Art Taylor's Blog, page 28

Alibis in the Archive • October 9 & 10

So many of us have been missing the joys of in-person conferences and other gatherings with our writing/reading communities, but one of the many benefits of Zoom and other technologies is that we’ve been able to attend and participate in events that might normally have been out of reach: too far or too expensive to travel, for example, or job duties or family responsibilities keeping us tied close to home.

It’s with those benefits of Zoom in mind that I’m thinking of Alibis in the Archive, hosted Saturday and Sunday, October 9-10, by Gladstone’s Library in Flintshire, a county in Northeast Wales. Presenting at an event in the United Kingdom might generally have been a challenge or even ultimately out of the question, but when Martin Edwards asked me earlier this year if I’d like to be part of the program (programme, I should say!), I jumped at the opportunity. I’m glad to be appearing alongside good friends and Malice Domestic organizers Verena Rose, Shawn Reilly Simmons, and Tonya Spratt-Williams for the final session of the weekend’s events: a discussion of “Traditional detective fiction today – the view from America.”

The full schedule features some terrific writers, including Martin Edwards himself, as well as Bonnie MacBird, Joseph Goodrich, and Rupert Holmes (yes, that Rupert Holmes!), among many others.

Gladstone’s Library is the home of the British Crime Writing Archive, includes the archives of both the Crime Writers Association (I’m proud to be a member!) and the Detection Club, the latter founded in 1930 by Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ronald Knox, G.K. Chesterton, and others.

Check out the full schedule for this year’s Alibis in the Archive here, and purchase tickets here—either for single events or the whole weekend’s activities.

See you in the library! (Or on Zoom, but you know what I mean.)

The First Two Pages: “Horse Feathers” by Jeff Cohen

In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.

The new anthology Monkey Business: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Films of the Marx Brothers, edited by Josh Pachter and published by Untreed Reads, has now been unleashed on the world! Expect both mirth and mayhem in equal measure—but what else would you expect from the Marx Brothers, right? —or from contributors including Donna Andrews, Frankie Y. Bailey, Jeff Cohen, Lesley A. Diehl, Brendan DuBois, Terence Faherty, Barb Goffman, Joseph Goodrich, Robert Lopresti, Sandra Murphy, Robert J. Randisi, Marilyn Todd, Joseph S. Walker, and Pachter himself.

Writing humor requires a particular set of talents and a demanding level of skill, and today’s essayist, Jeff Cohen, is a master of the form. Under his own name and as E.J. Copperman, he’s written several series, including the Jersey Girl Legal Mystery series, the Haunted Guesthouse series, the Asperger’s Mystery series, and more. His latest book, Judgment at Santa Monica from the Jersey Girl Legal Mystery Series, has an official pub date of October 5, but is already available now. You can find more information on the author and his books at several websites— www.ejcopperman.com, www.jeffcohenbooks.com or www.cohencoppermanbooks.com—and be sure to follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jeffcohenwriter and https://twitter.com/ejcop.

Below, Jeff talks about his story “Horse Feathers” for Monkey Business. You can also check out last week’s essay by Robert J. Randisi on “Go West,” and look forward to next week’s guest, Frankie Y. Bailey too!

Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay to read off-line.

Cohen-Horsefeathers

SinC Webinar Series Begins Wednesday, September 22

On September 22 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time, Sisters in Crime will launch a webinar series on short stories: “Short and Sweet: The Art and Craft of Short Mystery Fiction,” which I’m honored to host. Here’s the description from the website:

In the first of four sessions on the craft of writing short mystery fiction, Art Taylor walks you through the basics of writing short stories: what is a short story, what is its history, and what you can expect when you read one. We’ll be joined by Steph Cha, editor of The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021, who will talk to Art about what’s going on in the world of short mystery fiction right now.

Be sure to register now, and look forward to future events on plot and structure (with Barb Goffman), on prose (with E.A. Aymar), and on endings (with Toni L.P. Kelner).

SinC Webinar Series Begins Wednesday, September 23

On September 23 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time, Sisters in Crime will launch a webinar series on short stories: “Short and Sweet: The Art and Craft of Short Mystery Fiction,” which I’m honored to host. Here’s the description from the website:

In the first of four sessions on the craft of writing short mystery fiction, Art Taylor walks you through the basics of writing short stories: what is a short story, what is its history, and what you can expect when you read one. We’ll be joined by Steph Cha, editor of The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021, who will talk to Art about what’s going on in the world of short mystery fiction right now.

Be sure to register now, and look forward to future events on plot and structure (with Barb Goffman), on prose (with E.A. Aymar), and on endings (with Toni L.P. Kelner).

The First Two Pages: “Go West” by Robert J. Randisi

In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.

