Art Taylor's Blog, page 43

Missing Malice

Under normal conditions, we’d be heading to Bethesda, Maryland later this week for the annual Malice Domestic convention—and when I write “we,” I’m likely including a good many people who are reading this column right now.

These aren’t, of course, normal conditions, and the Malice board’s decisions to postpone and then to cancel this year’s decisions were the right ones in what became quickly changing circumstances—cautious in many directions, carefully considered, wisely handled. But however right that ultimate decision was, I’m still feeling awfully sad about the loss of what has been, for so long, a highlight of each year.

I love almost everything about Malice Domestic—from the Friday morning speed dating (whether one of the participating authors or in the audience) through Dame Agatha’s Tea on Sunday afternoon. The big events are never-to-be missed: the Opening Ceremonies, the anthology signing (a hit in recent years), the Agatha Banquet, of course. Panels throughout the weekend are fun and informative—always great places to learn something new about favorite authors or to be introduced to new ones. The bookroom is well-stocked (I always come home with a new TBR pile!) and also a fun place to run into people. And as much as those official parts of the program, it’s the informal gatherings that often seem the spirit of Malice: the breakfasts, lunches, coffees, cocktails, dinners, desserts, etc. with friends both old and new, and then the short chats in the hallways between times—always a friendly face, whichever direction you turn.

I’m not the first to say that Malice feels like family, but it does seem the best way to describe that community and each year’s convention as a kind of family reunion, even as we’re pulling up chairs to welcome new members to the family. In my case, Malice has been at times more literally about family: bringing my wife, Tara Laskowski, along to her first Agatha Awards Banquet, seeing her burst into tears when actually won an Agatha, having her attend the full weekend as a writer in her own right, celebrating her own Agatha Award win last year, enjoying her nomination for another this year. For the last few Malice weekends, our son Dash has joined us as well—and he’s become a regular too now, anticipating the weekend with his own enthusiasm, talking about it like a veteran himself. Just walking down the halls, he sees people he knows, meets people who know him.

This year would have expanded those family ranks, since I’d invited my mom and my brother to join us for the first time—spending the weekend with Dash at the hotel but also attending the Agatha Awards banquet along with us. In large part, this is because my story “Better Days,” a father and son tale that’s a finalist for this year’s Agatha for Best Short Story, has some connections with my own dad, who died last summer. “Better Days” features the same main characters as an earlier story, “A Drowning at Snow’s Cut,” which was inspired by a boat trip my dad and I took along the North Carolina coast. All that in mind—these stories’ background, the honor as a finalist, the loss of my dad—it felt important to have my mom and brother there. Another loss then, this year’s conference being cancelled, and all of us in isolation, everyone so far away in so many ways.

We’re still gathering together, of course—so many of us but now in different ways: group blogs, online panels and interviews, chats and readings through Google Hangouts, Zoom, WebEx, Crowdcast, and more. (We have happy hours with my mom and others in the same way.) It helps, but it’s not the same as being together, those middle of the hallway hellos and hugs.

Not sure how to end this post except with long-distance hellos and hugs to all our Malice friends and family, scattered across the country and around the world—and a hope that we’ll all be reuniting together in person again next year.

Better days ahead for all of us, fingers crossed.

“Better Days”—Top Ten EQMM Readers Poll

Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine released the results of its 2019 Readers Award poll, and I’m thrilled with this year’s winner—David Dean’s “The Duelist,” my own favorite story of the year—and finalists: stories by Paul D. Marks, Doug Allyn, and G.M. Malliet, all friends and all writers whose work I adore.

I was thrilled as well to see my story “Better Days” (from EQMM‘s May/June 2019 issue) land in the Top Ten—tied for Sixth Place with Trey Dowell’s “Heat,” a terrific and unforgettable story. “Better Days” is currently a finalist for this year’s Agatha Award and is temporarily available to read at EQMM‘s website.

Congrats to all the writers with stories in the Top Ten this year!

The First Two Pages: “Help Me” by Abby Bardi

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.

This week continues a series hosting contributors to the new anthology The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell, edited by Josh Pachter. Last week, the First Two Pages featured an essay by Greg Herren on his story “The Silky Veils of Ardor,” and the full collection features a wide array of stellar writers, including Donna Andrews, Abby Bardi, Michael Bracken, Carol Anne Davis, David Dean, Brendan DuBois, John Floyd, Barb Goffman, Sherry Harris, Greg Herren, Matthew Iden, Edith Maxwell, Alison McMahan, Adam Meyer, Kathryn O’Sullivan, Alan Orloff, Josh Pachter, Christine Poulson, Mindy Quigley, Amber Sparks, Ricki Thomas, Marilyn Todd, Elaine Viets, Stacy Woodson. I’m pleased to have co-written a story for the anthology—my first literary collaboration with my wife, Tara Laskowski—and the collection feature another jointly written story, by Emily Hockaday and Jackie Sherbow.

This week’s contributor at the First Two Pages is Abby Bardi, who based here story on Mitchell’s song “Help Me” from the 1974 album Court and Spark.

Abby’s work includes three novels—The Book of Fred, The Secret Letters, and most recently Double Take—and her short fiction has appeared in several anthologies, including High Infidelity, Grace and Gravity, and New Stories from the Midwest 2018, as well as in Quarterly West, Rosebud, Monkeybicycle, and The Bellingham Review. For more about Abby and her work, visit her website here.

And watch this space next week for another essay by contributors to The Beat of Black Wings—and yes, you read that correctly: contributors plural! (It’s not by Tara and me.)

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.

Bardi-Help-Me

Goodreads Giveaway

Thanks to my publisher, Crippen & Landru, for hosting a Goodreads giveaway on my new collection, The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74 and Other Tales of Suspense. Enter to win one of four signed copies of the collection, beginning Monday, April 20, and continuing through Thursday, April 30.

