Sunday, February 28, 2021
Little Big Crimes Review: Katerina Goes to Studio City by Thomas Perry
Little Big Crimes: Katerina Goes to Studio City, by Thomas Perry: "Katerina Goes to Studio City," by Thomas Perry, in The Strand Magazine, LXII, 2020 . This story puts me in an awkward position....
SleuthSayers: Come Along for the Ride by R. T. Lawton
SleuthSayers: Come Along for the Ride: So, I'm sitting with my buddy Mike(Huey pilot and one-time deputy sheriff) on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, treating ourselves to rum ...
Saturday, February 27, 2021
SMFS Member Publishing News: Annie Reed
SMFS list member Annie Reed has two stories published
in The Year of the Cat anthology titled, The Year
of the Cat: A Cat of Artistic Sensibilities. Published by WMG
Publishing, the anthology is available in print and eBook formats from the publisher,
Amazon,
and other vendors. Annie Reed’s two stories in the anthology are “Essy and the
Christmas Kitten" and "Paintings of Cats by Mice."
Synopsis:
Cats and art mix in odd ways, at odd times.
Scratch the surface on just about any well-known author and you will find a cat, or more likely, many cats. Not just authors. Painters, composers, dancers, and magicians all seem to need cats at some time or other.
Cats inspire art.
Or damage a piece of art.
Or sit on a keyboard and create weird writing all their own.
In this fantastic group of stories, we have cats as muse, cats falling for violinists, cats using love as an art, and even cats as feline photographers.
Includes:
“The Cat Who Lived in a Drainpipe” by Joan Aiken
“I Bleed Music” by Stefon Mears
“Pigeon Drop” by Mary A. Turzillo
“Essy and the Christmas Kitten” by Annie Reed
“The Secret Lives of Cats” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“Cat Caught in the Art” by Dean Wesley Smith
“My Father, the Cat” by Henry Slesar
“Paintings of Cats by Mice” by Annie Reed
Thursday, February 25, 2021
SMFS Members Published in Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem: Crime In The Countryside
Several SMFS list members are published in the new, Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem: Crime In The Countryside. Published by Knotted Road Press, this fifth issue in the series is available in eBook and print formats at the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors. The SMFS list members in the issue are:
Joslyn Chase with “Cromwell’s Echo.”
Diana Deverell with “Crete Robbers.”
Michele Lang with “Murder in Mountain View.”
Steve Liskow with “Double Whammy.”
Lynn Maples with “The Name of That Tune…Is Murder.”
Synopsis:
Come and enjoy the cozy side of crime! Whether it's robbers in Crete or murder over the holidays, you'll find something special in this issue of Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem.
Be sure to pick up all the past issues of Mystery, Crime,
and Mayhem.
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
SMFS Member Publishing News: Gerald So
SMFS list member Gerald So’s poem, “Gray” appears
online at Journal of NoirCon: Retreats from Oblivion. You can read it
for free here.
Little Big Crimes Review: The Tennis Church by Sophie Hannah
Little Big Crimes: The Tennis Church, by Sophie Hannah: "The Tennis Church," by Sophie Hannah, in The C Word, Spellbound Books, 2021. The proceeds from this book go to support Britain...
Monday, February 22, 2021
SMFS Members Published in The Great Filling Station Holdup: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Jimmy Buffett
Today is publication day for the anthology, The Great Filling Station Holdup: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Jimmy Buffett. In addition to the several SMFS list members in the book, SMFS list member Josh Pachter edited the anthology and wrote the introduction. Published by Down & Out Books, the read is available in eBook and print formats at the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors. In alphabetical order, the SMFS members and their stories are:
Michael Bracken with “Tampico Trauma.”
Micki Browning with “Einstein was a Surfer.”
John M. Floyd with “Spending Money.”
Leigh Lundin with “Truckstop Salvation.”
Laura Oles with “Everybody's on the Run.”
Josh Pachter with “The Great Filling Station Holdup.”
Lissa Redmond with “If I Could Just Get It on Paper.”
Elaine Viets with “We Are the People Our Parents
Warned Us About.”
