@crimefictionwriter.bsky.social
Edgar- and Shamus-nominated, Derringer-winning short story writer. Anthony Award-nominated editor.
Coming Soon from Level Best Books: The Best Private Eye Stories of the Year 2025.
07.11.2025 22:49 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0If you had (or will have) a PI story published this year and you want it considered for The Best Private Eye Stories of the Year 2026, follow the submission instructions here: www.crimefictionwriter.com/submissions....
Remember: If I don't see your story, I can't consider your story.
“Janie’s Got a Gun”—the third single from Aerosmith’s album Pump—was released this week in 1989, and it’s the title of an anthology of crime stories inspired by the music of Aerosmith. Order here: www.mistimedia.com/product/janie/
05.11.2025 14:31 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
KissMet Quarterly: The Greatest Holiday Romance Stories Ever Written releases tomorrow and it includes my story "Home for the Holidays."
The ebook is available now; the paperback will be available soon.
www.amazon.com/KissMet-Quar...
A week or so ago, I was interviewed by Rich Ehisen for The Open Mic: Writers in Their Own Words, and the interview was posted today at YouTub and all the major Podcast outlets.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLP7...
It's been a tough few weeks for crime fiction short-story writers. Hell, it's been a tough year. Anthology publishers have closed and periodical publishers have closed, gone on indefinite hiatus, or announced closure in the near future. What's a writer to do?
www.sleuthsayers.org/2025/10/its-...
#ICYMI #ShortStory #Review
Kevin's Corner: Short Story Wednesday Review: Renovated to Death by Michael Bracken and Sandra Murphy
kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2025/06/shor...
EXCITED that “Won’t You Be Vine?” appears in this week’s edition of Black Cat Weekly (@wildsidepress.bsky.social). Everybody loves nature, and sometimes nature loves you back! Thanks to editor extraordinaire Michael Bracken for accepting this story—I guess it grew on him!
24.08.2025 16:50 — 👍 5 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
A little something from "Diana and the Princess," in SLEUTHS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN, edited by the amazing Michael Bracken -- out today from Down & Out Books!
Where you get your books!
Lunatic Fringe, which contains my story "Black Velvet," is now available for preorder.
whitecitypress.com/product/luna...
Probably. The organizers have asked all the participants if they would allow the event to be recorded. I hope they've all said yes.
15.10.2025 12:44 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Now available for preorder: The Vigilante Crime Pulp Fiction Anthology, which includes my story "4:13 a.m."
amzn.to/48ZXrrS
Coming Saturday, October 18: Mystery in the Midlands: Writing Short Mystery Fiction, a free, one-day online conference.
Register at us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
The registration link on the website appears to be malfunctioning. Try: sistersincrime-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
08.10.2025 23:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Coming tomorrow:
www.sincchicago.com/chapter-meet...
Submit to The Best Private Eye Stories of the Year 2026.
SJ Rozan will be the guest editor.
If you had or will have a PI story published this year, ensure that I get a copy. If I don't see your story, I can't consider it.
www.crimefictionwriter.com/submissions....
26.08.2025 14:36 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
26.08.2025 14:11 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
My short romance, "Banking on Love," appears today at Micromance Magazine.
open.substack.com/pub/microman...
Attempting to predict anything in publishing is a mug’s game, especially trying to predict how long it will take for a short story to find a home. In today's post, I examine my 10 most recent acceptances. (Hint: one took 22 years to place.)
www.sleuthsayers.org/2025/08/hot-...
My story "Curves" appears today as a Guilty Flash on Guilty Crime Story Magazine's website:
www.guiltycrimemag.com/flash/curves...
In "Crafting an Interconnected World, One Short Story at a Time" (Writer's Digest, S/O 2025). P.M. Raymond discusses how the Chop Shop stories all tie together. She also interviewed Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier about her interconnected stories set in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
16.08.2025 16:23 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
PW reviewed The Best American Mystery & Suspense 2025 and gave a shout out to Gary Phillips’s “The Darklight Gizmo Matter,” which offers "tantalizing twists on the classic PI story."
The original publication: Private Dicks and Disco Balls (Down & Out Books).
www.publishersweekly.com/9780063422292
I have stories in the September/October issues of AHMM & EQMM.: "The Girl in the Shop" in AHMM and "Blind Pig" in EQMM.
08.08.2025 13:48 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 1
ShortCon 2026, The Premiere Conference for Writers of Short Crime Fiction, will be held at Elaine's Literary Salon, Alexandria, Virginia, on June 6, 2026 and feature:
Gary Phillips, Michele Slung, Art Taylor & Stacy Woodson
Registration limited to 50.
www.eastcoastcrime.com#/
In advance of our appearance at Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar in Austin this Saturday to discuss Sleuths Just Wanna Have Fun, Laura Oles Author, Mark Thielman, William Dylan Powell, Andrew Hearn, & I were interviewed by Scott Montgomery at The Hard Word:
www.thehardword.org/single-post/...
In "Schrödinger's Blonde," PI Morris Ronald Boyette is hired to find a potential witness to a decades-old unsolved murder, and all he has to work with is a faded Polaroid of a blonde with Farah Fawcett hair.
13.07.2025 13:30 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
10.07.2025 21:05 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Like to listen to a playlist while reading a music-themed anthology? Check out this playlist for Janie's Got a Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Aerosmith (White City Press):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJDt...
My short romance "Cowboy Up" was published today in KissMet Quarterly: A Serendipitous Summer.
www.amazon.com/dp/B0FH79WTF2
