More Sizzling Summer Reads from the Short Mystery Fiction Society!

It's time for another roundup of recent publications from the outstanding writers of the Short Mystery Fiction Society. Human stories from human writers for human readers--your surefire cure to the barrage of AI slop. For the best in mystery and crime fiction today, look no further!

• It won't be hitting the shelves for a few months yet, but the big news in the world of the Short Mystery Fiction Society in recent weeks is undoubtedly the launch of SMFS Mystery Magazine! Coming from Murderous Ink Press and editor John Connor, SMFSMM will feature fiction, essays, reviews and interviews, all centered on the world of short crime fiction and offering only the best to discriminating readers. The first issue will be out in October, so stand by for more details soon!
  
  
  
• Meanwhile, among existing periodicals, Black Cat Weekly continues to be the best value on the virtual shelves, with hundreds of pages every week of mystery, sci-fi, and pulp adventure to get your pulse pounding! The last few issues have included SMFS stalwarts James Patrick Focarile ("Last Kiss"), Paula Messina ("A Little Help"), Tom Milani ("Andrea Gutierrez"), Kevin R. Tipple ("A Plan Comes Together") and Terena Elizabeth Bell ("Preliminary Investigation"). Every story a winner!
  
  
  
• And speaking of Terena Elizabeth Bell, don't miss the essay "Terena Elizabeth Bell on Writing Her First Novel" over at the Ellery Queen blog. Her novel Recursion will be making its way to your shelves next year, so this is a great way to whet your appetite!
• Be sure to check out issue #8 of Starlite Pulp Review, another great publication covering a range of genre fiction from exciting new writers--including SMFS's Mark Coggins, with "Liverjack"!
  
  
  
• Remember the days before cell phones? Abe Margel will give you a reminder in his thriller "Pay Phone" at Literary Garage!
• Of course, the scribes of SMFS are too talented to confine themselves to fiction alone! The prolific donalee Moulton has advice for writers at Killer Nashville Magazine with "The Infamous Info Dump--and How to Avoid the Scrap Heap" and advice for everyone dealing with our fast-paced world in her book Shift Happens: Lead The Change Your People Need.
  
  
  
• The pages of the venerable Saturday Evening Post are graced by James Patrick Focarile in his masterful crime yarn "What Whiskey Won't Cure."
  
  
  
• Sticking with the drinking theme, Gregory Meece enlivens the latest edition of The Genre Society with "Last Call"!
• A legendary periodical returns to the stands in a new issue of Von Stray's Crimestalker Casebook, with contributions from many of today's top writers, including SMFS's John Floyd ("Unthinkable"), Stephen D. Rogers ("Sins of the Family") and O'Neil De Noux ("Buttonholed")--three writers who always deliver the best!
  
  
  
• The North Dallas chapter of Sisters in Crime has been putting out top-notch anthologies for years, and they deliver again with Boots, BBQ, and Bloodshed, edited by Michael Bracken and including contributions from, among many other talented writers, Shannon Taft ("Consequences"), M. E. Proctor ("Five-Pointed Stars") and Karen Harrington ("We Have Lost the Plot"). Collect them all!
  
  
  
• The recent trend of music-based anthologies gets a worthy new addition in Bad Intentions: A Crime Fiction Anthology Based on the Music of Warren Zevon, himself a writer who knew more than a little about lawyers, guns, and money. Among those paying homage is Zakariah Johnson with "Bad Road, Wretched Road." The road may be bad, but the fiction is superb!
  
  
  
• Finally, on the novel front, look for hardboiled action of the highest caliber from Gary Phillips in The Haul, a heist novel on the cutting edge, about a professional thief targeting a tech billionaire's secret bunker. This one will have you up all night!
  
  
  

And there you have it--all the quality reads a crime fan could hope for! Or is it? Stay tuned for our next pulse-pounding update!

SMFS Member Publishing News: The Courtesan's Pirate: A Venice Beauties Mystery by Nina Wachsman

SMFS list member Nina Wachsman reported that today is publication day for her book, The Courtesan's Pirate: A Venice Beauties Mystery. Published in digital format by Level Best Books - Level Historia, this is the third book in the series that began with TheGallery of Beauties: A Venice Beauties Mystery. The read is available at Amazon and other vendors.

