I’m splitting my 2025 Year in Review post into two parts. I’ll discuss writing and other things next post; this time I’m concentrating on editing.
This year saw the release of one issue of Black Cat Mystery Magazine (issue 16); 52 issues of Black Cat Weekly, for which I serve as an associate editor; the second six episodes of the serial novella anthology series Chop Shop; and three original anthologies and one reprint anthology I edited or co-edited.
The original anthologies include:
Sleuths Just Wanna Have Fun: Private Eyes in the Materialistic Eighties (Down & Out Books)
Malice Domestic 19: Mystery Most Humorous, co-edited with John Betancourt and Carla Coupe (Wildside Press)
Trouble in Texas (North Dallas Chapter of Sisters in Crime)
The reprint anthology was the first in a new best-of-year series for which I am the Series Editor:
The Best Private Eye Stories of the Year 2025, Matt Coyle, editor (Level Short)
Outside the mystery world, I edited six issues of Texas Gardener, a bi-monthly consumer magazine, and 52 issues of Seeds, a weekly electronic newsletter for gardeners that, incidentally, published three short stories.
Adding all the editing projects together, in 2025 I had the honor of shepherding or helping shepherd 87 short stories and novellas through to publication.
This is a significant reduction from 2024, in part because Down & Out Books closed, leaving a couple of anthologies and several novellas in the Chop Shop series unpublished; production delays at Level Best pushed some projects into 2026; and I downshifted from editing a story a week to a story every other week for Black Cat Weekly.
RECOGNITION
This year, two anthologies I co-edited were recognized:
Murder, Neat: A SleuthSayers Anthology (Level Short), co-edited with Barb Goffman, received a Derringer Award for Best Anthology and was short-listed for an Anthony Award for Best Anthology
Scattered, Smothered, Covered, and Chunked: Crime Fiction Inspired by Waffle House (Down & Out Books), co-edited with Stacy Woodson, was short-listed for an Anthony Award for Best Anthology
Also, several stories from projects I edited or co-edited were recognized:
Thielman, Mark “The Kratz Gambit,” Private Dicks and Disco Balls, was short-listed for a Derringer Award, Short Story
Euliano, Tammy “Heart of Darkness,” Scattered, Smothered, Covered & Chunked, received a Derringer Award, Long Story
Welsh-Huggins, Andrew “Cold Comfort,” Private Dicks and Disco Balls, was short-listed for a Derringer Award, Long Story
Milani, Tom “Barracuda Backfire," Chop Shop, Episode 4, was short-listed for a Derringer Award, Novelette
Woodson, Stacy “The Cadillac Job,” Chop Shop, Episode 1, received a Derringer Award, Novelette
Taylor, Art “Two for One,” Murder, Neat, was short-listed for a Macavity Award
Proctor, M.E. “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” Janie’s Got a Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Aerosmith, was short-listed for a Shamus Award
The Best of Mystery Stories of the Year
The following stories were selected for inclusion in The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2025:
Falenwolfe, Tracy “Jamming at Jollies,” Black Cat Weekly #151
Larsen, Tom “The Other Brother,” Black Cat Weekly #168
McClusky, Sean “The Secret Menu,” Scattered, Smothered, Covered, and Chunked
McMahan, Rick “Mr. George,” Black Cat Weekly #137
Walker, Joseph S. “Run and Gun,” Chop Shop, Episode 2
Honor Roll:
Lundin, Leigh “Razing the Bar,” Murder, Neat
Best American Mystery and Suspense
The following stories were selected for inclusion in The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025:
Aptaker, Ann “Neon Women,” Private Dicks and Disco Balls
Brown, Susan Love “In Kind,” Malice Domestic 18: Mystery Most Devious
Phillips, Gary “The Darklight Gizmo Matter,” Private Dicks and Disco Balls
Other Distinguished:
Milani, Tom “Barstow,” Mickey Finn: 21st Century Noir, Vol 5
Plakcy, Neil S. “The Missing Delegate,” Private Dicks and Disco Balls
Woodson, Stacy “The Cadillac Job,” Chop Shop, Episode 1
The Best Private Eye Stories of the Year 2025
The following stories were selected for inclusion in The Best Private Eye Stories of the Year 2025:
Plakcy, Neil S. “The Shandiclere,” Black Cat Weekly #150
Powell, William Dylan “Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting,” Private Dicks and Disco Balls
Proctor, M.E. “Drop Dead Gorgeous” Janie’s Got a Gun
Thielman, Mark “The Kratz Gambit” Private Dicks and Disco Balls
Wiebe, Sam “Broken English” Mickey Finn: 21st Century Noir, vol. 5
Also Walking the Mean Streets:
Aptaker, Ann “Neon Women” Private Dicks and Disco Balls
Lawton, R.T. “Leonardo,” Black Cat Weekly #148
FORTHCOMING
Misti Media picked up my unpublished Down & Out anthologies for its White City Press imprint, including the Chop Shop and Mickey Finn series, and I’m editing a new anthology for them.
Level Best should release some or all of the anthologies I’ve already delivered.
And I anticipate continuing with Black Cat Mystery Magazine and Black Cat Weekly.
On the other hand, given all the turmoil impacting the publishing of short crime fiction (see “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”), I’m not actively seeking new editing opportunities, and likely won’t until things settle down.
Next time: I review what happened with my writing in 2025.
* * *
“Field of Bodies” appeared in Black Cat Weekly #224
A brief summary of the current trends and lessons in editing practices for this year that include Feed Forward, Editing Process Challenges, the Disruption to Workflow due to COVID-19, and new insights were included in an overview of this year's CIPD Assignment Help London.
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