Mystery Melange

Janet Rudolph announced some changes in the themes for Mystery Readers Journal for 2010. The new list includes African Mysteries, Paranormal Mysteries, Island Mysteries, and Hobbies, Crafts & Special Interests. If you're an author who has written a book in one of those areas or someone who wants to contribute a relevant essay, send Janet an e-mail to [email protected]. Also, the Journal is going green for 2010, with subscription PDF files available as an option.

• And in case you missed it, Mysterical-E's winter issue is up. Check out the latest edition here.

• Speaking of short stories, Naomi Johnson is covering short fiction for The Drowning Machine this year and starts off with two lists, here and here, of her first offerings for 2010. She's also looking for future recommendations.

• Sisters in Crime offering its first "We Love Libraries" lottery.  Grants of $1,000 will be awarded from January through December 2010, with one monthly winner drawn from entries received at the SinC web site. Any library can enter by completing the entry form and uploading a photo of one or more of your staff with three books in your collection by Sisters in Crime members (a listing of members is available on the site link).

• Reed Farrel Coleman is the subject of a couple of blogs this week. Independent Crime reported that Coleman is bringing Moe Prager back this year, and Mystery Fanfare featured Coleman as a guest blogger in its Partners in Crime series.

• Parts of the U.S. have been unusually snowbound lately (including D.C.), and Martin Edwards helpfully pointed out a few mysteries where snow was an important element.

• Itching for a challenge? Bryon Quertermous is giving writers a week to write a flash-fiction story on any subject and send along a link to the story which he'll include in a roll-call next Monday. And Rob Kitchin has a challenge of a different sort: he wants to compile a curriculum listing of ten must-read crime fiction classics. Send along your suggestions by January 31st, and he'll compile a listing of the most popular.

• Author James McCreet compiled a list of his own for The Guardian, his top 10 Victorian detective alternates to Sherlock Holmes.

• Being the progeny of a math professor, I'm a sucker for math stories, and here's a nice tie-in for you: NPR's Science Friday program featured one-minute math mysteries, created by the father/daughter authors Eric and Natalie Yoder.