Art Taylor's Blog, page 78

At SleuthSayers: Poirot Award Winner Martin Edwards

With Malice Domestic just a couple of weeks ahead (I’m still not prepared!), I reached out for a chat with this year’s Poirot Award winner, Martin Edwards—really one of my most favorite folks in the mystery community.

I’m not sure how Martin accomplishes all that he does—as such an active member of so many mystery organizations, as a scholar and historian, as an editor and anthologist, and then as an award-winning fiction writer himself—and it’s particularly impressive how he does it all with such a sense of grace and modesty.

Hope folks enjoy our quick interview here, and thanks again to Martin for all his kindness and indulgence with the interview.

Washington Independent Review of Books Hosts Agatha Finalists

Rounding out our brief tour (unless there’s more to come?), I hosted the other finalists for this year’s Agatha Award for Best Short Story for my column this week at the Washington Independent Review of Books. Gretchen Archer, Barb Goffman, Edith Maxwell, B.K. Stevens, and I each gave a short introduction to our nominated stories—with links to read the full stories for free!—and then offered a second recommendation of another recent/favorite short story, one potentially with resonance with our own works.

What fun to see the range of recommendations, including stories by Nelson DeMille, Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg, Pat Dennis, Liz Milliron, Robert Lopresti, and Laura Benedict!

Check out the full column here—and see you all at Malice soon!

SleuthSayers Hosts Agatha Finalists for Best Short Story

Thanks to B.K. Stevens, one of the finalists for this year’s Agatha Award for Best Short Story, for hosting all of us at SleuthSayers today. Each of us chose a short excerpt from our nominated story, introduced it and offered quick reflections—and links will bring you to the full stories as well, all available for free!

Check out samples and commentary from Gretchen Archer, Barb Goffman, Edith Maxwell, B.K. Stevens herself, and me (!) here.

Malice Domestic is only three weeks away!

“Parallel Play” Named a Finalist for the Thriller Award

“Parallel Play,” a finalist for this year’s Agatha Award, has just earned a new honor—as a finalist for the Thriller Award, and in terrifically good company, alongside Eric Beetner, Laura Benedict, Brendan DuBois, and Joyce Carol Oates!

While I’ve been very fortunate with the attention my short fiction has received, this is the first time that one of my stories has earned a spot in this awards listing, so it’s a special honor indeed to have my work recognized like this by the folks at International Thriller Writers. There are so many fine writers and fine friends throughout all the categories, with the full slate of finalists here and listed below as well. The winners will be announced at ThrillerFest XII, July 15, 2017, in New York City.

Congrats to all! Great fun ahead!

2017 Thriller Award Finalists

BEST HARDCOVER NOVEL

Megan Abbott — YOU WILL KNOW ME (Little, Brown and Company)

Reed Farrel Coleman — WHERE IT HURTS (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Noah Hawley — BEFORE THE FALL (Grand Central Publishing)

Laura McHugh — ARROWOOD (Spiegel & Grau)

Ben H. Winters — UNDERGROUND AIRLINES (Mulholland Books)

BEST FIRST NOVEL

Bob Bickford — DEADLY KISS (Black Opal Books)

J.L. Delozier — TYPE AND CROSS (WiDo Publishing)

David McCaleb — RECALL (Lyrical Underground)

Nicholas Petrie — THE DRIFTER (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

E.Z. Rinsky — PALINDROME (Witness Impulse)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL

Robert Dugoni — IN THE CLEARING (Thomas & Mercer)

Anne Frasier — THE BODY READER (Thomas & Mercer)

Paul Kemprecos — THE MINOAN CIPHER (Suspense Publishing)

Jonathan Maberry — KILL SWITCH (St. Martin’s Griffin)

Stephen Maher — SALVAGE (Dundurn)

BEST SHORT STORY

Eric Beetner — “The Business of Death” UNLOADED: CRIME WRITERS WRITING WITHOUT GUNS (Down & Out Books)

Laura Benedict — “The Peter Rabbit Killers” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine)

Brendan DuBois — “The Man from Away” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine)

Joyce Carol Oates — “Big Momma” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine)

Art Taylor — “Parallel Play” CHESAPEAKE CRIMES: STORM WARNING (Wildside Press)

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Pierce Brown — MORNING STAR (Del Rey)

Elle Cosimano — HOLDING SMOKE (Disney-Hyperion)

A.J. Hartley — STEEPLEJACK (TOR Teen)

Billy Taylor — THIEVING WEASELS (Dial Books)

Kara Thomas — THE DARKEST CORNERS (Delacorte Press)

BEST E-BOOK ORIGINAL NOVEL

James Scott Bell — ROMEO’S WAY (Compendium Press)

Sean Black — THE EDGE OF ALONE (Sean Black)

Sibel Hodge — UNTOUCHABLE (Wonder Women Publishing)

J.F. Penn — DESTROYER OF WORLDS (J.F. Penn)

Richard Thomas — BREAKER (Alibi)

Congratulations to all the finalists!