Editor Jopsh Pachter also created an Apple music playlist for the book. Mr. Pachter reports that, unfortunately, Apple does not have the “Beach House on the Moon” album that includes the song, “Spending Money” which was the inspiration for Mr. Floyd’s story, “Spending Money.”
https://music.apple.com/us/ playlist/the-great-filling- station-holdup/pl.u-YvB0uDK1L3
Synopsis:
Jimmy Buffett is one of the great contemporary
singer/songwriters, and it’s hard to imagine a citizen of Planet Earth
unfamiliar with such classic hits as “Margaritaville.” Jimmy has also written
novels, children’s books, memoirs, and a stage musical based on Herman Wouk’s
Don’t Stop the Carnival, and his family-friendly concerts almost always sell
out to audiences comprised of a mix of dedicated Parrotheads, casual fans, and
newbies.
In The Great Filling Station Holdup, editor Josh Pachter
presents sixteen short crime stories by sixteen popular and up-and-coming crime
writers, each story based on a song from one of the twenty-eight studio albums
Jimmy has released over the last half century, from Leigh Lundin’s take on
“Truckstop Salvation” (which appeared on Jimmy’s first LP, 1970’s Down to
Earth) to M.E. Browning’s interpretation of “Einstein Was a Surfer” (from
Jimmy’s most recent recording, 2013’s Songs from St. Somewhere).
If you love Jimmy’s music or crime fiction or both, you’ll
love The Great Filling Station Holdup. Mix yourself a boat drink, ask Alexa to
put on a buffet of Buffett tunes, kick back, and enjoy!
Sunday, February 21, 2021
SMFS Members Published in Yellow Mama Webzine, Issue 84
Several SMFS list members are in Yellow Mama
Webzine, Issue 84. The issue is online and a free read here. The SMFS list
members in the issue are:
C. W. Blackwell with the poem, “Daybreak Over I-15.”
Jan Christensen with “The Map.”
Stephen J. Golds with the poems, “Perpetual Motion”
and “The Best Ones Are the Crazy Ones.”
Bobby Mathews with “The Handyman.”
SleuthSayers: A Buffett Buffet by Leigh Lundin
SleuthSayers: A Buffett Buffet: Why get stoned when there’s rock? Stone crabs and rock shrimp, of course, boiling in sea water seasoned with Old Bay , served outside a rust...
Friday, February 19, 2021
SMFS Member Publishing News: John M. Floyd
SMFS list member John M. Floyd’s short story, “According to Luke” appears in the anthology, What Lies Beyond. Published by Red Penguin Books, the read is available in in print and eBook formats at Amazon. The eBook version is currently free now and 2/23/21.
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
SleuthSayers: Brand New Cliches by Robert Lopresti
SleuthSayers: Brand New Cliches: Yesterday the March/April issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine hit the newsstand, assuming such institutions still exist. I am de...
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
SleuthSayers: When Red Herrings Stink by Barb Goffman
SleuthSayers: When Red Herrings Stink: I'm going to go out on a limb and say something that may be controversial, at least among writers: Readers should understand why a red h...
SMFS Members Published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine: March/April 2021
SMFS list members are published in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine: March/April 2021 issue. The issue is available at the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors. The SMFS members in the issue are:
David Dean with “Stone Coat.”
Kevin Egan with “Escape Velocity.”
Josh Pachter with “The City of Light.” Mr. Pachter
also translated the Passport to Crime story for this issue, “A Bucharest Arrest”
by Romanian author Bogdan Hrib.
Elizabeth Zelvin with “Who Stole the Afikomen?”
SMFS Members Published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine: March/April 2021
SMFS list members are published in the Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine: March/April 2021 issue. The issue is available at the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors. The SMFS members in the issue are:
John M. Floyd with “Friends and Neighbors.”
R. T. Lawton with “St. Paddy’s Day.”
Robert Lopresti with “Shanks’s Locked Room.”
William Burton McCormick with “A Night of Lies,
Thieves, and Thunder, Long Ago.”
O’Neil De Noux with “The Girl with the Gibson Girl
Look.”
Monday, February 15, 2021
Sunday, February 14, 2021
SMFS Member Publishing News: Terry Shames
SMFS list member Terry Shames’s short story, "Double
Exposure” appears in the recently released tribute anthology, Bullets and
Other Hurting Things: A Tribute to Bill Crider. Published in print and
eBook formats by Down
& Out Books, the read is available at Amazon
and other vendors. As previously
announced, the book also includes “The Ladies of Wednesday Tea” by Michael
Bracken.
