SMFS list member Roger Johns’ short story, Here's to
Forgetfulness, was published at Black Petals #107, Spring 2024. You can read
the piece for free online here.
The Short Mystery Fiction Society Blog
From the group keeping mystery & crime stories in the public eye since 1996
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
SMFS Member Publishing News: Here's to Forgetfulness by Roger Johns
SMFS Member Publishing News: And Of Course, There Was The Girl: A Sam Harrigan Mystery by Brandon Barrows
SMFS list member Brandon Barrows new book, And
Of Course, There Was The Girl: A Sam Harrigan Mystery is now out. Published
by Full Speed Publishing, the read is available at Amazon.
Amazon Description:
Gabriella's
name meant love and lies...
When Sam Harrigan agreed to find runaway bride Gabriella Cole, he expected to
be looking for a marriage-scammer, not a lovely phantom with a trail of
devastation in her wake whose victims include washed-up celebrities,
politicians, and even mobsters.
Now everyone wants to get their hands on Gabriella, but with each step Sam
takes, she seems further away as danger races closer and romance, lust, and
murder are never far behind!
Read the first full-length mystery starring Sam Harrigan, the private
investigator featured in the pages of Guilty Crime Story Magazine!
Monday, April 15, 2024
SMFS Members Published in Black Cat Weekly #137
SMFS list members are published in Black Cat Weekly
#137. Published by Wildside Press, the issue is available here in digital format. The
members that reported their stories are
Veronica Leigh with "The Lighthouse Keeper's
Daughters."
Anna Scotti with "That Which We Call
Patience."
Publisher Description:
Welcome
to Black Cat Weekly.
On
the mystery side of things this issue, we have original tales by Veronica Leigh
(one that looks to be the start of a new series) and Richard A. McMahon
(courtesy of Acquiring Editor Michael Bracken). Acquiring Editor Barb Goffman
has selected a great tale by Anna Scotti, and our novel is The
Talleyrand Maxim, by Golden Age author J.S. Fletcher. Plus, of course,
a solve-it-yourself puzzler from Hal Charles.
On
the science fiction and fantasy side, our lead item is a new feature—a
portfolio by artist Ron Miller. Ron has joined our staff as art director and
will be providing covers from his vast body of work. But I wanted our readers
to know how great an artist he is, so here is a collection of some of his best
covers. As for the fiction, we have a monster-in-the-mist story by British
master John Glasby, plus an all-star lineup of classic authors: Frank Belknap
Long, Donald A. Wollheim, Henry Slesar, and Philip José Farmer. Great stuff.
Here’s
the complete lineup—
Cover
Art:
Ron
Miller
Mysteries
/ Suspense / Adventure:
- “Mr. George,” by Richard A. McMahan [Michael Bracken Presents short
story]
- “An Open and Shut Case,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery]
- “That Which We Call Patience,” by Anna Scotti [Barb Goffman Presents
short story]
- “The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughters,” Veronica Leigh
- The Talleyrand Maxim, by J.S. Fletcher [novel]
Special
Feature:
- “Cover Portfolio,” by Ron Miller
Science
Fiction & Fantasy:
- “The Thing in the Mist,” by John Glasby [short story]
- “Mr. Caxton Draws a Martian Bird,” by Frank Belknap Long [short
story]
- “Saknarth,” by Donald A. Wollheim [short story]
- “Mr. Loneliness,” by Henry Slesar [short story]
- “The Celestial Blueprint,” by Philip José Farmer [short story]
SMFS Members Published in Yellow Mama Webzine: Issue 103
SMFS list members are published in Yellow Mama Webzine: Issue 103. The issue is online and a free read here. The SMFS list members that reported being in the issue are:
Pamela Ebel with “When You’re Dead, You’re Done.”
M.E. Proctor with "A Thin Thread."
Elizabeth Zelvin with the poem, "Mike's 80th
Birthday."
Friday, April 12, 2024
SMFS Member Publishing News: The Law North Of The Pecos by Ed Teja
Today is publication day for Tales of Mystery: The Gravity of Death. The anthology includes SMFS list member Ed Teja’s short story, The Law North Of The Pecos. Published by Inklings Press, the anthology is available at Amazon.
Thursday, April 11, 2024
SMFS Member Winners: 2023 EQMM Readers Awards
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine has announced the winners of their annual Readers Awards. The SMFS list members on the list this year that reported their success are:
#1 David Dean for
"Mrs. Hyde" in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine: March/April 2023.
#2 Richard
Helms for “Spear Carriers” in the Ellery
Queen Mystery Magazine: November/December 2023
issue.
#3 Paul Ryan
O’Connor for “Teddy’s Favorite Thing” in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine:
September/October 2023 issue.
SMFS Members Published in The Killing Rain: Left Coast Crime 2024 Anthology
Today is publication day for The Killing Rain:
Left Coast Crime 2024 Anthology. Published by Down & Out Books, the
anthology was edited by SMFS list member Jim Thomsen. The read is available from
the publisher,
Amazon, and other vendors. The
SMFS list members that reported their stories in the book are:
John Bosworth with "A Bad Place to Die."
Smita Harish Jain with "Oil and Water."
Bonnar Spring with "Go With the Flow."
Bev Vincent with "Payback."
Publisher Description:
The Puget Sound region is
beautiful, lush with green trees, sun-sparkled waters, wide-open spaces and
white-capped mountains. It’s also rich with darkness, gunmetal gray skies,
rain-slicked streets, and deep shadows that give cover to its darkest secrets.
Small wonder that this corner of America is a high-demand lifestyle destination
— and, not so long ago, the serial killer and Sasquatch-conspiracy capital of
the country.
The Killing Rain captures that
delicious dichotomy in all its deliciously dark glory, through short stories
ranging from the cozy to the hardboiled, all charged with depicting Seattle as
a real or imagined place. These crime tales have been collected in conjunction
with “Seattle Shakedown” — the name we’ve given to the return of Left Coast
Crime to the Pacific Northwest. It takes place from April 10-14 in Bellevue,
Washington, just a hop and skip from Seattle across Lake Washington.
And,
with an enticing foreword from LCC Guest of Honor Megan Abbott, The Killing Rain will be the perfect
shivery companion for what’s (almost) sure to be the Seattle area’s shivery
early-spring weather. Edited by Jim Thomsen, who grew up on an island near
Seattle and went to boarding school in the shadows of the nearby Green River,
at a time America’s most prolific serial killer was just getting started.
Coincidence? Good crime fiction doesn’t allow for it!