The 'Zine Scene

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine's July/August double issue includes publication of the Black Orchid Award Novella winning story. Plus, there's a baseball-themed story fit for summer, "The Making of Velveteen Dream" by Chris Muessig, and new short fiction from Jay Carey, John M. Floyd, and R.T. Lawton.

Wildside Press announced they're launching a new publication titled Black Cat Mystery Magazine. Named in honor of the company mascot, BCMM will focus on contemporary and traditional mysteries, as well as thrillers and suspense stories. The first issue will be released in September and feature stories by Art Taylor, Meg Opperman, John Floyd, Josh Pachter, Barb Goffman, and Alan Orloff, among others.

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine's summer issue has a new spy story by Jeffery Deaver, “Hard to Get,” taking readers to Eastern Europe where a new American agent encounters his attractive Russian counterpart. Also, detective Kennedy in Paul Charles’s “Harry Potter and the Shadow of the Forger’s Throne” investigates the murder of a book collector, and Julius Katz that of a literary agent in Dave Zeltserman’s “Julius Katz and the Terminated Agent.” Plus a trip on the road and in Hollywood past and present in the Department of First Stories’ “The Fast and the Furriest” by Pat H. Broeske, and much more.

Mystery Scene's summer Issue #150 features an interview by Oline Cogdill with Scott Turow on the 30th publication anniversary of Presumed Innocent; one of the founding members of Sisters in Crime, Sara Paretsky, talks about why such an organization was needed then and remains essential today; Cheryl Solimini profiles Linda Greenlaw, an author who was also the only female swordfishing boat captain on the East Coast of the United States, featured in the book and film The Perfect Storm; Jake Hinkson has a feature on Eddie Muller, who has earned the sobriquet "The Czar of Noir"; Ann Whetstone takes a look at train mysteries; Kevin Burton Smith takes a look at locked room and other impossible crime stories featuring private eyes; Craig Sisterson catches up with Michael Connelly as he debuts a series featuring Renee Ballard, an LAPD cop working the night shift; Hallie Ephron talks about following in the literary footsteps of her celebrated family; and Tom Nolan chats with Denise Mina who has some interesting thoughts on the high art/low art debate in literature.

Mystery Weekly's latest print edition has new short crime fiction from Melanie Atherton Allen, Kevin Z. Garvey, Tapanga Koe, J. Michael Major, Bruce Harris, Thom Bennett, Peter DiChellis, Tom Tolnay, and Rhonda Howard.

The new issue of Noir City has "many and varied delights: headshrinkers, a hammer-wielding murderess, the King of Capers, a strange cult that begat a noir legend, more Bs than you ever bargained for … and even an appearance by The Boss." The edition also has the debut of a new regular feature, The Dark Page, dedicated to contemporary crime fiction and penned by crime and mystery writer Eric Beetner. He kicks it off by interviewing one of the most prolific and knowledgeable figures in the business, Anthony Award-winning novelist and historian Bill Crider. 

Over My Dead Body is an online 'zine that had taken a bit of a break, but is back again with new book reviews and short stories.

Suspense magazine's summer edition includes Interviews with Catherine Finger, Harley Muzak, Wendy Webb, Karen Dionne, Adam Mitzner, James Hayman, Kenneth Johnson, Nicci French, and Laurie R. King. The magazine also has a new section by bestselling author Alan Jacobson, “The Writer’s Toolkit,” with everything you need to know to put yourself on the best path. Dennis Palumbo also has a great article about "Envy," Anthony Franze continued his "Rules of Writing" with C.J. Box, plus there are pages of book reviews, short stories and more.

Issue Two of the gritty new crime publication Switchblade Magazine just hit the streets in print (an ebook format is on the way) with 12 sharp and deadly hard luck-tales. Authors offering up their short fiction include William Dylan Powell, Renee Asher Pickup, Peter DiChellis, Carmen Jaramillo, Paul Greenberg, Charles Roland, S. E. Bailey, Rob T. White, Ashley Erwin, J. L. Boekestein, Scotch Rutherford, and Stephen D. Rogers.