SMFS Members Published in Paranoia Blues: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Paul Simon

Today is publication day for the new anthology, Paranoia Blues: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Paul Simon, which includes short stories by several SMFS list members. Edited by SMFS list member Josh Pachter, the read is published by Down & Out Books. It is available in digital and print formats from Amazon and other vendors. The SMFS list members in the book are:

 

Eve Fisher with “Cool Papa Bell.”

 

Debra H. Goldstein with "So Beautiful or So What."

 

Tom Mead with "The Only Living Boy in New York."

 

Editor Josh Pachter with "Paranoia Blues."

 

Gabriel Valjan with “The Sound of Silence.”

 

Andrew Welsh-Huggins with "Once Upon A Time There Was An Ocean."

 

Frank Zafiro with "A Hazy Shade of Winter."

 

Synopsis:

Across five studio albums with Art Garfunkel (1964-1970) and fourteen solo albums (1965-2018), Paul Simon’s music and lyrics have inspired generations of listeners. For Paranoia Blues, nineteen masters of contemporary short crime fiction wrote new stories, each inspired by one of Simon’s songs: one from each of the five Simon and Garfunkel studio albums (plus a bonus second story inspired by a song from Bridge Over Troubled Water) and one from each of the fourteen solo studio albums.

The contributors include award-winners E.A. Aymar, Martin Edwards, Cheryl A. Head, Edwin Hill, Tom Mead, Raquel V. Reyes, Gabriel Valjean, and a dozen more—plus the first new story by Robert Edward Eckels in more than forty years!

This is the fifth “inspired by” anthology edited by Josh Pachter, a recent winner of the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s Golden Derringer Award for Lifetime Achievement; the previous books drew on the music of Jimmy Buffett, Billy Joel, and Joni Mitchell—and the films of the Marx Brothers.