Tag Archive for: Barb Goffman

Meet the 2018 Anthony Short Story Author Nominees!

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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
Pelletier” by Susanna Calkins, Malice Domestic 12: Mystery Most
Historical: http://www.susannacalkins.com/short-stories.html 

 

“God’s Gonna Cut You
Down” by Jen Conley, Just to Watch Them Die: Crime Fiction
Inspired by the Songs of Johnny Cash: https://www.jenconley.net/ 

 

“My Side of the Matter”
by Hilary Davidson, Killing Malmon:

 

“Whose Wine Is it
Anyway” by Barb Goffman, 50 Shades of Cabernet:

 

“The Night They Burned
Ms. Dixie’s Place” by Debra Goldstein, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery
Magazine, May/June 2017: http://www.debrahgoldstein.com/otherwritings/night-burned-ms-dixies-place-alfred-hitchcock-mystery-magazine-mayjune-2017/ 

 

“A Necessary
Ingredient” by Art Taylor, Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea
to Shining Sea: http://www.arttaylorwriter.com/books/a-necessary-ingredient/ 

 

Thank you to the nominees, Susanna
Calkins, Jen Conley, Hilary Davidson, Barb Goffman, Debra H. Goldstein, and Art
Taylor, for taking the time to answer a few questions and share their nominated
stories!

 

(1) Where and when does your nominated
story take place?

 

Susanna Calkins
Susanna Calkins: “The Trial of
Madame Pelletier” is set in Tulle, a town in central France, in 1840. It
focuses on the court trial of a “Lady Poisoner,” a woman accused of killing her
estranged husband with rat-paste and truffles.

 

Jen Conley: The story takes place in Ocean County, New
Jersey, present day. Ocean County is considered central-south New Jersey, known
for its Jersey Shore beaches, but mostly it’s a blue collar/middle class county
on the edge or in the Pine Barrens.

 

Hilary Davidson
Hilary Davidson: “My Side of the Matter” is set in and around
Minneapolis. I’ve only had the pleasure of visiting that city once, but I felt
compelled to set the story there because the story is part of the KILLING
MALMON anthology — and Dan and Kate Malmon live in that area.


Barb Goffman: “Whose Wine Is It Anyway?” takes place in the
litigation department of a large Washington, DC, law firm. I don’t specify when
the story takes place. I expect the reader will assume it is a contemporary
story.




Debra H. Goldstein
Debra H. Goldstein: “The Night They
Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place” is set in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1960’s, in a
house where they change the sheets more than once a night. The story reflects
Birmingham’s racial, civil, and political strife and their impact on a
particular night on a boy coming of age.

 

Art Taylor: “A Necessary Ingredient” was published in Coast
to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea, which covers (as that
subtitle suggests) a pretty wide geographical area. I was assigned my home
state of North Carolina, and instead of choosing an actual town, I created a
fictional one, a mid-sized Southern town drawing on several places I’ve lived
or known in Eastern North Carolina—Goldsboro, Kinston, and Richlands, among
them. The story takes place loosely in the present, but the main character,
Ambrose Thornton, has immersed himself in some ways, in a mythical past—the
world of the hard-boiled detective stories he lives to read—and the present of
this small town is also steeped at bit in some of that atmosphere, if only
because of Ambrose’s own perspectives driving the story. 

 

(2) What was the biggest challenge you
encountered in writing your nominated story?


Susanna Calkins: I adapted this
story from a real poisoning case that I had read about when I was working on my
doctorate in history. At the time I had focused on the media accounts of the case,
which were all in French, because I loved the notion of the woman being on
trial in the court of public opinion as well as in the courtroom.
Unfortunately, I had not kept my notes, so I had to go back to the original
source materials, only to realize that my reading knowledge of French has
considerably diminished over the last twenty years. Fortunately, I found a very
detailed contemporary description of the trial in a British medical journal, in
which the authors—both physicians—focused on the details of the poisoning and
the forensics they were able to use. Except for a few interesting details, I
completely changed the story, the characters, and of course provided a twist…

 

Jen Conley
Jen Conley: The biggest
challenge for me was writing a first-person male character. This choice can be
difficult to establish when you’re the opposite gender. Readers see the name “Jen
Conley” and assume the first-person narrator is female. It’s just natural for
any reader to do–assume the first-person narrator is the gender of the writer.
I must’ve re-written the first few lines of the story about twenty times. I
also found it challenging to create empathy for a murderer, especially a
murderer who killed my main character’s sister in a horrific and vile way.

