Mystery Melange

Good news for writers of short crime fiction: ThugLit is open again for hard-boiled/noir submissions between 3,000-5,000 words (hat tip to Sandra Seamans).
 
Hard Case Crime is publishing a new edition of Harlan Ellison's first novel, Web of the City. According to publisher Charles Ardai, It will be the first edition of the book to hit bookstores in 30 years "and the first ever to feature the definitive text of the book, correcting errors that have dogged the book since its original publication back in 1958. It's also the first ever to pair the novel up with three thematically linked short stories Ellison wrote for the pulp magazines of the 1950s."

The relatively new digital crime fiction imprint Blasted Heath just released two new books, The Storm Without by Tony Black and The Vanity Game by HJ Hampson, about which author Megan Abbott said, "As black as black comedies come and twice as audacious, HJ Hampson's The Vanity Game eviscerates celebrity culture with the incisiveness of an expert surgeon—but with a giddy, over-the-top pleasure that's exhilarating." Blasted Heath is also publishing and giving away 25 limited-edition signed print copies of Hampson's book. For more information on how to enter to win, check out their website.

Lisa Grossman, writing for The New Scientist, asks, "Are printed books really going the way of the dodo? And what would we lose if they did?" At a recent conference titled Unbound: Speculations on the Future of the Book, presenters made the case that printed books will live on as art objects and collector's items and others will become more multifaceted, incorporating video, music and interactivity. Meanwhile, print-on-demand books are gaining in popularity and becoming another viable option for self-published authors or an author's backlist.

In the Q&A spotlight this week, Michael Connelly interviewed fellow author Mark Billingham (and here's Part 2) who noted that when men write about violence, they tend to write about how it looks rather than how it feels, whereas he's always tried to write about how it feels, which is more powerful. (Note: A TV mini-series on the UK's Encore network based on Billingham's Inspector Thorne novels debuted last night.)

Janet Rudolph, editor of Mystery Readers Journal, also sponsors regular Literary Salons in Berkeley. Coming up next on Tuesday, June 19, the featured guest will be Katherine Hall Page, author of the Faith Fairchild mystery series.

Poisoned Pen Press is offering several of its ebook mystery titles for free for a limited time. Although most are only free on iTunes, PPP is gradually adding some to Amazon, including Artifacts, the first Faye Longchamp mystery by Mary Anna Evans and In the Shadow of the Glacier, the first Constable Molly Smith mystery by Vicki Delany. This is a new campaign by Poisoned Pen Press, to offer a select number of titles  rotating on a monthly basis, for free or for only 99 cents.