SMFS Member Publishing News: The Game by Christina Boufis

SMFS list member Christina Boufis’ short story, The Game, is published at Reedsy. You can read the piece for free online here.

SMFS Member Publishing News: Sanctuary Motel: A Mess Hopkins Novel by Alan Orloff

 

SMFS list member Alan Orloff’s new book, Sanctuary Motel: A Mess Hopkins Novel is now out. Published by Level Best Books, this first read in a new series is available in digital and print formats. The read can be purchased at Amazon and other vendors.

 

Amazon Description:

Mess Hopkins, proprietor of the seen-better-days Fairfax Manor Inn, never met a person in need who couldn't use a helping hand-his helping hand. So he's thrown open the doors of the motel to the homeless, victims of abuse, or anyone else who could benefit from a comfy bed with clean sheets and a roof overhead. This rankles his parents and uncle, who technically still own the place and are more concerned with profits than philanthropy.

When a mother and her teenage boy seek refuge from an abusive husband, Mess takes them in until they can get back on their feet. Shortly after arriving, the mom goes missing and some very bad people come sniffing around, searching for some money they claim belongs to them. Mess tries to pump the boy for helpful information, but he's in full uncooperative teen mode-grunts, shrugs, and monosyllabic answers. From what he does learn, Mess can tell he's not getting the straight scoop. It's not long before the boy vanishes too. Abducted? Run away? Something worse? And who took the missing money? Mess, along with his friend Vell Jackson and local news reporter Lia Katsaros, take to the streets to locate the missing mother and son-and the elusive, abusive husband-before the kneecapping loansharks find them first.

SMFS Members Published in Black Cat Mystery Magazine #14

 

Several SMFS list members have been published in Black Cat Mystery Magazine #14. Published by Wildside Press, the read is edited by SMFS list member Michael Bracken. The new issue  is currently available in print at Amazon. The SMFS list members published in this issue are:

 

John Bosworth with "A Great Team."

 

Editor Michael Bracken with his editorial note, "From the Cat's Perch."

 

Barb Goffman with "Real Courage."

 

Peter W. J. Hayes with “El Paso Heat.”

 

R.T. Lawton with "Most Important Meal of the Day."

 

Steve Liskow with "Speed Dating."

 

Andrew Welsh-Huggins with "The Legend of Yag-Gryllhoth."

 

Amazon Description:

Black Cat Mystery Magazine is back with a selection of 11 original crime and mystery stories. Here are tales of murder and mayhem, filled with intrigue and suspense—all by some of today's best authors. Plus a rare crime classic from Australia. Here's the lineup: REAL COURAGE, by Barb GoffmanMEET ME AT THE CHURCH AND BRING ALL THE GUNS, by Bruce ArthursEL PASO HEAT, by Peter W.J. HayesTHE LEGEND OF YAG-GRYLLHOTH, by Andrew Welsh-HugginsRED ROSES FOR A BLUE LADY, by Josh PachterHEIRESS, by Linda NiehoffEL PRIMO DE ANA, by Tom LarsenRAIN ALWAYS FALLS, by Stephen D. RogersHYENAS, by Janice LawA GREAT TEAM, by John BosworthSPEED DATING, by Steve Liskow

Macavity Award 2023 Winner: Beauty and the Beyotch by Barb Goffman

 

SMFS congratulates SMFS list member Barb Goffman for her Macavity Award 2023 win in the “Best Mystery Short Story” category. Her winning short story, Beauty and the Beyotch, was originally was published in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #29. As previously announced, this story also won a 2022 Agatha Award as well as a 2023 Anthony Award.

The full list of the winners announced earlier this week can be found on the website.

SMFS Members Published in Pulphouse Fiction Magazine: Issue 22

Several SMFS members are published in the recently released, Pulphouse Fiction Magazine: Issue 22. Published by WMG Publishing, the read is available in print and digital formats from the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors. The members in the issue are:

 

 

David H. Hendrickson with “When the Wiener Dogs Come Out to Play.”

 

Robert Jeschonek with "With Love in Their Hearts."

 

O’Neil De Noux with “The Rhythm of Dueling Oak.”

 

Annie Reed with "The Hair Thief."

 

Website Description:

The Cutting Edge of Modern Short Fiction

A three-time Hugo Award nominated magazine, this issue of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine offers up ten fantastic stories by some of the best writers working in modern short fiction.

No genre limitations, no topic limitations, just great stories. Attitude, feel, and high-quality fiction equals Pulphouse.