 

Hilary Davidson: The premise of
KILLING MALMON was that Dan Malmon had to die in every story. (Before you
decide that we’re terrible people to do that to such a nice guy, you should
know that Dan was co-editor of the project, and it raises money to benefit the
National Multiple Sclerosis Society.) After I got over the idea of “killing” my
friend in print, I realized that the biggest challenge was building suspense
when the reader already knew that Dan was going to die. How do you keep the
reader intrigued when they know what’s going to happen? I solved that by
turning the story on its head, so that the man who killed Dan — and got away
with it — suddenly starts writing a confession. The suspense builds around what
led him to commit the crime, and the mysterious reason he needs to reveal the
truth.

 

Barb Goffman
Barb Goffman: Plotting. Plotting
is often a big challenge for me. I’d been asked to submit a story to 50 Shades of Cabernet, so I knew my plot
had to involve mystery and wine. Consequently I did a lot of wine research,
hoping to come across an idea that awakened my muse. I can hear the “research”
jokes now, but my muse isn’t a drinker. I learned there’s a spa in Japan that
uses red wine in its hot tubs. I thought for sure I’d get a plot out of that,
but no. I also learned about festivals celebrating wine and chocolate. Surely,
you’d think I’d devise a plot from that. But no again. It wasn’t until I
learned that people can be allergic to the sulfites in wine that things really
started clicking. Thank goodness!

 

Debra H. Goldstein: The biggest
challenge in writing “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,” was getting the
voices right. Being a white Jewish Yankee middle-aged female, I knew I couldn’t
call on my own experiences and dialect to bring to life a nine-year-old black
male protagonist, his mother, and a southern madame. Each of these characters
had to have a distinct personality and manner of speaking. They also had to
reflect southern society in the 1960’s and, in the case of the child, both
innocence and the way the world was changing. Consequently, it was important
that none of these characters be written stereotypically.  Rather, each needed to be treated in a
respectful manner which demonstrated their diversity to the reader. Although the
crime is an important element of “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,”
nailing the characters’ voices is what ultimately engages readers.

 

Art Taylor

Art Taylor: Balancing that
mix of small town and hard-boiled actually posed part of the challenge—but far
from a surprise, it was a challenge that I took as central to what I was doing
here. When my friend Paul D. Marks, the anthology’s co-editor, asked me to
contribute, I almost didn’t do it. I haven’t really written many private eye
stories—and none of the ones I’ve written have been “straight,” so to speak.
But then I liked the idea of crossing the private eye story—traditionally
hard-boiled—with the kinds of regional fiction that have inspired me in other
cases. How can you draw on both effectively? What happens when those “mean
streets” of Chandler’s famous quote are actually dirt roads dotted with
roadside produce stands? And can the class struggles that so often drive
hard-boiled fiction be found in equal measure in the hierarchies of proper
Southern society? Well, that was a challenge I enjoyed stepping up to, and hope
readers have enjoyed as well.


Here’s where you can learn more about
these wonderful authors and their work. Best wishes to them all!

