Entries by Paula Benson

Meet the 2018 Anthony Short Story Author Nominees!

by Paula Gail Benson   What a true pleasure to host the 2018 Anthony nominees for best short story! Here for your reading pleasure is the list with links to each story. [Please note: You’ll need to scroll down at some of the links below to get to the stories.]   “The Trial of Madame […]

Happy Encounters

by Paula Gail Benson Today, I wanted to feature the online publication, Shotgun Honey, which since 2011 has been offering a forum for crime, noir, and hard-boiled shorts of 700 words. It has featured over 400 authors, compiling contributors by photo, bio, and published stories. It offers a great place to find work by favorite […]

The Lexington (SC) Serious Writers’ Tour with Steven James, Michelle Medlock Adams, and Bethany Jett

Bethany Jett by Paula Gail Benson In May, the local Word Weavers group, an affiliate of Word Weavers International, brought the Serious Writer One Day Tour to the Riverbend Community Church in Lexington, S.C. If you’re looking for excellent craft and business instruction, I suggest you check out the offerings at http://www.seriouswriter.com. The organization, operating […]

Checking Out Some Great “How To” Writing Guidelines

by Paula Gail Benson   Lately, I’ve been coming across a number of online articles that express succinctly how certain forms of genre fiction should be written. Here are a few I’ve discovered:   Dennis Palumbo wrote “Taking the Mystery Out of How to Write a Mystery” (https://www.writersstore.com/taking-the-mystery-out-of-writing-mysteries/). He lists three important elements: : “1) […]

Happy Thoughts for Memorial Day

by Paula Gail Benson Good morning and best wishes for a happy Memorial Day! Hopefully, you can enjoy this day with some good reading. I’m going to recommend that you consider some offerings from my blogging partners here at The Stiletto Gang. If you haven’t already begun Shari Randall’s Curses, Boiled Again!, check it out. […]

Murderous Wit: A Malice Panel I’ll Remember

Malice Domestic Murderous Wit Panel by Paula Gail Benson This year at Malice Domestic, I had the privilege of moderating the panel on Murderous Wit. It featured five outstanding authors (my Stiletto Gang blogging partner Sparkle Abbey, the team of Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter, Ginger Bolton, Becky Clark, and Lida Sideris). Not only […]

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 […]

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 […]

Interview with Agatha Nominees for Best First Novel!

Each year at Malice Domestic, writing excellence is recognized by the Agatha awards. This year’s nominees for Best First Novel are: Best First Novel: Adrift: A Mer Cavallo Mystery by Micki Browning (Alibi-Random House) The Plot is Murder: A Mystery Bookshop Mystery by V.M. Burns (Kensington) Hollywood Homicide: A Detective by Day Mystery by Kellye […]

Do You BuJo?

by Paula Gail Benson Have you heard about bullet journaling or “BuJo” as some practitioners call it? I hadn’t until I read an announcement from Fiction Addiction, an independent bookstore owned and operated by Jill Hendrix in Greenville, S.C. Jill is offering a course about bullet journaling on Thursday, February 22, at 6:00 p.m. The […]