SleuthSayers: Opportunity Abounds by Michael Bracken

SleuthSayers: Opportunity Abounds: We met Mary Tyler Moore on the streets of Minneapolis. I returned home from Bouchercon Minneapolis with two things: Covid and a renewed app...

2022 Anthony Award Winner: Alan S. Orloff

 
During ceremonies at Bouchercon 2022 Saturday evening, SMFS list member Alan S. Orloff won the Anthony Award in the Best Children's/Young Adult category for I Play One on TV.

SMFS Members Published in Land of 10,000 Thrills: Bouchercon Anthology 2022

Bouchercon 2022 is underway and that means today is publication day for the official anthology, Land of 10,000 Thrills: Bouchercon Anthology 2022. Edited by SMFS list member Greg Herren, published by Down & Out Books, the read is available in print and digital formats at the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors. The SMFS list members in the book are:

 

Eric Beckstrom with “The One-Thousandth Lake.”

 

Mary Dutta with "The Final Curtain."

 

John Floyd with “Windows.”

 

Barb Goffman with "The Gift."

 

BV Lawson with  "Trouble in Spades."

 

Edith Maxwell with "Forlorn Lake."

 

Marcie Rendon with “Illegal Catch.”

 

Bev Vincent with "Something Strange."

 

Synopsis: 

“But will it play in Peoria?”

For years, the Midwest has been used as a stand-in for “average America”. The sweeping great plains, the heavy snows of winter, ice fishing and mighty rivers and frozen lakes. Midwesterners have a reputation for being the salt of the earth, friendly and kind and helpful and nice. But is “Midwestern nice” merely a cover for what really goes on in this part of the country? John Wayne Gacy, the bloody Benders, and Jeffrey Dahmer were all Midwesterners—but that doesn’t mean every Midwesterner has bodies buried in their basements…or does it?

To celebrate Boucheron, the world’s largest mystery fan convention, coming to Minneapolis in 2022, editor Greg Herren is proud to present a series of tales that will shock and surprise you—and maybe make you think twice about that ice-fishing trip, or before taking a snowmobile out after the sun goes down. Featuring authors from all over the Midwest who know just how dark and lonesome it can get out there in the country at night, these crime stories will entertain you with their trip down the dark side of the “real America”—where the twilight’s last gleaming has an entirely different meaning and feel.

Featuring some of the top, award-winning authors in the field today—from Mindy Mejia to Marcie R. Rendon to Michael Wiley, Susanna Calkins and Erica Ruth Neubauer, and Bryon Quertermous, Tessa Wegert, Raquel V. Reyes, and Richie Narvaez—doing some of their finest work to date. Collected and curated by award-winning editor Greg Herren, with stories ranging from light to darkly funny to just out-and-out macabre, Land of 10,000 Thrillsis one of the strongest anthologies put together by the Bouchercon conference to date.

These stories may not “play in Peoria”…but mystery fans everywhere will enjoy them.

SMFS at Bouchercon 2022

While there are some things the day before, Bouchercon 2022: Minneapolis begins this Thursday in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Hilton Minneapolis. Numerous SMFS members will be attending and actively participating on panels, book signings, and more. The list below features just some of the many activities featuring SMFS list members. Please remember that times and room locations are subject to change. More information can be found at the official website. 

 

Events 

Thursday Evening   

During opening ceremonies, Assistant Derringer Coordinator Joseph S. Waller will present Derringer medals to the 2022 Derringer Award winners. The winners this year are John Floyd, Trey Dowell, Michael Bracken, Stacy Woodson, and Golden Derringer recipient S. J. Rozan. More information on the winners and the categories they won in can be found here.

 

Friday 

1: 45 PM   Various SMFS members will be participating in the signing of the Bouchercon anthology, The Land of 10,000 Crimes.  Bookroom, Second Floor.

 

Saturday

7:00 AM   Various SMFS members will be participating in the Speed Dating event.

 

Panels

Thursday

9 AM   Edith Maxwell, among others, participates on the “Coastal Cozies - Life's a Beach and Then You Die” panel in Marquette 4-5. 

10:15 AM   Mary Monnin, among others, participate on the “All the Rage: Murder in Fashion” panel. 

1:45 PM   Michael Bracken moderates the panel, “Groovy Kind of Death: Murders Set in the 60s/70s.” Scheduled participants include Marcie Rendon and Gabriel Valjan, among others. Marquette Ballroom 4 and 5 

3PM   Warren Moore and Sharon Michalove, among others, participate on the “Mysteries with a Musical Theme” panel in the Marquette Ballroom 6 and 7. 

4:15 PM   Joseph S. Walker, M. A. Monnin, Mary Stojak, among others, participate on the "Short Cuts to Great Dialogue” panel in the Duluth Room. 

4:15 PM   Cathi Stoler, among others, participates on the “Beyond Hannibal: Psychopaths & Serial Killers” panel. 

4:15 PM   Lori Robbins, among others, participates on the "Somebody's Watching Me: TV and Social Media is the Story" panel in the Marquette Ballroom 8 and 9.

 

Friday

9 AM   Mary Dutta, Barb Goffman, Raquel V. Reyes, Mark Thielman, among others, participate on the “Get Lost in the Plot: Short Stories” panel in the Duluth Room. 

10:15   Alan Orloff, among others, participate on the “Hey There, Fellow Kids: Young Adult Panel” in the Marquette Ballroom 6 and 7. 

11:30 AM   Nina Wachsman, among others, participate on the “Researching Art Mysteries” panel. 

11:30 AM   James L'Etoile, among others, participate on the “Pickled Red Herrings: Buckle up, Buttercup” panel. 

1:45 PM   James L'Etoile and Ann Parker, among others, participate on the “Out West Mysteries” panel. 

3:00 PM   G.M. Malliet, among others, participate on the “Safe Room: Locked Room Mysteries” panel. in Marquette Ballroom 4 and 5. 

4:15 PM   Susan Alice Bickford, among others, participate on the “Rolling in the Deep” panel. 

4:15   Alan Orloff and Greg Herren, among others, participate on the “Anthony Award Nominees” panel in the Marquette Ballroom 2 and 3.

 

Saturday

1:45 PM   Kim Keeline moderates "The Art of Writing Short Stories" panel with participants, Jim Doherty, Paul J Garth, Curtis Ippolito, and Laurie Rockenbeck, among others, in the Duluth Room. 

3 PM   Eric Beetner moderates “Audiobooks and Podcasts” panel with participant Frank Zafiro and others. 

4: 15 PM   Vinnie Hansen, among others, participates on “The Modern Gumshoe Panel.” 

 

Sunday

10:15 AM   Scott Von Doviak, among others, participates on Your Ticket to Art Crime “ panel.

SMFS Member Nominees for the 2022 Macavity Awards

 
The Macavity Award is named for the “mystery cat” of T.S. Eliot (Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats). Each year The Macavity Awards are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends and supporters of MRI who all nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in four categories. The winners will be announced at Bouchercon in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in September. 

This year we have five members of the Short Mystery Fiction Society nominated in the category of Best Short Story. The nominees are: 

Richard Helms: “Sweeps Week” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: July/August 2021)

Steve Hockensmith: “Curious Incidents” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: January/February 2021)

R.T. Lawton: “The Road to Hana” (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine: May/June 2021)

G.M. Malliet: “The White Star” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: July/August 2021)

Gigi Pandian for “The Locked Room Library” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: July/August 2021)  The story is also nominated for an Anthony Award.

 

The full list of nominees and their categories can be found here.