 

Susanna Calkins was born and raised in
Philadelphia, and lives outside Chicago with her husband and two sons. Holding
a PhD in history, Susanna writes the award-winning Lucy Campion historical
mysteries as well as the forthcoming Speakeasy Murders, both from St. Martin’s
Minotaur. MURDER KNOCKS TWICE, set in Prohibition-Era Chicago, will be out
Spring 2019. “The Trial of Madame Pelletier,” her first published short story,
appeared in Malice Domestic: Mystery Most
Historical (Wayside Press, 2017). Read more about her work at http://www.susannacalkins.com/

 

Jen
Conley’s short stories have appeared in Beat to a Pulp, Just To Watch Them
Die: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Johnny Cash, Trouble in the
Heartland: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Bruce Springsteen and
many others. She has contributed to the Los Angeles Review of Books, has
been shortlisted for Best American Mystery Stories and is one of the
former editors at Shotgun Honey. Her Anthony Award nominated story
collection, Cannibals: Stories from the Edge of the Pine Barrens, is
available now. She lives in Brick, New Jersey. Check out her website at https://www.jenconley.net/

 

Hilary
Davidson is the author of the Lily Moore series—which includes The
Damage Done, The Next One to Fall, and Evil in All Its
Disguises. She also the author of the standalone thriller Blood
Always Tells and a short-story collection called The
Black Widow Club. Her next novel, One Small Sacrifice, will
be published by Thomas & Mercer in May 2019. Visit her online at http://www.hilarydavidson.com


Barb Goffman loves writing, reading, air conditioning, and her
dog, not necessarily in that order. She’s won the Agatha, Macavity, and Silver
Falchion awards for her short stories, and she’s been a finalist for national
mystery short-story awards twenty-two times, including eleven times for the
Agatha (a category record). Her book Don’t Get Mad, Get Even won the
Silver Falchion for the best collection of 2013. Barb is thrilled to be a
current Anthony and Macavity award finalist for her story “Whose Wine is it
Anyway?” from the anthology 50 Shades of Cabernet.  She works as a
freelance editor and proofreader and lives with her dog in Winchester,
Virginia. Learn more at www.barbgoffman.com.


Agatha and Anthony nominated Judge Debra
H. Goldstein’s is the author One Taste
Too Many, the first of Kensington’s new Sarah Blair cozy mystery series.
Her prior books include Should Have
Played Poker and 2012 IPPY Award winning Maze in Blue. Debra’s short stories have appeared in numerous
periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine,
Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Weekly. She is president of Sisters
in Crime’s Guppies, serves on SinC’s national board, and is vice-president of
SEMWA. Find out more about her writings at www.DebraHGoldstein.com


Art Taylor is the author
of On the Road with Del & Louise: A Novel in Stories, winner of
the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. He has won three additional Agatha
Awards, an Anthony Award, two Macavity Awards, and three consecutive Derringer
Awards for his short fiction, and his work has appeared in Best American
Mystery Stories. He also edited Murder Under the Oaks: Bouchercon
Anthology 2015, winner of the Anthony Award for Best Anthology or
Collection. He is an associate professor of English at George Mason University.
Check out his website at http://www.arttaylorwriter.com/

Interview with Agatha Nominees for Best Short Story!

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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

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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.
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.
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.

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:



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:

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/

W. C. Fields Was Right

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by Shari Randall

Last weekend, I attended my first writers’ festival – the Local
Authors Fair at the New London (CT) Public Library. To clarify, I attended for
the first time as an author. I met lots of great folks, fellow authors, and
dedicated librarians. And I learned the secret to sales at writers’ events:
Adorable dogs and cookies.
It’s been a month of firsts – my first novel, my first book
signing, my first blog interviews. In each, I’ve had fun, but I know I’ve made
rookie mistakes. For example, at the authors’ festival appearance I showed up
with books. Just books. No cookies. No candy. No dog.
Bottom line? I sold two books. The author with the adorable
dog? She had a constant line of buyers!
Don’t let this happen to you.
If you haven’t written an uplifting story of a dog that
beats the odds, or don’t have an adorable dog to accompany you to events, here
are some out of the box ideas for selling books at signings and fairs from my
favorite writers, the Sisters in Crime of the Chesapeake Chapter.
Sherry Harris swears by a basket of chocolates to “lure
people in. Even though that sounds creepy.”
Barb Goffman suggested that authors offer to take off an
article of clothing for every book sold.
Maya Corrigan warned that this might work best only during
the warmer months. Libby Klein disagreed, saying that this strategy might work
better if the author offered to put on an article of clothing for every book
sold.
Donna Andrews suggested that you have stuffed animals do the
talking. During one Barnes and Noble group book signing, where customers either avoided
making eye contact or asked the authors where to find the bathroom, Donna liberated some stuffed reptiles from the
children’s department and used them to entice, er sorry, entisssse, customers
to visit the authorssss. The result? The rest of the signing was a resounding
successssss.
Other advice? Grace Topping said don’t sit down – remaining
standing is more welcoming.
Alan Orloff said something about offering to wrestle an alligator, but
then, that’s Alan Orloff.

