Tag Archive for: awards

And the Short Story Nominees Are . . .

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by Paula Gail Benson

It’s awards season and short stories are having a great year! The Leftys (from Left Coast Crime) do not have a short story category, but the nominees for the Edgars (Mystery Writers of America), Agathas (Malice Domestic), and Thrillers (International Thriller Writers) have been announced. In April, we should hear the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s Derringer nominations, then later will come the Anthonys (Bouchercon), Macavities (Mystery Readers International), and Silver Falchions (Killer Nashville).

Meanwhile, here are the current lists. It’s interesting that the Edgars had three nominees from Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine while the Thrillers had three from Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Barb Goffman, a terrific short story author whose work is always award-worthy, has two different stories nominated. Particularly of note is that Catherine Steadman’s Original Amazon Story was tapped in the Thriller short story category.

Happy reading, everyone!

 

Edgar Nominees:

Best Short Story

“Red Flag,” by Gregory Falls (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine)

“Backstory,” by Charles John Harper (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine)

“Locked-In,” by William Burton McCormick (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine)

“The Amnesty Box,” by Tim McLoughlin, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (Akashic Books)

“First You Dream, Then You Die,” by Donna Moore, Black is the Night (Titan Books)

 

Agatha Nominees:

Best Short Story

“Beauty and the Beyotch,” by Barb Goffman (Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine)

“There Comes a Time,” by Cynthia Kuhn, Malice Domestic Murder Most Diabolical (Wildside Press)

“Fly Me to the Morgue,” by Lisa Q Mathews, Malice Domestic Mystery Most Diabolical (Wildside Press)

“The Minnesota Twins Meet Bigfoot,” by Richie Narvaez, Land of 10,000 Thrills: Bouchercon Anthology (Down & Out Books)

“The Invisible Band,” by Art Taylor, Edgar & Shamus Go Golden (Down & Out Books)

 

Thriller Nominees:

Best Short Story

“Russian for Beginners,” Dominique Bibeau (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine)

“The Gift,” Barb Goffman, Land of 10,000 Thrills: Bouchercon Anthology (Down & Out Books)

“Publish or Perish,” Smita Harish Jain (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine)

“33 Clues into the Disappearance of My Sister,” Joyce Carol Oates (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine)

“Schrödinger, Cat,” Anna Scotti (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine)

“Stockholm,” Catherine Steadman (Amazon Original Stories)

All the News!

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by Bethany Maines

The last few years have been extremely busy for me in terms of writing and that means that in 2020 all of you will be seeing the results. So I thought we should do a little re-cap of everything that’s happening.  Here is an update on all things Bethany.

THE SECOND SHOT- Release Date: 10.24.19

My romantic suspense novel was named a Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association 2019 Finalist in the Romance category! Although, I have to admit, my love story shares it’s DNA with a mystery-thriller I’m extremely excited and proud of this award.  It was also featured in Frolic – the online magazine for people who love love-stories.  And it has made it onto the Goodreads “Most Anticipated Release for October” List.  This list is voted on by Goodreads readers, so if you’re on Goodreads, please go vote The Second Shot!  AND, last but not least, there’s a Rafflecopter Giveaway for a $25 Amazon Giftcard.  Entering is easy, just go click a few things and follow me on social media and you’re entered!

COMING 2020!

An Unfamiliar Sea – Book 3 of the San Juan Islands Mysteries will be released in January.  
Tish and Tobias Yearly are back to business finding bodies, solving mysteries and delivering death pie to the bereaved.
Shark’s Fin & Peregrine’s Flight – Book 4 of the Shark Santoyo Series, along with a Peregrine Hays centered novella, will be released in late April of 2020. 
Shark and Peri are finally facing down mob-boss Geier and no one is safe.
The Cinderella Secret – Book 2 of The Deveraux Legacy will be released in October.
Aiden Deveraux has a secret – he’s not the Prince Charming he pretends to be and the Deveraux enemies are about to find that out.

PENDING

Short Stories – I have two out on submission – stay tuned for whether or not they get accepted into their respective publications!
Galactic Dreams Volume 3 – After taking a hiatus for 2020, Galactic Dreams, the Blue Zephyr Press Sci-Fairy Tale anthology, will be back in 2021!

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her
daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Award Winning!

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By Bethany Maines

This year has been an unusual one for me.  I set out with the intention of pushing
myself into uncomfortable and new areas in my writing.  As a result, I’ve submitted short stories to
publications, submitted my work to contests, and tried out different genres and
formats.  As I expected, there have been
rejections and a few “not quites”.  But I
have been surprised to see that several of my gambles have paid off. 

I’ve had a short story published, taken a screen-writing class
and subsequently won an award for my screenplay, ventured out to read my work
in public and had it featured on the radio. 
My most recent success came from the Book Excellence Awards where mynovella The Seventh Swan, a sci-fairy tale, was a Finalist in the Adventurecategory. I must confess that this award makes me happier than it probably
ought to.  My story features alligator-men,
robots, nanites, an evil queen, and of course, true love – it’s a throw-back to
the Flash Gordon, Tarzan-type adventure tale that I’ve always loved and I
thought that it was probably a bit too weird to win.  So to see that someone else thinks it’s a gem
is very encouraging.
But, while winning awards is nice, it’s not my goal.  The majority of the places I’ve submitted to
came with the promise of feedback.  My
goal was to learn from the responses I got to help my writing become stronger.
No one really likes hearing that something isn’t working, but it has been
really helpful to hear the commentary and discover what exactly people are
responding to. And of course, I can now say that I’m an award-winning author
and who doesn’t like that?

**
Bethany Maines
is the author
of the Carrie Mae Mystery Series, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her fifth degree black belt in karate, she can be found
chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Award Nominations

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It’s the time of year that award nominations start sprouting
for books published in 2013. All kinds of awards. And every single time one is
announced, nominees say the same thing: “It’s an honor simply to be nominated
with this group of high caliber authors.”
Now, we all know that each of them wants to win that award,
so why do they mess around saying something that everyone else has said a
million times? Because it’s the truth.
I just learned that my second Skeet Bannion mystery, Every Broken Trust, is a finalist for
the International Latino Book Award. This is a prestigious literary award, and
of course, I want to win it. Just as we all want to win those awards we get
nominated and become finalists for. But the other finalists are such fine
writers that I can say with equal truth, “It’s an honor simply to be nominated
with this group of high caliber authors.”
Last year, my first Skeet novel, Every Last Secret, was a finalist for the same award and came in
third. This was, of course, a disappointment in one way, but not in others. The
books which took first and second place were such fine books that I couldn’t be
upset. When a book that’s much weaker wins over yours, that hurts, but as
usually happens, when it’s a very strong, beautifully wrought book, you can only
feel happy and honored to have been considered to be in the same company.
So to all the award nominees and finalists out there, those
who have already heard and those who’ll be notified in the coming weeks and
months, congratulations! You’re all winners, simply for being in the small
group of finalists or nominees. No matter who finally takes home the medal or
teapot or statue, you’ve all done that marvelous thing—written an excellent
book the worth of which was recognized by experts in the field or your peers or
however your award is set up. Enjoy yourself, feel good about it, and whether
you win or not, go home and get started on the next book.
Because in the final hour that’s what we all are, not award
winners, nominees, or finalists, but writers. That’s the important part of us,
and that next book is calling seductively to us, making promises that we know
we’ll never be able to bring completely to fruition, but the real joy is in the
trying.


REPLIES TO COMMENTS (since Blogger still won’t let me comment):

Reine, thank you so much. You have been such a staunch fan and advocate of the Skeet books, and I really appreciate that!