 

Amazon Description:

1614. At long last, Belladonna has been reunited with Isaak, a pirate captain, on the island of Jamaica. Amidst the chaos of hurricanes and Spanish marauders, they are separated. When she discovers her beloved Isaak is captured and bound for execution in Spain, Belladonna goes back to Venice, planning to leverage her allies to save him, only to learn her influence has diminished. Now facing cunning adversaries and shifting alliances, she must navigate perilous intrigues in a high-stakes bid to rescue Isaak from a tragic fate. Belladonna risks everything, including her own safety, in a daring gambit to save the man she loves.

SMFS Member Publishing News: The Courtesan's Secret: A Venice Beauties Mystery by Nina Wachsman

  

Today is publication day for SMFS list member Nina Wachsman's mystery, The Courtesan's Secret: A Venice Beauties Mystery. Published in digital and print by Level Best Books, this is the second book in the series that began with The Gallery of Beauties: A Venice Beauties Mystery.

 

Amazon Description

When an envoy from the New World comes to Venice, the elite courtesan Belladonna fears the secret of her origins may be revealed. The Spanish are after him, for he carries the map to a great treasure. When the envoy disappears, his enemies shift their pursuit to Belladonna, their only key to his whereabouts.

To avoid capture by the Spanish, Belladonna must abandon her luxurious palazzo, and take refuge in the Ghetto with her friend, Diana, the rabbi’s daughter. Hiding in plain sight behind the Ghetto walls, she must find the envoy and confront her past. Faced with terrible choices and an uncertain future, Belladonna must decide whether to sacrifice all she has achieved for a love she has always desired.

SMFS Member Publishing News: Dangerous Undercurrents by Suzanne Baginskie

SMFS list member Suzanne Baginskie’s latest novel, Dangerous Undercurrents, has been published by DS Productions. This is the fourth book in her FBI Affairs series that began with Dangerous Charade. The read is available in digital format at Amazon.

 

Amazon Description:

After a fiery explosion kills their trusted FBI partner, Special Agent Elaine Bishop’s life is thrown into jeopardy, along with her tough-as-nails partner, Agent Mike Weber. Their covers blown, and a drug dealer orders a target on their back. In an instant their lives become terrorized. They agree to a covert mission using a fake marriage as their cover and are whisked aboard a seven-day cruise traveling to the Western Caribbean. Posing as a honeymooning couple, they board the cruise ship with a newly appointed FBI agent named Franklin Knight.

They dive into their assignment investigating missing women and so called accidental drownings, that threatens to ruin the ship captain’s reputation. His own security officers have failed at discovering the source. When Agent Bishop disappears on the twelfth deck’s walking path, Agent Weber combs the ship like a madman in search of her. Once he finds her, he becomes her twenty-four hour protecter and seeks to flush out her stalker. Agent Bishop worries every corridor poses a threat, but within Weber’s arms she finds a safe haven. Soon the three agents discover a sinister conspiracy onboard involving human trafficking and border infiltration. Will they learn the stalker’s identity before he intervenes and destroys their chance of forever?

SMFS Member Publishing News: Death on the Air by Laura Ware

SMFS list member Laura Ware’s book, Death on the Air, has been published in digital and print formats. Published by JJ Press, the Christian suspense novel is available at Amazon.

 

Amazon Description:

Sandra Benson appears to have her life in order. A Christian with a popular talk radio show, she makes sure no one sees her struggles with alcohol and tries to tell herself it’s not a big deal.

Then a caller who names himself “Lucifer” makes a startling statement - he killed a woman. Sandra is rattled by the call, especially when she learns she has a connection to the dead woman.

As her life slowly unravels thanks to Lucifer, Sandra struggles to help stop him. Because he isn’t done killing - and she fears she may be next.

SMFS Member Award News: William Burton McCormick

Best Thriller Books 2022 Awards has awarded a Best Conspiracy Thriller to William Burton McCormick for his novel, KGB Banker. Published by Milford House Press and cowritten with John Christmas, the read is available in audio, digital, and print formats via the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors. A full list of those who won awards from the Best Thriller Books 2022 Awards can be found here.