Do you have any advice for author events?

Shari Randall is the author of CURSES, BOILED AGAIN, the
first of the new Lobster Shack Mystery series from St. Martin’s Press. At her
next signing, she’ll be the one standing at the signing table with a basket of
chocolates, fully clothed, thank you very much.

Celebrating the Short Story: the 2016 Agatha Short Story Nominees

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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!

The Year of the Short Story

/in /by

by Paula Gail Benson

From right, Art Taylor, Debra Goldstein, Cathy Pickens and husband Bob, and me.

Like
Debra Goldstein, I’m a writing conference junkie. I completely understand the
attraction that compels so many sci fi and graphic novel enthusiasts to flock
to cons. First, you’re surrounded by people who have as great a love of the
subject as you do, and second, you draw inspiration from proximity to the
practitioners.

I’ll
never forget my first visit to Malice Domestic about fifteen years ago. Everything about it seemed to
spell impossible expectation. The time of year. The distance to travel. Getting
leave from work. Arranging for my mother to travel with me. Yet, Mary Higgins
Clark would be there, and I was obsessed with her books. When I imagined my
future, it was writing novels like Mary Higgins Clark’s.

Somehow,
all the pieces came together. Impossibility became reality. I went. Standing in
line to get my picture with Mary Higgins Clark, I met Dana Cameron, who has
become a wonderful, supportive friend. The photo with Mary Higgins Clark and
her daughter Carol Higgins Clark has become a talisman for me, a symbol of what
I can achieve. When one of my relatives asked who those people were (not
recognizing me), I convinced myself I looked enough like an author to be
mistaken for one. I’ve continued that happy delusion ever since.

I
dub this year’s Malice “a celebration of the short story.” Malice revived its
tradition of publishing anthologies with Malice Domestic’s Murder Most
Conventional, with twenty two original stories and one reprint all set at
conventions. (Another anthology is planned for next year featuring historicals.)
While I missed lunch with the Guppies, I had a wonderful time with Debra Goldstein, Barb
Goffman, and others. Barb won her first Agatha this year for “A Year Without
Santa Claus,” her first publication in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.
At
the SinC Breakfast, the announcement of a new initiative, “We Love Short
Stories,” organized by Debra Goldstein, was met with applause and great expectations.
I thoroughly enjoyed being on a short story panel with James Lincoln Warren (a first class moderator who brought his panelists California wine), Teresa Inge, K.B. Inglee, and Jayne Ormerod. We missed being with Eleanor Cawood Jones, a contributor to the new Malice anthology, who had became ill. During our discussion time, we explored the diverse themes, characters, and settings for mystery short stories. Jim kindly read selections from each panelist’s stories to the audience.  
At the banquet, so many attending had backgrounds as both short story writers and novelists. Terrie Farley Moran, who won an Agatha for best first novel last year, was nominated in the short story category this year. B.K. Stevens, who broke her arm and sadly could not be there, had a table full of supporters, cheering her nominations for short story and young adult novel. (Notice in the photo below that B.K.’s daughter Rachel and publisher Carla Coupe are holding up Her Infinite Variety, a new collection of B.K.’s short stories.) I had the pleasure of celebrating with Art Taylor when his novel in short stories, On the Road with Del and Louise, received the teapot as best first novel.
Hurray for another wonderful Malice and double hurray for the recognition of the importance of the mystery short story. It’s going to be a wonderful year for reading! 

