Interview with Agatha Nominees for Best Short Story!

Each year, I feel very privileged to be able to host interviews with the Agatha nominees for best short story in The Stiletto Gang and Writers Who Kill. I always learn from their answers and appreciate so much what goes into the craft.




Following is a list of the nominated stories with links on the titles so you can read and enjoy. Thanks to Gretchen, Barb, Debra, Gigi, and Art for taking the time to answer the questions. And check in at Writers Who Kill tomorrow to hear more from these talented authors. Best wishes to all. — PGB




“Double Deck the Halls” by Gretchen Archer (Henery Press)
“Whose Wine is it Anyway” by Barb Goffman in 50 Shades of Cabernet (Koehler Books)
“The Night They Burned Miss Dixie’s Place” by Debra Goldstein in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (May/June 2017)
“The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” by Gigi Pandian (Henery Press)
“A Necessary Ingredient” by Art Taylor in Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Seat (Down & Out Books)

How do you know an idea is “short story worthy”?

Gretchen Archer: If the elements are there—story arc, strong characters, interesting setting, and a puzzle to solve—I find the idea worthy. There are many colorful characters in the Davis Way series, so I had a surfeit of choices for a protagonist in Double Deck the Halls. From my character list, I chose Granny. The setting is always the same—the Bellissimo Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. And the puzzle? What could be more fun than an octogenarian MacGyver?

Barb Goffman: When considering if an idea is better suited to be developed into a short story or a novel, I think the key is how complicated the plot is and how early you want to bring your main character in on the action. If your story involves multiple murders, for instance, and you want to show that your protagonist is on the case from the beginning, then you're likely describing a novel. That idea seems too complicated to develop properly in a short story. But if you have the same scenario and your protagonist comes in at the last murder and quickly figures out whodunit, then that could be a short story. Which way to go? I think that's a style decision for the author. 

This is why I tell people that a short story is about one thing. One specific tight tale. The more complicated the idea, the more detail you need to show, the more pages your tale will take. The plot of my story "Whose Wine Is It Anyway?" has two inciting incidents-- twice within a few days my main character, a legal secretary, feels slighted by her long-time boss--and the resolution comes quickly thereafter, so it was well suited for a short story. (For those who haven't read the story, in Myra's last week before retirement, she learns her boss has hired an airhead to replace her and he does something that makes her realize he's been taking her for granted. So Myra devises a plan to teach him a lesson.)

Debra Goldstein: I don’t initially know if an idea is “short story worthy.” When a story works, it flows and ends exactly where it should. The idea of the story may come from a prompt, a phrase stuck in my mind, or a character’s voice. In “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,” the opening sentence “I remember the night they burned Ms. Dixie’s Place” was the first thing I thought of, but then I realized that most of the story had to be told on that night, when the main character was only nine years old. Once I recognized the voice would be a child’s, the importance of the premise became evident. I write both novels and short stories, but there was no question that this idea and the portrayed characters and incident would only work as a tightly written short story.

Gigi Pandian: I love short stories that have a satisfying twist. In my own short fiction, the twists that I like to play with are seemingly impossible crimes that have a rational explanation.

My full-length novels are adventures in addition to being mysteries, so while my books do have twists in them, the twists and the puzzle aren’t necessarily as important to keep the story going as the characters themselves and the adventures they’re having.

Therefore when I come up with an idea for a story involving an impossible crime twist, instead of an idea that centers around a specific character or a larger plot, then I know it’s a short story rather than a novel.

Art Taylor: I’m primarily a short story writer, so most of my ideas seem suited to that length—it just seems to be the form I’m most naturally drawn toward, the one I’m most comfortable in. Ideas come from a variety of places, of course: a bit of overheard conversation, a dream, a trip (the travel kind, not the hallucinogenic kind!), even other short stories or novels that prompt the imagination along. While I tend to think in narrative arcs at short story length, I also try to fold in other threads as well to help enrich the story’s texture and its breadth—by which I mean balancing several characters’ narrative arc and the ways they intertwine, for example, or by layering in some thematic arc alongside the arc of the plot, letting several things speak one to another. I may not be able to write long very often, but I try to write dense at least—dense in a good way, I hope!

Tell us about the publisher of your nominated short story and how the story came to be published.

Gretchen Archer: “Double Deck the Halls: is a short-story companion to my Davis Way Crime Caper mystery series published by Henery Press. I knew where Deck would land before I wrote it.

