Art Taylor's Blog, page 3

Golden Derringer Award

It was a great surprise and great honor to hear that I’ve won this year’s Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and I’m even more touched by their kind words for my writing and for my work for the community. Quoting here from the announcement at the SMFS Blog:

This year’s recipient of the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement is Art Taylor. Jon L. Breen has accurately described Art as “one of the finest short-story writers to come to prominence in the twenty-first century.” His many awards include an Edgar, an Anthony, four Agathas, four Macavitys, and four Derringers. Art brings to the mystery story an unusually rich sense of character and theme; his stories are not merely puzzles to be solved, but insightful and engaging meditations on the mystery of life itself. He is also one of the finest scholars of the history of mystery fiction, particularly in its short form, and unfailingly generous in his support for other writers, including through his continuation of the “First Two Pages” blog series begun by B. K. Stevens.

(Note: unfortunately I learned that you don’t win an actual derringer, golden or otherwise; the image above is just for illustration purposes.)

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners as well, including Janet Hutchings, my former editor at Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, who was awarded the Silver Derringer for Editorial Excellence, and Michael Bracken and Barb Goffman, co-editors of Murder, Neat: A SleuthSayers Anthology, for winning the debut Best Anthology Derringer (pleased to have a story of my own in that collection). And this year’s winners in each category include:

FLASH

“Kargin the Necromancer” by Mike McHone
(Mystery Tribune, December 15, 2024)

SHORT STORY

“The Wind Phone” by Josh Pachter
(Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, September/October 2024)

LONG STORY

“Heart of Darkness” by Tammy Euliano
(Scattered, Smothered, Covered & Chunked: Crime Fiction Inspired by Waffle House, Down & Out Books)

NOVELETTE

“The Cadillac Job” by Stacy Woodson
(Chop Shop Episode 1, Down & Out Books, January 1, 2024)

Thanks to Derringer Coordinators Paula Messina and Mark Schuster and all the judges for the fine work this year.

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Former Student Wins Robert L. Fish Award

I’ve been following the Edgar Awards tonight, and I was so thrilled to see that Anna Stolley Persky, an MFA graduate from George Mason University, won the Robert L. Fish Award for best first mystery story—a tremendous honor! She first wrote the story, “The Jews of Elm Street,” in my course “Crossing Genres” a couple of years back. I knew then it was great work, but what a joy to see it get published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine‘s “Department of First Stories” and now go on to win the top prize in the field today. Holy Cow indeed! (…to quote Anna’s acceptance speech.)

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Former Student Wins Robert Fish Award

I’ve been following the Edgar Awards tonight, and I was so thrilled to see that Anna Stolley Persky, an MFA graduate from George Mason University, won the Robert L. Fish Award for best first mystery story—a tremendous honor! She first wrote the story, “The Jews of Elm Street,” in my course “Crossing Genres” a couple of years back. I knew then it was great work, but what a joy to see it get published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine‘s “Department of First Stories” and now go on to win the top prize in the field today. Holy Cow indeed! (…to quote Anna’s acceptance speech.)

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Derringer Award for Best Anthology

The inaugural Derringer Award for Best Anthology was awarded this week to Murder, Neat: A SleuthSayers anthology, edited by Michael Bracken and Barb Goffman, and I’m so pleased to have had a story myself in the mix: “Two for One.”

Murder, Neat is published by Level Short, an imprint of Level Best Books, and the full list of contributors includes: Michael Bracken, Melodie Campbell, Joseph D’Agnese, David Dean, O’Neil De Noux, Eve Fisher, John M. Floyd, David Edgerley Gates, Barb Goffman, Kristin Kisska, Janice Law, R.T. Lawton, Steve Liskow, Robert Lopresti, Leigh Lundin, Lawrence Maddox, Bob Mangeot. Travis Richardson, Stephen Ross, Art Taylor, Mark Thielman, Brian Thornton, Jim Winter, and Elizabeth Zelvin.

Congratulations to Michael and Barb and everyone!

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The Indy Author Podcast

Thanks to Matty Dalrymple for hosting me on the latest episode of The Indy Author Podcast—with a focus on “Writing Short.”

Here are the show notes for our episode: https://www.theindyauthor.com/show-notes/285-art-taylor

And the interview video can be found here: https://bit.ly/TIAPYTPlaylist

(I don’t like to watch recordings of myself, I have to admit, but I’m trusting it might be worth your while!)

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BAMS 2025: “Dark Thread, Loose Strands”

So thrilled that my story “Dark Thread, Loose Strands” from Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine has been selected by Don Winslow and Steph Cha for this year’s Best American Mystery and Suspense, forthcoming later this fall.

I’m pleased as well to be in such good company—piecing together some of the other contributors from the various social media posts I’ve seen, including authors Jacqueline Freimor, Tod Goldberg, James D.F. Hannah, Erika Krouse, Meagan Smith Lucas, Twist Phelan, Ivy Pochada, Mary Thorson, and more.

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Malice Domestic!

This week is the annual Malice Domestic conference—one of our favorite events of the year, definitely a don’t miss on our calendar and should be on yours too!

