Tomorrow, Sunday, May 15, 2022 is launch day for Low Down Dirty Vote, Volume 3! Esteemed editor Mysti Berry has once again put together an anthology that addresses the attacks on our democracy and voting rights. This volume’s theme is “the color of my vote” and based on early reviews, it sounds like there’s a common thread among the stories: rage.
My story “Riviera Red” features a beach community torn apart by a secession campaign where the wealthy southern part of the city wants to break away from the northern. The wife of the secessionist committee president learns the hard way that remaining on the sidelines isn’t an option.
Sunday, May 15 is our virtual launch party! At noon PDT, I’ll be reading an excerpt from my story and / or I’ll talk about what inspired me to write about secession and the growing power of the AAPI vote. Here’s the link to register: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/global-launch-1-for-low/register
My short story “Grateful Touring” is getting another life with an appearance in the latest issue of Black Cat Weekly e-magazine. Barb Goffman selected it as part of her Barb Goffman Presents short story series. Thank you, Barb!
“Grateful Touring” was originally published in Windward: New England Crime Stories 2016 by Level Best Books. I was so excited because I’d been wanting to be in the New England Crime series for a while. Every year I submitted to the anthology as well as the Al Blanchard Award but was never selected. The anthology launches at the Crime Bake Conference which was one of the very first mystery conferences I went to. It remains one of my favorite conferences. I went to Crime Bake in 2016 even though I wasn’t registered so I could meet the other contributors of the anthology and participate in the signing. I had so much fun and I even crashed a panel featuring Hank Phillippi Ryan (don’t tell anyone).
“Grateful Touring” was inspired by a good friend of mine who is a tour director and does the foliage tours every fall. He’s a big Deadhead like my protagonist Jack. My friend doesn’t smuggle cigarettes on the side, although he agreed that it would be pretty easy to do while on tour so who knows, maybe I gave him something to think about.
Here’s a brief description of my story:
As the director for New England foliage tours, Jack has an easy side hustle smuggling cigarettes while entertaining a motor coach of leaf peepers—as long as he’s teamed up with his driver, Chris. Things get complicated, though, when Bob announces he’s the new driver and Chris is MIA. Fearing the worst and with the trip still on schedule, Jack braces himself for a bumpy ride.
If you’re not a subscriber to Black Cat Weekly (and why aren’t you?), you can pick up the issue here: Black Cat Weekly, #34.
Today is release day for A Bag of Dick’s: a 509 Crime Anthology, edited by Colin Conway. Yes, that’s the title and no, it’s not what you think. Apparently, there’s an old school burger joint in Spokane, WA that’s called Dick’s Hamburgers where you can buy burgers by the bag. Hence the title. So when I was asked to contribute a short story to this, I had to say yes. I mean who wouldn’t, right?
The stories all feature the desperate, the criminal, and the opportunists as they scramble to find a Dick’s bag to earn a Get out of Jail Free card. My story is called “Her Father’s Daughter” and it’s a dual POV with a young woman whose boyfriend isn’t the brightest criminal. She should know because her father used to be one too, but he’s left all that behind him. Or so he tells her.
Link to buy is here: A Bag of Dick’s and here’s the anthology description:
With scorching tales from Jonathan Brown, Sarah M. Chen, Bill Fitzhugh, Scott Kikkawa, Nick Kolakowski, Debbi Mack, Kat Richardson, Brian Thornton, Sam Wiebe, Jim Winter, and Frank Zafiro.
Detective Jim Morgan just gave Roy Utt the opportunity of a lifetime. What happens next is the stuff of legend.
In an instant, Roy Utt’s life changed, and it happened at Dick’s Hamburgers.
A guy ran from the parking lot with a bag of burgers clutched to his chest. To Roy, it was life on the street—weird things happen, and wondering why is wasted time.
But today is no ordinary day because Detective James Morgan was also there. Unlike Roy, Morgan isn’t in the habit of dismissing bizarre events. Instead, he wants to know what was in the bag, and he’s giving Roy the incentive to find it—a Get Out of Jail Free card.
If Roy knows one thing, it’s that Morgan’s word is better than the dry sandwiches and mushy apples in lock-up.
With the clock ticking on the deal, Roy is already sharing too much information. The allure of a Get Out of Jail Free card attracts the smart, the cunning, and the stupid. An all-out scavenger hunt is underway in the criminal underworld.
Will Roy earn his Get Out of Jail Free card, or will he become a footnote in the legacy of the streets?
A Bag of Dick’s is a collection of twelve short stories from crime fiction’s liveliest voices. Get your copy today and experience the 509 in a way you never expected.
Today is the publication day for the digital version of the Sisters in Crime / Los Angeles anthology Avenging Angelenos! The print version will be available in the coming days.
I was lucky enough to be co-editor of this short story collection and couldn’t be prouder of the eleven writers we chose to be included in this anthology. The theme if you haven’t guessed is revenge and the stories we selected vary widely from historical to otherworldly. The introduction is by Frankie Y. Bailey, a prolific mystery writer and criminal justice professor.
Editing these stories was very rewarding and I thoroughly enjoyed working with these talented writers. I also owe a lot to my fantastic co-editors, Wrona Gall and Pamela Samuels Young, and of course to Sisters in Crime / Los Angeles for giving me this opportunity.
And what a gorgeous cool cover!
Hope you enjoy!
With an introduction by Frankie Y. Bailey and eleven original stories by: Avril Adams, Paula Bernstein, Hal Bodner, Jenny Carless, LH Dillman, Gay Totl Kinman, Melinda Loomis, Kathy Norris, Peggy Rothschild, Meredith Taylor, and Laurel Wetzork.
Today CrimeReads published a roundtable discussion between Lise McClendon, the editor of Stop the World: Snapshots from a Pandemic, and four of us from the anthology. We discussed the inspiration behind our essays. My piece is “The Five Stages of Coronanxiety” which are telephone transcriptions between me and my dad (who lives in Taiwan) in the early stages of the pandemic.
The anthology from Thalia Press is out today! This collection features essays, poems, and short stories from 40 writers from all over the globe and is edited by Lise McClendon with Gary Phillips, Kate Flora, and Taffy Cannon.
My essay “The Five Stages of Coronanxiety” features phone conversations between me and my dad during the early days of the pandemic in February and March.
All proceeds go to charity. I’m honored to be a part of this collection and hopefully it will offer some hope and humor for readers.
Book description:
Once you may have wished for a pause to take a breath, to stop your hectic life, to enjoy a stay-cation with so much time on your hands. Then, it happened, suddenly and terrifyingly. What do you do with these scenarios, this odd time, this creativity that doesn’t stop? How do you handle it?
This collection of fiction, essays, and poetry shines a light on moments in the times we live in during the global pandemic of 2020, when the world stopped. It offers a record of people’s lives and imaginations, a snapshot of enduring creativity— a happy, sad, funny, reflective, deep, shallow, and/or thought-provoking slice of our lives.
Last night we chatted presidents and politics with our esteemed editor / publisher Peter Carlaftes. It was a blast! We also read excerpts from our stories in The Faking of the President. To watch, click on the YouTube link below!
Buy links for The Faking of the President, a New York Times Editors’ Choice!
How cool is this? The anthology is one of nine books that the editors of the New York Times has selected as staff picks. Woot! So exciting! Here’s a link to the picks: Editors’ Choice
And more good news: I received my print copy of the New York Times Book Review from my awesome publisher / editor Peter Carlaftes of Three Rooms Press. YOU KNOW I’M GOING TO FRAME THIS!
