SMFS Member Podcast News: Tara Laskowski

SMFS list member Tara Laskowski is the featured guest this week at The Sisters in Crime Writers' Podcast. More information, including links to listen, is at their website.

 

Details:

The Sisters in Crime Writers' Podcast is a conversation about writing. Featuring SinC members, and hosted by executive director Julie Hennrikus, this podcast is about the writing journey, lessons learned, publishing journeys, and the importance of community.

Episodes are released Monday, and they are available where you download podcasts, or through the links on this page. Just click on the image to download the podcast.

 

Tara Laskowski’s debut suspense novel One Night Gone won the Agatha Award, Macavity Award, and the Anthony Award. Her second novel, The Mother Next Door, was called a “polished and entertaining read” by The New York Times Book Review. She also wrote two short story collections, Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons and Bystanders. She has won the Agatha Award and Thriller Award for her short fiction and was the longtime editor of the online flash fiction journal SmokeLong Quarterly. A graduate of Susquehanna University and George Mason University, Tara grew up in Pennsylvania and lives in Virginia.

Award: Anthony Nominations

 Bouchercon 2022 has announced the Anthony Award Nominations.  Congratulations to all the Society members on the list!

Best Paperback/Ebook/Audiobook.

Tori Eldridge.  The Ninja Betrayed. 

Greg Herren. Bury Me in Shadows.

Tara Laskowski. The Mother Next Door.

Best Short Story.

E.A. Aymar. "The Search for Eric Garcia." Midnight Hour: A Chilling Anthology of Crime Fiction from 20 Authors of Color.

Richie Narvaez. "Doc's at Midnight." Midnight Hour: A Chilling Anthology of Crime Fiction from 20 Authors of Color.

Gigi Pandian. "The Locked Room Library."  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. July/August 2021.

Gabriel Valjan. "Burnt Ends." This Time for Sure: Bouchercon Anthology 2021.

Best Children's/YA

Greg Herren. Bury Me in Shadows.

Alan Orloff. I Play One on TV.

2020 SMFS Anthony Award Winners

Numerous SMFS list members were nominated this year for Anthony Awards at Bouchercon 2020 Sacramento. The event was held online and the awards were given out last night during ceremonies. Several SMFS list members have won. Those winners are:   

 

In the “Best Anthology or Collection” category, the winner was Parnall Hall Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Edible. Published by Wildside Press and edited by Verena Rose, Rita Owen, and SMFS list member Shawn Reilly Simmons. Twenty SMFS list members have short stories in the book as previously announced here on the SMFS blog.

 

In the “Best Paperback Original” category, Gigi Pandian won for her book, The Alchemist’s Illusion, published by Midnight Ink.

 

In the “Best First Novel” category, Tara Laskowski won for her book, One Night Gone, published by Graydon Press. This book has also won an Agatha Award as well as a Macavity Award.  

 

SMFS congratulates our SMFS members in this achievement. The full list of all the nominees is on the official Bouchercon website as is more information on the event.  

2020 Macavity Awards SMFS Member Winners

 

During the opening ceremonies of Bouchercon 2020 Sacramento, the winners of the 2020 Macavity Awards nominees were announced. The SMFS power couple of Tara Laskowski and Art Taylor won in their respective categories.

 

Tara Laskowski won for “Best First Mystery” for her book, One Night Gone, published by Graydon House. This book won an Agatha Award earlier this year and is also up for an Anthony Award. She was the only SMFS member in this category.

 

In the “Best Mystery Short Story” category, Art Taylor won for his story, “Better Days” in the Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: May/June 2019 issue. This tale also finished tied for sixth place in the most recent EQMM Readers Award balloting. Art was not the only SMFS member nominated as Barb Goffman with “Alex’s Choice (Crime Travel) and G. M. Malliet with “Whiteout” in the Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: January/February 2019 issue were also nominated.

 

The SMFS congratulates Tara and Art on this magnificent accomplishment.

 

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 five categories. For more information on the Macavity Awards, please go to the site.

2020 Thriller Award Winner: Tara Laskowski

As announced Saturday evening by The International Thriller Writers, SMFS list member Tara Laskowski won the 2020 Thriller Award in the “Best Short Story Category” for her tale, “The Long-Term Tenant” published in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine: July/August 2019 issue. For more information, including the full list of all the winners this year, go to the International Thriller Writers website.

While part of her award winning story can be read here on the EQMM website, you can listen to Tara Laskowski read her entire story on Episode 119 of their podcast here.

SMFS Member Publishing News: Tara Laskowski

SMFS list member Tara Laskowski’s published sort story, “The Return,” appears online at Mom Egg Review. This two paragraph flash fiction tale is free to read online here.

2020 SMFS Anthony Award Nominees

Several SMFS Members are nominated for Anthony Awards in various categories.

Best Short Story

Hilary Davidson’s “Unforgiven” from the anthology, Murder a-Go-Go’s: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of the Go-Go’s, published by Down & Out Books. The anthology is also nominated in the Best Anthology or Collection category.

Art Taylor’s “Hard Return” from the anthology, Crime Travel, published by Wildside Press. The anthology was edited by SMFS list member Barb Goffman. The anthology is also nominated in the Best Anthology or Collection category.

Art Taylor’s “Better Days” from Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: May/June 2019. Mr. Taylor wrote about his story at The First Two Pages: “Better Days” by Art Taylor.

Best Anthology or Collection

The Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes from the Panhandle to the Piney Woods, edited by SMFS list member Michael Bracken, published by Down & Out Books.

Crime Travel, edited by SMFS list member Barb Goffman, published by Wildside Press.

Parnall Hall Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Edible, edited by Verena Rose, Rita Owen, and SMFS list member Shawn Reilly Simmons, published by Wildside Press.

Best Paperback Original

E. A. Aymar’s The Unrepentant, published by Down & Out Books.

Gigi Pandian’s The Alchemist’s Illusion, published by Midnight Ink.

Gabriel Valjan’s, The Naming Game, published by Winter Goose Press.

Best First Novel

Tara Laskowski’s, One Night Gone, published by Graydon Press.

Bouchercon 2020 this year is only online during October 16-17, 2020. The voting will be conducted during the “Virtual Bouchercon” with the Anthony Awards presented in an online ceremony on October 17^th.  The full list of all the nominees is on the official Bouchercon website.

SMFS wishes all the nominees well and especially our members.

2019 Agatha Award SMFS Winners

Established in 1989, Malice Domestic™ is an annual fan convention in the metropolitan Washington D.C. area that celebrates the traditional mystery, best typified by the works of Agatha Christie, containing no explicit sex, excessive gore, or violence. With the cancellation of Malice Domestic this year due to the pandemic, the awards were presented last night virtually by way of zoom.

Two SMFS list members were honored with Agatha Awards last night. The members are:

Tara Laskowski won an Agatha Award for the “Best First Mystery Novel” category for her book, for One Night Gone (Graydon House).

Edith Maxwell won an Agatha Award in the “Best Historical Novel” category for Charity’s Burden: A Quaker Midwife Mystery (Midnight Ink).

SMFS salutes our list members on this honor.  The winners this year will be honored next year at the planned in person event. Those details and more can be found at the can be found at the Malice Domestic website.

Women Writers, Women's Books: Unusual Writing Help by Tara Laskowski

Women Writers, Women's Books: Unusual Writing Help by Tara Laskowski