Short walk #20

A straight shot of links to what’s fresh, what’s famous, and what’s fiendish in short mystery and crime fiction.

Short sample:

Carla “Train Wreck” Lewis bought her whiskey at ten a.m., right when the state liquor store opened for business. From “The Dive” by Jamie Ford (in Montana Noir, eds. James Grady and Keir Graff, Akashic Books, 2017. Also includes Eric Heidle’s story “Ace in the Hole,” which was nominated for a 2018 Edgar Award for Best Short Story.)

Point of view:

Reed Farrel Coleman on crime writers and alcohol.

Catherine Dilts reviews four shorts.

New releases, old releases:

The latest monthly issue of Mystery Weekly, October 2018, arrived like clockwork (includes my Solve-It-Yourself whodunit “Treasure Cave”). And on the Mystery Weekly website you can read free story samples by clicking the links in the List of Published Titles, and sign up for free stories via email.

The Essential Tales And Poems of Edgar Allen Poe (collected in 2004).

Writing desk:

Three editors answer Six Questions about what they want in a story.

Crimson Streets (paying)

Story and Grit (non-paying)

Yellow Mama (non-paying)

Free zine:

Three freebies from Shotgun Honey.

“83” by Nikki Dolson.

“Familiar Procedure” by Scott Miles.

“Noir Where You Are” by Jim Thomsen.

Check my shorts, please:

(See above.) The new issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine includes my Solve-It-Yourself whodunit “Treasure Cave.”

Thanks for visiting.

Peter DiChellis

Short walk #19

Weekly links to what’s fresh, what’s famous, and what’s fiendish in short mystery and crime fiction.

Short sample:

On the second day of her life as a criminal, Alice Wilson baked a cake. From “Rats” by Tom Savage (in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, September/October 2018, ed. Linda Landrigan, Dell Magazines).

Point of view:

Crime Review reviews Shots Fired: Stories from Joe Pickett Country by C.J. Box, collected in 2014. (And see Short walk #13 in the August archives for Kevin Tipple’s review.)

Reviewing the Evidence reviews Twisted: The Collected Stories of Jeffery Deaver (2003).

New releases, old releases:

Black Cat Mystery Magazine Issues #3, #2, #1.

Writing desk:

Hollywood vs. The Author (2018). A tell-all from authors who sold rights to movie folks. ed. Stephen Jay Schwartz. Includes Lawrence Block, Michael Connelly, T. Jefferson Parker, and more. (Backlogged at Amazon.)

Free zine:

Two freebies courtesy of Retreats from Oblivion.

“Walking Amsterdam” by Patricia Abbott.

“Requiem for Spider” by Reed Farrel Coleman.

Check my shorts, please:

My mystery story “Darkness, Darkness” appeared in the July 2017 issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine. (Read a free except at the Mystery Weekly website.)

Thanks for visiting.

Peter DiChellis

 

Short walk #18

 

Psst! Come with me. On a short walk down a dark street.

This week’s links to what’s fresh, what’s famous, and what’s fiendish in short mystery and crime fiction.

Short sample:

Bernie whipped his tail across the sink, scattered the little shampoos like bowling pins, and made Sherm wonder if he should’ve gone with a smaller alligator. From “Palmetto Springs” by Jeremy Herbert (in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Department of First Stories, September/October 2018, ed. Janet Hutchings, Dell Magazines).

Point of view:

Robert Lopresti reviews the best mystery story he reads each week. Like this one. And this one. And this one. And this one. And . . .

A Cross Examining Crime review examines a trio of mystery shorts from ingenious storyteller Roald Dahl (Collected in 2005. Limited availability on Amazon, including used paperbacks).

New releases, old releases:

Hot, hot, hot off the presses: all the latest issues of Mystery Tribune are here.

The Best American Mystery Stories 2018 (eds. Penny and Penzler) launches October 2 (pre-orders available).

While you’re waiting: The Best of the Best American Mystery Stories: The First Ten Years (1997-2006) ed. Penzler, 2014.

Writing desk:

Need to profile a disturbed character? Writers Write provides handy charts that summarize different types of personality disorders and compare and contrast psychopaths vs. sociopaths.

