- Disney may have tried to clean them up, but savvy readers know that the classic fairy tales of old feature enough dark elements to rival the toughest noir. Those elements are highlighted in the new Level Best Books collection WISH UPON A CRIME: CRIME FICTION INSPIRED BY FAIRY TALES, edited by Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson. Familiar stories are brought into the present day and given a gritty makeover by a host of today's top crafters of criminal capers, including SMFS members Joseph S. Walker ("Hansel and Gretel"), John M. Floyd ("Goldilocks and the Three Bears"), Josh Pachter ("The Frog Prince"), Andrew Welsh-Huggins ("Jack and the Beanstalk"), Barb Goffman ("Little Red Riding Hood"), Tom Milani ("The Briar Patch") and newly-minted Golden Derringer winner David Dean ("King O' The Cats"). This is certain to be one of the year's best anthologies--don't miss it!
- A new issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine always means excitement from SMFS authors! Present in the July/August issue are Dave Zeltserman ("A Lost Dream"), Terena Elizabeth Bell ("Good Fences"), and Joseph S. Walker ("Hunters"). Still the world's leading mystery magazine after all these years!
- Not to be outdone, the July/August Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine is highlighted by contributions from SMFS's own S.B. Watson ("Tricks on the Table") and, pulling the double play, Dave Zeltserman ("Alfred & Hitchcock").
- And of course, Black Cat Weekly continues to offer fans of mystery, science fiction and pulp the best deal on the market, with hundreds of pages of thrills every week. Among the SMFS contributors to recent issues are Joseph S. Walker ("It's Flag Day on Fairview"), Steve Liskow ("Pictures at an Execution"), Robert Lopresti ("The Grudge") and the endlessly prolific John M. Floyd ("Ship Island").
- SMFS all-star Abe Margel pulls a hat trick this month, with stories in The Yard Crime Blog ("Travis' Benefit"), Academy of the Heart and Mind ("Redside Ride"), and Yellow Mama ("Exit Through the Back Door"). You can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him!
- Thrill Ride Magazine dedicates its latest issue to Assassins and Vigilantes, and taking you along for the ride are SMFS members Robert J. Binney ("Moms Pack Snacks") and David H. Hendrickson ("Apt Pupil")!
- Proving that he has a soft side after all, the multitalented Hendrickson is also featured in the anthology ROMANCE FOR ALL SEASONS: SUNKISSED SUMMER with the wonderfully titled "The Mona Pizza and the Johnny Pesky Wannabe." How could you not want to know what that title means?
- The new issue of Blood and Bourbon hits hard, with "Goose" from SMFS's donalee Moulton.
- Flash Flood delivers big emotion in a small package on National Flash Fiction Day with Michael J. Ciaraldi's "Night Shift."
- Going even shorter (and sweeter!) at the X flash fiction page Mythic Picnic is Zachariah Johnson with "Make it Sweet."
- Close to the Bone routinely features some of the hardest-hitting fiction on the web, and they deliver again with Stephen M. Pierce's enthralling "Six Shots for a Sharpshooter."
- Gregory Meece is no slouch in the thrills department either, as he demonstrates in "Ellie" at Shotgun Honey.
- And last but not least, Rock and Hard Place always brings the goods, and their latest issue does it again with Christina Hoag's "Last Night on the Track."
That should be enough edge-of-your-seat mystery and suspense to keep you going for a while--at least until we're back with another update from the Short Mystery Fiction Society, proving month by month that this is a golden age for short crime fiction!