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."