Josh Pachter has established himself as a prolific and inventive anthologist, specializing recently in collections of crime fiction inspired by singer-songwriters—including Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffett, and Billy Joel. This month, he moves from music to movies with the new anthology Monkey Business: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Films of the Marx Brothers, which will be published September 19 by Untreed Reads. As usual, the collection features a wide-ranging and distinguished group of authors, including Donna Andrews, Frankie Y. Bailey, Jeff Cohen, Lesley A. Diehl, Brendan DuBois, Terence Faherty, Barb Goffman, Joseph Goodrich, Robert Lopresti, Sandra Murphy, Robert J. Randisi, Marilyn Todd, Joseph S. Walker, and Pachter himself.

Robert Benchley famously equated analysis of humor with humorless people, but over the next few weeks, the First Two Pages will feature several contributors to Monkey Business reflecting on their craft choices in the opening of their respective stories, beginning today with Robert J. Randisi on his story, “Go West,” inspired by the Marx Brothers’ 1940 film of the same name.

Bob Randisi has written across a wide variety of genres—western, mystery, private eye, horror, science fiction and action/adventure—with nearly 700 books and more than 60 short stories, and he’s a distinguished editor himself, with 35 anthologies under his belt. Among his many honors are three celebrating lifetime achievements: from The Private Eye Writers of America, the Western Fictioneers, and the Short Fiction Mystery Society.

I’m honored to have him here, and hope you’ll enjoy the sample below from “Going West.”

Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks to hear from Frankie Y. Bailey and Jeff Cohen as well!

Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay to read off-line.

Randisi-First-Two-Pages-1

The First Two Pages: “Going West” by Robert J. Randisi

In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.

Josh Pachter has established himself as a prolific and inventive anthologist, specializing recently in collections of crime fiction inspired by singer-songwriters—including Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffett, and Billy Joel. This month, he moves from music to movies with the new anthology Monkey Business: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Films of the Marx Brothers, which will be published September 19 by Untreed Reads. As usual, the collection features a wide-ranging and distinguished group of authors, including Donna Andrews, Frankie Y. Bailey, Jeff Cohen, Lesley A. Diehl, Brendan DuBois, Terence Faherty, Barb Goffman, Joseph Goodrich, Robert Lopresti, Sandra Murphy, Robert J. Randisi, Marilyn Todd, Joseph S. Walker, and Pachter himself.

Robert Benchley famously equated analysis of humor with humorless people, but over the next few weeks, the First Two Pages will feature several contributors to Monkey Business reflecting on their craft choices in the opening of their respective stories, beginning today with Robert J. Randisi on his story, “Going West,” inspired by the Marx Brothers’ 1940 film Go West.

Bob Randisi has written across a wide variety of genres—western, mystery, private eye, horror, science fiction and action/adventure—with nearly 700 books and more than 60 short stories, and he’s a distinguished editor himself, with 35 anthologies under his belt. Among his many honors are three celebrating lifetime achievements: from The Private Eye Writers of America, the Western Fictioneers, and the Short Fiction Mystery Society.

I’m honored to have him here, and hope you’ll enjoy the sample below from “Going West.”

Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks to hear from Frankie Y. Bailey and Jeff Cohen as well!

Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay to read off-line.

Randisi-First-Two-Pages

“Little Martha” in Trouble No More

It looks like the entirety of my published fiction in 2021 is going to be two stories: the first a limited-edition lark-of-a-Christmas-tale for Crippen & Landru, and the second totaling a mere 415 words—that latter one being “Little Martha” in the anthology Trouble No More, edited by Mark Westmoreland and featuring crime fiction inspired by Southern Rock.

(I say “mere” but the fact is that it took me about six weeks to write and revise the story, and that was before the two rounds of feedback from each of my writers’ groups. Have I mentioned I’m slow?)

The cover for Trouble No More (awesome!) was revealed this week, along with pre-order options—all at the Down & Out Books website here. And I’m so pleased to be alongside such a talented group of contributors, including Bill Baber, C.W. Blackwell, Jerry Bloomfield, S.A. Cosby, Nikki Dolson, Michel Lee Garrett, James D.F. Hannah, Curtis Ippolito, Jessica Laine, Brodie Lowe, Bobby Mathews, Brian Panowich, Rob Pierce, Joey R. Poole, Raquel V. Reyes, Michael Farris Smith, J.B. Stevens, Chris Swann, Art Taylor, N.B. Turner and Joseph S. Walker.

“Short Stories vs. Standalone Novels vs. Novels in a Series” • Saturday, Sept. 18

What are the benefits—and the challenges—of three different types of mystery fiction: the short story, the standalone novel, and the series? I’m pleased to be representing the first of those options on a panel with E.A. Aymar and Marcia Talley—the focus of the September meeting of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime.

The meeting is virtual, Saturday, September 18, at 2 p.m. and moderated by chapter president Karen Cantwell. You can register via EventBrite here.

Here’s info on each of the other panelists—pleased to be with them!

