One of the favorite subjects of those (like me) who like to write mystery/crime short stories is the sad fact that there are so few current markets for that kind of fiction. Or at least fewer than there used to be. Don't get me wrong: I love the ones that are still around. I just wish there were more of them. I wish there were a thousand of them.
As for me, I didn't start writing for publication until the mid-'90s, which to some of you is a bit late--I don't remember, for example, the really old markets like Black Mask, Manhunt, Menace, Mike Shayne, Pursuit, and others. But I do know that between the time I started out and, say, five years ago, there were still a good many places out there for mystery/crime submissions. Some of them, bless their souls, were purely mystery markets and others were non-genre or different-genre or multi-genre magazines, but most would at least consider crime fiction submissions. (Remember, I'm talking about magazines right now, not anthologies.)
As I grow older, I find myself doing a lot of reminiscing, and in looking over my old writing records--submissions (many), acceptances (some), rejections (many)--I uncovered the names of a lot of long-defunct magazines that I've dealt with, and that were kind enough, over the years, to publish my stories. Some of them stayed around for a long time, some were only a flash in the pan, and some I probably killed because they closed up shop immediately after publishing my stuff.
What surprised me most is that there were so many of these magazines. If you've been doing this for a while, as I have, some of these might hold some memories for you as well.
Anyone remember these publications?
Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine
Detective Mystery Stories
Over My Dead Body
Mystery Time
Grit
Orchard Press Mysteries
The Rex Stout Journal
Lines in the Sand
Short Stuff for Grown-Ups
Anterior Fiction Quarterly
Just a Moment
Pebbles
Green's Magazine
Red Herring Mystery Magazine
The Oak
Eureka Literary Magazine
Writer's Block Magazine
Western Digest
Spring Fantasy
Roswell Literary Review
Dream International Quarterly
Writers on the River
The Ultimate Writer
Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind (braille)
Nefarious
Enigma
Futures (later Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine)
Ancient Paths
Yellow Sticky Notes
Cenotaph
The Villager
Heist Magazine
Lost Worlds
Scavenger's Newsletter
The Mid-South Review
The Copperfield Review
T-Zero
Phoebe
The Pegasus Review
Crimestalker Casebook (which I understand will soon make a comeback)
Desert Voices
Mindprints
Penny Dreadful
Writer's Guidelines & News
The Taj Mahal Review
Antipodean SF
Setu
Simulacrum
Ethereal Gazette
Spinetingler Magazine
Champagne Shivers
Listen
Apollo's Lyre
Scifantastic
50-Word Stories
Star*Line
Crime & Suspense E-Zine
Flashshot
Illya's Honey
Night Roses
Jupiter World Press
Flash Tales
Mouth Full of Bullets
Thirteen
Oxford So-and-So
Sniplets
Byline Magazine
Prairie Times
Deep South Magazine
Pages of Stories (Leigh, remember this one?)
Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine
The Big Adios
Flash Bang Mysteries
The Norwegian American
Bewildering Stories
Gathering Storm Magazine
Mystery Weekly (later Mystery Magazine)
Serial Magazine
Ficta Fabula
Allegory
Elixir Magazine
Fiction on the Web
Down & Out: The Magazine
Did any of you publish stories at any of those places? I'd like to hear about your experiences. Remember some of those long-ago editors--Babs Lakey, Margo Power, Cheri Jung, Rick Ollerman, Linda Hutton, Andrew McAleer, Tony Burton, BJ Bourg, Marvin Kaye? Any others? Some of them were wonderful.
One market that I didn't mention--Amazon Shorts--was more of a program than a magazine or anthology. It ran from (I think) 2005 until maybe 2010, and published 19 of my stories. Hated to see them go. Another great market was of course Untreed Reads, which is still here but under different leadership.
