The Red Penguin Collection

by Paula Gail Benson

Red Penguin Books, a small publishing company based in New York and headed by Stephanie Larkin, began an imprint to showcase new and established writers of shorter works. Its Red Penguin Collection currently has twenty-eight volumes of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays, monologues, and short plays. The editor is J.K. Larkin, Stephanie's son, who has published his own autobiography, not kidding.

The collection first drew my attention when I noticed that John Floyd had been published in one of its romance volumes, A Heart Full of Love, and two of its mystery anthologies, Behind Closed Doors, and the recently released, Pets on the Prowl.

I decided to check out submissions opportunities and was fortunate enough to have my own work included in An Empty Stage: A Collection of Monologues and Once Upon a Time, fairy tales written for adults.

I received an even bigger thrill when my "A Fairy Godmother's Christmas" was selected for a second publication in Stand Out: The Best of the Red Penguin Collection, Volume 2, which also contains two of John Floyd's stories.

If you write short fiction, poetry, essays, or plays, you definitely should check out the submission opportunities at this link. While many of the anthologies are non-paying, an upcoming humor short story contest offers monetary prizes for first, second, and third place.

Additionally, Red Penguin has encouraged its authors to participate in marketing efforts, join in group meetings, and learn from virtual programs. It offers an excellent chance for authors to see their work in print, have a publisher that supports them, and become part of a writing community.

Short Story Update

by Paula Gail Benson

The Palmetto Chapter of Sisters in Crime and the Southeast Chapter of Mystery Writers of America were delighted with the response to Mystery in the Midlands. We started off with a terrific panel on short stories featuring John Floyd, Tara Laskowski, and Art Taylor. Among them, those talented writers have been nominated and are recipients of the Agatha, Anthony, Derringer, Edgar, Macavity, and Thriller for their short stories. All of them have been involved with editing anthologies and preparing collections of their own work.

Listeners had many questions for this panel and links were left in the chat line to a number of excellent sources for short story writers.

Clockwise from upper right: Dana Kaye, Moderator, John Floyd, Tara Laskowski, and Art Taylor
The Short Story Panel from Mystery in the Midlands
Photo by Kathryn Prater Bomey, shared by Tara Laskowski

 A number of folks have asked to see a replay of the session. Here's the link where you can access the entire program from Mystery in the Midlands:

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/mystery-in-the-midlands

Coming up in August is another great event for short story writers. Agatha winner Gigi Pandian is presenting "The Art and History of Locked Room Mysteries," on Saturday, August 15 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM Pacific Time for the Sacramento-based Capitol Crimes Chapter of Sisters in Crime. Here's the link to register:

https://capitolcrimes.wildapricot.org/event-3843743

Gigi Pandian

I hope you'll be able to access these programs and enjoy!

Mystery in the Midlands ONLINE and FREE!!!! Saturday, July 25, 2020

by Paula Gail Benson

For the last two years, the Palmetto Chapter of Sisters in Crime and the Southeast Chapter of Mystery Writers of America have sponsored a mid-summer conference for readers and writers in "famously hot" Columbia, S.C. While we had to cancel our in person gathering due to Covid 19, our third venture as an online conference, to be held on Saturday, July 25, 2020, looks to be a charm with a terrifically HOT lineup and a program offered free of charge (thanks to Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America for generous support). Anyone can attend. You don't have to be a member of Sisters in Crime or Mystery Writers of America to join in the fun!

All you have to do is register at this link, then click through to the Crowdcast link to save your spot.

REGISTER TODAY!!!!

Here's the link again:

https://sistersincrime.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1369310

Today, Monday, July 20, 2020, is the last day to register! You don't want to miss this fabulous program hosted by Dana Kaye with books available through Jill Hendrix's Fiction Addiction Bookstore in Greenville, S.C.