Barb Goffman: "Whose Wine Is It Anyway?" appeared in the anthology 50 Shades of Cabernet, which was published by Koehler Books. This book is the brainchild of author Teresa Inge. She came up with the idea of a lighthearted anthology involving mystery and wine. She wanted to help promote the Virginia wine industry. So she reached out to a bunch of Virginia authors and asked if we'd be interested in submitting stories for the book. After doing a lot of interesting research I came up with a workable story idea, wrote my story, and submitted it. Teresa shopped the manuscript around and Koehler ended up picking it up. They're based in Virginia Beach, near where Teresa lives, so it all worked out very nicely. Koehler gave us multiple rounds of edits and proofreading. And royalties. What's fun about them is for each book they publish, they put two potential covers on their website and the general public can vote on which one they like better. The cover with the most votes becomes the cover of the book.

Debra Goldstein: Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine not only published my first submission to it, “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,” in its May/June 2017 issue, but featured it on its cover. Neither of these exciting events almost happened. Even though several of my short stories had been accepted by other publications, I lacked the confidence to send my work to AHMM or Ellery Queen. Several friends, including Art, Barb, Bob Mangeot and Terrie Moran encouraged me to submit my work to these Dell magazines, but the one who made me believe in myself was B.K. (Bonnie) Stevens.

When I read her story, “Thea’s First Husband,” I was so blown away by it that I wrote her a fan email asking if she taught online classes. She didn’t, but she sent me suggested readings and we subsequently became friends. She encouraged me to reach beyond my fears. Last year, every Malice Domestic recipient received the AHMM which contained “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place” in their book bags. A few weeks after Malice, I received a package and note from Bonnie. She wrote she believed it was an award-winning story and knew, because it was my first Alfred Hitchcock submission and acceptance, I would want extra copies of the issue. I wish she had lived to see that her encouragement, as well as that of so many friends, made this wonderful ride happen.

Gigi Pandian: Henery Press publishes my Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries. The most recent book The Ninja’s Illusion, is set in Japan, and I had an idea for a locked-room mystery twist that needed to have the characters stranded in a remote place. I was having such fun with the characters in The Ninja’s Illusion that I wondered if Jaya and her friend Tamarind could get waylaid on their way home from Japan. I came up with the idea to have them get stranded due to bad weather, so “The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” is set at the remote inn where they’re forced to seek shelter from a storm.

I had a lot of fun writing a story-within-a-story, because in “The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” there’s a ghost story about an avenging ghost that killed an unscrupulous man who was reading an Agatha Christie novel at the hotel nearly a century ago—and now the “ghost” is striking again while the guests are trapped. Can Jaya figure out what’s really going on? The team at Henery Press loved the story idea, and they published it as a short story single the month after the novel came out last fall.

Art Taylor: “A Necessary Ingredient” was published in Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea. Paul D. Marks—a good friend, fellow blogger at SleuthSayers, and co-editor of the first volume of the Coast to Coast—reached out to say he was doing this second volume with the same publisher, Down & Out Books, in this case focused on private eyes, and would I like to contribute something? I don’t generally write private eye stories, but the geographical slant on the anthology attracted me—the opportunity to explore the intersection of that subgenre of crime fiction and my home state of North Carolina, which was the region I was assigned. That’s also one of the things I enjoyed about writing the story, trying to navigate the shadow of one tradition (hardboiled PI stories) against another (traditional, regional mystery fiction, specifically here with nods toward one of my own mentors, Margaret Maron, another North Carolina native). An additional inspiration was the tonka bean itself, the “necessary ingredient” of the title, which I’d first heard about from another NC-based writer, Wilton Barnhardt—but to reveal more about that story would give away too much about the story I wrote.

 

If you could bring your protagonist as a guest to the Agatha banquet, what shoes would he or she be wearing?

 

Gretchen Archer: Easy Spirit Happy Feet Walkabouts. With Velcro. She’d pair them with a gold velour track suit.

Barb Goffman: Myra would choose something stylish and practical. I'm not quite sure what that would be, but it surely would be nicer than what I'll be wearing. I go for comfort, so I'll be in the equivalent of stylish slippers.

Debra Goldstein: My protagonist would be wearing these scuffed basketball shoes:

Gigi Pandian: “The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” has two main characters, historian Jaya Jones and her librarian friend Tamarind Ortega. Jaya is only five feet tall in socks, so she loves her heels. She’d dress in black slacks, a sleeveless black blouse, and three-inch shiny black stilettos. Tamarind is tall and big-boned, with short hair she dyes different colors (it’s blue right now). She thinks of herself as post-punk and loves her purple combat boots, so for the Agatha banquet she’d wear those boots with a homemade dress that looks like Molly Ringwald’s dress from Pretty in Pink.