Before I close, I should certainly mention--and thank--some of those markets that are still around: Thema, Pleiades, The Strand, AHMM, EQMM, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, Crimeucopia, Tough, Shotgun Honey, Star Magazine (yes, Star is still alive and kickin'), Pulp Modern, Mysterical-E, Our Southern Memories, Mystery Tribune, Saddlebag Dispatches, Kings River Life, St. Anthony Messenger, Tales from the Moonlit Path, The Texas Gardener (Seeds), Hoosier Noir, Indelible, Frontier Tales, Punk Noir, The Saturday Evening Post, and Woman's World. There are of course others, but, again, I've listed those that I'm familiar with because they've published my stories.
Ah, memory lane. Nice place to visit, right? As for the present--
Thank God for the markets that have survived. May they live long and prosper!
I am ancient enough to have appeared in Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine in 1979, my first pub. I also appeared in Murderous Intent, and Futures, and one you didn't mention: Black Cat Mystery Magazine from Canada in the 1980s.
ReplyDeleteRob, I don't think I even knew about the old Black Cat Mystery Magazine. I loved loved Murderous Intent, and Futures also--and both those editors.
DeleteYou didn't miss much but it is weird to have stories in different mags with the same title forty years apart. http://www.philsp.com/mags/crime_b.html#black_cat_mystery
DeleteSorry, that Anonymous was Robert Lopresti. Oh, and John - extra credit for using a Ritchie cover. Us Ritchie-heads have to stick together.
DeleteRob, Jack Ritchie will always be one of my very favorite short-story writers. The man was a wizard. And SO many folks have never heard of him!
DeleteYou always have good marketing advice and new ( to me at least) markets. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteJanice, some of these markets would be new to a lot of our writer friends. A few of them lasted only a very short time. A great source for little-known markets like these, back then, was Novel & Short Story Writers Market--it also included addresses, editor's names, payment, etc., etc. It was a submitter's bible, before the Internet.
DeleteBLUE MURDER MAGAZINE. Had stories published there in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
ReplyDeleteHey O'Neil. Yes, I remember Blue Murder, and I think I submitted several stories to them, but I never had anything published there. I'm not surprised that you did, though!
DeleteThanks for the note!
Like Rob, I've been around long enough to have sold a few stories to Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine and, like O'Neil, I placed a story with Blue Murder.
ReplyDeleteA few more mystery magazines (or magazines that published mysteries) that have disappeared (or fallen off my radar) that I sold to: gentleman's Companion. Espionage Magazine, Max, Hardboiled aka Hardboiled Detective, Gent, Hustler Fantasies, Bust Out!, Fling, Score, Juggs, Voluptuous, Suddenly, Malone's White Fedora, Judas, Without a Clue, XL Girls, Naughty Neighbors, Amsterdam Scriptum, Short Attention Span Mysteries, Ruthie's Club, Hardluck Stories, Out of the Gutter, Big Pulp, Digest Enthusiast, Modern Mayhem, Fried Chicken and Coffee, Storia, Dark Discoveries, and Argosy (original and revival).
And a few still around (some I've sold to, some have rejected me, others are known but not yet submitted to): Pulp Modern, Pulp Adventures, Thriller, Unnerving, Starlite Pulp Review, Yellow Mama, Kelp Journal, Guilty Crime Stories Magazine, Dark Yonder, Cold Caller, Black Mask (revival), Dark Yonder, Rock and a Hard Place, Thrill Ride, Stone's Throw, Cowboy Jamboree, Mystery Tribune, Vautrin, Close to the Bone, and more.
The lesson, if there is one: Magazines come and go, and to maintain a long writing career means spending time keeping up with the market churn.
Oh, and The Saint (original and revival). I sold to the revived Saint but they shut down before using my story. Sigh.
DeleteAnd Needle. Did anyone mention Needle? Gone, but not forgotten.
DeleteMichael, you listed a lot of them that I had forgotten--and some of them I hadn't heard of, before. I too sold several stories to Short Attention Span Mysteries (still love that name), but I sort of considered them more an anthology than a magazine. Fine line there, I guess. As for the newer publications, I'm sorry to say that I remember some of those but for some reason never got around to sending them anything.
