibi" by Earl Staggs, Flash Bang Mysteries ed. Brandon Bourg (Fall 2017)
- "Flash Point" by Elizabeth Zelvin, A Twist of Noir ed. Christopher Grant (March 20, 2017)
For Best Short Story (1,001-4,000 words)
- "The Kids Keep Coming" by David H. Hendrickson, Fiction River: Tavern Tales ed. Kerrie L. Hughes, WMG Publishing Inc. (January 2017)
- "The Cop Who Liked Gilbert and Sullivan" by Robert Lopresti, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #23, ed. Marvin Kaye, Wildside Press (October 2017)
- "The New Score" by Alison McMahan, Fish Out of Water: A Guppy Anthology ed. Ramona DeFelice Long, Wildside Press (March 2017)
- "The Bank Job" by Stephen D. Rogers, Trigger Warning Short Fiction with Pictures ed. Eric Lindbom and John Skewes (March 16, 2017)
- "Every Picture Tells a Story" by Cathi Stoler, Where Crime Never Sleeps: Murder New York Style 4 ed. Elizabeth Zelvin, Level Best Books (September 2017)
For Best Long Story (4,001-8,000 words)
- "El Asesino" by Rusty Barnes, BULL ed. Ben Drevlow (May 22, 2017)
- "The #2 Pencil" by Matt Coyle, Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea ed. Andrew McAleer and Paul D. Marks, Down & Out Books (January 2017)
- "Death in the Serengeti" by David H. Hendrickson, Fiction River: Pulse Pounders: Andrenaline ed. Kevin J. Anderson, WMG Publishing, Inc. (July 2017)
- "Matricide and Ice Cream" by William Burton McCormick, The CWA Anthology of Short Stories: Mystery Tour ed. Martin Edwards, Orenda Books (November 2017)
- "The Drive-by" by Alison McMahan, Busted: Arresting Stories from the Beat ed. Verena Rose, Harriette Sackler, and Shawn Reilly Simmons, Level Best Books (April 2017)
For Best Novelette (8,001-20,000 words)
- "Flowing Waters" by Brendan DuBois, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine ed. Janet Hutchings, January/February 2017
- "Windward" by Paul D. Marks, Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea ed. Andrew McAleer and Paul D. Marks, Down & Out Books (January 2017)
- "King's Quarter" by Andrew McAleer, Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea ed. Andrew McAleer and Paul D. Marks, Down & Out Books (January 2017)
- "Kill My Wife, Please" by Robert J. Randisi, Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea ed. Andrew McAleer and Paul D. Marks, Down & Out Books (January 2017)
- "Trouble Like a Freight Train Coming" by Tina Whittle, Lowcountry Crime: Four Novellas ed. James M. Jackson and Jan Rubens, Wolf's Echo Press (February 2017)
Congratulations and good luck to the 2018 Derringer Award finalists.
An April 16–May 15 vote of all present Shortmystery members will determine the winners, and the official winners announcement will be published here on the SMFS Blog.
Little Big Crimes Review: Kindness by Tom Hallman, Jr.
Little Big Crimes: Kindness, by Tom Hallman, Jr.: "Kindness," by Tom Hallman, Jr., in Mystery Weekly Magazine, April 2018. I like surprises. Not in real life, I hasten to add...
Friday, April 13, 2018
SleuthSayers: Agatha Award Finalists: Best Short Story
SleuthSayers: Agatha Award Finalists: Best Short Story: By Art Taylor The annual Malice Domestic convention is right around the corner—April 27-29 in Bethesda, Maryland—and two of us SleuthSaye...
Thursday, April 12, 2018
SMFS Member Publication News: Nancy Brewka-Clark
SMFS Member Nancy Brewka-Clark’s short story, “One Doe Too
Many” now appears online at Near
To The Knuckle.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
SleuthSayers: Options and Preferences
SleuthSayers: Options and Preferences: by John M. Floyd Some quick background, here: Two weeks ago today, my wife and I drove down to Gulfport, Mississippi, where I'd bee...
SMFS Member Guest Post: Writing Short and Long by Edith Maxwell
Please welcome SMFS member Edith Maxwell to
our blog today as she discusses writing in both short and long form.
Writing Short and Long by Edith Maxwell
I am
primarily a book author. I have three series under contract, so I write three
books every year. But I also love writing short stories.
Sometimes
it’s fun to branch out and write a short story about a new place, with new characters.
I did that for my submission to Mystery Most
Geographical, this year’s Malice Domestic anthology. I lived
in West Africa for two separate years, and the second time (already twenty
years ago) I wrote a book of essays about my experiences. I figured no one else
would be submitting a story set in rural Burkina Faso to the Malice anthology,
so I dusted off one of my essays and turned it into a piece of crime fiction.
I’m delighted to say “A Divination of Death” was accepted and the anthology
will be out in April.
Most
commonly over the last few years I’ve written shorts using the late 1880s
characters and setting of my historical series, the Quaker Midwife Mysteries. I
can get my midwife Rose Carroll and her sidekick, postmistress Bertie Winslow,
into all kinds of new trouble when it’s short form. One crime, one solution,
bam. In one of my stories, “Adam and Eva,” (Kings River Life Magazine, 2016)
I tell the tale through Bertie’s voice and not Rose’s, although they work
together to solve the mystery.
Writing
a 300-page book is so much harder in a way than creating a short story. I
invariably trudge through the muddle in the middle, even now as I write my 19th
novel. I have to keep my arms around everything I’ve written up to that point
and still keep the story moving forward until we get to the exciting climax. By
now I know I can do it, so I no longer lose hope (well, I do just a little).
And I’ve more than once had to kill off a new victim so I can keep the suspense
up. I guess I’m doing something right – for two years in a row one of my Quaker
Midwife mysteries has been nominated for an Agatha Award for Best Historical
Novel, with Called to Justice nominated this year. Delivering the Truth was also
nominated in the historical category for a Macavity Award last year.
On the
other hand, writing a great short story, with nothing superfluous and a twist
at the end? That’s a challenge, too. I’ve had several stories nominated for an
Agatha Award, “The Mayor and the Midwife” being the most recent, and yes, it
features midwife Rose Carroll. But I’ve never won the award, so clearly I have
more work to do. Until then, I’m happy to lose to my talented fellow Short
Mystery Fiction Society friends.
Edith
Maxwell ©2018
Agatha- and Macavity-nominated author
Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries,
and award-winning short crime fiction. Called
to Justice, Maxwell’s second Quaker Midwife mystery, is nominated for an
Agatha Award for Best Historical Novel. As Maddie Day she writes the popular
Country Store Mysteries and the new Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. As Tace
Baker she wrote two books in the Lauren Rousseau Mysteries.
Maxwell is president of Sisters in Crime
New England and lives north of Boston with her beau, two elderly cats, and an impressive
array of garden statuary. She blogs at WickedCozyAuthors.com,
KillerCharacters.com, and Under the Cover of Midnight (http://midnightinkbooks.blogspot.com/). Read about all her personalities and
her work at edithmaxwell.com.
Thursday, April 5, 2018
SleuthSayers: Who Do You Trust?
SleuthSayers: Who Do You Trust?: by Robert Lopresti If you haven't charged through the March/April issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine yet, I encou...
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Sunday, April 1, 2018
Little Big Crimes Review: The Wedding Ring by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Little Big Crimes: The Wedding Ring, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch: "The Wedding Ring," by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March/April 2018. This is Rusch's ...