short stories

Oct 2023 18

The Eternal Wisdom (and Solid Common Sense) of Ray Bradbury

2023 Articles, Mysteryrat's Maze

by M.E. Proctor

I don’t know what’s more rampant on the web: writing advice or weight loss tips. They have common features. An authoritarian tone — Don’t do this! Do that ! — and a shine of expertise. I confess, I’m better at dismissing fad diets and miracle exercise routines than articles that pretend to help me write a killer first sentence. It’s no surprise that I’m always disappointed. If there was a foolproof trick, all scribblers would use it.

Sep 2023 6

What Do Editors Look for In an Anthology?

2023 Articles, Mysteryrat's Maze

by Wendy Dingwall,Barbara Ryan &
Martha Reed

In July, the Florida Gulf Coast Sisters in Crime released Paradise is Deadly, an anthology of 19 short stories from FLGC SinC member authors. Writers know all about following submission guidelines. We asked the Paradise is Deadly editors: What do you look for in a short story when making your selection?

Oct 2022 29

Duck for Cover & Other Tales A Collection of Short Stories By Barbara Venkataraman

2022 Articles, Kathleen Costa, Mysteryrat's Maze

by Kathleen Costa

What do you do with those snippets, bits and pieces, vignettes that just beg to be shared? For Barbara Venkataraman, she compiles fourteen of her short stories in a book, Duck for Cover & Other Tales. The tales have a wide range of themes, settings, characters, and level of karmic intervention. She explores revenge and comeuppance, pay back and pay forward, and the dynamics of a myriad of relationships.

Apr 2022 27

Who is Bart Lasiter?

2022 Articles, Mysteryrat's Maze

by Jim Guigli

I like to read and write mystery stories, especially private detective stories. My fictional private detective, Bart Lasiter, began life in 2006 in my Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest Grand Prize winning sentence:
Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you’ve had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did exist, and whose eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean.

Sep 2021 15

Monkey Business: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Films of the Marx Brothers

2021 Articles, Mysteryrat's Maze

by Josh Pachter

KRL readers might perhaps know me as the editor of a recent series of “inspired by” anthologies: The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell (Untreed Reads, 2020), Only the Good Die Young: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Billy Joel (Untreed Reads, 2021), and The Great Filling Station Holdup: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Jimmy Buffett (Down and Out Books, 2021).

Jul 2021 10

Murder on the Beach: A Destination Murders Short Story Collection

2021 Articles, Mysteryrat's Maze, Sandra Murphy

by Sandra Murphy

Barb Goffman leads the way with “A Tale of Two Sisters.” Emma is getting married. She wanted just friends and family, but her mother had other ideas. Instead of twenty people, there are two hundred guests. Mom has ‘The Look’ that can make grown men cower. Emma didn’t have a chance.

Sep 2020 16

The Year I Rediscovered Short Stories

2020 Articles, Mysteryrat's Maze

by Victoria Hamilton

Here is the latest installment of our new column, Top 5 Mysteries I Have Read During the Pandemic, this one from mystery author Victoria Hamilton. As we continue to spend most of our time at home, we are all looking for book suggestions so we asked mystery authors and reviewers to share the top 5 mysteries they have read during this pandemic.

Jul 2020 29

I Wish This Book Was Unnecessary: STOP THE WORLD

2020 Articles, Mysteryrat's Maze

by Lise McClendon

How to wring something positive out of one huge negative—that was the challenge I set for myself this spring. America, and the world, had shut down, locked down, were sheltering in place like victims of a mass shooting. But this enemy was invisible. The coronavirus, COVID-19, had arrived.

Jun 2020 6

A Litter of Golden Mysteries By Neil S. Plakcy: Review/Giveaway/Interview

2020 Articles, Cynthia Chow, Mysteryrat's Maze, Pets, Tales of Diversity

by Cynthia Chow

Steve Levitan would be the first to declare that his Golden Retriever Rochester was responsible for turning around his human’s life. After two miscarriages led to now ex-wife’s compulsive shopping habit, Steve wielded his considerable computer skills to hack into three credit bureaus and block her ability to spend. Unfortunately, that also led to his being caught and imprisoned for a year, forcing him to rebuild his life into an administrator at Eastern College.

Jul 2019 6

Reviewing Short Stories: Three Anthologies From Sisters In Crime

2019 Articles, Mysteryrat's Maze, Sandra Murphy

by Sandra Murphy

This week we have reviews of three Sisters in Crime anthologies-Deadly Southern Charm a Lethal Ladies Mystery anthology from Sisters in Crime Central Virginia Chapter edited by Mary Burton and Mary Miley, Fatally Haunted from the Los Angeles Sisters in Crime Chapter edited by Rachel Howzell Hall, Sheila Lowe, and Laurie Stevens, and Fishy Business: 22 Tales of Murder and Mayhem by the Rising Stars of Mystery the fifth Guppies Chapter anthology.