15 December 2020

Four New Stories, Three This Week, Two Out Today, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree


This is a good month for me writing-wise:

  • I had a new story published yesterday: "Second Chance" in the anthology Mickey Finn: 21st Century Noir, edited by my fellow SleuthSayer Michael Bracken. 
  • Today is the publication day for two more stories: "A Family Matter" in the January/February 2021 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and "That Poor Woman" in the January/February 2021 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
  • A fourth story, "An Inconvenient Sleuth," is scheduled to be published later this month in issue eight of Black Cat Mystery Magazine
Except when I had five new stories published at once (when my collection, Don't Get Mad, Get Even, came out in 2013 with five new stories and ten reprints), I've never had so many stories published in one day, one week, or one even month. I've also never had stories published in AHMM and EQMM at the same time. It's a nice way to end a year, especially this year.

I generally like to talk about stories when they're available for purchase. So here's information about the three new stories that are already out:

"Second Chance" is a tale of twin brothers who were placed in separate foster homes at age ten. Now eighteen, one finds the other, but the reunion is not the stuff of Hallmark movies. I hope you'll consider picking up a copy of Mickey Finn. It's published in ebook and trade paperback, with twenty stories perfect for the noir reader on your holiday gift list. You can buy it from all the usual sources, as well as from the publisher here.

"A Family Matter" in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine is set in 1962, the closest I've ever come to a historical story. In this tale, Doris and her neighbors are determined to move up the ladder of success together. When a new family that moves in next door doesn't know the unwritten social code, Doris makes it her business to help them conform. This story was inspired by something that happened to my mom when my parents and siblings (years before I showed up) moved into a new neighborhood.

"That Poor Woman" in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine is a flash story about a crime victim who takes the law into her own hands.

You can find individual issues of AHMM and EQMM at bookstores and newsstands. For a paper subscription of either magazine--or both, they make a great holiday gift--click here for AHMM and here for EQMM. As of 11 p.m. last night (Monday night), the new issues scheduled for publication today (Tuesday) aren't up yet on the AHMM and EQMM websites, but they should be soon.

You can also get electronic individual issues as well as subscriptions for your Kindle, Nook, iPad, and other readers. Learn more here about EQMM and here about AHMM. (Because I've had friends unable to easily find the Kindle pages before, here's the EQMM Amazon link and here's the AHMM link.)

I'll talk about "An Inconvenient Sleuth" next month, after the issue of BCMM comes out.

It's interesting that these four stories are all coming out in the same month because I didn't write them all around the same time. I wrote "Second Chance" in 2014, "A Family Matter" in January of 2018, "An Inconvenient Sleuth" in February of 2018, and "That Poor Woman" in October of 2019. As you can imagine, some stories take a long time to sell. (I submitted "A Second Chance" five times before Michael Bracken took a chance on it. (See what I did there?)) Other stories sell on their first submission. But no matter how long it takes for a story to sell and then be published, I'm always glad when a new story comes out. So that makes this week--and this month--a good time for me.

I'll be back in 2021. In the meanwhile, happy holidays and happy reading.

24 comments:

  1. Well done, Barb! I'm looking forward to my EQMM subscription issue already.
    I wish you happy and sound holidays, and I hope 2021 will be an absolutely spiffing and wonderful year to you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Anne. I hope you enjoy the story. I wish you a wonderful and spiffing new year as well. (I don't think I've used the word spiffing before. How exciting!)

      Delete
  2. Congratulations on your stories! A nice way to end this difficult year.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations, Barb! I always love your stories and I'm looking forward to reading all of these.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, John. That's very kind of you to say. I hope you enjoy them.

      Delete
  4. Well, dang, look at you. Looking forward to reading them all.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You're a MACHINE, Barb. Congratulations on the pay off to what I know is the product of a lot of hard work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. But I'm not really a machine. I can go months between writing stories. I only do it when I can fit writing time in between editorial projects. I just got lucky that they all got published right around the same time. In contrast, there are a few people around here who could wear that machine title boldly.

      Delete
  6. Congratulations! What a wonderful Christmas you're having!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congratulations, Barb. That's a terrific way to end any year, let alone this crazy one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Claire. It is a nice way to end this year, especially.

      Delete
  8. An awesome achievement, Barb! Congratulations times four!

    ReplyDelete
  9. That IS a great month. Congratulations, and happy holidays!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, and happy holidays to you as well, Bob.

      Delete
  10. Oh, Barb, once you've felt the thrill of having several stories published in the same month, there's no going back. Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Michael. It's something to hope for, anyway.

      Delete
  11. That is awesome Barb. I, too, always enjoy your stories so am looking forward to reading them. Especially the mystery mag ones because I can download on Kindle. My tablet died so I'm reading on my, phone which I hate with this sma
    ll screen but laptop gets too warmish and heavy.
    But congrats to you and keep writinh great stories. And I will keep reading when I can.

    ReplyDelete
  12. That's so nice of you, Jan. Thank you. You should be able to read all of these on your Kindle, so that's good. Happy holidays!

    ReplyDelete

Welcome. Please feel free to comment.

Our corporate secretary is notoriously lax when it comes to comments trapped in the spam folder. It may take Velma a few days to notice, usually after digging in a bottom drawer for a packet of seamed hose, a .38, her flask, or a cigarette.

She’s also sarcastically flip-lipped, but where else can a P.I. find a gal who can wield a candlestick phone, a typewriter, and a gat all at the same time? So bear with us, we value your comment. Once she finishes her Fatima Long Gold.

You can format HTML codes of <b>bold</b>, <i>italics</i>, and links: <a href="https://about.me/SleuthSayers">SleuthSayers</a>