Synopsis:
In a career spanning nearly four decades, Bill Crider
published more than sixty crime fiction, westerns, horror, men’s adventure and
YA novels. In this collection 20 of today’s best and brightest, all friends and
fans of Bill’s, come together with original stories to pay tribute to his
memory. Authors include: William Kent Krueger, Bill Pronzini, Joe R. Lansdale,
Patricia Abbott, Ben Boulden, Michael Bracken, Jen Conley, Brendan DuBois,
Charlaine Harris, David Housewright, Kasey Lansdale, Angela Crider Neary, James
Reasoner, James Sallis, Terry Shames, S. A. Solomon, Sara Paretsky, Robert J.
Randisi, SJ Rozan, and Eryk Pruitt.
William Kent Krueger (Ordinary Grace, the Cork
O’Connor series) brings us a story of romance and grift. Bill Pronzini (the
Nameless Detective and Carpenter & Quincannon series) offers a taut episode
of a midnight raid. Joe R. Lansdale (The Bottoms, the Hap and Leonard series)
tells a tale of two hit men working through their differences. James Sallis
(Drive, the Lew Griffin series) shows us how a deadly figure once helped out a
man called Bill. Charlaine Harris (the Sookie Stackhouse and Midnight, Texas
series) reminds us to be careful of what we wish for. Sara Paretsky (the V.I.
Warshawski series) shows how truly deadly a terrible storm can be.
These and fourteen more stories are offered here in
the appreciation of our friend and colleague, Bill Crider. These stories were
written for him.
SMFS Members Published in Fiction River: Chances: An Original Anthology Magazine
SMFS list members are published in Fiction
River: Chances: An Original Anthology Magazine. Published by WMG
Publishing, the read is available in print and eBook formats at Amazon.
The SMFS list members are:
Michele Dean with “Fog and Memory.”
Dayle A. Dermatis with “An Ocean of Secrets in Her
Eyes.”
Annie Reed with “"Baked with Love."
Publisher Synopsis:
Lovers take chances. History and literature both bubble over
with stories of chances and mischances, of love lost as often as love won, and
even of wars launched in retaliation for stolen chances and illicit rendezvous.
The stories in this volume tug at the heartstrings and tease
the brain. In each of them, two fascinating people throw themselves against the
whims of fate in order to find a way to live happily ever after.
Includes:
Baked with Love by Annie Reed
An Ocean of Secrets in Her Eyes by Dayle A. Dermatis
Twice Told Tales by Loren L. Coleman
Sprinters by Michael D. Britton
On Thin Ice by Daphne Crowe
Trail Run by Katie Pressa
Gun Running on Vacation by Stefon Mears
Burned Out Souls by Michael Warren Lucas
Fog and Memory by Michele Dean
Reunion by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
SMFS Member Publishing News: Michele Dean
As posted by Michele to our SMFS list...
My short romance, "Date & Switch" was today's "advent calendar" offering. If you haven't already subscribed to the spectacular, you can read it on my website for the coming week (until ~midnight Feb 21):
SMFS Members Published in A Heart Full of Love: A Collection of Romantic Short Stories
SMFS members appear in the new anthology, A
Heart Full of Love: A Collection of Romantic Short Stories. Published
by Red
Penguin Books, the read is available in print and eBook formats at Amazon.
The SMFS members in the book are:
Suzanne Baginskie with “Crackerjack Proposal.”
John M. Floyd with “Elevator Music.”
Synopsis:
Relationships present themselves to us in many forms. While
some are as short-lived as a glance across a crowded bar, others prove to be as
epic as the quest for true love's kiss so often celebrated in the movies.
In this Valentine's Day inspired edition of The Red Penguin
Collection, read the stories of a dozen writers who have explored love stories
of all kinds—from the gooey and romantic to the most unexpected one can find in
the genre. For the reader with "A Heart Full of Love" in their chest
and a glass of red in their hand.
Edited by JK Larkin
Featuring the following authors, poets and playwrights:
Debbie De Louise
Suzanne Baginnskie
John M Floyd
Skye Ballantyne
Christina Hoag
Jim Tritten
William John Rostron
Steve DeWolfe
Ella Moon
Shevaun Cavanaugh Kastl
David Lange
Anita Haas
Little Big Crimes Review: Boo Radley College Prep by Karen Harrington
Little Big Crimes: Boo Radley College Prep, by Karen Harrington: "Boo Radley College Prep," by Karen Harrington, in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, January/February 2021. As I have said b...
