Mystery Melange

Killer Nashville has added Dr. Bill Bass, world renowned forensic pathologist and creator of The Body Farm series (under pen name Jefferson Bass), to give the opening presentation when the conference kicks off August 26-28. There will also be 60 new sessions this year organized into six different tracks on writing, publishing, building a career, genres, forensics and fun sessions for readers and fans. 

Coming September 14th, the day before Bouchercon officially starts in St. Louis, the Sisters in Crime "SinC Into Great Writing" seminar puts the evolving world of publishing in the spotlight with practical sessions designed to help crime fiction writers manage a 21st century publishing career. The keynote speaker is David Wilk, Chief Executive Officer of Booktrix, a publishing and marketing services consultancy.

New Pulp Press has made all of their books available as ebooks via the various digital stores. One of their upcoming releases is Crime Factory: The First Shift, an anthology with short stories by Ken Bruen, Dave Zeltserman, Roger Smith, Adrian McKinty, Dennis Tafoya, Craig McDonald, Leigh Redhead, and many more.

Sandra Seamans noted on her excellent blog that Chris Rhatigan, the new editor of All Due Respect, is open to submissions for stories, to be published in 2012. He gives details on what he's looking for as editor on the submission page.

The new Snubnose Press from the folks who bring you Spinetingler Magazine (Sandra Ruttan and Brian Lindenmuth) have released their first anthology offering, titled Speedloader. Snubnose encourages input from crime fiction readers, so here's your chance to help choose the cover for their next publication, Harvest of Ruins, complete with a contest.

Andrew Gulli, editor of the Strand Magazine, wrangled 26 bestselling crime fiction authors to contribute a chapter into a new collaborative novel, No Rest for the Dead. Each writer was assigned a portion of the story, without being told what came before or after. Profits from sales will go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. (Gulli's mother died of lymphoma in 1997, and his father also died of cancer.)

Crime Watch is offering a chance to win a full set of all eight crime, mystery, and thriller novels longlisted for the upcoming 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award. Although the award honors New Zealand books, the contest is open to readers worldwide.

Author Tana French (Faithful Place) listed five of her "favourite mysteries about family ties, what they mean, and the devastation they can wreak when they go wrong" for Shots Ezine.