Art Taylor: Ambrose Thornton comes from a fairly proper Southern family, so I’m sure he could spiffy up if he needed to: a sharply polished pair of wingtips maybe? But honestly, he strikes me as someone who would rather be back home reading than out socializing most nights. 

Looking Forward to Mystery Short Story Award Season

by Paula Gail Benson

The time is quickly approaching for recognizing short story excellence in the mystery field. The following authors have been nominated for Agathas for their short stories, an award presented at the Malice Domestic conference at the end of April:

Best Short Story

“Double Deck the Halls” by Gretchen Archer (Henery Press)
“Whose Wine is it Anyway” by Barb Goffman in 50 Shades of Cabernet (Koehler Books)
“The Night They Burned Miss Dixie’s Place” by Debra Goldstein in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (May/June 2017)
“The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” by Gigi Pandian (Henery Press)
“A Necessary Ingredient” by Art Taylor in Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Seat (Down & Out Books)

Please notice that each of the nominated stories has a link that will allow you to read it. Let me assure you that you’ll enjoy each one. Next month, we’ll have an interview with the authors.

In 2013, I surveyed the awards given to mystery short stories in a post for Writers Who Kill. Here’s a link to that post: http://writerswhokill.blogspot.com/2013/08/awards-for-writing-mystery-short-stories.html

For a comprehensive list of crime fiction awards given internationally, please click on this link.
http://awards.omnimystery.com/mystery-awards.html

Here’s an update of national awards given to mystery short stories:

Agatha

The Agatha Awards have been presented since 1988 by Malice Domestic at its annual conference. The awards recognize the traditional mystery written in the style of Agatha Christie, having no explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence.

Nominees are selected by ballot from persons registered for the conference by December 31.

Nomination forms are tallied by the Agatha Committee. The top five choices in each category are placed on the ballot. Attendees vote by secret ballot at the conference and the awards are presented at the banquet. The awards are porcelain tea pots.

For more information, see: http://www.malicedomestic.org/agathaawards.html

Anthony

The Anthony awards, named for Anthony Boucher (writer, critic, and a founder of the Mystery Writers of America) have been presented since 1986 at the annual Bouchercon World Mystery Convention. The Anthonys feature a Best Anthology category as well as best short story. In Toronto, the Anthonys included a category for Best Novella for a work of 8,000-40,000 words. B.J. Stevens posthumously won the inaugural award for “The Last Blue Glass.”

Nominating ballots are emailed to the registered attendees. Awards are determined by the persons attending Bouchercon.

For more information, see: https://www.bouchercon2018.com/anthony-awards/

Black Orchid Novella

Entries of 15,000 to 20,000 words submitted by May 31 are eligible for the Black Orchid Novella Award. The winner is announced at the The Wolfe Pack’s (a society devoted to Nero Wolfe) Annual Banquet. The award winning story has often been published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.

For more information: http://www.nerowolfe.com/htm/literary_awards/black_orchid_award/Black_Orchid_award_proc.htm

Derringer

The Derringer Awards, named after the palm-sized handgun, have been presented since 1997 by the Short Mystery Fiction Society (SMFS). Presentations are made in March. Members and editors may submit stories for an initial blind consideration by volunteer judges who select five nominees in each category. To be eligible to vote for the awards, a person must join the SMFS by December 31.

The awards are presented by category: (1) best story of 1000 words or less; (2) best story of 1001 to 4000 words; (3) best story of 4001 to 8000 words; and (4) best story of 8001 to 17,500 words. 

Best Flash Story (Up to 1,000 words)
Best Short Story (1,001 to 4,000 words)
Best Long Story (4,001 to 8,000 words)
Best Novelette (8,001 to 20,000 words)

See the following web page for the complete selection procedure: https://shortmystery.blogspot.com/2008/08/smfs-derringer-awards-procedure.html 

Edgar 
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards have been presented annually since 1946 by the Mystery Writers of America. Authors who submit their stories for consideration must meet the requirements for active status in the MWA whether or not they are members of MWA. For more information, see:

http://theedgars.com/

Short stories are considered works up to 22,000 words from approved magazines, periodicals, anthologies, and websites. Submissions meeting the requirements may be made online at:

http://mysterywriters.org/edgars/entry-form-for-short-story/

The Robert L. Fish Memorial Award is presented for the best first published mystery short story by a previously unpublished author.


