MORE GREAT NEW READS FROM THE SHORT MYSTERY FICTION SOCIETY!

As sure as the leaves turned and the temperatures dropped, the multi-talented scribes of The Short Mystery Fiction Society continued to turn out fabulous new treats for readers in October, and even pulled off their share of tricks.  Readers in the mood for the best in contemporary crime and mystery writing have plenty of recent publications to choose from.  Read on--and remember that the SMFS always has room for you!  Membership is free, and with Derringer season coming on fast, there's never a more exciting time to jump on board.

• In September, a number of SMFS members showed up in the pages of The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year.  October brought the release of this year's edition of The Best American Mystery and Suspense, edited by Don Winslow, and once again SMFS was well represented.  Among those present are Tom Andes ("Never Mind in Two Thousand"), Ann Aptaker ("Neon Women"), John Bosworth ("A Bad Place to Die"), Jacqueline Freimor ("Cruel to be Kind"), James D. F. Hannah ("Road to Nowhere"), Meagan Lucas ("The Light Themselves on Fire"), Twist Phelan ("Good Shoes"), Gary Phillips ("The Darklight Gizmo Matter"), and Art Taylor ("Dark Thread, Loose Strands").  That makes SMFS responsible for fully half the table of contents, and a host of other members placed stories on the "Other Distinguished Stories" list, including Hector Acosta, Libby Cudmore, O'Neil de Noux, Nils Gilbertson, Nick Kolkowski, Tom Milani, Delia Pitts, Annie Reed, Gabriela Stiteler, Shannon Taft, and Stacy Woodson.  Phew!  Can there be any doubt that SMFS members are among the elite?
  
  
  
• More evidence comes in the pages of Snakeberry: Best New England Crime Stories 2025, the latest in a long-running and much-honored annual series.  SMFS members here include Christine Bagley ("Sakura"), Brenda Buchanan ("Cape Jewell"), Judy Carlough ("Catch and Release"), Bruce Robert Coffin ("Writer's Block"), Laurel Hanson ("Out of the Reach"), Beth Hogan (Willful Blindness"), Chris Knopf ("Submission"), Cheryl Malone ("As The Crows Fly"), Paula Messina ("Perfect"), Susan Oleksiw ("The Receptionist"), Ang Pompano ("Minnie the Air Raid Warden"), Stephen D. Rogers ("Chekhov, Sartre, and the Unity of Effect"), Bonnar Spring ("At the End of the Day"), Gabriela Stiteler ("Money Well Spent") and Leslie Wheeler ("Graham 2.0").  This volume always deserves a place on your shelf!
  
  
  
• It's always exciting to see a new anthology hit the shelves.  October brought us the first of a promising new series with The Vigilante Crime Pulp Fiction Anthology, a Molotov cocktail of stories both honoring the past and blowing it wide open.  SMFS members on this maiden voyage include Christina Hoag ("Twofer") and Michael Bracken ("4:13 A.M.").
  
  
  
• SMFS member Claire A. Murray's "Come Hell or High Water" is among the highlights of SoWest: Danger Awaits, the latest in the highly regarded anthology series from the Desert Sleuths chapter of Sisters in Crime.  Don't overlook these anthologies from regional groups--they're full of great stuff and exciting writing!
  
  
  
• Taking a darker path, M. E. Proctor brings us "Raise a Glass to John Dee" in This World of Vile Wonder: Horror Tales of the Scientific Revolution.  Chilling stuff!
  
  
  
• Christina Hoag thrills us once again with "The Coward" in the pages of the second volume of the cutting-edge anthology series Body Shots.  Not for the faint of heart!
  
  
  
• Hitting shelves in the coming weeks, the November/December 2025 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine includes riveting tales by SMFS members including David Dean ("Halloween Party"), O'Neil de Noux ("The Human Form Divine"), Billie Livingston ("What Ivy Brings"), Gregory Meece ("The Raindrop Prelude"), Gary Phillips ("Dr. Morbilius"), Paul Ryan O'Connor ("Destiny"), and Twist Phelan ("Authorized Treatment").
  
  
  
• Not to be outdone, the November/December Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine features SMFS members such as James Patrick Focarile ("Go Fish"), Mark Thielman ("The Tangled Web They Weave"), and Avram Lavinsky ("The Bank Heist Before Armageddon").  Don't let these great issues pass you by!
  
  
  
• Black Cat Weekly continues to offer fans of mystery, science fiction and pulp adventure the best bang for the buck, with hundreds of pages of new and classic stories and novels each and every week.  Among the SMFS authors BCW featured in October were Bern Sy Moss ("It's What She Does"), Steve Liskow ("Dead Oak Hill"), and Robert Lopresti ("Give the Gift of Murder").  Why not give yourself the gift of a BCW subscription today?
  
  
  
• Looking for great online reads?  Look no further than a barrage of digital goodies from SMFS all-stars!  First up, James Patrick Focarile offers up "Blood Dirty" at Pulp Asylum, and then doubles down with "Forever in Your Debt" over at Horror Tree.
  
  
  
•  Punk Noir proudly presents Halloween scares in "Beggars Night" from SMFS's own Elizabeth Dearborn.
  
  
  
• Shari Held brings us the dark side of show business at Yellow Mama with "The Audition."
  
  
  
• The legendary Saturday Evening Post hosts the soon-to-be legendary Stephen M. Pierce and his story of the clues in a poet's final verses, "Mockingbird Murders."
  
  
  
• M. E. Proctor is another SMFS all-star with two stellar stories out this month, "Nails in the Coffin" at the Pistol Jim Substack and "Buckets!" at the Twitter-based Mythic Picnic.
  
  
  
• The digital pages of Urban Pigs are graced by SMFS's Tom Milani and his hard-edged "So Cold it Burns."
  
  
  
• And last but not least, for those looking for audio thrills, the prolific James Patrick Focarile has you covered in the Mysteryrat's Maze podcast with "Forever Yours."
  
  
  

That's the latest in another great month of reading from SMFS.  Stay tuned for more as 2025 hurtles to a close!