Tag Archive for: Kendel Lynn

The Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction

/in /by
by Paula Gail Benson
Portions of this post
appeared in the November 19, 2019, post for Writers
Who Kill. However, this great news deserves to be shared more than once!

I was delighted to be asked by Carol Puckett and Kendel Lynn to be the contest
coordinator for the Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction, debuting this year at
the Dallas Bouchercon. The contest honored the memory of revered Texas writer
and reviewer Bill Crider. Open to any writer in the world, stories had to be
between 3,500 and 5,000 words and deal with the theme “Deep in the Heart.”
Jim Jackson, who was experienced working on anthologies, agreed to
be the submissions coordinator, without knowing what that task might entail.
Sixty-three stories were blindly submitted. Thirty-seven advanced to the second
round and eleven were selected as finalists for the following prizes:
·         First Place:      $1000
·         Second Place:  $750
·         Third Place:     $500
·         Bill Crider Memorial
Scholarship:      Registration to Bouchercon 2020
We were so fortunate to have excellent short story writers and
editors to agree to judge the preliminary rounds. They were: Carla Coupe, Kaye
George, Barb Goffman, Debra H. Goldstein, Tara Laskowski, Robert Mangeot, Karen
McCullough, Warren Moore, Terrie Moran, and Beth Terrell. I cannot thank these folks
enough for taking on the difficult task of determining which stories would go
forward.
Janet Hutchings, editor of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine,
and Linda Landrigan, editor of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine,
graciously agreed to serve as judges for the final round.
The eleven finalists were:
“Long Overdue” by Jaap Boekestein
“Trust Me” by Douglas Dorow
“Mi Corazón, Sin Cartero, Sin Timbre de las Puerta (My
Heart, Sans Postman, Sans Doorbell)” by Dixon Hill
“Resuscitation” by Ann Kellett
“Cahoots” by C.C. Guthrie
“The Texas Justice Project” by James L’Etoile
“Lambs and Wolves” by Robert Lopresti
“Death and Texas” by Lissa Marie Redmond
“Dead Armadillos Don’t Dance” by Kari Wainwright
“The Last Man in Lafarge” by Joseph S. Walker
“Armadillo by Morning” by Stacy Woodson
And, the top four prizes were awarded to:
·         First Place:     
Joseph S. Walker
·         Second Place:  Jaap Boekestein
·         Third Place:     Douglas
Dorow
·         Bill Crider Memorial
Scholarship:      Dixon Hill
We were delighted to have three of the four prize winners (Joseph
S. Walker, Douglas Dorow, and Dixon Hill) at the ceremony hosted by Hank
Phillippi Ryan. In addition, a number of the participants and judges attended
and we took a “class” photo.

Although publication was not part of the prize for this contest, I
firmly believe you’ll be seeing these stories and their authors’ names in
print. So, be watching for them.
Following Bouchercon, Joseph S. Walker attended New England Crime
Bake, where he was honored with the Al Blanchard award. Way to go, Joe!

Many thanks to all who
participated as entrants, judges, and planners of this contest. I hope it might
be a tradition that continues to other Bouchercons.

My Writing Vacation – Or Books I Enjoyed When I Let Myself Read for Fun by Debra H. Goldstein

/in /by

Many of you know I stepped down from the bench a year ago to give myself the freedom to write during the day.  The results were mixed.  In the beginning, I couldn’t get disciplined enough to do much more than organize my daughter’s wedding, travel, and watch every possible episode of How I Met Your Mother and NCIS. I finally found my writing “legs” and finished a novel that beta readers are now reviewing and wrote and submitted a number of short stories.  Four of them, “A Political Cornucopia,” “Who Dat? Dat the Indian Chief!,” “Early Frost,” and the “Rabbi’s Wife Stayed Home,” were published by Bethlehem Writer’s Roundtable (November 2013), Mardi Gras Murder (2014), The Birmingham Arts Journal (April 2014) and Mysterical – E (April 2014), respectively. At the same time, my 2012 IPPY Award winning mystery, Maze in Blue, was re-released by Harlequin Worldwide Mystery as a May 2014 book of the month.

When I received notice that Maze was reissued and the fourth story had been accepted for publication, I

decided to take a two week vacation from writing and rejoin the world of being a reader.  Some of the books I could have done without (diet books – I’ve gained weight since I decided to write), some were simply okay (a biography of Barbra Streisand), but some proved to be pure fun.  One of the exciting things to me, is that many of the books I really enjoyed were written by authors I have met at various conferences and who, in many cases, have written guest blogs for “It’s Not Always a Mystery.”(http://debrahgoldstein.wordpress.com)

For a good suspense read, let me recommend Hank Phillippi Ryan’s Agatha winning The Wrong Girl.  I read her Mary Higgins Clark MWA winning The Other Woman last year and eagerly was awaiting this book.  Then, I picked up the third book in the Skeet Bannon series written by Linda Rodriguez.  Every Hidden Fear was published the week I took my reading vacation, I couldn’t put it down – each book only has hooked me on Skeet since Linda won the Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition for Every Last Secret.

I wanted to get a little food and farm reading in so I turned to Edith Maxwell’s A Tine to Live, A Tine to Die which I followed with Leslie Budewitz’s Agatha winning Death al Dente. Food wasn’t my only companion during my reading excursion.  I added a little comedy and romance with Kendel Lynn’s Board Stiff.

Much as I enjoy mysteries, I needed to spice up my life with a few good looking men so my bedtime reading was Robert Wagner’s Pieces of My Heart.  Tonight, I’m snuggling up with Rob Lowe’s book, Love Life.  I plan to read fast because tomorrow I’m giving myself back to writing.