Art Taylor's Blog, page 47

The Boy Detective Cover Reveal & Book Launch

Thanks to Kristopher Zgorski at BOLO Books for hosting the cover reveal for my forthcoming collection The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74 and Other Tales of Suspense, to be published in late February by Crippen & Landru. Click through here to see the full cover revealed!

The collection features sixteen stories, highlighting noteworthy short stories from nearly a quarter-century of my work in short mystery fiction. The cover features original artwork by Raleigh, NC-based artist Luke Buchanan.

You can preorder the collection—either the limited edition hardcover or the paperback—from Crippen & Landru here.

And mark your calendar for my book launch: Saturday, February 29, at 4 p.m. at One More Page Books in Arlington, VA, where I’ll be joined by short story writer Amber Sparks, author of the new collection And I Do Not Forgive You: Stories and Other Revenges, in a conversation moderated by Tara Laskowski.

Check out other events ahead on my Events page here.

The First Two Pages: “The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74” by Art Taylor

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.

For the first First Two Pages essay of the new year, I’m indulging myself a little—analyzing my own new story in the January/February 2020 issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine (my first story for AHMM, in fact). This story will also be the title story for my new collection The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74 and Other Tales of Suspense, forthcoming late February 2020 from Crippen & Landru. I hope you enjoy this preview of the story and this glimpse at some of my craft choices in pulling the opening pages together.

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.

Taylor-Boy-Detective-1

The First Two Pages: “The Tourist” by B.K. Stevens

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.

Earlier this year, in its July/August 2019 issue, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine published B.K. Stevens’ “The Tourist”—the last of her stories for the magazine, appearing nearly two years after her death in August 2017. I’ll admit that I didn’t know it was her final AHMM story at the time the issue arrived. Bonnie had become even more prolific in recent years, it seemed; the magazine had several of her stories in the pipeline when she died; and I’d grown accustomed—irrationally, of course—to thinking that we readers would somehow keep enjoying more of Bonnie’s great stories ahead. It’s still hard to believe that this one marks an end.

But while shrouded with sadness because of its place in her career, “The Tourist” is itself a joy to read—crisply characterized, precisely plotted, and distinguished by Bonnie’s always fine prose.

Just over two years have passed since I took over curating the First Two Pages blog series, and I’m grateful now for the opportunity to analyze the first pages of Bonnie’s final story for the blog that she herself founded. I appreciate Bonnie’s husband and daughters—Solomon Stevens, Rachel Stevens, and Sarah Gershone—asking me to carry forward the blog series and giving me permission to include “The Tourist” here.

Thanks go out as well to Linda Landrigan and Jackie Sherbow at AHMM for their efforts to celebrate “The Tourist.” Not only have they posted the complete story for free online at AHMM‘s website—read it here to find out what happens beyond those first two pages—but they’ve also offered to mail out some copies of the July/August 2019 issue to interested readers too. Just leave a comment on this post, and you’ll be entered to win one of those copies—and any comment is welcome: your own thoughts on “The Tourist,” a shout-out for another of Bonnie’s stories that stood out as a favorite, or even a memory of Bonnie herself.

For those of you who don’t know Bonnie, do check out her website at www.bkstevensmysteries.com for information on her story collection Her Infinite Variety: Tales of Women and Crime, her novel Interpretation of Murder, and her YA novel Fighting Chance.

This is the final First Two Pages entry of 2019. Thanks to everyone who follows the series, and best wishes for the holidays and for a great new year 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.

The-Tourist-1

WIROB: “No, Dash, Santa Didn’t Die”

At the Washington Independent Review of Books, I reflect on a pivotal moment in the life of a young boy—learning the “truth” about Santa.

I hope we handled it well—but you can judge for yourself.

Happy Birthday to our son, Dash—and happy holidays to all!

My End-of-Year Newsletter

A Macavity Award and two new stories headline this final newsletter of the year, with previews of more to come in 2020: publications, events, and more.

Plus, there’s a trivia contest to win a copy of the new Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine with my story “The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74.”

Check out the full newsletter here.

The First Two Pages: “The Fourteenth Floor” by Adam Meyer

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.

Rounding out a short series featuring contributors to Crime Travel: Stories of Crime and Time Travel, Adam Meyer offers us a glimpse at both the inspirations behind his story “The Fourteenth Floor” and the craft choices he made in the first two pages to develop character, set the stakes, and hook the reader. The full story is terrific (I started reading the anthology after the launch last week), and it’s a joy to hear from Adam directly about where the idea came from and how he began pulling the pieces together.

Adam is an accomplished writer in several directions—short story writer, novelist, and screenwriter—and he’s got a keen sense of how to structure stories, how to navigate pacing, and how to keep his audience engaged. A session on writing screenplays he did a few years ago for our local chapter of Sisters in Crime was insightful—eye-opening really for those us wanting a glimpse behind those scenes. But it’s just as much fun to forget the behind the scenes and be a reader (or viewer!) of Adam’s work—settling in and enjoying a master at work. After the preview of “The Fourteenth Floor” below, I hope you’ll want to check out the full story yourself.

Crime Travel was edited by Barb Goffman and features stories by a nice array of writers—veterans and relative newcomers alike. The full contributors list includes Melissa H. Blaine, James Blakey, Michael Bracken, Anna Castle, Brendan DuBois, David Dean, John M. Floyd, Barb Goffman, Heidi Hunter, Eleanor Cawood Jones, Adam Meyer, Barbara Monajem, Korina Moss, Art Taylor (that’s me!), and Cathy Wiley. Over the last couple of weeks, the First Two Pages has also hosted Melissa H. Blaine discussing her story “Living on Borrowed Time” and Heidi Hunter talking about “No Honor Among Thieves.”