Meet the Authors of the 2015 Agatha Best Short Story Nominees!

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Each year at Malice Domestic,
writing excellence is recognized by the Agatha awards. This year’s nominees for
Best Short Story are:
“A Joy Forever” (PDF)
by B.K. Stevens (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, March 2015)
“Suffer the
Poor” (PDF) by Harriette Sackler, History & Mystery, Oh My (Mystery
& Horror, LLC)
“A Killing at the
Beausoleil” (PDF) by Terrie Farley Moran (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine,
Nov. 2015)
“A Questionable Death” (PDF) by Edith Maxwell, History
& Mystery, Oh My (Mystery & Horror, LLC)
“A Year Without Santa
Claus?” (PDF) by Barb Goffman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine,
Jan./Feb. 2015)



Please enjoy the opportunity to read
these stories, if you haven’t already. We are so fortunate to have with us
today B.K. Stevens, Harriette Sackler, Terrie Farley Moran, Edith Maxwell,
and Barb Goffman.
All are not only fabulous writers, but also delightful people. Thanks, Bonnie,
Harriette, Terrie, Edith, and Barb for stopping by to share your work and
thoughts with us!—Paula Gail Benson
What are your writing habits?
B.K. Stevens
B.K. STEVENS:         Usually,
I spend a lot of time planning, especially if I’m working on a whodunit and
have to make sure all the evidence will come together. I may or may not make some
sort of outline, but I almost always take a lot of notes on the
computer—exploring various plot possibilities, planning clues, writing profiles
of characters and describing their backstories, and so on. Usually, my notes
are much longer than the final story; for the last story I submitted to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine,
they’re over three times as long. I like to have a clear idea of where I’m
headed before I begin to write, even though I usually end up making lots of
changes during drafting and revising. I draft fairly quickly and try (often not
successfully) to resist the temptation to revise while I’m drafting. Once the
first draft is done, I put it aside for at least a week and then spend a long
time revising and editing. For me, revising always involves a lot of cutting—my
first drafts are always much too long. I try to have at least two projects in
progress at all times. That way, if I get stuck on one, I can put it aside for
a while and focus on the other.
HARRIETTE SACKLER:      Since
I’m involved in many different projects, I write when I can. Once I have a
kernel of a story idea in my mind, I put it down on paper. I do seem
to accomplish more when I’m under deadline. I’m a great procrastinator.
Terrie Farley Moran
TERRIE FARLEY MORAN: I write
seven days a week. I get up every morning leave the house and do some kind of
exercise (walking, visit the gym, water aerobics or bike ride) then I come home
and sit at the keyboard. I write until I break to eat lunch and watch a few
minutes of news. Then I go back to the keyboard until about six o’clock when I go
out for a walk or a bike ride. If I am falling behind on a deadline I write
after dinner until bedtime. Under the heading “writing” I include all writing
related chores: editing, research, website, blog posts, etc. And, of course, I
still try to have an actual life!
EDITH MAXWELL:  I am a full-time
fiction writer now and I treat it like a job. I’m always up by six AM and am
working by seven. Whether I’m working on the first draft of a book, a short
story, or revision, I do my creative work before noon. Then I head out for my
brisk long walk—often plotting the next day’s
scene as I go – and reserve the afternoon for admin jobs like writing blog
posts, arranging author events, and other items of author business. So far it’s
working—I have three multi-book contracts, so
I have to write three books a year, plus one or more short stories.
Barb Goffman
BARB
GOFFMAN:    When I come up with a story
idea—be it organically, or more often, in response to a story call—and don’t
have the time to write the story immediately (that’s ninety-nine percent of the
time), I’ll write some notes about the idea: the beginning, the end, maybe a
bit of dialogue or the voice I hear in my head. Then those notes will sit,
sometimes for a long time, until I find the time to write that story. I prefer
to write in large chunks rather than a few minutes a day, so I can go a long
time between writing stretches when my day job keeps me busy.
Once I
start writing, I’ll write a few paragraphs, then read them out loud, revising
them before I go forward. Any time I take a break or get stuck, I’ll re-read
the last few paragraphs out loud, trying to get a feel for what comes next
(and, of course, revising as I go). While I’m writing a story, I may also sleep
on it, take a short drive, or a hot shower, trying to think on it—consider if I
have plot holes, how I could spice up the dialogue, create a plot twist, and
more. Once I finish, I try to let the finished story sit for a few days (or
longer if I have the time) before I read it again and try to spot and fix any
problems. And then I send the story out to a trusted friend or two for feedback
before I revise once more and then send the story out for submission. (Though I
must admit I’m often so eager to see what my friends think that I may send a
story to them before I’ve cleaned it up perfectly. Letting the story sit for a
few days is hard, even though I know that’s the best way to proceed. I keep
trying to reign myself in. It’s a work in progress.)
