The Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction

by Paula Gail Benson

While I’ll remember the 2019 Dallas Bouchercon for many reasons (particularly for having the chance to see a number of my Writers Who Kill partners up close and in person!), I’ll be especially grateful to Kendel Lynn and Carol Puckett, two of the local organizers for asking me to serve as the contest coordinator for the Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction. I’ve learned so much from the experience and had such a great opportunity to work with and meet some wonderful short mystery fiction authors.

In the beginning, no one knew what to expect. The contest honored the memory of revered Texas writer and reviewer Bill Crider. Open to any writer in the world, stories had to be between 3,500 and 5,000 words and deal with the theme “Deep in the Heart.”

Jim Jackson, who was experienced working on anthologies, agreed to be the submissions coordinator, without knowing what that task might entail. Sixty-three stories were blindly submitted. Thirty-seven advanced to the second round and eleven were selected as finalists for the following prizes:

·         First Place:      $1000

·         Second Place:  $750

·         Third Place:     $500

·         Bill Crider Memorial Scholarship:      Registration to Bouchercon 2020

We were so fortunate to have excellent short story writers and editors to agree to judge the preliminary rounds. They were: Carla Coupe, Kaye George, Barb Goffman, Debra H. Goldstein, Tara Laskowski, Robert Mangeot, Karen McCullough, Warren Moore, Terrie Moran, and Beth Terrell. I cannot thank these folks enough for taking on the difficult task of determining which stories would go forward.

Janet Hutchings, editor of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and Linda Landrigan, editor of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, graciously agreed to serve as judges for the final round.

The eleven finalists were:

“Long Overdue” by Jaap Boekestein

“Trust Me” by Douglas Dorow

“Mi Corazón, Sin Cartero, Sin Timbre de las Puerta (My Heart, Sans Postman, Sans Doorbell)” by Dixon Hill

“Resuscitation” by Ann Kellett

“Cahoots” by C.C. Guthrie

“The Texas Justice Project” by James L’Etoile

“Lambs and Wolves” by Robert Lopresti

“Death and Texas” by Lissa Marie Redmond

“Dead Armadillos Don’t Dance” by Kari Wainwright

“The Last Man in Lafarge” by Joseph S. Walker

“Armadillo by Morning” by Stacy Woodson

And, the top four prizes were awarded to:

·         First Place:      Joseph S. Walker

·         Second Place:  Jaap Boekestein

·         Third Place:     Douglas Dorow

·         Bill Crider Memorial Scholarship:      Dixon Hill

Crider Judges, Winners, and Entrants with Hank Phillippi Ryan

We were delighted to have three of the four prize winners (Joseph S. Walker, Douglas Dorow, and Dixon Hill) at the ceremony hosted by Hank Phillippi Ryan. In addition, a number of the participants and judges attended and we took a “class” photo.

Although publication was not part of the prize for this contest, I firmly believe you’ll be seeing these stories and their authors’ names in print. So, be watching for them.

Following Bouchercon, Joseph S. Walker attended New England Crime Bake, where he was honored with the Al Blanchard award. Way to go, Joe!

Many thanks to all who participated as entrants, judges, and planners of this contest. I hope it might be a tradition that continues to other Bouchercons.

Another group from the Crider Presentation: Kaye George, C.C. Guthrie,
Alan Orloff (Derringer Award Winner), Warren Moore, and Amy Denton

Do you write or read short stories? (I hope you might!)

Bouchercon Recap

by Kaye George

I went to my first ever Bouchercon this month, and a couple of days of last month (10/30-11/3). It wasn’t a month long, but kind of seemed like it!

WEDNESDAY

I flew there on Wednesday and checked into my hotel, the Hyatt Regency Reunion Tower. Although I lived in Dallas for nearly 20 years and have been to Reunion Tower at least once, I don’t remember the hotel and the entire city looked unfamiliar. They’ve built—and are building—so many new skyscrapers since I left well over 15 years ago.