DeleteHard to believe there were at one time SO MANY of these magazines.
Yes, I do remember Needle!--and The Saint. Never sent them a story, though.
DeleteI remember there was one called Raconteur that I sent a story to, it got accepted, and the magazine folded before my story came out. (Lots of memories . . .)
Needle was one of the better ones, for sure. And not mystery but my favorite mag in the eighties: Rod Serling's Twilight Zone Magazine. They published some great fantasy by mystery writer Ron Goulart...
DeleteFried Chicken and Coffee....I'd love to see it...search on.
DeleteHarlan Ellison and Stephen King also published a lot of storoes in Serling's Twilight Zone Magazine.
DeleteStarblade published a couple of mine in the 90s as did some of the ones you mentioned here.
ReplyDeleteKevin, I never knew about them--or if I did, I've forgotten. I suspect there were lots of those.
DeleteCongrats on the sales!
I was far too young to write for Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine - but I read it. And many others in the list.
ReplyDeleteHey Eve. Yep, I too read a lot of these but never wrote--or tried to write--for them. I probably wouldn't have believed, back then, that I would ever try to write anything for any of them. Life has a lot of twists and turns.
DeleteI would suspect (Michael or Rob could probably correct me) that Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine was the best known of all those looooong-ago magazines.
"I uncovered the names of a lot of long-defunct magazines that I've dealt with, and that were kind enough, over the years, to publish my stories."
ReplyDeleteJohn, when can we expect the follow up to this? Long-defunct magazines that were mean but published you anyway?
Paula
Next week.
DeletePaula, you smartaleck, ALL of them were kind. (See my nose growing longer as I say that . . . ?)
Babs Lakey was wonderful to write for--so encouraging and supportive. Hated to lose her. I had 2 or 3 stories in the magazine and one in her Dime anthology. I also enjoyed working with Orchard Press Mysteries and several others on your list. Fables took my first ever short mystery. Must have been in the late 90s. Thanks for stirring the memories.
ReplyDeleteI agree--Babs was great. I published 17 stories with Futures, before and after it became Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine, and loved reading everybody else's stories too. It was a neat magazine. Orchard Press Mysteries too, even though I recall their being electronic only. I never had any experiences with Fables!
DeleteSo many of the other editors were wonderful as well. I was joking about this earlier, but--seriously--I don't remember having any big disputes with any of these long-ago editors.
It does stir the memories, doesn't it. Thanks for the comment!
I had stories in Mystery Weekly/Mystery Magazine, Mouth Full of Bullets, Crime and Suspense and others you didn't mention like The 3rd Degree, A Twist of Noir, Flash Fiction Offensive, and more, all missed.
ReplyDeleteLoved Mystery Magazine, John--I think everybody liked them. MFOB too, and Crime & Suspense. I never had anything published at the other three that you mentioned--I hadn't thought of a Twist of Noir in a long time.
DeleteThere were indeed a lot of these magazines out there!
Over My Dead Body! Greens! And a few more back in the 90s. I used to write for the Fantasy mags too. Wow. I'm sad to see how many have gone under. I guess it's true, what my agent is saying: the younger generation isn't reading crime. Isn't reading, period, is more like it, sigh.
ReplyDeleteMelodie, I think OMDB made sort of a comeback several years ago and then faded away again--but I might be remembering wrong. Was Green's Magazine a Canadian publication?--I can't recall.
DeleteI think you (and your agent) are so right. Maybe they're still reading SF (?)--but certainly not mystery/crime.
So many have been mentioned, but I don't think anyone's brought up New Black Mask (which if I'm remembering this right was later briefly relaunched in mass-market paperback format as A Matter of Crime) or New Mystery yet. I sold a couple of stories to each of those in the '80s. Like Michael, I sold to The Saint, which shut down before publishing my story, and I also had the same bad luck at Mike Shayne.
ReplyDeleteMichael mentioned Hardboiled aka Hardboiled Detective, and I may have this wrong, but I think that Hardboiled Detective came about when Hardboiled merged with Gary Lovisi's Detective Story Magazine. Does that sound right?.....