The full schedule for the long weekend’s festivities can be found here—and you’ll fine me as part of three of those events, including my first time as one of the auctioneers for the live auction.

Here are my events for the conference, Friday-Sunday, April 25-27, at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Panel: “Marple & Poirot: Agatha Christie’s Impact on Today’s Writers,” as moderator, with Connie Berry, Barbara Barrett, Sharon Lynn, and G.M. Malliet. Live Charity Auction, serving as auctioneer with Leslie Karst and Kelly Oliver and Toastmaster Gigi Pandian, Ballroom A/B/C/D • Friday, April 25, 7:30 p.m.Panel: “Knives Out: High-Concept Plots,” with Michelle Chouinard, Tara Laskoski, Mindy Quigley, and moderator Jeff Marks, Ballroom A • Saturday, April 26, 9 a.m.

And don’t forget! Bonus! On Thursday night, before Malice gets fully underway, I’ll be joining seven other local mystery writers for a Not-Just-Noir at the Bar reading—Thursday, April 24, at 7 p.m. at Elaine’s Restaurant in Old Town Alexandria.

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The First Two Pages: “Lagniappe” by donalee Moulton

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.

It’s not often that we’re able to celebrate the First Two Pages of a story and then point you toward reading the story itself—both in full and entirely for free. So there’s an added bonus in hosting donalee Moulton this week with her new story for Elementary, My Dear Marple, a special issue of The MockingOwl Roost that celebrates short cozy mysteries. “Lagniappe,” donalee’s contribution, takes the anchor position in the new issue, and the story is part of a series featuring her amateur sleuth, Ruth Harper, who once worked as a lawyer and now sells… well, sex toys, so there seems to be a challenge to the tenets of traditional mystery right from the start. But as donalee writes, wherever those references to vibrator and Ben Wa balls might suggest the story is going, “This is a traditional mystery: crime committed, clues scattered, deduction done, justice served.”

donalee’s first mystery book, Hung out to Die, was published in 2023. and her bookConflagration! won the 2024 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense (Historical Fiction). She also has two books coming out this year, Bind and Melt, the first in a new series focused on the Lotus Detective Agency.

You can find out more about donalee at her website, donaleemoulton.com, or find her on social media in various spots: on Facebook, at Goodreads, on LinkedIn, on Instagram, and on Bluesky.

And check out the full story and complete issue of The MockingOwl Roost here!

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.

donalee-first-two-pages.lagniappe

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The First Two Pages: “If You Can Find Me” by Jeffrey Sweet

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.

Jeffrey Sweet offers the final essay this week in a series celebrating the new anthology Every Day A Little Death: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Stephen Sondheim, edited by Josh Pachter and published by Level Best Books. While I’d never say that we saved the best for last (just read the other three essays linked below!), it does seem fitting to close the show (so to speak) with a big finale: an author who knew Sondheim himself, as Sweet explains in his essay. Jeffrey Sweet is a playwright in his own right and the author of several books about the world of theater and the craft of writing plays, including Something Wonderful Right Away: An Oral History of the Second City and the Compass Players, The O’Neill: The Transformation of Modern American Theater, and The Dramatist’s Toolkit: The Craft of the Working Playwright. And for his story, he chose a lesser known work of Sondheim’s: Evening Primrose from the short-lived television series ABC State ’67—and specifically the song “If You Can Find Me, I’m Here.” (And if you’re anything like me, you’ll want to look up the YouTube video of Anthony Perkins singing the song in the show. Let me save you a step; just click here.)

Sweet’s essay below completes our series, but do check out the previous three essays: Brian Cox on “Being Alive,” Fleur Bradley on “Sunday in the Park with George,” and J.A. Hennrikus on “Not a Day Goes By.” And stay tuned for more fun next week—in a new direction!

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.

Sweet-First-Two-Pages-essay

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Not-Just-Noir at the Bar • Thursday, April 24

On the eve of this year’s Malice Domestic, I’ll be joining seven other local mystery writers for a Not-Just-Noir at the Bar reading—Thursday, April 24, at 7 p.m. at Elaine’s Restaurant in Old Town Alexandria.

My wife, Tara Laskowski, and I are actually planning on reading excerpts from a story we co-wrote: “After Their Convictions, Six Murderers Reflect on How Killing Mr. Boddy Changed Their Lives” from Black Cat Mystery Magazine. I think each of us will read one of the six flash fiction stories from the larger story—and I’m loosely planning on Professor Plum, which seems like a good fit there at the end of the semester….

Speaking of semester… In an interesting twist, half of the readers at the event have ties to George Mason University! Tara and I are graduates of Mason’s MFA program in Creative Writing, and both Ed Aymar and Tom Milani are creative writing alums as well!

Other readers include Chris Chambers, Adam Meyer, K.T. Nguyen, and Stacy Woodson. And the event is co-hosted by Alan Orloff—who ought to be reading as well.

Elaine’s is at 208 Queen Street in Alexandria—and a great place for dinner before the reading too!

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