E.A. Aymar wrote the Anthony Award-nominated thriller They’re Gone, published in 2020 under his pseudonym, E.A. Barres. His past thrillers include the celebrated novel The Unrepentant and the novels-in-stories The Swamp Killers and The Night of the Flood (in which he served as co-editor and contributor). He is an active member of Crime Writers of Color, the Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime. He also runs the Noir at the Bar series for Washington, D.C., and has hosted and spoken at a variety of crime fiction, writing, and publishing events nationwide.

Marcia Talley is the author of Done Gone and seventeen previous novels featuring Maryland sleuth Hannah Ives. A winner of the Malice Domestic grant and an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel, she won an Agatha and an Anthony Award for her short story “Too Many Cooks” and an Agatha for her short story “Driven to Distraction.” She is author/editor of two star-studded mystery collaborations, Naked Came the Phoenix and I’d Kill for That, and her short stories appear in more than a dozen magazines and anthologies. She divides her time between Annapolis, Maryland, and a quaint Loyalist cottage in the Bahamas.

To RSVP, follow this link and click the green “register” button: https://stories-novels.eventbrite.com. You’ll receive a confirmation email that contains the Zoom login info. 

Below is some additional info from the chapter—but meanwhile, look forward to seeing folks there!

If you used Eventbrite to register for one of our previous meetings:

Make sure you’re still logged in (or log in again) to avoid having to type in your name and contact info when you RSVP—it should auto-populate once you’re signed in. Keep in mind that you’ll still have to uncheck the two boxes at the bottom of the page so that you do not receive any spam from Eventbrite. Be aware that these boxes are checked by default—you must manually uncheck them.

If you’re new to Eventbrite:

1) Once you navigate to this link—https://stories-novels.eventbrite.com—and click on the green “register” button, you will be taken to an Eventbrite registration page.

2) Don’t worry about selecting a number of tickets—you won’t need any tickets for this free event.

3) On the registration page, you can register as a guest or create a free Eventbrite account. (We strongly recommend you create an Eventbrite account because when we use Eventbrite again in the future, having your own account will make it much, much easier—next time, your contact information will auto-populate, meaning you won’t have to enter it time and time again.)

4) To continue the registration process, fill out your name and email address twice. (But remember—if you create an account, you’ll never have to do it again after this!)

5) IMPORTANT: Uncheck the two boxes at the bottom of the page so that you do not receive any spam from Eventbrite. Be aware that these boxes are checked by default—you must manually uncheck them.

6) Finally, to finish RSVPing, click the “register” button.

“Both Sides Now” Long-listed at BAMS

“Both Sides Now” from the anthology The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell—the first story that my wife, Tara Laskowski, and I wrote together—was named among “Other Distinguished Stories of 2020” in the new anthology The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021. Such a thrill to see our first writing collaboration get this honor!

I was also thrilled to see Linda Townsdin’s story “Re-Entry” from California Schemin’: Bouchercon Anthology 2020 included among those other distinguished stories—so great to have worked as her editor on that collection and glad that the editors of BAMS loved it as much as I did!

Congratulations to everyone included in Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021 and to all the stories long-listed as well!

The First Two Pages: “Blindsided” by Michael Bracken and James A. Hearn

In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.

I’ve always been fascinated by writing pairs and teams—Maj Stöwall and Per Wahlöö, for example, or Richard Levinson and William Link, or more recently Charles and Caroline Todd. How does the collaboration succeed? How is work divided? What are the challenges? I’ve been fortunate to how a writing duo at the First Two Pages before: Emily Hockaday and Jackie Sherbow with their story “Talk to Me” in The Beat of Black Wings. And today I’m pleased to host another pair of fine writers: Michael Bracken and James A. Hearn talking about their story “Blindsided” in the new issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. (In the photo, James is the one in the Cowboys shirt, as you’ll learn in the essay.)

Both writers have previous appeared independently at the First Two Pages—Michael on his story “Dixie Quickies” in Black Cat Mystery Magazine and James on his story “Trip Among the Bluebonnets” in the anthology The Eyes of Texas, which Michael edited.

Michael Bracken is well-known as a short story master, with more than 1,300 published stories to his credit—and his work has been selected for both The Best American Mystery Stories 2018 and The Mysterious Bookshop Presents The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021. He’s a gifted editor as well, currently helming both Black Cat Mystery Magazine and the Guns + Tacos series, among other magazines and anthologies. Find out more at his website: CrimeFictionWriter.com.

James A. Hearn’s first professional short story sale was “Trip Among the Bluebonnets,” mentioned above, but his work has appeared widely since. In addition to AHMM, his stories have appeared in Black Cat Mystery Magazine and Monsters, Movies & Mayhem, as well as anthologies including Guns + Tacos, Mickey Finn, and Peace, Love, and Crime. Visit his website at JamesAHearn.com.

Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay to read off-line.

Bracken-Hearn-Blindsided