Here's the schedule for Mystery in the Midlands, on Saturday, July 25, 2020:

10:00 am to 10:15 am EST   Welcome

Dana Kaye (moderator), Debra Goldstein (SEMWA), and Paula Gail Benson (Palmetto Chapter SinC)

10:30 am to 11:15 am EST   Slip into Some Shorts

Dana Kaye (moderator) - John Floyd, Tara Laskowski, and Art Taylor

11:30 am to 12:00 pm EST  Mystery Writers Are Always Hot! Keynote

Charlaine Harris

12:15 pm to 1:00 pm EST       Spectres Rather Than Heat Mirages

Dana Kaye (moderator) - Alexia Gordon, Toni L.P. Kelner, and Gigi Pandian

1:15 pm to 2:00 pm EST      Pages Burning Their Way to the Screen

Dana Kaye (moderator) - Dana Cameron, Jeffrey Deaver, and Charlaine Harris

2:15 pm to 2:30 pm EST      Everybody in the Pool!

Dana Kaye (moderator), Debra Goldstein (SEMWA), and Paula Gail Benson (Palmetto Chapter SinC)

Here's some information about our fabulous authors:

Charlaine Harris is a true daughter of the South. She was born in Mississippi and has lived in Tennessee, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Texas. After years of dabbling with poetry, plays, and essays, her career as a novelist began when her husband invited her to write full time. Her first book, Sweet and Deadly, appeared in 1981. When Charlaine’s career as a mystery writer began to falter, she decided to write a cross-genre book that would appeal to fans of mystery, science fiction, romance, and suspense. She could not have anticipated the huge surge of reader interest in the adventures of a barmaid in Louisiana, or the fact that Alan Ball would come knocking at her door. Since then, Charlaine’s novels have been adapted for several other television series, with two in development now. Charlaine is a voracious reader. She has one husband, three children, two grandchilden, and two rescue dogs. She leads a busy life.

www.charlaineharris.com

John M. Floyd’s short fiction has appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, and many other publications. Three of his stories have been selected for the annual Best American Mystery Stories anthology (the 2015, 2018, and 2020 editions) and another was recently optioned for film. A former Air Force captain and IBM systems engineer, John is also an Edgar nominee, a four-time Derringer Award winner, a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, a recipient of the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer Award for lifetime achievement, and the author of eight books. He and his wife Carolyn live in Mississippi.

http://www.johnmfloyd.com/

Tara Laskowski’s debut novel, One Night Gone, won the 2019 Agatha Award for Best First Novel and was a finalist for the Mary Higgins Clark, Anthony, Macavity, and Lefty Awards. It was hailed by Tana French as “a subtly but relentlessly unsettling novel.” Tara is also the author of two short story collections, Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons and Bystanders, which The Guardian named a best book of 2017. She has had stories published in Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazines and has won both an Agatha Award and a Thriller Award for her short fiction. She was a longtime editor of the flash fiction journal SmokeLong Quarterly. Tara earned a BA in English from Susquehanna University and an MFA from George Mason University and lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, writer Art Taylor, and their son, Dashiell.

https://taralaskowski.com/

Art Taylor is the author of the story collection The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74 and Other Tales of Suspense and of the novel in stories On the Road with Del & Louise, winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. He won the 2019 Edgar Award for Best Short Story for "English 398: Fiction Workshop," originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, and he has won three additional Agatha Awards, an Anthony Award, three Macavity Awards, and three consecutive Derringer Awards for his short fiction. He is an associate professor of English at George Mason University.

https://arttaylorwriter.com/

Virginia native, physician by training, author by passion, Alexia Gordon writes the award-winning Gethsemane Brown Mysteries, with Book 5, Execution in E, being released March 24, 2020. She is a member of MWA, SinC, ITW, and CWoC; blogs at Missdemeanors.com and with the Femmes Fatales (femmesfatales.typepad.com/my_weblog/); and hosts the podcast, The Cozy Corner with Alexia Gordon. Find her on social media (Facebook: AlexiaGordon.writer, Twitter: @AlexiaGordon, Instagram: DrLex1995) and visit her website (www.alexiagordon.net) to sign up for her newsletter.

