2012 Derringer Award Winners Announced

I am deeply honored that my story, "Heat of Passion" was among the finalists for the 2012 Derringer Award for Best Flash Fiction Story. The results have just been announced by SMFS President (and awesome short story writer) Sandra Seamans. Eligible voting members of the Short Mystery Fiction Society read the stories and cast their votes. 


Congratulations to the winners:

Best Flash Story: "Lessons Learned" by Allan Leverone

Best Short Story: "Touch of Death" by B.V. Lawson

Best Long Story: Tie "A Drowning at Snow's Cut" by Art Taylor and "Brea's Tale"
by Karen Pullen

Best Novelette: "Where Billy Died" by Earl Staggs


Congratulations to all of the nominees as well. Your stories are outstanding and the judges did a terrific job in narrowing down the choices. I'm grateful for the efforts of 2012 Derringer Coordinator Gwen Mayo, the judges, and the voting members of SMFS who took the time to read the stories and make the tough decisions.


Thanks, also, to Editor Christopher Grant for having accepted and published "Heat of Passion" on A Twist of Noir on February 14, 2011 ~ and to the dedicated readers who took the time to read and comment about my story. The feedback has been a tremendous gift. 


A special shout-out to the publishers/hosts of the winning stories: Shotgun Honey; Absent Willow Review(currently closed); Untreed Reads; Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine; and to the dozens of bloggers (and those who promoted on Facebook and Twitter, too) ~ who announced the 2012 Derringer Award Finalists throughout March 2012 and wrote so many kind words. Thanks for your faithful support of short mystery and crime fiction!

Ben Hecht: The Shakespeare of Hollywood

On this date in 1894, one of my favorite screenwriters of all time was born. Ben Hecht was also a director, producer, playwright and a novelist.

Ben was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Original Screenplay, for the movie Underworld (1927).

The screenplays he wrote or worked on (many times uncredited) include the following:

Scarface (1932), The Front Page, Twentieth Century (1934), Barbary Coast (1935), Nothing Sacred (1937), Some Like It Hot, Gone with the Wind, Gunga Din, Wuthering Heights (all 1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Spellbound (1945), Notorious (1946), Monkey Business, A Farewell to Arms (1957), Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), and Casino Royale (1967; released after Hecht's death in 1964).

He also provided story ideas for such films as Stagecoach (1939). In 1940, he wrote, produced, and directed Angels Over Broadway.

Six of his movie screenplays were nominated for Academy Awards; two won.

My personal favorite is His Girl Friday. If you've never seen it, try to get it from your library (or watch it online at IMDb). The rapid-fire dialogue is extraordinary. As a police officer, I worked with the media for 16 years, so this movie is even more endearing to me. It's quite evident in this film that Mr. Hecht had an extensive background in journalism.

When Hecht was living in New York in 1926, he received a telegram from a screenwriter friend who had recently moved to L.A. "Millions are to be grabbed out here and your only competition is idiots. Don't let this get around." He traveled to Hollywood, and began his career by writing the screenplay for Underworld, as the sound era had ended.

We know where that landed him!

Blast at St. Louis Bouchercon 2011

Bouchercon 2011 at St. Louis was terrific. It is truly amazing to see so many authors all in one place. This was my second Bouchercon. The host hotel, the Renaissance St. Louis Grand, was sold out quickly, so I stayed at the historic St. Louis Union Station Marriott, which was such a treat; it's converted from the original St. Louis railroad station. I shared a room with my fellow New York Sister in Crime, Cathi Stoler, the author of Telling Lies. While attending a paragraph-reading party at Left Bank Books, in which Cathi read a paragraph from Telling Lies, I had the honor of meeting my Twitter friends, Chad Rohrbacher and Ron Earl Phillips.

Lobby of St. Louis Union Station Marriott

L to R, top to bottom: Catriona McPherson, Kathleen A. Ryan, Cathi Stoler, Clare Toohey

Left Bank Books, St. Louis

My New York Sister-in-Crime, Hilary Davidson, Anthony Award winner for Best First Novel, The Damage Done

Duane Swierczynski, Anthony Award Winner for Best Paperback Original, Expiration Date

Reed Farrel Coleman, Three-time Shamus Award winning author and fellow Long Islander!

I was honored to moderate a panel called, "Writing From the Headlines" with authors Pamela Callow, Diane Fanning, Ryan David Jahn, Karen E. Olson, and Rick Reed.

I was thrilled to finally meet in person the fabulous Patti Abbott.

I met a new friend, author Catriona McPherson. What a sweetheart!