Macavity
Each year since 1987, members of the Mystery Readers International organization vote and present the Macavity awards in four categories. The Macavity award is named for T.S. Eliot’s  "mystery cat" in the Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. For more information, see: http://mysteryreaders.org/macavity-awards/

Shamus
Honoring publications since 1981, the Shamus awards, created by Robert J. Randisi, have been presented by the Private Eye Writers of America. PWA committee members select the nominees and winners in a manner similar to the Edgar selections. A “private eye” is considered the protagonist of a mystery who is a professional investigator, but not a police officer or government agent. For more information, see: http://www.privateeyewriters.com/shamus_awards.html


Silver Falchion
For the last two years, an award for the best anthology or collection has been presented at Killer Nashville, which honors recipients with the Silver Falchion. For more information, see: https://killernashville.com/awards/silver-falchion-award/

Thriller


Presented since 2006 by the International Thriller Writers, the Thrillers are announced at the annual Thrillerfest conference. Short stories of up to 35,000 words are considered so that novellas qualify for submission. An entry must be published in print or e-zine format during the previous year. For more information, see: http://thrillerwriters.org/programs/award-nominees-and-winners/

Celebrating the Short Story: the 2016 Agatha Short Story Nominees

by Paula Gail Benson

Malice Domestic has become a wonderful homecoming for me each year. Held in late April or early May near Washington, D.C. (for the last several years in Bethesda, Maryland), it celebrates the best in the “traditional mystery,” written in the style of Agatha Christie, where the emphasis is on resolving the puzzle of the crime rather than delving into the more gruesome aspects of the deed.

Excellence is recognized at Malice Domestic by the annual Agatha Awards, given to living authors for works published during the previous calendar year. Short stories are included in the nominated categories and this year’s group of nominees features a group of outstanding writers. Not only are the authors well-respected and prolific, but also the publications demonstrate how short fiction is experiencing a new golden age for mystery readers’ enjoyment.

Following are the nominees and links where you may read the short stories:

Best Short Story:
"Double Jinx: A Bellissimo Casino Crime Caper Short Story" by Gretchen Archer (Henery Press)
"The Best-Laid Plans" by Barb Goffman in Malice Domestic 11: Murder Most Conventional (Wildside Press)
"The Mayor and the Midwife" by Edith Maxwell in Blood on the Bayou: Bouchercon Anthology 2016 (Down & Out Books)
"The Last Blue Glass" by B.K. Stevens in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
"Parallel Play" by Art Taylor in Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning (Wildside Press)

Gretchen Archer, who writes the Davis Way Crime Caper series for Henery Press, uses the setting for her novels, the Bellissimo Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, for her short story about a holiday host investigating the death of a slot machine tournament player. Henery Press issued the story in electronic format on Amazon. Gretchen is a Tennessee housewife, who lives on Lookout Mountain with her husband, son, and a Yorkie named Bently. Her first Davis Way Crime Caper, Double Whammy, was a finalist for the Daphne du Maurier Award and appeared on the USA TODAY Bestsellers List.

Barb Goffman has won the Agatha, Macavity, and Silver Falchion awards for her mystery short stories. She received the Silver Falchion was for her collection, Don't Get Mad, Get Even. She also has been nominated for the Anthony and Derringer. Her nominated story was published in  Malice Domestic 11: Murder Most Conventional. It’s a great joy to see Malice Domestic resume its practice of issuing short story anthologies, particularly this volume that concentrates on mysteries at conventions. Barb’s story reveals how the best laid plans of two honored guests at Malice Domestic can take a bad turn for the worse.

Edith Maxwell, an Agatha nominated and Amazon bestselling author, writes two series under her own name (the Quaker Midwife and Local Foods Mysteries), two under the name Maddie Day, and previously wrote the Lauren Rousseau mysteries as Tace Baker. Her nominated short story appeared in the Bouchercon anthology, Blood on the Bayou: Bouchercon Anthology 2016 edited by Greg Herren (Down & Out Books), and featured her Quaker midwife protagonist, who must solve the mystery of a death in a New Orleans’ family that has come to Amesbury in 1888.

B.K. Stevens has published over fifty short stories, most appearing in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and eleven of which have been collected in Her Infinite Variety: Tales of Women and Crime, published by Wildside Press. In addition, she has written a novel featuring a deaf interpreter, Interpretation of Murder (Black Opal Books), and a young adult martial arts mystery, Fighting Chance (Poisoned Pen Press). She has won a Derringer and has been nominated for Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. Her nominated story, published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, was described by editor Linda Landrigan as: “A young wife finds her life’s disappointments measured in broken glass.”

