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Keeping It Short
November 17, 2024 at 7pm ET
Michael Bracken • Kristopher Zgorski & Dru Ann Love • Wendy Walker • Stacy Woodson
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Michael Bracken
Michael Bracken is the Edgar- and Shamus-nominated, Derringer-winning author of almost 1,300 short stories published in The Best American Mystery Stories, The Best Mystery Stories of the Year, and many other publications. Additionally, he is the editor of Black Cat Mystery Magazine, an associate editor of Black Cat Weekly, and the editor or co-editor of 32 anthologies, including the Anthony-nominated The Eyes of Texas. He received a lifetime achievement award from the Short Mystery Fiction Society and, earlier this year, was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters for his contributions to Texas literature. He lives, writes, and edits in Texas.
Scattered, Smothered, Covered & Chunked: Crime Fiction Inspired by Waffle House
Editors Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson order up hardboiled and noir stories by talented and award-winning crime-fiction writers. Tales of redemption, revenge, and rebirth fill these pages, and each story serves someone (or something) scattered or smothered or covered or chunked. If Michelin rated crime (not food), the diners in these stories would all be three-star establishments. On the menu, you’ll find stories by: J.D. Allen, Donna Andrews, Ann Aptaker, Mark Bergin, Michael Bracken, Austin S. Camacho, Tammy Euliano, Nils Gilbertson, Sherry Harris, Hugh Lessig, Sean McCluskey, Deb Merino, Penny Mickelbury, Alan Orloff, Bonnar Spring, and Andrew Welsh-Huggins. You will never look at a roadside eatery the same way again.
Kristopher Zgorski & Dru Ann Love
Kristopher Zgorski is the founder and sole reviewer at the crime fiction book blog, BOLO Books. In 2018, he was awarded the MWA Raven Award for “outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing.” That same year, the blog was nominated for the Anthony Award. Kristopher writes a column on digital crime fiction resources for every issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Appearing in 2023, Kristopher’s first published short story was “Ticket to Ride”—a collaborative work with follow blogger Dru Ann Love, which appeared in Happiness is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of The Beatles. “Ticket to Ride” has gone on to win the Agatha and Anthony Awards for Best Short Story and is nominated in that same category for the Macavity Awards.
Dru Ann Love is the proprietor of dru’s book musings. Dru Ann won the 2024 Agatha and Anthony Awards for Best Short Story for “Ticket to Ride” her first published short story – co-written with fellow blogger Kristopher Zgorski, which appeared in Happiness is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of The Beatles. In 2017, she was awarded the MWA Raven Award for “outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing.
Happiness is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of The Beatles.
Happiness Is a Warm Gun is the sixth of Josh Pachter's "inspired by" anthologies, following volumes of stories inspired by the songs of Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffett, Billy Joel, and Paul Simon...and by the films of the Marx Brothers. For this collection, the lyrics of the Beatles' inspired the contributing authors to imagine a world in which murder, kidnapping, blackmail, and theft are as common as meter maids and yellow submarines. Each story was inspired by a song from one of the Fab Four's studio albums: seventeen albums, seventeen songs, seventeen stories-by a total of eighteen authors (since one was written collaboratively by Dru Ann Love and Kristopher Zgorski, two of crime fiction's leading bloggers). Many of the contributors, like the Beatles themselves, come from England-including award winners Martin Edwards, Paul Charles, Vaseem Khan, Christine Poulson, Marilyn Todd, Kate Ellis, and Tom Mead-while the American authors include such popular crime writers as John Copenhaver, Michael Bracken, John M. Floyd, David Dean, Joseph S. Walker, and Robert Lopresti. So roll up for the Magical Mystery Tour-step right this way! After all, when it comes to crime, all you need is...motive, means, and opportunity!
Wendy Walker
Wendy Walker is the international bestselling author of psychological suspense. Her books have been published in over 23 foreign languages and have been optioned for film and television. Her latest novels include What Remains and the Audible Original Mad Love. Wendy is a magna cum laude graduate of Brown University and Georgetown Law School. Prior to writing, she worked as a lawyer, investment banker, and trained for competitive figure skating. She lives in Fairfield County, Connecticut, where she raised three sons.
Mad Love
They were madly in love. The perfect couple. That was the story everyone in South River believed...until Gin Talcott and Adam Archer are found shot in their bed. Adam is dead at the scene. Gin is fighting for her life. Detectives Greta Jessup and Finn Pate are assigned to the case. Greta has a long history with Gin’s first husband, Eddie, and is determined to protect his 18-year-old twins. Piper discovered the bodies. Daniel is missing—and so is Adam’s gun. Shocking discoveries about Gin and Adam’s marriage quickly shine a bright light on the children—and their aunt Ruth Talcott, who has her own secrets. The one person who might know the truth is local estate attorney Sarah Branford. Gin left a letter for her two days before the shooting which Sarah now opens: Dear Sarah, If you’re reading this, there’s a story I need to tell you. It begins and ends with Adam. I will never forgive myself for what I’ve done.... The evidence twists and turns until the shocking truth about the Talcott family—and the killer—is finally revealed.
Stacy Woodson
Stacy Woodson is the co-editor of three forthcoming anthologies. A Macavity Award-nominated, Thriller Award-nominated, and two-time Derringer Award-winning author (4-time nominee) of close to 40 short stories, her work has appeared in various publications and anthologies, including The Best Mystery Stories of the Year. She made her crime fiction debut in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine’s Department of First Stories and won the 2018 Readers Award—the second time in the award’s history that a debut has taken first place. Her work has also been adapted for animation. She’s a US Army veteran and a member of the SAG-AFTRA. When not writing, she teaches writing at Outliers Writing University and works as background talent for movies and television. Past projects include Showtime’s Homeland, Amazon’s Jack Ryan, AMC’s The Walking Dead: World Beyond, and Wonder Woman 1984.
Agatha and Derringer Get Cozy: Thirteen Tales of Murder, Mystery, and Master Detection
In Agatha and Derringer Get Cozy, thirteen of today’s cleverest mystery and suspense authors get cozy with mystery fans in thirteen original mysteries written exclusively by Agatha and Derringer Award-winning authors. In some of their most creative and cunning cozy stories yet, these modern masters of suspense—John Floyd, Barb Goffman, Tara Laskowski, BV Lawson, Robert Lopresti, Kris Neri, Alan Orloff, Josh Pachter, Stephen D. Rogers, Shawn Reilly Simmons, Marcia Talley, Art Taylor, and Stacy Woodson—have meticulously planned for mystery enthusiasts a full docket of murder, mischief, and mayhem. The list of quaint homicidal hometowns and unlikely cloak-and-cozy amateur detective heroes is as inexhaustible as the imaginations of their ingenious creators. Keep the lights on and your head on a swivel, Mystery Fans, because with these poisoned-pen masters on the prowl, your safe little nook just might be the next cozy crime scene!
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The Back Room is the brainchild of bestselling authors Hank Phillippi Ryan and Karen Dionne.
Learn more about how they conceived of The Back Room, how it works, and about their books too!