“This is definitely a strong start. All the stories have a lot of life to them, and are worthwhile reading.” —Tangent Online on Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, Issue #1

Includes:

“I Was a Teenage Boy-Crazy Blob” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

“The Hair Thief” by Annie Reed

“When the Wiener Dogs Come Out to Play” by David H. Hendrickson

“The Henchman Is Hurled Off the Catwalk” by Adam-Troy Castro

“The Rhythm of Dueling Oak” by O’Neil De Noux

“Shocking Tales” by Don Webb

“The Lessons Only a Jelly Bean Can Teach” by Scott Edelman

“Lending the Truth” by Rob Vagle

“With Love in Their Hearts” by Robert Jeschonek

“Unknown Baby Girl” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

“Minions at Work: Squeeze Play” by J. Steven York

SMFS Member Publishing News: The Voices I Will Never Hear Again by Kaye George

 

SMFS list member Kaye George’s short story, The Voices I Will Never Hear Again, is the featured cover story and published in Black Cat Weekly #112. Published by Wildside Press, the issue is available here in digital format.

 

Website Description:

This issue features a pair of original tales: a mystery from Kaye George (thanks to acquiring editor Michael Bracken) and a fantasy from Adrian Cole (written especially for this Halloween issue).

 On the mystery front, we have a pair of great modern tales by William Dylan Powell (thanks to acquiring editor Barb Goffman) and James Holding, plus a classic novel by British master A.E.W. Mason, who is best known for his tale of courage and cowardice in wartime, The Four Feathers. Notably, Mason created Inspector Hanaud, a French detective who was an early template for Agatha Christie's famous Hercule Poirot. We even have a special Halloween solve-it-yourself puzzler from Hal Charles!

On the fantastic side of things, we have a seasonally-appropriate SF tale by Norman Spinrad, plus Golden Age reprints from Algis Budrys, Cordwainer Smith, and David Mason. Mason is one of my favorite sword & sorcery authors for his novels Kavin’s World and The Return of Kavin. Had Mason not died tragically young in a boating accident, I have no doubt he would have become a major novelist in the field. After reading all of his books one after the other, I suspect he was creating a vast common universe for his fantasy and science fiction stories. Check them out if you get a chance. They are in print from Wildside Press.

 

Here’s the complete lineup:

 

Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure:

“The Voices I Will Never Hear Again,” by Kaye George [Michael Bracken Presents short story]

“Signs of Halloween,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery]

“The Darkness and the Light,” by William Dylan Powell [Barb Goffman Presents short story]

“The Only One of Its Kind,” by James Holding [short story]

No Other Tiger, by A.E.W. Mason [novel]

 

 

Science Fiction & Fantasy:

“The Falling Leaves” by Adrian Cole [short story]

“The Fat Vampire”by Norman Spinrad [short story]

“The Burning World,” by Algis Budrys [novelet]

“Mark Elf,” by Cordwainer Smith [short story]

“The Long Question,” by David Mason [short story]

SMFS Member Publishing News: The Swine Hunt by Pamela Ebel

 

SMFS list member Pamela Ebel’s short story, The Swine Hunt, was published yesterday at The Yard: Crime Blog. You can read it online for free here.

Writer's Digest Genre Short Story Winner: Jennifer Slee

SMFS congratulates SMFS list member Jennifer Slee for her first place and fourth place wins in the “Genre Short Story” category in the 92nd Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition.  Her winning first place short story, Stranger, can be read here. Her story, Nest Egg, took forth place. The full list of categories and winners can be found on the website.

SMFS Members Publishing News: Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #32

 

Several SMFS list members have short stories in the recently released Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #32. Published by Wildside Press, the issue is currently available in print at Amazon and elsewhere. The members in this issue are:

 

John M. Floyd with “The Three Little Biggs.”

 

Veronica Leigh with “No Place Like Home.”

 

Amazon Description:

Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine returns with an intriguing issue featuring 9 original tales of crime and mystery, plus a classic by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Here's the lineup:

CANYON FODDER, by John H. Dromey

THE SAN FRANCISCO ADVENTURE, by Hal Charles

NO PLACE LIKE HOME, by Veronica Leigh

THE THREE LITTLE BIGGS, by John M. Floyd

THE CASE OF THE BELGRAVIA BEAST, by Gary Blackwood

THE CELL PHONE, by Ellen Wight

THE QUIGLEY METHOD, by Marlin Bressi

MILLER’S LAKE, by Ellen Denton

THE NEW SHERIFF, by Greg T. Nelson

 

CLASSIC SHERLOCK HOLMES:

THE ADVENTURE OF THE GOLDEN PINCE-NEZ, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

SMFS Member Publishing News: The Competition by Kathryn Prater Bomey

 

SMFS list member Kathryn Prater Bomey’s short story, The Competition, is published at Shotgun Honey. You can read the tale for free here.