Here’s a description of the collection again:

The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74 and Other Tales of Suspense… features 16 stories that have collectively won an Edgar Award, two Anthony Awards (one as editor), four Agatha Awards, three Macavity Awards, and three Derringer Awards. From his first story for Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in 1995 to his latest for Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine– the title story, 25 years in the making–this collection charts the development of Art Taylor’s career so far… and turns the page toward more stories still ahead.

And if you can’t wait to see if you won, you can order now directly through Crippen & Landru—support your small presses!

The First Two Pages: “The Silky Veils of Ardor” by Greg Herren

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.

Last week brought the release of the new anthology The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell, edited by Josh Pachter and featuring an exciting line-up of short story writers, including Donna Andrews, Abby Bardi, Michael Bracken, Carol Anne Davis, David Dean, Brendan DuBois, John Floyd, Barb Goffman, Sherry Harris, Greg Herren, Matthew Iden, Edith Maxwell, Alison McMahan, Adam Meyer, Kathryn O’Sullivan, Alan Orloff, Josh Pachter, Christine Poulson, Mindy Quigley, Amber Sparks, Ricki Thomas, Marilyn Todd, Elaine Viets, Stacy Woodson. The collection also features two collaborations: one story by Emily Hockaday and Jackie Sherbow, and a second by my wife Tara Laskowski and me—our first time working together on a piece of fiction!

I’m pleased to host several of these contributors for a short series of essays here at the First Two Pages, beginning today with Greg Herren on his story “The Silky Veils of Ardor,” based on a song from Mitchell’s 1977 album Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter.

I’ve admired Greg and his work for many years now, and given his prolific output as a novelist and short story writer (and editor and blogger too!), I’m surprised that it’s taken me so long to invite him to the First Two Pages. In addition to being a fine writer, Greg is also an amazing person in any number of ways. He’s a leader in terms of giving back to the mystery community, supporting and celebrating other writers, his time to editing recent Bouchercon anthologies, and currently serving as Executive Vice President of Mystery Writers of America. He’s well read, not only in our genre but far beyond it, and conversations with him about books and writing are always entertaining and illuminating. And he’s inspiring in other ways as well—level-headed and always with the bigger-picture perspective. I’m lucky to have him as a friend—a sentiment I know many others in the mystery community surely share.

If you haven’t read Greg’s work before, enjoy this introduction to his fiction below. And stay tuned for more contributors to The Beat of Black Wings in the weeks ahead.

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.

Herren-Silky-Veils

More on The Beat of Black Wings

Thanks to Edith Maxwell and to Jungle Reds for hosting contributors to the new anthology The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell for a discussion of Joni Mitchell songs that resonated with them at some specific time of their lives.

I chose two—”Help Me” and “Coyote”—for different reasons, as you’ll see at the blog. And great to read everyone else’s choices, include Edith’s own, our editor Josh Pachter’s, and then picks from Barb Goffman, Sherry Harris, Alison McMahon, and Alan Orloff.

Read more here!

Agatha Finalists at Chicks on the Case

Thanks to Chicks on the Case for hosting this year’s Agatha Award finalists for Best Short Story for a discussion about the titles of our nominated tales: where they came from, why we chose them, and how they contribute to an understanding of the stories themselves.

My story, “Better Days,” originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, is a sequel to an earlier work, “A Drowning at Snow’s Cut”—but that earlier story’s genesis and the title of the new one both relate to my dad, as I explain at the post.

So pleased to hear from the other finalists as well about their stories—and congratulations again to each of them: Kaye George, Barb Goffman, Cynthia Kuhn, and Shawn Reilly Simmons.

10% Off: Happy Birthday, Henri!

Crippen & Landru is commemorating two major milestones in the life of Henri Landru, one of their namesakes. On April 12, 1869, he was born, and on his fiftieth birthday—April 12, 1919—he was arrested. Things kind of went downhill for him after that, of course….

Through April 13 of this year, C&L is offering 10% off all online orders, using the code “LANDRU10”—and my book is available for order in both hardcover and paperback, of course.

Plenty of good books to choose from overall. Enjoy!

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club

My wife, Tara Laskowski, and I were so pleased to be invited as joint guests on the podcast It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club, featuring author interviews and reviews in the genres of mystery, thriller, and true crime.

We had a great time chatting with the hosts—Ann Dark, Tracey Stormy, and and Kathy Night—as you can hear in the episode here.

Hope you enjoy! And thanks again to them for having us on the show.

The First Two Pages: “None Shall Sleep” by Sylvia Maultash Warsh

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.

Today’s essay by Sylvia Maultash Warsh concludes a series featuring contributors to In the Key of 13, an anthology by the Canadian crime writers collective The Mesdames of Mayhem. This is the group’s fourth anthology, following Thirteen, 13 O’Clock, and 13 Claws, and several stories from 13 Claws which earned attention from the Arthur Ellis Awards—a great showing and a testament to this talented group!

Sylvia’s essay had been scheduled this week for the last month or so, but in a timely twist her story, “None Shall Sleep,” was just named a finalist for this year’s Derringer Award for Best Long Story. Sylvia is no stranger to awards; her novel “Find Me Again” won the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original, and she’s been a frequent finalist for the Arthur Ellis Awards, including for stories in previous Mesdames of Mayhem anthologies. You can find out more about Sylvia and her work at her website here.

Sylvia’s essay offers careful analysis of her craft choices and the work that has helped make this story an award contender. Please do also check out the previous essays by Rosemary McCracken and Lynne Murphy 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.

Warsh-None-Shall-Sleep