The 2017 ITW Thriller Award Winners will be announced at ThrillerFest XII, July 15, 2017, at the Grand Hyatt (New York City.)

 

Writers Who Kill Hosts Agatha Finalists for Best Short Story

Thanks to Paula Benson at Writers Who Kill for hosting this year’s finalists for the Agatha Award for Best Short Story, including Gretchen Archer, Barb Goffman, Edith Maxwell, B.K. Stevens, and yours truly! Such an honor to have my story “Parallel Play” ranked alongside these writers’ works, and such fun to read their answers to Paula’s questions on the characters at the center of our stories and on the influence of setting on plot and more.

Check out the full q&a here at Writers Who Kill. And look forward to seeing everyone in just a few weeks at Malice Domestic!

SleuthSayers: A Pause

While the Virginia Festival of the Book offered a chance to revisit many old friends in the mystery community—and make some new ones—it was a short conversation with a woman who stopped by the Sisters in Crime table at Saturday’s Lit Fair that brought some unexpected pleasures and some fine perspectives.

In my post this week at SleuthSayers, I write about our chat and some of the reflections that spun out of it, with references to French law, cookbook author Dorie Greenspan, and cocktail aficionado Bernard DeVoto—plus a bit of original art from someone very near and dear to me.

Mid-Semester Boost

I’ll admit it: Around this time of the semester, my energies are depleted, my enthusiasm is lagging, I’m feeling overworked and exhausted, and I begin to wonder if anything I’m doing as a professor is working.

So it was a real pleasure to get the end-of-course evaluations back from the previous semester and discover that my “Women of Mystery” course last fall earned the highest marks possible both for my teaching and for the course overall: A full 100% of the students ranked the course and me 5 out of 5. I was so surprised I kept looking at the form to see what I was reading wrong.

Needless to say, a nice boost at a much-needed time.

Crime Wave at VA Festival of the Book

I’m pleased to be a part of this year’s Virginia Festival of the Book, beginning Wednesday, March 22, and continuing through the weekend. It’s a real honor to moderate the showcase Crime Wave panel on Friday evening, March 24, with Edgar Award winners Megan Abbott and John Hart and first-time Edgar Award finalist Bill Beverly—and I’m looking foward as well to attending the Crime Wave brunch on Saturday morning with Laura Lippman! Later on Saturday, I’ll be manning the Sisters in Crime table as part of this year’s Lit Fair. My schedule is below:

Panel (as moderator): “Crime Wave Bestsellers” with Megan Abbott, Bill Beverly, and John Hart, Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, 233 4th Street NW • Friday, March 24, 8 p.m.
Crime Wave Brunch with Laura Lippman (as table host), Omni Hotel, Ballroom B/C, 212 Ridge McIntire Road • 10 a.m.
Sisters in Crime booth, Festival Lit Fair, Omni Hotel Atrium, 212 Ridge McIntire Road • 3-4 p.m. (my shift)

Looking forward to a fun weekend ahead!

Quarterly Newsletter: March 2017 Edition

I just released the latest edition of my quarterly newsletter—recapping recent news, including a few reflections and recommendations, and looking ahead at Spring 2017 events. Much of this sticks to an Agatha Christie theme as you’ll see—and there’s a quick trivia question too, part of a book giveaway.

Check out the full newsletter here—and if you haven’t subscribed already, please do so here!

Two St. Patrick’s Day Posts!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Today, I’m part of holiday-themed posts at two crime fiction blogs.

First, I’m solo at my regular bi-weekly appearance at SleuthSayers—talking about my love of Ireland, Irish literature, and Irish whiskey… and in the middle of it all, about how my attitudes toward St. Patrick’s Day have changed over the years.

Second, I’m part of a panel discussion at Wicked Cozy Writers with the other finalists for this year’s Agatha Award for Best Short Story: Gretchen Archer, Barb Goffman, Edith Maxwell (our host), and B.K. Stevens—with all of us searching for something Irish in our nominated stories. It was a challenge, but fun to see what everyone came up with.

Hope you enjoy—and happy holiday to all!