SMFS Members Published/Recognized in The Best American Mystery Stories 2023

 

Several SMFS list members have stories in or are recognized in The Best American Mystery Stories 2023 edition. Edited by Lisa Unger and Steph Cha, the read is published by Mariner Books and is available in audio, digital, and print formats from the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors. The SMFS list members in the book or recognized in it are:

 

Main Full Story Section:

 

Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier with “Ripen.” Originally published in Black Cat Weekly Issue 48, published by Wildside Press.

 

Jacqueline Freimor, with “Foreword.” Originally published in Vautrin - Volume 4, Issue 1, Summer 2022, published by Vautrin.

 

James A. Hearn with "Home Is the Hunter." Originally published in Mickey Finn Volume 3: 21st Century Noir, published by Down & Out Books.

 

Adam Meyer with "Mr. Filbert's Classroom." Originally published in Chesapeake Crimes: Magic is Murder, published by Wildside Press.

 

Annie Reed with "The Blood-Red Leaves of Autumn." Originally published in Always With Us: Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem #9,  published by Knotted Road Press.

 

Joseph S. Walker with "Crime Scene." Originally published in Malice in Dallas: Metroplex Mysteries Volume 1, published by the North Dallas Chapter of Sisters in Crime.

 

Other Distinguished Mystery and Suspense of 2022:

 

Francelia Belton with "Dreaming of Ella." Originally published in Denver Noir, published by Akashic Books.

 

Michael Bracken with "Kissing Cousins." Originally published in Starlite Pulp Review #1, published by Starlite Pulp.

 

Eve Fisher with "The Closing of the Lodge.” Originally published in  Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine: November/December 2022.

 

Barb Goffman with "The Gift."  Originally published in Land of 10,000 Thrills: Bouchercon Anthology 2022, published by Down & Out Books.

 

Delia C. Pitts with “A Deadly First.” Originally published in Festive Mayhem 3: A Limited-Edition Collection of New Mystery and Crime Fiction Stories and Reissued Holiday Favorites.

 

Amazon Description:

“This form has a special kind of magic, the ability to transport you quickly, intensely, to capture character, time, place, and story with immediacy,” writes guest editor Lisa Unger in her introduction. The transporting stories in this year’s The Best American Mystery and Suspense are populated by those who exist on the fringe of our society and want more than what life has dealt them: A haunted veteran turned career criminal is on the run. An injured fighter turned bouncer seeks vengeance for his lost love. An assassin on his last job finds himself questioning his life choices and breaks all the rules to understand his final victim. By turns thrilling and enlightening, each story, according to Unger, “will have you holding your breath, flipping the pages, will leave you thinking about people and why they do the dark, dangerous, frightening things that they do.”

The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2023 includes Ashley-­Ruth M. Bernier • William Boyle • S. A. Cosby • Jacqueline Freimor • James A. Hearn • Ladee Hubbard • A. J. Jacono • Adam Meyer • Silvia Moreno-­Garcia • Walter Mosley • Leigh Newman • Joyce Carol Oates • Margaret Randall • Annie Reed • Anthony Neil Smith • Faye Snowden • Jervey Tervalon • Joseph S. Walker • Thaai Walker • Jess Walter

SMFS Members Published in Happiness Is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of The Beatles

Today is publication day for Happiness Is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of The Beatles. Published by Down & Out Books in digital and print formats, the read is available at the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors. The anthology is edited by SMFS list member Josh Pachter. The SMFS list members that reported being in the read are:

 

Michael Bracken with “You Like Me Too Much.”

 

David Dean with “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.”

 

John M. Floyd with “We Can Work It Out.”

 

Robert Lopresti with "I Saw Her Standing There."

 

Editor Josh Pachter with the introduction as well as “I Call Your Name.”

 

Joseph S. Walker with "Baby, You're a Rich Man." 

 

Description: 

Happiness Is a Warm Gunis the sixth of Josh Pachter’s “inspired by” anthologies, following volumes of stories inspired by the songs of Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffett, Billy Joel, and Paul Simon…and by the films of the Marx Brothers.

For this collection, the lyrics of the Beatles’ inspired the contributing authors to imagine a world in which murder, kidnapping, blackmail, and theft are as common as meter maids and yellow submarines. Each story was inspired by a song from one of the Fab Four’s studio albums: seventeen albums, seventeen songs, seventeen stories—by a total of eighteen authors (since one was written collaboratively by Dru Ann Love and Kristopher Zgorski, two of crime fiction’s leading bloggers).