Toni L.P. Kelner/Leigh Perry is two authors in one. As Leigh Perry, she writes the Family Skeleton Mysteries. The sixth, The Skeleton Stuffs a Stocking, was released in Fall 2019. As Toni L.P. Kelner, she wrote eight novels in the Laura Fleming mystery series and three “Where Are They Now?” mysteries. Kelner also co-edited seven urban fantasy anthologies with New Your Times best-seller Charlaine Harris. Under both names she writes short fiction, including recent publications in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and a forthcoming story in Shattering Glass. Kelner has won the Agatha Award and an RT BookClub Lifetime Achievement Award and has been nominated multiple times for the Anthony, the Macavity, and the Derringer.

http://tonilpkelner.com/

Gigi Pandian is a USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning mystery author, breast cancer survivor, and accidental almost-vegan. The child of anthropologists from New Mexico and the southern tip of India, she spent her childhood traveling around the world on their research trips, and now lives in California with her husband and a gargoyle who watches over the garden. Gigi writes the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mysteries, Accidental Alchemist mysteries, and locked-room mystery short stories.

www.gigipandian.com

Dana Cameron writes across many genres, but especially crime and speculative fiction. Her work, inspired by her career in archaeology, has won multiple Anthony, Agatha, and Macavity Awards, and has been nominated for the Edgar Award. Dana's Emma Fielding archaeology mysteries were optioned by Muse Entertainment; the third movie, based on More Bitter Than Death, will premier on the Hallmark Movie & Mystery Channel in January, 2019. When she's not traveling or visiting museums, she's usually yelling at the TV about historical inaccuracies.

http://www.danacameron.com/

A former journalist, folksinger and attorney, Jeffery Deaver is an international number-one bestselling author. His novels have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the New York Times, the Times of London, Italy’s Corriere della Sera, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Los Angeles Times. His books are sold in 150 countries and have been translated into over twenty-five languages. He has sold 50 million books worldwide. The author of over thirty-five novels, three collections of short stories and a nonfiction law book, and a lyricist of a country-western album, he’s received or been shortlisted for dozens of awards around the world. His book A Maiden’s Grave was made into an HBO movie, his novel The Bone Collector was a feature release from Universal Pictures, and in 2019, NBC picked up a series called “Lincoln,” based on his books. Lifetime aired an adaptation of his The Devil’s Teardrop.

https://www.jefferydeaver.com/

We hope that you'll all join us for Mystery in the Midlands, Saturday, July 25, 2020!

 

Writing for Woman’s World Short Fiction Markets

by Paula Gail Benson

If you’re interested in writing short romance or mystery stories, you might want to consider submitting to Woman’s World (WW), a weekly magazine found in most grocery stores. Before sending in a story, you’ll definitely want to read the publication. Its fiction guidelines are strict: (1) romances must be contemporary and no more than 800 words, and (2) mysteries must be up to 700 words written in a “solve-it-yourself” format to allow readers to test their sleuthing skills with the resolution at the end. The pay is excellent (about $800 for romances and $500 for mysteries), but the competition is fierce. If your story is selected, you’ll become part of a distinguished group, including John Floyd and B.K. Stevens.

Several websites have been developed to help writers determine how best to hone their submissions.

The following provide guidelines:

for romances

http://womansworldstyle.blogspot.com/2012/10/womans-world-fiction-guidelines.html

and for mini-mysteries

http://womansworldstyle.blogspot.com/2013/08/womans-world-mini-mystery-guidelines.html

Until September 6, 2016, when she had to suspend her messages to concentrate on caring for her mother, Jody Lebel, a WW published mystery author, analyzed the mini-mysteries and listed other markets accepting shorts. Her blog is well worth reading to understand the type stories and formatting that WW is seeking. Here’s the link:

http://wwmysterystory.blogspot.com/

In addition, two Sleuthsayers blog messages from R.T. Lawton (“Me and the Mini-Mystery”) and John Floyd (“A Woman’s World Survival Guide”) give some excellent advice for successful submissions. They can be accessed at: http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2012/08/me-and-mini-mystery.html and http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2012/08/a-womans-world-survival-guide.html.