I’ll admit the conference was bewildering to me. I never did find a good map and used this one from the huge tome I got when I checked in Wednesday. There was no map in the schedule I carried around. It felt like I walked a thousand miles!

THURSDAY

I had breakfast Thursday morning with a good friend from Dallas, Sarah Weiss.

My panel, on self-publishing, was that morning at 9:30, but I don’t have any pictures of it.

 I do have pix of two other panels I attended that day, both short story panels. I didn’t sell any books at the conference since I couldn’t get them into the bookstore until after my panel and my signing, due to miscommunication between the hotel and the conference, I was told. That was quite disappointing.

Becki Willis, Sandy Steen, Mary Sojak, Mad Hildebrandt, Angela Zeman, Bess Carnan, Rhonda Gilliland, Paul Benson

 

Barb Goffman, R.T. Lawton, Mysti Berry, James Lincoln Warren, Michael Bracken, John Floyd

There was a Guppy gathering later in the day (I neglected to get photos) and Denise Tiller and I ended up at the bar together.

FRIDAY

Friday started with the Sisters in Crime breakfast. There were some pictures there—this one of Ramona’s Facebook Sprint group, but I didn’t make the Guppy picture, unfortunately.

Annette Dashofy, Me, Liz Milliron, Cheryl Hollon, Dru Ann Love, Millie Naylor Hast (her picture)

I attended the awarding of the Bill Crider Awards, since I was a judge for those. It was great to see Joseph S. Walker win the award, since he also had an excellent story in my own anthology in 2017.

Me and Joseph Walker above. The short story awards people below, Paula Benson, an important man whose name I forgot, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Gigi Pandian (speaking), and Kevin Tipple

Alan Orloff took the Derringer for Best Short Story. Here he is, on the right, with Brian Silverman, nominee for Best Novelette, and another writer whose name I can’t remember.

Derringer finalists

Derringer winners

Sandra Murphy and Nancy West joined me at the bar that night.

Cheryl Hollon and I went to the Denim Party, which included some BBQ, but very little line dancing and the bar closed very early. It included a surprise live auction, but no one knew what the items were so the bidding wasn’t brisk.

SATURDAY

I took shots of the daytime view from my room and the two panels I attended, Deep in the Heart of Texas at 11:00, and Anthony nominees at 4:00. 

Deep in the Heart of Texas: Scott Montgomery, Daniel J. Hale, Harry Hunsicker, Nancy G. West, William Dylan Powell, Teresa Trent 

Anthony Best Short Stories nominees: (M) Angela Crider Neary, Barb Goffman, S. A. Cosby (winner), Art Taylor, Holly West

Anthony Winners are here.

I attended the Diamond Party Saturday night and it turned out to be a dinner, much to our surprise.

I know I’m in a picture with members of this blog, but haven’t gotten a copy of it. Don’t remember when that was taken.

SUNDAY

I headed out and drove to Austin to spend the rest of that week at my son’s house. Got home on the 8^th, exhausted!

There were some great highlights! One was signing my story in COOKED TO DEATH for Rhonda Gilliland, hanging around with all the other people mentioned above, and just being with so many writers. The Kensington signing was fun, too, even though I don’t have a book out with them yet. Can’t wait until that event at Malice. Needless to say, I had a wonderful time at Bouchercon, but was confused for most of it!

Here’s one final comment on the drama of the whole thing. On the way there, a guy had a heart attack on our plane! On the way back, my luggage didn’t get home with me. I got it the next day, but was panicking!

Bouchercon 2019 Wrap Up

By AnnetteDashofy

Another Bouchercon has come and gone leaving in its wake a lot of wonderful memories. And a lot of exhausted mystery writers—including several of my fellow Writers Who Kill!—and readers.

As is often the case, travel provided the biggest adventure. I try my best to plan ahead for a smooth trip. But you know what they say about the best-laid plans. My travel buddy, Liz Milliron, was supposed to avoid some of the airport traffic by coming to my house, leaving her car in my garage, and driving with me to the valet parking lot. Since I live on the opposite side of Pittsburgh International from the city, I have NO traffic to deal with. The problem is Liz still had to get through the city to get to my house, and we hadn’t planned for the traffic jam created by an accident on the Parkway. Instead of taking no more than an hour to get to my house, it took Liz over two.