Many of the contributors, like the Beatles themselves, come from England—including award winners Martin Edwards, Paul Charles, Vaseem Khan, Christine Poulson, Marilyn Todd, Kate Ellis, and Tom Mead—while the American authors include such popular crime writers as John Copenhaver, Michael Bracken, John M. Floyd, David Dean, Joseph S. Walker, and Robert Lopresti. 

So roll up for the Magical Mystery Tour—step right this way! After all, when it comes to crime, all you need is…motive, means, and opportunity!

SMFS Member Publishing News: The Effects of Urban Renewal on Mid-Century America and Other Crime Stories by Jeff Esterholm

Today is publication day for SMFS list member Jeff Esterholm’s new book, The Effects of Urban Renewal on Mid-Century America and Other Crime Stories. Published by Cornerstone Press, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the read is available in print at the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors.

 

Website Description:

The last good time in the Great Lakes region, the so-called Third Coast gouged into the Upper Midwest of America, was in the shipbuilding era of the two world wars. But even in 1941, in Port Nicollet, Wisconsin, a certain taint grew and spread. It was a port city: sketchy men; fresh-faced boys; salesmen with their sample cases; able-bodied seamen. Always passing through. Occasionally, the locals glimpsed opportunity, but, just as quickly, it was gone. The prospect of something better could not gain purchase on the south shore of Lake Superior. It was as if the people and region, an area in the distant past promoted by developers as the next Chicago, had slipped the moorings and drifted, minus captain and crew, on the waters of Lake Superior. In The Effects of Urban Renewal on Mid-Century America and Other Crime Stories, Jeff Esterholm explores what happens when people slip their moorings and are set adrift.

SMFS Members Published in Yellow Mama Webzine: Issue 100

SMFS list members are published in the just released Yellow Mama Webzine: Issue 100. The issue is online and a free read here. The SMFS list members in the issue are:

 

Pam Ebel with “Unclaimed Property.”

 

Joan Leotta with the poems, “At The Funeral Lunch” and “Dreaming My Way Home.”

 

Beverle Graves Myers with "Do You Know the Pizza Man?"

 

Elizabeth Zelvin with “Don't Think Twice.”

SMFS Member Publishing News: Short Stories by John Floyd

Several of SMFS list member John Floyd’s short stories appear in the recently released, 2 Minute Mini- Mysteries: Murder & Mayhem. Published by Woman's World, these stories are reprints of tales that previously appeared in the Woman’s World weekly issues. The collection is available in grocery stores, newsstands, and at various online vendors such as MagazineShop.US.

John M. Floyd's short stories in the read are, A Very Deadly Clue, Caught Up in the Crossfire, Angela's Taxicab, and, A Shot in the Dark.

SMFS Members Published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: November/December 2023

 

SMFS list members are published in the Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: November/December 2023 issue. The issue is available at the publisher and other vendors. The SMFS members in the issue are:

 

Richard Helms with "Spear Carriers."

 

David Krugler with “Kit’s Pad.”

SMFS Members Published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine: November/December 2023

Several SMFS list members are published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine: November/December 2023 issue. The issue is available at the publisher and other vendors. Those members are:

 

Michael Bracken with "Spilt Milk."

 

John M. Floyd with “The Zeller Files.”

 

R.T. Lawton with "Whiskey Curb."

 

Robert Lopresti with “When You Put It That Way.”

 

Robert Mangeot with "Know Thyself."

 

Mark Thielman with "The Experimental Theater Company of Barbed Wire, Texas."

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 Podcast News: The Perfect Patsy by Bern Sy Moss

 

SMFS list member Bern Sy Moss’ short story, The Perfect Patsy, is featured this week at Mysteryrat's Maze podcast. Produced by Kings River Life Magazine, the podcast can be heard here.

 

Website Description:

This episode features the mystery short story The Perfect Patsy written by Bern Sy Moss. It is read by local actor Jessica Williams. The Perfect Patsy was published online in 2017 by Mysterical-E.

In each episode, we share with you mystery short stories and mystery novel first chapters read by actors from the San Joaquin Valley. Our theme song was written and performed by Kevin Memley. If you enjoyed this episode please review or rate it as that helps more people be able to find us! Also, consider subscribing so you never miss an episode-both to this podcast and to our podcast newsletter.

If you would like to help support this podcast and Kings River Life financially, and get some fun rewards, check out our Patreon Page. You can also make a one time donation through Paypal and you can purchase some fun Mysteryrat's Maze merchandise on Redbubble.

You can find more mystery fun on our websites Kings River Life Magazine and KRL News and Reviews.

SMFS Member Publishing News: Glass Houses by Brandon Barrows

SMFS list member Brandon Barrows short story, Glass Houses, was published yesterday at TOUGH.  You can read the story online for free here.