Saturday, February 13, 2021
SleuthSayers: How It's Done These Days by Robert Mangeot
SleuthSayers: How It's Done These Days: It’s 8:00am Saturday, writing day, and I’m so not ready to write. I’d been up late watching That Space Action Buddy Movie That Is Always O...
Friday, February 12, 2021
SMFS Member Publishing News: Michael Bracken
Today is publication day for the tribute anthology, Bullets
and Other Hurting Things: A Tribute to Bill Crider. Published in print
and eBook formats by Down & Out Books, the read includes the short story, “The
Ladies of Wednesday Tea.” In addition to the publisher,
the book is available at Amazon
and other vendors.
Synopsis:
In a career spanning nearly four decades, Bill Crider
published more than sixty crime fiction, westerns, horror, men’s adventure and
YA novels. In this collection 20 of today’s best and brightest, all friends and
fans of Bill’s, come together with original stories to pay tribute to his
memory. Authors include: William Kent Krueger, Bill Pronzini, Joe R. Lansdale,
Patricia Abbott, Ben Boulden, Michael Bracken, Jen Conley, Brendan DuBois,
Charlaine Harris, David Housewright, Kasey Lansdale, Angela Crider Neary, James
Reasoner, James Sallis, Terry Shames, S. A. Solomon, Sara Paretsky, Robert J.
Randisi, SJ Rozan, and Eryk Pruitt.
William Kent Krueger (Ordinary Grace, the Cork
O’Connor series) brings us a story of romance and grift. Bill Pronzini (the
Nameless Detective and Carpenter & Quincannon series) offers a taut episode
of a midnight raid. Joe R. Lansdale (The Bottoms, the Hap and Leonard series)
tells a tale of two hit men working through their differences. James Sallis (Drive,
the Lew Griffin series) shows us how a deadly figure once helped out a man
called Bill. Charlaine Harris (the Sookie Stackhouse and Midnight, Texas
series) reminds us to be careful of what we wish for. Sara Paretsky (the V.I.
Warshawski series) shows how truly deadly a terrible storm can be.
These and fourteen more stories are offered here in
the appreciation of our friend and colleague, Bill Crider. These stories were
written for him.
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Monday, February 8, 2021
SMFS Member Publishing News: Gary Phillips
SMFS list member Gary Phillips' novellete, Snow
Shorts #2: Thieves’ Alley is out now. Published by Ben Books, the read
is available in eBook format at Amazon.
Synopsis:
Big John Salmon had built a new life for himself after being
incarcerated. But now an old friend, an unrepentant thief was dying in a prison
hospital in the high desert. Pulled back in by personal honor as the man’s
family is under threat, Big John is recruited to carry off one last heist --
against a quirky billionaire’s fortified penthouse atop the Phan-Tan Casino
under heavy guard. Yet the prize wasn’t money. Squeezed by forces known and
unknown, Salmon once again walks down thieves’ alley as he puts his plan in
motion. Calling on an edge forged in the fires of adversity might tip the odds
in his favor to make it out alive…or wind up on the slab.
From the pages of the SNOW series comes a new Snow Short
featuring Big John Salmon.
Little Big Crimes Review: Flinders' Flit by H.L. Fullerton
Little Big Crimes: Flinders' Flit, by H.L. Fullerton: "Flinders' Flit," by H.L. Fullerton, in Mystery Weekly Magazine, February 2021. The defining experience of Cassie's life ...
SleuthSayers: Writing to the Don'ts by Elizabeth Zelvin
SleuthSayers: Writing to the Don'ts: In an era when short crime fiction has far fewer and more specialized markets than in the great days when writers could actually make a livi...
Sunday, February 7, 2021
SMFS Member Publishing News: David H. Hendrickson
As posted by David to our list:
It isn't mystery (it's romance) and it's a very different type of publication. That said, my story, "Cape Cod Chips and the Goggles Guy," kicked off the Valentine's Spectacular 2021 today.
(The Spectacular provides readers with a Valentine's Day story delivered to their inbox every day from February 7-14. A year from now, the stories will be collected into an e-book anthology with three more bonus stories.
If you want a taste of what the stories are like, I've posted mine on my website where you can read it for free for the next seven days.