Thankfully, we made it to the airport with no other issues, made our flight and expected no additional speedbumps on our way to Dallas.

Then we landed in Houston. As soon as our phones came out of airplane mode, the notification hit. Our 45-minute layover was now an hour and 45 minutes. Our rushed “we’ll grab a sandwich” turned into a leisurely lunch.

And then a leisurely snack. Chocolate-covered potato chips make a pretty good salve for calming travel frustrations.

The departure changes bounced back and forth more than a pinball until we finally boarded our flight two hours late.

By the time we checked in, we were too exhausted to go out for dinner or to meet friends in the lobby. 

At least our hotel room was gorgeous and room service didn’t take too long.

Wednesday, Liz joined Dru Ann Love on a bus tour of the city while I went for a very chilly walk with my Pittsburgh sister in crime, Susan Thibadeau. It was too darned cold to wander as far or as long as we’d have liked, but we enjoyed seeing a few sights.

Bouchercon kicked off on Thursday with Susan’s panel and a rousing game of Who Wants to be a Mysteryaire with the gang from Jungle Red Writers. Lots of fun and laughs.

(FWIW, I suck at game shows. Just sayin’.)

Later, in the lobby, I ran into a fan of my Zoe Chambers series, Cheryl Aker, who generously gifted me with a pair of wooden squirrels she’d made herself! 

(If you’re asking, “Squirrels?” it’s a “thing” over on my Zoe Chambers Mysteries &Friends group on Facebook.) Sweetest moment of the entire convention for me!

Friday, I cheered on my former Pittsburgh mister in crime J.J. Hensley on his panel (come back, J.J.! I know Georgia is warmer, but we miss you!).

I also attended the first of the Poison Lady’s presentations. I always leave her workshops feeling…unnerved…but fascinated.

Saturday, I bravely attended the Poison Lady’s second presentation. The Q & A was as frightening as the workshop, with attendees eagerly asking about ways to slip toxic substances to people I can only hope were fictional victims in their books!

Lisa Unger interviewed Guest of Honor Hank Phillippi Ryan in one of my favorite events of the convention. I’ve known Hank for years and have heard her speak many many many times and STILL managed to learn a few fascinating tidbits about her.

That evening, I got to spend time with two of my favorite people, my former editor Rachel Jackson and my former (and current freelance) editor, Erin George. It was wonderful catching up with them in person!

Sunday morning, after rising early to pack and check out, I had my panel about the careers of fictional sleuths. Our crowd was small to start, although it grew considerably as bleary-eyed attendees, clutching coffee, wandered in. 

Next, Liz took part in a very funny panel about small towns, big crime. 

As soon as she finished her book signing, we grabbed a Lyft to the airport…where we had another delay. Thankfully only one hour this time.

I’m glad I went. It was wonderful seeing old friends and making new ones. We shared a lot of laughs and a few drinks—both alcoholic and caffeinated.

Who else was there? Leave a comment and share your favorite memory!  

Something Old, Something New

by Kaye George

Something Borrowed, Something Blue.

Nope not getting married, but I think I can make the wedding ditty fit my post today.

by bushko from morguefile.com

Something Old

The conclusion of the cliffhanger, finally! My publisher said I can announce this:

Darkhouse Books will be publishing my Cressa Carraway Musical Mysteries series. The two books, so far, were orphaned when the previous publisher went out of business. They’ll be republished in new editions with new covers and new titles! AND I’ll finish the third in the series. I’m very excited about this!!

Something New

There’s another release I can tell you about, too. Darkhouse Books brought out an anthology October 9th that contains a story by me—A MURDEROF CROWS, with “Grist for the Mill,” a story about a grist of bees. The idea was that each story dealt with one of those odd animal groups names you keep hearing about. I’m extremely pumped that the editor, Sandra Murphy, gave me credit for the initiation of the idea for the book and spelled it out in the introduction. 