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.

Meyer-Fourteenth-Floor

One Step Closer

The ARCs of my story collection The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74 and Other Tales of Suspense arrived a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve been reading through it again proofing for any troubles on this next step toward publication. It’s been a joy already to see highlights of my short story career gathered in one volume—and interesting on this reread to see both similarities in style and theme over time and also those places where my writing has changed. (I see lots of spots at the line level in those earlier stories where I did things I now warn my own students not to do!)

The collection will be out in late February 2020 from Crippen & Landru, and the title story appears in the January/February 2020 issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, on sale mid-December.

Stay tuned as well for a cover reveal in early January and for more info ahead on the book launch on Saturday, February 29, at One More Page Books in Arlington, VA—alongside fellow short story writer Amber Sparks, celebrating her new collection And I Do Not Forgive You.

The First Two Pages: “No Honor Among Thieves” by Heidi Hunter

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 past Sunday—December 8, Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day—the Barnes & Noble in Fairfax, VA hosted the launch event for Crime Travel: Stories of Crime and Time Travel, a new anthology edited by Barb Goffman. Sadly, Barb herself couldn’t make it, but the contributors who did attend—James Blakey, Eleanor Cawood Jones, Adam Meyer, Cathy Wiley, and me— had a great time chatting with moderator Donna Andrews about all things time travel: our own stories, the various methods of time travel, favorite time travels books and movies, and when we might travel to if only….

Other contributors to the anthology include Melissa H. Blaine, Michael Bracken, Anna Castle, Brendan DuBois, David Dean, John M. Floyd, Barb Goffman, Heidi Hunter, Barbara Monajem, and Korina Moss—and while neither Melissa H. Blaine nor Heidi Hunter could come to the launch, I’m glad to have hosted Melissa H. Blaine at the First Two Pages last week, discussing her story “Living on Borrowed Time” and to welcome Heidi Hunter this week to talk about her story “No Honor Among Thieves.”

Heidi Hunter spent a decade investigating real-life crimes—financial ones, to be specific—and now writes about fictional ones. Her short stories have appeared in Flash Bang Mysteries and Mysterical-E as well as the anthology A Murder of Crows. You can find out more about her work at her author blog https://hollyhyattauthor.wordpress.com/.

You can also find out more about her story “No Honor Among Thieves” below. And as a bonus, here’s the first review of Crime Travel from Mark Baker at Carstairs Considers—5 stars!

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.

Hunter-No-Honor

The First Two Pages: “Living on Borrowed Time” by Melissa H. Blaine

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 Crime Travel boasts not only one of the most intriguing themes that I remember—”Stories of Crime and Time Travel,” as the subtitle explains—but also a great line-up of authors, a mix that includes some of the great short story writers working in the genre today and some newer talents on the scene; the full list of contributors includes James Blakey, Melissa H. Blaine, Michael Bracken, Anna Castle, Brendan DuBois, David Dean, John M. Floyd, Barb Goffman, Heidi Hunter, Eleanor Cawood Jones, Adam Meyer, Barbara Monajem, Korina Moss, and Cathy Wiley—and I’m proud to have my own story, “Hard Return,” included as well. The collection also boasts a great editor, Barb Goffman, who first came up with this idea, and a killer cover, as you can see in the photo above—and who says you can’t judge a book by that, right?

Crime Travel officially releases this coming Sunday—on December 8, Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day (no lie!)—and the Barnes and Noble in Fairfax, VA, is hosting a launch for the anthology that afternoon. I’m pleased to help celebrate the collection as well by welcoming a series of contributors here at the First Two Pages to offer insights on the craft choices they made in their stories. First up is Melissa H. Blaine on her story “Living on Borrowed Time,” and over the next two weeks, Heidi Hunter and Adam Meyer will also be appearing. Stay tuned for those posts! …unless you’re a time traveler yourself and have already read them elsewhere, I mean.

“Living on Borrowed Time” is only the second published short story by Melissa H. Blaine, though she’s been plenty busy as both a writer and a coach, having ghostwritten more than 20 nonfiction texts and helped develop many more and having coached other creative folks to (in her words) “delete the doubt” (I love that phrase). She’s also nicely reflective on the writing process in her essay, as you’ll see below.

You can find out more about Melissa and her work at her website—www.melissahblaine.com—or connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

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.

Blaine-Living-2

Sunday, December 8: Crime Travel Launch Party

December 8 is Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day—so what better opportunity to launch a collection of stories that cross crime fiction and time travel?

Six contributors to the new anthology Crime Travel—James Blakey, Barb Goffman, Eleanor Cawood Jones, Adam Meyer, Cathy Wiley, and me—will be celebrating the book’s release at the Barnes & Noble in Fairfax, VA on Sunday, December 8. The B&N is located at 12193 Fair Lakes Promenade Drive, and the event runs 1-3 p.m.

My story in the anthology is “Hard Return”—which you can read more about here. Additional contributors to the collection include Melissa H. Blaine, Michael Bracken, Anna Castle, Brendan DuBois, David Dean, John M. Floyd, Heidi Hunter, Barbara Monajem, and Korina Moss.

Look forward to the launch on Sunday, December 8!