How long does it take to plan and complete
a short story?
B.K.
STEVENS:         Generally, it takes a
long, long time. Once in a while, I’ll get an idea, do only a little planning,
and sit down and write the story straight through. That doesn’t happen often,
though—maybe four or five times in the last thirty years, usually for flash
fiction stories, and even then I’ll spend days cutting and revising. Most of
the time, depending on the length and complexity of the story, the whole
process takes several weeks or several months. (But remember, I work on more
than one project at a time.) If I’m not satisfied with a story, I may put it
aside for months or even years until I think of a way to fix it. Right now,
I’ve got a half-written story that’s been sitting in a folder for at least
three years, waiting until I come up with a better murder method.
Harriette Sackler
HARRIETTE
SACKLER:      I’m not one to churn out
stories in a short time. It takes me a while from conception to finished story.
But that feels fine to me.
TERRIE FARLEY
MORAN: I am a very slow writer and writing
is a very contrarian occupation. If I think a story is going to take a long
time to write, it usually gets itself down on paper without a problem. If I
expect the story to be a quick slam dunk, it generally turns out to be
torturous to write. Basically when I see a call for submissions that interests
me, or when I get an idea for a potential story, I tend to think about it for a
good long while. Once I think of a direction the story could take, I begin to
research anything that could possibly relate. I do far more research than
necessary because…I love research. Then I think some more. While all this
thinking and research is going on I am generally working on another project or
two. Eventually I write the story. I don’t outline, I just plunge into it. Of
course if there is a deadline that sets the time frame.
Edith Maxwell
EDITH
MAXWELL:  That really varies. Once the
story emerges in my head, sometimes I can talk it through on my hour walk (see
previous question, and yes, I’m the crazy author lady who talks out loud to
herself on the rail trail). Then I take a day or two to write the first draft.
But the finishing, editing down, and making sure it works can take a lot
longer. And with historical stories set in a real location, there’s always more
research to be done, too.
BARB
GOFFMAN:    It varies. If I get a detailed
idea, I might finish the first draft in a few days. (That’s how I prefer to
proceed. I like to know the beginning, a few high points, and the end before I
start writing. It makes the process easier.) But sometimes I’ll hear a voice in
my head—a story’s beginning—and I’ll start writing. I might write a couple of
paragraphs or a page or two, and then I’ll get stuck, really stuck, because I
have no plot to go with the voice. Those stories can become big problems
because I’ve found my writing flows best when I come up with conflict first and
let character react to it, and the plot unfolds from there. When characters
show up first without the conflict—those are my problem children.
That’s
what happened with my nominated story “A Year Without Santa Claus?” I saw a
call for whodunit stories set in New Jersey. I woke up soon thereafter with the
main character’s voice in my head. I wrote the first page, and that was all I
wrote on that story—for years. Whodunits are hard to write (at least for me). I
needed a mystery and suspects and all that good stuff. I needed a plot in which
my character could solve the crime when the police couldn’t. And I had none of
that. Perhaps three years later, one morning out
of the blue, I had an idea in the shower—a plot that worked. I hurried to my
computer (thank goodness I had the time to write that day and week) and banged
out a solid draft within a few days. So sometimes it takes a few days to come
up with an idea and write a story. Sometimes the planning can take a few years
and then the writing a few days. It’s nice when it all comes together fast.
What shoes would you, your protagonist, or another character from
your story wear to the Agathas banquet?
B.K. STEVENS:         I’ll wear boring,
sensible shoes, because I always wear boring, sensible shoes. Gwen seems like
the type to wear boring, sensible shoes, too. Considering the way the story
ends, though, this time she might just wear stilettos.
HARRIETTE SACKLER:      I’m at the age when comfort is my most
important priority. Gone are the days of high heels and pointed toes.
I’ll be at the banquet in a pair of
strappy and low-heeled shoes.
TERRIE FARLEY MORAN: I intend to wear this pair of MUNRO AMERICAN bright
red shoes. I think Sassy and Bridgy would wear similar bright red shoes but with
fewer straps and a higher heel.
EDITH MAXWELL:  I’m SO not a shoe person. And my Quaker
midwife Rose Carroll from “A Questionable Death” would wear something very
modest, as well. But her unconventional friend and co-conspirator, postmistress
Bertie Winslow? She loves fancy hats and colorful clothes. She’ll wear these
satin embroidered evening slippers to the banquet.
BARB GOFFMAN:    Kyle Coyote, my main character’s security chief, would wear
rocket skates from the Acme Company because when something goes wrong, he needs
to reach his destination fast. Plus, he loves Acme’s innovative products (how
many companies are selling rideable rockets?), despite his boss’s concerns
about defects.
I’ll be wearing open-heeled black
shoes with a tiny heel because I believe in comfort.

