February 2011 Archives

Got Fangborn?  For a limited time, "Swing Shift" will be available for your consideration.  You can read it here! 

Want more Agatha-nominated short mysteries?  You got 'em!

"Size Matters" by Sheila Connolly, Thin Ice (Level Best Books)
"Volunteer of the Year" by Barb Goffman, Chesapeake Crimes: They Had it Comin' (Wildside Press)
"So Much in Common" by Mary Jane Maffini, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - Sept./Oct. 2010
"The Green Cross" by Liz Zelvin, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - August 2010

I'm absolutely thrilled:  the Agatha Award nominations have been announced, and "Swing Shift," my Fangborn short story has received a nomination for Best Short Story!  "Swing Shift" appeared in the MWA anthology, Crimes by Moonlight, edited by Charlaine Harris.  This is the second of my Fangborn short stories and it features Gerry and Claudia Steuben's grandfather Jake in 1940s Boston.  Jazz, computers, spies, vampires and werewolves--it was a ton of fun to write!  I couldn't be more pleased to find myself in the company of fellow short story nominees Sheila Connolly, Barb Goffman, Mary Jane Maffini, and Liz Zelvin.  Sheila, Katherine Hall Page (nominated for Best Non-Fiction), and Sarah Smith (nominated for Best Children's/Young Adult) are New England SinCers, too!

Here is the complete list of nominees.  Please note, my fellow Femmes Fatales Donna Andrews and Hank Phillippi Ryan were nominated for Best Novel!  Congratulations to all the nominees!

The Agatha Award winners will be announced at the 2011 Malice Domestic banquet on April 30th.

Best Novel:
Stork Raving Mad by Donna Andrews (Minotaur)
Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard (Ballantine)
Drive Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Mira)
Truly, Madly by Heather Webber (St. Martin's Paperbacks)

Best First Novel:
The Long Quiche Goodbye by Avery Aames (Berkley)
Murder at the PTA by Laura Alden (Signet)
Maid of Murder by Amanda Flower (Five Star/Gale)
Full Mortality by Sasscer Hill (Wildside Press)
Diamonds for the Dead by Alan Orloff (Midnight Ink)

Best Non-fiction:
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum (Penguin)
Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: 50 Years of Mysteries in the Making by John Curran (Harper)
Sherlock Holmes for Dummies by Stephen Doyle & David A. Crowder (For Dummies)
Have Faith in Your Kitchen by Katherine Hall Page (Orchises Press)
Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang (W.W. Norton & Co.)

Best Short Story:
"Swing Shift" by Dana Cameron, Crimes by Moonlight (Berkley)
"Size Matters" by Sheila Connolly, Thin Ice (Level Best Books)
"Volunteer of the Year" by Barb Goffman, Chesapeake Crimes: They Had it Comin' (Wildside Press)
"So Much in Common" by Mary Jane Maffini, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - Sept./Oct. 2010
"The Green Cross" by Liz Zelvin, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - August 2010

Best Children's/Young Adult:
Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer by John Grisham (Dutton Children's)
Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus by R. L. LaFevers (Houghton Mifflin)
The Agency: A Spy in the House by Y. S. Lee (Candlewick)
Virals by Kathy Reichs (Razorbill)
The Other Side of Dark by Sarah Smith (Atheneum)

You know, it's snowing out there.  Again.  Sleuthfest is gearing up, March 3-6, 2011.  It's in Florida.  It features GoHs Dennis Lehane, Meg Gardiner, and SJ Rozan.  There will be panels on writing, panels with experts, panels with...me!  Did I mention, there will be agents and editors?

Go on.  Register.  You know you want to. 

Although I've been to Boskone before, this was my first year as a panelist.  What I loved about it was a.) discovering new-to-me writers to read, b.) feeling like my geek creds as a consumer of SF/F and UF and as a gamer still had some value, c.) catching up with friends from the mystery field, and d.) meeting new folks.  The organizers were super nice, helpful, and enthusiastic, wanting to make sure I'd met up with people I was excited about seeing (I was lucky enough to catch some hang-out time with Special Guest Charlaine Harris, below, who I usually see at mystery events). 

Although Boskone focuses on science fiction and fantasy, there's lots of room for other stuff, including horror, mystery, and romance (below, a panel "My Favorite Mysteries," with Toni L.P. Kelner, me, and Paul Tremblay crossing back and forth between the mystery and fantasy/horror worlds, and Darrell Schweitzer, Resa Nelson, and John Douglas).


Here, Toni (second from left) moderates a panel on the intersection of mystery, fantasy, and horror, featuring Paul, Ellen Asher, Joe Hill, and Christopher Golden.
 

I'll be at Boskone 48, February 18-20, 2011 and here's my schedule (below).  Will I see you there?  I hope so; the GoHs are impressive:

Guest of Honor     Charles Stross
Official Artist     Gregory Manchess
Special Guest     Charlaine Harris
Featured Filker     Erica Neely

Friday    6pm      Charlie Stross and the Divide Between SF and Fantasy
        Dana Cameron    
        John R. Douglas        (M)
        David G. Hartwell    
        Michael Swanwick    

Is the distinction real, artificial, notional, or commercial? Stross is one author who seems happy to write across -- as well as between-- the lines.

 Saturday  10am     Reading: Dana Cameron (0.5 hrs)

 Saturday  1pm      Monsters in the City: Exploring Urban Fantasy
        Dana Cameron    
        Suzy McKee Charnas    
        Alexander Jablokov        (M)
        Toni L. P. Kelner    
        Margaret Ronald    

 Saturday  2pm      My Favorite Mysteries
        Dana Cameron    
        John R. Douglas    
        Toni L. P. Kelner    
        Resa Nelson    
        Darrell Schweitzer    
        Paul G. Tremblay        (M)

What kinds of crossover qualities make so many SF/F/H fans also like a good mystery story?