Free zine:

A batch of free summer stories at Over My Dead Body!

Check my shorts, please:

My crime-horror story “Gravedigger Blues” is free to read at Story and Grit (originally appeared at Yellow Mama in 2013).

Thanks for visiting.

Peter DiChellis

 

Short walk #17

 

Need a quick buzz? Take a short walk down a dark street.

Another week, another round of links to what’s fresh, what’s famous, and what’s fiendish in short mystery and crime fiction.

Short sample:

The first time I ever saw Larry Batzel he was drunk outside Sardi’s in a second-hand Rolls-Royce. From “The Curtain” by Raymond Chandler (in Raymond Chandler: Collected Stories, Everyman’s Library, collected in 2002).

Point of view:

348 crime readers give the star treatment to Fire in the Hole: Stories by Elmore Leonard.

Cross Examining Crime examines The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories by Agatha Christie.

New releases, old releases:

Literary Noir (3 Book Series) by Cornell Woolrich (collected in 2018).

The Archer Files: The Complete Short Stories of Lew Archer, Private Investigator by Ross Macdonald (collected 2015), Including Newly Discovered Case Notes (collected in 2007), ed. Tom Nolan.

Short news flash from Bouchercon:

Anthony Award for Best Anthology: The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir, ed. Gary Phillips.

Anthony Award for Best Short Story: “My Side of the Matter” by Hilary Davidson (In Killing Malmon, eds. Malmon and Malmon).

Shamus Award for Best P.I. Short Story: “Rosalie Marx is Missing,” by Robert S. Levinson (in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, ed. Janet Hutchings).

Macavity Award for Best Mystery Short Story: “Windward,” by Paul D. Marks (in Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea, eds.Marks and McAleer).

Writing desk:

Writing Mysteries, ed. Sue Grafton, with essays by Lawrence Block, Jan Burke, Michael Connelly, Tess Gerritsen, Jeremiah Healy, Sara Paretsky, and others (second edition, 2002).

Free zine:

Three freebies from The Big Click (no longer publishing new stories):

“Caimano-Man” By Marc E. Fitch

“The Fifth Witness” By Tony Mason

“Fat Burglar Blues” By Tom Piccirilli

Check my shorts, please:

My supernatural voodoo mystery “Most Evil” appeared in the anthology Busted! Arresting Stories from the Beat.

Thanks for visiting.

Peter DiChellis

 

Short walk #16

 

Anything can happen on a short walk down a dark street.

Weekly links to what’s fresh, what’s famous, and what’s fiendish in short mystery and crime fiction.

Short sample:

When you’ve been lied to as often as I have over the years, by all sorts of people good and bad, you develop ways to separate the truths from the untruths, a kind of homespun lie detector. From “Grapplin’” by Bill Pronzini (in Zigzag: A Nameless Detective Collection, Forge Books, 2016).

Point of view:

Count on Pretty Sinister Books to review Four & Twenty Bloodhounds, ed. by Bouchercon namesake Anthony Boucher (originally published 1950, reissued 1985). A handful of used copies are available via Amazon third party sellers.

New releases, old releases:

The 2018 Bouchercon anthology Florida Happens is here starting Sept 4.

The first print issue of Tough Crime is on the streets.

The latest monthly issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine (September 2018) arrived like clockwork. And on the Mystery Weekly website you can read free story samples, new and old, by clicking the links in the List of Published Titles, and sign up for free stories via email.

Writing desk:

Why Brendan Dubois writes short stories (archived at The Strand Magazine).

Meanwhile, Mystery Fanfare and Snoopy discovered the supreme practical reason to write a short story (at site, click on image to enlarge).

Free zines:

A whole summer of Saturdays; a whole summer of free mystery and crime stories. Short Story Saturdays (a few more here) from The Short Mystery Fiction Society (more to come on the SMFS blog throughout 2018).

Check my shorts, please:

My crime-horror story “Disaster Adjuster” is slotted for reprinting in The Literary Hatchet Issue 21. (The story originally appeared in Kzine in 2017.)

Thanks for visiting.

Peter DiChellis

PS – Click into the blog’s archives (above right, May through August) for more links to short mystery & crime stories, editor interviews, essays, releases, reviews, and writing tips.