The crime fiction community is an ant farm this week. Lot of stuff has been happening. First of all, the Spinetingler Awards winner have been revealed yesterday. For the unfamiliar, the Spinetinglers have been for five years now rewarding new voices (as well as legends) in the community, for their most outstanding work on a yearly basis. The Spinetingler committee Dead End Follies was nominated for the David Thomson Community Leader Award, but unfortunately we didn't win. Elizabeth A. White, from Musings of an All Purpose Monkey got the public's nod this year. I say unfortunately, but in all truth, Elizabeth's been doing this for longer than me, has been more organized and more efficient at reviewing books, so I'm happy she got the love. She was my favorite, along with Sabrina Ogden, to win the prize this year and well...she did. Congratulations Elizabeth!
I was nominated for another Awards though...sort of. BEAT TO A PULP: HARDBOILED and OFF THE RECORD were in nominated for best short story anthology. BEAT TO A PULP: HARDBOILED ended up winning! So, I'm like 5% of a Spinetingler Award winner! I'd like to thank David Cranmer and Scott D. Parker for showing me trust and putting the first short I ever written in their now award-winning anthology. I was full of doubts when I wrote SECOND ROUND DIVE, but you guys had the balls to give a new voice a place in your much-coveted venue. I appreciate that a lot. By the way, for those who read and liked the story, there's another collaboration with Beat To A Pulp at the horizon. I'm not gonna say more for now, you guys will be informed soon enough....
Another Spinetingler Award winner yesterday was Crime Factory, who won Best Magazine. The factory boys had the busiest day of us all yesterday, because they released a new issue also. Which features? THAT'S RIGHT, ME. Yes, my latest short AUTOPSY OF A COMMUNITY LIFE is on page 121 of Crime Factory Issue 10, which you can read for free here. It's only a few pages and it's free, so you have zero excuse not to read and if you're kind enough, leave some feedback. You will also find in there and interview with Megan Abbott, killer pieces by Josh Stallings, Pete Dragovich and Cameron Ashley, fiction by Patti Abbott and Thomas Pluck and Deborah Sheldon, Rob Loughlin, Seamus Scanlon and Mark Joseph Kiewlak. I have no idea who the last four are, but I'm sure they are great if they made their way into Crime Factory while slipping under my radar. Once again, thanks to Cameron, Liam, Andrew and specially to Jimmy Callaway for being crazy good at editing. He really made the piece better.
If you want the complete list of Spinetingler Award winners, please go here. There are all the nominees listed too, so there is a LOT of cool reading to be had.
And what's next for me? When's the next time you'll hear about me on the internets? There are a few stories circulating (three, to be accurate) and I have another one simmering, but I have put the breaks on the shorts for the last two months and gave them only one day a week. Reason for that is that I'm putting the last touches to the first draft of a novel. It's a long shot, it will need a lot more work, but you will hear from me sooner. I had a short novella that's about 40-50% ready. I'm hoping to have a solid 15K words and shop it by this summer. I'm considering offering it to magazines for serialization first, because it's something I always wanted to do, but it's going to depend on the final product, I guess. Sure thing, I'll have longer stuff out by the end of the year.
That's about all the writing news there is for now. I'll have a few stories out in the next months, but the big thing, once i'll put the THE END on this novel draft (I'm hoping by the end of next week), the novella is the thing to watch for. Now go read by latest story while it's free! I'm dying to read your thoughts.