SMFS Member Publishing News: The Referee by C.W. Blackwell

  

SMFS list member C.W. Blackwell’s short story, The Referee, is published at Shotgun Honey. You can read the tale for free here.

SMFS Member Publishing News: A Handful of Chicles and a Custom Nine by C.W. Blackwell

Today is publication day for A Handful of Chicles and a Custom Nine by C.W. Blackwell. This is the latest installment of Season Four of the Guns + Tacos series edited by Trey R. Barker and SMFS list member Michael Bracken. Published by Down and Out Books, the read is available at the publisher, Amazon, and elsewhere.

 

Publisher Synopsis:

Richie Angeles had it all: a cakewalk job wrenching on classic cars for a Chicago loan shark by day, and a side-hustle running high-stakes repo jobs by night. But when a fling with the boss's wife, Gina, goes awry, Richie finds himself the target of every low-life goon and hustler in the city.

With his options dwindling and a bounty on his head, Richie and Gina must find allies in the seedy Chicago underworld in order to survive. But good allies are hard to find—and the ones that seem loyal may only be looking for an easy double-cross. With the infamous Mr. Rosko at his heels, and a trail of blood from Chinatown to the Indiana border, Richie must make a choice to keep running or confront the boss himself.

Will he be able to run the gauntlet and kill Rosko and his inner circle, or will the many hands of the Chicago criminal world get their hands on Richie first?

Member Publication News: C.W. Blackwell

Reckon Review has published C.W. Blackwell's story "Crows in the Barleyfield."  Read it for free here.

Member Publication News: C.W. Blackwell

This week Dead Fern Press published C.W. Blackwell's collection of crime/noir poetry, River Street Rhapsody. 

Award News: Derringer Award Video

The Derringer Awards were supposed to be formally presented at Bouchercon.  Since that event was cancelled the organizers asked Society president Robert Lopresti to make a video announcing the awards.  It is now available here. 

Member Publication: C.W. Blackwell

 Tough Magazine just published C.W. Blackwell's story "Amends."  You can read it for free here.

Publication News: Gabba Gabba Hey

 Fahrenheit Press has just published Gabba Gabba Hey: An Anthology of Fiction Inspired by the Music of the Ramones.  Among the stories included are C.W. Blackwell's "Somebody Put Something in my Drink" and Joseph S. Walker's "The Main Man."

SMFS Official Announcement: 2021 Derringer Award Winners

 

Since 1998, the Short Mystery Fiction Society has awarded the annual Derringers—named for  the popular pocket pistol—to outstanding published stories. The current awards recognize outstanding stories published during 2020. 

These are the official 2021 Derringer Award Winners:

FLASH (ranges up to 1,000 words)

 

TIE:

Blackwell, C.W. “Memories of Fire.” Pulp Modern Flash. August 3, 2020.

 

Richardson, Travis. “War Words.” Punk Noir Magazine. December 3, 2020.

SHORT (ranges from 1,001 to 4,000 words) 

 

TIE:  

 

Jones, Eleanor Cawood. “The Great Bedbug Incident and the Invitation of Doom." Chesapeake Crimes: Invitation to Murder.    

 

Woodson, Stacy. “River.” The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell.

LONG (ranges from 4,001 to 8,000 words)

Chen, Sarah M. “Hotelin’.” Shotgun Honey: Volume #4: Recoil.

NOVELETTE (ranges from 8,001 to 20,000 words)

Taylor, Art. “The Boy Detective and the Summer of ’74.” Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. January/February 2020.

The Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement is annually awarded to an outstanding living writer of short mysteries, selected by a five-member panel. This year's recipient:

Brendan DuBois.

 

The full list of the finalists for this year can be found here. 

 
Due to the pandemic we can't predict yet whether there will be a Derringer ceremony at Bouchercon in New Orleans in August.  If not the winners will receive their medals through the mail. Congratulations to all!

Mystery Tribune: Smoke and Consequences: Noir Flash Fiction By C.W. Blackwell

 Mystery Tribune: Smoke and Consequences: Noir Flash Fiction By C.W. Blackwell

Pulp Modern Flash: MEMORIES OF FIRE by C.W. Blackwell

Pulp Modern Flash: MEMORIES OF FIRE by C.W. Blackwell: Gina expected a corpse, but the man she found in the trailer was only half-dead. Fresh blood on the mattress. Hair matted to the sweat-...