Josh, I wish I'd been writing back then, when those magazines were around. Don't know if I'd have made it into them, but it would've been fun to try. I've always heard good things about Black Mask (I didn't even know about New Black Mask), and also Mike Shayne and The Saint. I don't know when all those called it quits, but I'm pretty sure it was before I climbed on the bandwagon in the '90s.
DeleteI don't know the answer to your question about the timing, there. I published several stories in Detective Mystery Stories but not Detective Story--I'm sure they were probably different magazines.
Josh, my first sale was to Charles Raisch at New Mystery Magazine. I remember that magazine fondly.
DeleteDid you ever meet Charles Raisch, Dave? I spent some time with him in New York on a couple of occasions. He was full of grandiose plans for the magazine — he was going to build in into a publishing empire. Which, of course, never happened.
DeleteThe editor I got very close to was Jackie Lewis at Espionage. She was absolutely delightful. She and her definitely-not-identical twin sister Jeri Winston were Bob Guccione's sisters, and they ran a string of porn magazines that made brother Bob's Penthouse look tame by comparison, but they read spy fiction and really tried to make a go of Espionage. They published a lot of my stories, including two two-parters and one under a pseudonym, but they just never were able to build enough of a readership, not even after Bob's design team came in and turned their digest format into a very much more upscale looking slick....
We talked a few times over the phone but never met in person. New Mystery was certainly an attractive-looking magazine, and yes, I knew Charles had big hopes for it. I was in the 2nd issue, and Charles was able to use a drawing from Lucian Freud (this was before Freud exploded on the art scene) for the story's illustration.
DeleteI'm jealous of both of you. I tried submitting to New Mystery several times, long ago, but was never able to make it in!
DeleteI've had contact with a few of the authors who pubbed in the markets. The book division of Down & Out, as is The New Yorker (I know, throw rocks!) and Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine (only once a year). Same for The People's Friend in The UK.
ReplyDeleteI know this is a grim question, but how much longer do you think any of these magazines will last?
Justin
Who knows, Justin. I hope a really, really long time. And yes, it IS a grim question--a lot of us are asking it.
DeleteMystery Weekly, Spinetingler, and how could you miss Mysterical-E, which if not defunct is MIA. I thought I had one in Over My Dead Body, but when I checked, it was Beat to A Pulp. Yes, A Twist of Noir. Also Dark Valentine and the J.J. Outré Review, which were sort of crime adjacent. Did you know eldritch is a sub-genre? As for Justin's question about how much longer the surviving mags will last, it seems to me that the most effective current technique for keeping them going is guilt-tripping them (or guilting them, as the young say). Over on the Short Mystery e-list, you can read about how the new proprietors are cutting offending contract clauses right and left to escape boycott by indignant authors and how Mystery Tribune has been sowing acceptances and rejections broadcast after a year of silence, seemingly in response to a thread on the list in which submitters expressed their frustration.
ReplyDeleteMysterical E! Liz - I published with them - they took cross-genre, as I recall. Back in the days when I published with the big women's mags, sigh. Melodie
DeleteI didn't miss Mysterical-E, Liz--I mentioned them under those that are (I think) still around. Or at least I hope they are. I've had twenty stories published at Myst-E, though I confess I haven't sent anything to them in a long time.
DeleteHey, if the guilt-tripping is working, let's keep it up!
Oops--that Anonymous post was me. Yes, Melodie, Mysterical-E was (is?) receptive to cross-genre stories. As for the big women's magazines, I've heard that Good Housekeeping and Redbook both used to publish fiction. Seems a long time ago, now.
DeleteNew proprieters of EQMM and AHMM. Sorry I left out the essential info!
ReplyDeleteWow, I feel like a kid again. I don't know most of these markets at all. I started late, and made my first sale when I was 60, mble-mble years ago. But it's a challenge finding new places now; several of my favorites have gone away since the pandemic, or even more recently. My list of 30 or so markets in the oughts is now about ten, and I've never sold to some of them, but I keep trying. Along with those that have gone away, there are many that are only open occasionally, too. Rock and a Hard Place, for example, or Black Cat Mystery Magazine and Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine.