Saturday, February 6, 2021
Friday, February 5, 2021
SMFS Members Published in Coming Through in Waves: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Pink Floyd
Several SMFS list members are published in the new anthology, Coming Through in Waves: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Pink Floyd. Published by Gutter Books, the read is available in print and eBook formats from Amazon. The SMFS list members in this anthology are:
C.W. Blackwell with
“Jugband Blues.”
Karen Keeley with “The Scarecrow.”
Jim Shaffer with "One of These Days."
Joseph S. Walker with "Nobody Home."
Synopsis:
Perhaps no other major band or artist has equaled the
lyrical and musical poignancy that Pink Floyd has achieved in landmark records
such as The Dark Side of the Moon, Animals, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall.In
this, the fourth installment in Gutter Books’ Rock Anthology Series, we pay
tribute to, and hopefully in some small way enhance the legend of, a band that
has spoken so compellingly to— and for—millions of people searching for meaning
in the modern world.Featuring some of today's most exciting authors, and edited
by horror author and cancer survivor T. Fox Dunham, Coming Through in Waves
weaves together a plethora of dark, strange, and intriguing images that only
Pink Floyd could inspire.
Wednesday, February 3, 2021
SleuthSayers: Unreal Estate by Robert Lopresti
SleuthSayers: Unreal Estate: I am working on a story set in Bellingham, Washington, the City of Subdued Excitement, where I have lived for almost exactly half my li...
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
SleuthSayers: Do You See Me Now? by Michael Bracken
SleuthSayers: Do You See Me Now?: I am a full-time freelance writer/editor with a part-time job as marketing director for a professional orchestra. During the pandemic, the o...
Monday, February 1, 2021
SMFS Members Published in Mystery Weekly Magazine: February 2021
Several SMFS list members are published in the Mystery Weekly Magazine: February 2021 issue. The read is available in both print and eBook from the publisher and at Amazon. The SMFS members in this issue are:
The “You-Solve-It” solution to last month’s “A
Conventional Murder” by Peter DiChellis.
John Floyd with “Wanted.”
Steve Liskow with "Adam's Prime Rib."
Brian Silverman with “"Gastrofunkalicious."
Synopsis:
At the cutting edge of crime fiction, Mystery Weekly
Magazine presents original short stories by the world’s best-known and emerging
mystery writers.
The stories we feature in our monthly issues span
every imaginable subgenre, including cozy, police procedural, noir, whodunit,
supernatural, hardboiled, humor, and historical mysteries. Evocative writing
and a compelling story are the only certainty.
Get ready to be surprised, challenged, and
entertained--whether you enjoy the style of the Golden Age of mystery (e.g.,
Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle), the glorious pulp digests of the early
twentieth century (e.g., Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler), or contemporary
masters of mystery.
In this issue: In our cover story, “Ghost Eyed Gift”
by Marilee Dahlman, it's late 1800s Chicago and barber Nathaniel Tall Cloud
just wants to get by. Then a killer strolls in for a shave.“My Year With The
Perfect Family” by Mark Nutter: A documentary filmmaker plans to film a perfect
family for a year. His plan needs rethinking after he murders the mother,
father, son and daughter on the first day.“Wanted” by John M. Floyd:
Thirteen-year-old Eddie Webber's dog was dead, his pa was a drunk, his
stepmother was a witch, and a killer outlaw was on the loose. And then things
got worse …In “Flinders' Flit” by H.L. Fullerton, a woman's husband goes
missing and people suspect she had something to do with it. She feels it's history
repeating itself.“After Thoughts” by Edward Ahern: Waking in a hospital bed and
visited by the people in his life, Jerry discovers sometimes you can't help but
change the way you think.“Nightshift In Strange Rain” by Zandra Renwick: Green
blood and trench coats and death in the rain—an old-fashioned murder detective
and his coroner ex-flame tackle a newfangled problem in this retrofuture
gumshoe tale set in a small town not at all close to you.“Jinx” by Cory
Braidon: Crime and cats—bad or good luck? Big-time crooks and small-time thugs
work it out.In “Adam's Prime Rib” by Steve Liskow, Randi has a date with a
chef, and nothing is cut and dried … yet.In “Gastrofunkalicious” by Brian
Silverman, a New York food tour guide brokers a deal to import a rare gourmet
delicacy to the city. He discovers that what he carries, many will kill to
possess.