SMFS Member Publication News: Dave H. Hendrickson

SMFS member Dave H. Hendrickson’s latest young adult novel, Bottom of the Ninth, has just been released. This is the final book in his “Rabbit” Labelle series that began with, Offside. Published by Pentucket Publishing, the book is available at Amazon in print and digital formats.

Amazon Synopsis:

“Rabbit” Labelle, the charismatic and improbable football star of Offside and unlikely basketball player in Offensive Foul, continues his high school sports journey in Bottom of the Ninth.

While struggling to secure his place on the team, Rabbit battles family discord, reels from current events that shake the country, and stands up for his principles in the face of adversity.

The impact of his choices will affect everyone around him.

2019 Thriller Award Finalist: Alan Orloff

SMFS Member Alan Orloff is a 2019 Thriller Award Finalist. His book, Pray for the  Innocent, is a finalist nominee in the “Best E-Book Original Novel Category.” Winners will be announced at ThrillerFest XIV on July 13, 2019 in New York City. For more information, including the full list of all the finalists this year, go to the International Thriller Writers website.

SMFS Member Publication News: Diana Deverell

SMFS Member Diana Deverell's short story "Organ Trade Off" appears in the current issue of Switchblade: An Anthology of Noir (Issue 4), released Jan. 13, 2018.  The magazine is available in both print and electronic versions at https://www.amazon.com/Switchblade-Issue-Four-Keith-Rawson/dp/099876504X

 
Diana's new political thriller Bitch Out of Hell was released on Jan. 19, 2018, and is available from all major ebook vendors https://books2read.com/u/49PqoY
including amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078WQVXTK?tag=diandeve-20

Guest Post: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A SHORT STORY AND A NOVEL by Jan Christensen

Monday means Jan Christensen is back today with another informative post. Apparently, the difference is more complicated than novels have a lot more words.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A SHORT STORY AND A NOVEL

An easy way to visualize the difference between writing short or long is to think of pencil sketches for the short story scene--everything is there, but the details are scanty.  Each scene is fully developed, with dialog, a bit of description/setting, and what the characters are feeling and how they're acting.  Usually the time frame is short and the viewpoint is all one character's.

For example, a sketch of a kitchen with the sun shinning in the window (time of day, maybe season), one person facing the viewer (VP character), the background sketchy (pun intended), people black and white, but dressed (or maybe not, if it's that kind of story), but the clothes are probably not that important.  If they are, there's more detail--more lines drawn to indicate type of clothing.  Each character wears a certain expression--the viewer can pretty much tell what each one is thinking. 

A novel is more of a series of oil paintings.  Each one has a colorful background (description/setting), the characters are vivid, and each succeeding painting can be shown with different viewpoint characters and over a longer span of time.  The sun is shining in the first picture, but the moon is hanging high in the sky later on.  The tree outside can have leaves one time, and none later on.  Different characters are the focus of each painting, indicating a change of VP.  Clothing is interesting, and sometimes important to the story.

Each kind of story, whether short or long, has its own special pull.  The quick sketches of a short story where the reader gets to add her own details to fill out the story, but where the story is over quickly.  The oil paintings of the novel where the artist puts in everything for the reader, so the reader can go along with the writer more, and where the story is much longer with more characters, more settings/descriptions, more dialog, even subplots. 

If you are a visual person when writing and reading, as I am, this metaphor for the differences between writing long and short can help you, I believe, with each scene.  While writing a short story, see the scenes as pencil sketches and "report" what you see.  While writing a novel, see each scene as an oil painting with all its rich detail, and get it all down. 

I was writing a short story a while ago, and about halfway through realized I'd put in nothing about setting or the weather.  It came to me then that a short story is more like a pencil sketch than a novel, and so I stopped what I was doing to write this essay.  After I finished the essay, I fleshed out the setting and weather details in the story with only a few sentences.

Then, when I wrote “the end” to the story, I felt as if I did a complete job of it. Anyone else tend to forget mentioning settings enough, and the weather? Sometimes they really don’t matter that much, in my opinion. But I bet some readers disagree with that.

Jan Christensen ©2017

Jan Christensen lives in Corpus Christi, Texas, and has had nine novels and over seventy short stories published. www.janchristensen.com