ReplyDeleteFewer and fewer, Steve. And--as you and I have discussed--some of the best that ARE still around take so very long to respond to submissions. It is indeed a challenge!
DeleteRecognized a lot of these markets, but never heard of quite a few of them. Published in a few. Some of the ones I really miss-- Hardboiled, Blue Murder, Flash Bang Mysteries.
ReplyDeleteBob
Bob, I never published in either Blue Murder or Hardboiled--I remember trying Hardboiled a time or two and failing--but I loved Flash Bang Mysteries. And its editor, BJ Bourg. I miss them, too!
DeleteI recall huge magazine stands on corners in downtown Chicago many years ago.They had dozens of magazines, probably many of the ones you mentioned. I gravitated immediately to AHMM and EQMM because of name recognition (the power of strong branding). Hitchcock is obvious. I recognized EQMM because every morning as I got ready for school my mom had WGN radio on and one of their daily features was "Ellery Queen's Minute Mysteries." I loved them! So my first submissions back in the 1990s were to EQMM's Department of First Stories. Never accepted.
ReplyDeleteFloyd, I too submitted stories to EQ's Dept of First Stories in the '90s--I still think it provides a great opportunity--but I too never had anything published there. My EQMM sales all came later, after I had published a number of stories elsewhere.
DeleteI had published 14 stories in AHMM before I was able to sell anything to EQMM. (I think I finally just wore her down!)
My second professional sale was to Over My Dead Body, back in 2018. "Mohandas Who?" was about a little old lady who had an extreme way of dealing with bullies.
ReplyDeleteHey, Mike! Your comment has proven to me that OMDB was still around in 2018!--I'd been wondering when they ceased publication, and thought it might've been earlier than that.
DeleteCongratulations on that sale! Your story sounds interesting.
Sorry to say, I don't know most of the magazines. Sad they are gone. But if still here, oh my, what a challenge! Submission tracking a nightmare as it is, I'd need an assistant. I'd venture a guess that it's more than television, driving to work and retched cell phones that have us distracted. Lives are full to the brim with 'doing, touching, feeling, exploring.' And young people are a hard sell unless violence, sex and gaming is the central plot and substance is only a nervy shadow. I love what we have and won't give up on a few stories in AHMM or EQMM.
ReplyDeleteI love it also, Wil, and I too won't give up. My hat's off to all those places that are toughing it out, hanging in there, whatever cliche is appropriate. I hope they last forever.
DeleteThanks as always!
Two and a half more crime fiction webzines: Thuglit, PlotsWithGuns, and The Thrilling Detective. I count Thrilling Detective as 1/2 a webzine since its purpose was to be more of an encyclopedia but would occasionally publish crime fiction.
ReplyDeleteGreat zines, Dave--thanks! I didn't mention them because (alas, alas) I never had anything published there. Not for lack of trying, by the way!
DeleteJohn, I checked my shelves and found another magazine that hasn't been listed. A print magazine called Bullet. I think it was out of the UK. I checked the issue I was in, and John Weagly and I were the only authors from the US, everyone else was from either England, Ireland, or Australia.
DeleteBullet is another one that's news to me, Dave. Thanks!
DeletePretty sure Mysterical-E is no more. There has not been a new issue since the summer of 2022. Joseph Demarco went radio silent, again, on his FB group months ago and now it is just a handful of folks announcing their latest self publication deals.
ReplyDeleteWhoa. Thanks, Kevin--I wasn't aware of that. Sorry to hear it. They were around a long time and gave us all some good stories.
DeleteI moderated a panel on short stories at Bouchercon once which included Raisch, but since it also included Larry Block and Ed Hoch I can't say Raisch made a big impression on me.
ReplyDeleteI would love to have been in the audience for that panel.
Delete