Art Taylor, associate professor of English at George Mason University and frequent contributor to the Washington Post, the Washington Independent Review of Books, and Mystery Scene Magazine, won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel for On the Road with Del & Louise: A Novel in Stories. For his short stories, he has won two Agatha Awards, two Anthony Awards (one for his own short fiction and the other for editing Murder Under the Oaks: Bouchercon Anthology 2015), a Macavity Award, and three consecutive Derringer Awards. His nominated story, about a parent’s efforts to protect her child, was published in Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning.

If you haven’t already discovered these extraordinary authors, I hope you’ll take this opportunity to read their nominated work. And, if you already love their writing, as I do, enjoy these wonderful nominated selections!

Oh, My Word!

The Stiletto Gang wecomes guest Gretchen Archer!

By: Gretchen Archer 

Words play a huge role in my life. Word count. Word documents. Eating my words. So, as I gratefully thank my first blog hostesses, the fabulous Stiletto Gang, for having me, I’d like to share a few words I’ve learned as I’ve traveled the exhausting road from first words I typed that would become a full-length manuscript till today, anticipating the release of my first mystery, DOUBLE WHAMMY, by Henery Press, on May 14, 2013. 

Here are a few words I’ve learned along the way. 

Query. I’d never heard the old clunky word used in conversation. Ever. I learned it by practical application. I blanketed NYC, NY, 10001, with queries, and learned a new meaning for query’s best-friend word—rejection. Happily, I dropped both words from my vocab when I finally jumped over them. I have one souvenir query left, the one I wrote to Stephany Evans at FinePrint Literary Management. (Dear Ms. Evans…) 

Blurb. (What?) Here’s one I’d at least heard, not that I’d used it in any way, shape, or form. I soon found out it had two meanings, and I was totally responsible for both. “Gretchen, we need blurbs,” meant go out and get successful, accomplished writers to gush all over my book, but the next day, it meant compress my 80,000-word story into two sentences. Wouldn’t there be someone more qualified for this blurb business than me? Both were gargantuan scary assignments, responsibilities I didn’t have the social circle, résumé, or skill set for. I learned. I blurbed. I got blurbed. I wrote blurbs. One day maybe, I’ll get to blurb the next guy. 

Blog. Who’s responsible for this one? Wouldn’t Digital Diary be better? Before Henery Press picked up DOUBLE WHAMMY, I confess to having never entered a blog site on purpose. Ever. After learning the power of blogs, I went the other way, reading and following—writer blogs, publishing blogs, fan blogs, blogs focused on the craft of writing—as if it were my job. For months, I bloggeled around, lapping up everything everyone had to say about all things pub, and now look at me! I’ve come full circle. I’m blogging! 

Social Media. Good grief and good luck. I knew these words separately, but the explosive combination of the two, so necessary in today’s market (3,000 other books have the same birthday, hopes, and dreams as DOUBLE WHAMMY), with proper Social Media being one of the strongest weapons in today’s book-selling arsenal. I used to lead a very private life. Very private. (Don’t most writers?) (As it turns out, no.) I thought Facebook was for chatting with my cousins and posting cute baby pig pictures. Twitter made me a nervous wreck, because it felt like a room full of people screaming at the same time. Goodreads. Really? A site devoted to millions of readers, with writers elbowing each other for front of the line? Pinterest. Pinning images into a collection. (To what end?) LinkedIn. (Why?) Yet, I’ve learned all these words. Yep. I’m all over them, pasting my fabulous cover, pointing people to my other social media sites, annoying my friends and family night and day, day and night, and I learned, by crisscrossing all these social media lines, that everyone likes pictures of cute baby pigs. 

I have more new words. Beta readers are people you hope will tell you you’ve written something with no plot before you hear it from your editor. Moderating a forum is something I’ll be doing at the Romance Writers of America Convention in July. Tospy is the fastest way to obsessively watch your Social Media (see above) impact, gauge how your book is being received at any given moment, but do it again in an hour, at red lights, and between salad and entrée, because the tables turn quickly. Rank is a word that pops into a writer’s brain before their feet hit the floor, isn’t the least bit quantifiable, and is oh, so protean. (Look it up.) 

So, in other words, happy writing and happy reading.

-------------------------

Gretchen Archer is a Tennessee housewife who began writing when her daughters, seeking higher educations, left her. She lives on Lookout Mountain with her husband, son, and a Yorkie named Bently. Double Whammy is her first Davis Way mystery. Stay tuned for Davis’ next crime caper, Double Dip. (Henery Press, November, 2013)

 www.gretchenarcher.com

BARNES & NOBLE | Double Whammy by Gretchen Archer | Paperback

Amazon.com: Double Whammy (9781938383366): Gretchen Archer: Books