Something Borrowed

Here’s the first line of her intro to A MURDER OF CROWS:

“It’s all Kaye George’s fault.”

by lisaleo at morguefile.com

Something Blue

That dang Daylight Savings Time change coming up. I really, really hate changing. The Fall Back is better than the Spring Forward, but not by much. By the end of that first week, the days feel forty hours long.

The pain is greatly mitigated this year because I will already be in a different time zone and will have fallen back an hour a few days before November third. I’m flying into DFW airport on Wednesday for Bouchercon, my FIRST ever Bouchercon! I’ll be joined by 1700 other convention goers. Yes, 1700! No wonder it has to go on for five days, 10/30-11/3.

I get to be on a panel Thursday morning, 9:30-10:30 (signing at 10:30-11:00) called How Do I Self-Publish? It’s a good thing I’ll be on that panel, because I don’t know how to do that anymore. My self-publishing was done with CreateSpace a few years ago, and that’s gone. I’ll keep my ears open and take notes! Our panel is led by Maggie Smith, with Bryan Cassiday, Ann Fields, Billy Kring, Alec Peche, and Susan Peters. I’ll be attending a lot of other events, too: meeting with members of the Short Mystery Fiction Society informally, breakfast with my old friend Sara Weiss, SinC breakfast (not the same day), awards presentations including Derringers and Bill Crider Awards, Librarian Tea, a bunch of panels, the banquet, the bar, and lunch Sunday with former co-workers from when I lived in Dallas. Then I’ll be off to Austin to stay with my son and daughter-in-law for a few days and see some friends from when I lived there.

So, I guess, not really THAT blue.

I hope your weekend is going great and that you weather the time change without too much angst.

Memories of Bouchercons Past

By AnnetteDashofy

On Tuesday, I’ll be jetting off to Dallas, TX for Bouchercon 2019. Arguably the largest mystery/thriller fan convention in the country, for me it’s a chance to meet my readers and be a total fangirl at the same time. I wish I could go every year, but tight travel budgets get in the way. This will be my seventh Bcon.

As I make my lists and pack my suitcases, I’ve been sorting through photos from past years, remembering friends I’ve made and friends who are no longer with us.

My first Bcon was 2008 in Baltimore. I traveled and roomed with good pal Joyce Tremel. Neither of us were published yet but were somewhat “known” for our group blog Working Stiffs. Joyce and I finally met Wilfred Bereswill, one of our fellow Stiffs, face-to-face. 

Will passed away unexpectedly a few years later, which makes this memory all the more bittersweet.

I also met Hank Phillippi Ryan for the first time there, and I’m proud and honored to still count her as a good friend.

In 2012, I attended Bouchercon in Cleveland. Only two hours from home, a lot of my local Sisters in Crime made the trip from Pittsburgh. 

I never expected to fall in love with a city that’s home to some of our biggest sports rivalries, but I did.

Especially the chocolate martinis at the Chocolate Bar.

Bouchercon took me to Long Beach, CA in 2014 where I must confess, I played hooky a lot.

I mean, it was Long Beach. California. In November. Back home in Pittsburgh we had snow. 

In Long Beach, I dipped my toes in the Pacific.

Most of my memories of Raleigh, NC in 2015 never made it to film, including Martha Reed eating okra in the hotel restaurant. 

They also had chocolate martinis.

In 2016, the mystery world took over New Orleans. Again, I played a lot of hooky to see the sights. 

The food. The atmosphere. The architecture. 

But mostly, the good friends. It was amazing.

Last year, in 2018, I traveled to St. Petersburg, FL. I spent a lot more time at the convention this time, but it was in the Vinoy! Who needed to go anywhere else?

For anyone coming to Dallas, I promise to be close by…because I’ve wised up and am going a day early to sightsee before Bouchercon officially kicks off! I hope to see you there!