Meet the Authors of the 2014 Agatha Best Short Story Nominees!

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Each
year at Malice Domestic, writing excellence is recognized by the Agatha awards.
This year’s nominees for Best Short Story are:
“The Blessing
Witch” (PDF)
by Kathy Lynn Emerson, Best New England Crime Stories 2015: Rogue Wave
(Level Best Books)
“Just
Desserts for Johnny” (PDF) by Edith Maxwell (Kings River Life Magazine)
“The
Shadow Knows” by Barb Goffman, Chesapeake Crimes Homicidal Holidays
(Wildside Press)
“The
Odds are Against Us” (PDF) by Art Taylor, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Nov.
2014
“Premonition” by Art Taylor,
Chesapeake Crimes Homicidal Holidays (Wildside Press)
Please
enjoy the opportunity to read these stories, if you haven’t already. We are so
fortunate to have with us today Kathy Lynn Emerson, Edith Maxwell, Barb Goffman, and Art Taylor. All are not
only fabulous writers, but also delightful people. Thanks, Kathy, Edith, Barb,
and Art, for stopping by to share your work and thoughts with us!
How do you compare short story writing with
novel writing?
KATHY:
Writing short stories is much
harder. In quite a few cases, it took me longer to finish a short story than it
did to write an entire 80,000 word novel. With at least one story, it took me
years to get it right. When I write novels, they get longer with each revision.
When I revise a short story, it almost always ends up even shorter.
EDITH:
A heck of a lot shorter, for one thing!
When I had two-thirds of a novel in the drawer twenty years ago and then
reentered the paid work force while raising two sons, there was no way I could
carry the plot and characters of a book around in my head and fit them into the
tiny snatches of time I had available to writer. But I could manage a short
story, and wrote nearly a dozen, five of which were eventually published in
juried anthologies. Short stories are simpler. They’re not necessarily easier,
but they don’t take as much time or brain space to complete.
BARB:
For me, writing a novel is like the
long con. I start in one place, and I know that eventually I’ll bring the
reader to another place. But in the middle there will be detours and red
herrings and subplots. I want to keep readers from seeing where we’re going. I
want to fool them. To surprise them. I might set something up in chapter two
that will pay benefits three hundred pages later. That’s the long con.
With a short story, there’s no space
for the long con. I’m writing the equivalent of a bank robbery. I get in, get
the cash, and get out. No detours. No subplots. It’s a quick ride. Sure, short
stories and novels both should have a great beginning and ending and hopefully
a surprise or two, but the way I approach the middle is different.
ART:
Each time I’ve tried to write a full
novel, I’ve struggled with structure and pacing to the point that the results
have always been bumpy at best, dismal at worst—and none of them has seen the
light of day. With my upcoming novel-in-stories, On the Road with Del and
Louise (coming out this September from Henery Press), I’ve tried to
capitalize on what I think I do well: manage the narrative arc—the structure
and pacing—of a short story, and link those stories together in contribution to
a larger narrative arc featuring the bigger story of these characters. To some
degree, I think I just understand short stories better, for better or worse.
What advice would you give to short story
writers?
KATHY:
Keep it simple. In a short
story there is no room for subplots, information dumps, or complicated
