Noir at the Bar Dallas is coming up on Sunday, November 7, hosted by David Hale Smith. Writers in the crime and mystery genres scheduled to read from their works at Dallas’s indie bookstore, The Wild Detectives, includes Harry Hunsicker, Kathleen Kent, Eryk Pruitt, Alexandra Burt, Jim Nesbitt, Valerie P. Chandler, Kevin R. Tipple, Graham Powell, Opalina Salas, and James Barrett Rodehaver.
This is more of a "treat" than a "trick": You still have a few days (until November 1) to send along a submission for the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grants Program for Unpublished Writers. Restrictions: Writers must not have published a book, short story, or dramatic work in the mystery field, either in print, electronic, or audio form, and the genre must be mystery stories of the Agatha Christie type—i.e., "traditional mysteries" (no excessive gore, gratuitous violence, or explicit sex). Each grant currently includes a $1,500 award plus a comprehensive registration for the following year's convention and two nights' lodging at the convention hotel, but does not include travel to the convention or meals.
The Glencairn Glass, headline sponsor of the prestigious McIlvanney and Bloody Scotland Debut crime-writing prize, is launching a new crime short story competition in partnership with Scottish Field Magazine. The first prize winner will receive £1000 and publication, and the two runners up will each receive £250. All three winners will also receive a set of six engraved Glencairn Glasses to enjoy their favorite dram with. Stories on the theme of "A Crystal-Clear Crime" with a maximum of 2,000 words can be submitted through December 31st, with winners to be announced in March 2022.
Crimefest will be held in person once again next year, and tickets have just recently gone on sale. Scheduled for May 12-15, 2022, the conference's headline guest is Ann Cleves, author of the Vera and Shetland series, both of which were adapted for television. Zoë Sharp has agreed to resume the Toastrix role, and there will be the rescheduled Diamond Dagger recipient interviews with Martin Edwards and Robert Goddard.
A bonus episode of Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up with a Halloween mystery short story called "Halloween Justice," written by Sharon Marchisello and read by actor Donna Beavers. The podcast's originator, Kings River Life magazine, also has some Halloween short stories online, including "Who Is Itt?" by Elena E. Smith, and "The Hound of Bakersfield: Halloween Mystery Short Story" by Pamela Ebel.
Janet Rudolph has an ever-expanding list of Halloween themed crime fiction to add a little extra spookiness to your holiday.
The Halloween issues of Yellow Mama (featuring three stories from vengeance from beyond the grave and more) and Black Petals (with new speculative fiction stories) are now available online. The Dark City's October print 'zine is also available (via Amazon), with more tales from "the darker side of reality."
The Special Collections of the University of Florida-Tampa Libraries has assembled a "Women & Crime Fiction" online exhibition featuring mystery highlights of its collection that focus on female authors, female detectives, femme fatales, and female victims. Some of the works featured are by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Vera Caspary, Lillian de la Torre, Anna Katharine Green, Margaret Millar, and Ellis Peters. Unusual items include The Vulcan Academy Murders by Jean Lorrah, which offers Captain Kirk as detective, and an April 1960 letter from Columbia University student, Leigh Marlowe, to mystery author Baynard Kendrick related to her study of villains. (HT to The Bunburyist)
The authors over at the Mystery Lovers Kitchen blog have some scary-good holiday treats for you to try, including Cleo Coyle's Pumpkins Spice Soul Cakes; Molly McRae's Ghost Cookies; and Leslie Karst's Pumpkin Soup with Brown Butter and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds.
Many bookstores have mascots in the form of cats of dogs, but what about a bookstore bat? Next Page Books & Coffee in Calgary, Canada, found a Little Brown Myotis bat sleeping on its front door. The bat was roosting in an open location because it was too cold to fly, and the bookstore team put a sign on the front door requesting shoppers open the door carefully to avoid disturbing it. The Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation later rescued the bat, and found it to be in good health. (HT to Shelf Awareness)
Books & Company in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, got literary with their Jack O'Lantern carvings this year. You can see some of their spooky creations here, here, here, and here.
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Ready to Go" by Peter M. Gordon.
In the Q&A roundup, Kathleen Kaska, author of Murder at the Galvez (A Sydney Lockhart Mystery), stopped by the Indie Crime Scene; Nicci French, the wife-and-husband writing team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, chatted with Deborah Kalb about their latest novel, The Unheard; E.B. Davis interviewed Krista Davis for Writers Who Kill about the third installment of her Pen & Ink mysteries, Murder Outside the Lines, a spooky Halloween mystery set in Georgetown; and Terrie Farley Moran chatted with Lesa Holstine about the cozy mystery series she co-writes with Laura Childs and about taking on the Murder She Wrote tie-in novels.
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