relationships. I’d say limit the number of characters, but that would be a tad
hypocritical since I’ve never managed to follow that piece of advice myself.
EDITH:
Don’t send it in too early. Get the
first draft done and let it stew for a while. Then work to eliminate everything
unnecessary, whether a description that doesn’t move the story forward or a character
you can do without. And then work it over again, polishing, trimming. I’ve seen
a couple of beginning writers dash off a short and send it in (well, I did the
same myself when I was starting out) when it wasn’t quite ready.
BARB:
Read. Read novels. Read short stories.
Read, read, read. It gets your brain moving. It teaches you technique, even if
you don’t realize it as it’s happening. It helps you learn what works and what
doesn’t.
And when you write, keep two things in
mind: (1) Everything in the story should move the plot forward. If a scene or
character can come out without affecting the plot, it doesn’t belong in the
story. (2) But don’t make your plot move so quickly that your main character
doesn’t have the time to react to what’s happening. Reactions are interesting.
They bring the character to life and add richness to the story. So show us her
thoughts, and then move that plot along.
ART:
Write the biggest story you can and
then cut and fold, cut and fold, cut and fold until the only words left are
those that are key to the story—that’s the ideal for me, even I personally feel
like I’m always falling short of that goal. The novelist’s art strikes
me generally as one of accumulation, where the short story writer should
ideally focus on subtraction—the most effect in the fewest words—and training
yourself to see where to cut and combine and condense is a challenge. Beyond
that, read widely in the short story form. There are so so many great
short story writers out there, each of them with different stylistic and
structural approaches, and there’s so much to learn from them and then maybe
apply in your own way to your own craft.
For the Agatha banquet, what kind of shoes would you (or if
you prefer, your protagonist, a character from your story, or your spouse)
wear? [This is, after all, The Stiletto Gang!]
KATHY:
The same ones I wear every
year—black SAS sandals with one-inch heels. Definitely no stilettos. I have
trouble enough walking in the sandals. By rights I should be wearing old-lady-with-arthritis
orthopedic lace-ups!
EDITH:
I’m so shoe impaired in terms of what’s
conventional. I’m trying to come up with a pair of party shoes that aren’t
either stilettos or some version of little-girl shoes. I have short wide feet
and refuse to wear heels, so it isn’t easy! You’re going to have to wait and
see what I find. Maybe we can do a follow up post with a picture of all our
Agatha banquet shoes…
[Edith sent her picture early, so I
wanted to share it. I’ll see if I can get shots of the shoes actually worn at
the banquet!—Paula]
BARB:
Gus, my main character from my
Agatha-nominated story “The Shadow Knows,” wouldn’t go to a banquet. It’s way
too fancy for him. But if he were forced, Gus would wear plain, comfortable
shoes. I’m similar in that respect. My shoes will be black and nearly flat and
above all else, comfortable. I want to enjoy the evening, which means doing
what I can to avoid aching feet.
ART:
I’ve got a pair of suede saddle shoes that
I regularly want to wear (khaki green panel over off-white), but my wife Tara
says they don’t ever match what I put them with, so…. We’ll see if I can ever
come up with a good combination! [Here are Art’s shoes for your viewing pleasure!—Paula]