Glad to see folks I've had the privilege of meeting before, at last year's Bouchercon in San Francisco, or at book signings in New York City, such as Brad Parks, Joelle Charbonneau, Barb Goffman, and of course seeing another fellow New York Sister in Crime, Clare Toohey.

Plans are underway for Bouchercon 2012 ~ in Cleveland, Ohio, October 4-7.

NYT Best Selling Edgar Authors on Writing

In honor of the 65th Gala Banquet of the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Awards tonight at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City, here is a video of several Edgar Award-winning authors who talk about writing, produced by Open Road Media.

I attended the MWA (Mystery Writers of America) Edgars Symposium in Manhattan yesterday, followed by the MWA Agents and Editors party ~ both events were marvelous!

The list of nominees was announced on Edgar Allan Poe's 202nd birthday, on January 19, 2011.

Best wishes to the nominees, and all who are attending tonight's Gala Banquet!

   

Fallen Officer: P.O. John Falcone: Update

I recently posted about fallen officer John Falcone of the Poughkeepsie City PD -- the hero cop who saved a three year old child before making the ultimate sacrifice. I just read a beautiful tribute post on www.policeone.com, "Mourning Our Slain LEOs" by Terrence P. Dwyer, a retired 22-year-veteran of the New York State Police. His post reminded me of standing alongside thousands of brother and sister officers at the funeral of P.O. Glen Ciano in February 2009. I had the privilege of working with Glen in the Second Precinct in Huntington for several years.

In Dwyer's post, I learned that Officer Falcone was posthumously promoted to Detective and awarded a department Medal of Honor. According to Stephen, who blogs at EMT to Physican Assistant, it was the first time ever in the history of the Poughkeepsie City PD a Medal of Honor was bestowed.

This information warranted a new post and a tremendous "thank you" to Detective Falcone for his service and sacrifice on this "Thank-a-Cop-Thursday," that is celebrated on Twitter each Thursday. I am so grateful that the Poughkeepsie City PD honored Detective Falcone in this appropriate manner.

Thanks also to retired officer Terrence P. Dwyer, for his years of service, and for this graceful post honoring our slain LEOs. Thirty-two officers have died in the line of duty in the U.S. in 2011 so far -- that's thirty-two too many. I pray there will be no more.

Read more on the origin of "Thank-a-Cop-Thursday." On Twitter, use the hashtag: #tacop.

On Twitter, follow @PoliceOne and Stephen @emttopa.

Image source: EMT to Physician Assistant

Top Police Blogs

CriminalJusticeDegree.net

The online Criminal Justice Degree web site has posted its list of Top Police Blogs, and I'm proud to say that From Cop to Mom and the Words in Between has received a 2010 Top Police Blog Award.

Thanks to Criminal Justice Degree for the honor and recognition. Congratulations to my fellow bloggers ~ I look forward to visiting your blogs!

Discount Noir

I am thrilled to announce that my story, "Secret Identity" appears in the Untreed Reads crime fiction e-book, Discount Noir, edited by Patricia Abbott and Steve Weddle.

Here's the description from Untreed Reads:

If you thought standing in line at your local warehouse store was murder, then you haven't been to Megamart. These flash fiction tales of superstore madness and mayhem will make you think twice the next time you hear "clean up on aisle 13."

This anthology contains works by: Patricia Abbott, Sophie Littlefield, Kieran Shea, Chad Eagleton, Ed Gorman, Cormac Brown, Fleur Bradley, Alan Griffiths, Laura Benedict, Garnett Elliot, Eric Beetner, Jack Bates, Bill Crider, Loren Eaton, John DuMond, John McFetridge, Toni McGee Causey, Jeff Vande Zande, James Reasoner, Kyle Minor, Randy Rohn, Todd Mason, Byron Quertermous, Sandra Scoppettone, Stephen D. Rogers, Steve Weddle, Evan Lewis, Daniel B. O'Shea, Sandra Seamans, Albert Tucher, Donna Moore, John Weagly, Keith Rawson, Gerald So, Dave Zeltserman, Dorte Hummelshoj Jakobsen, Jay Stringer, Anne Frasier, Kathleen A. Ryan, Eric Peterson, Chris Grabenstein and J.T. Ellison.

A tremendous thank-you to editors Patricia Abbott and Steve Weddle, agent Stacia Decker of the Donald Maass Literary Agency, and Jay Hartman of Untreed Reads.

Discount Noir lists at $5.99, but is on sale at Untreed Reads for $4.49 until October 31, 2010, and is available in PDF, EPUB and Palm Reader formats (I downloaded it straight to my laptop). The ebook is also available for Kindle at Amazon for $5.99.

"Secret Identity" was written in response to a flash fiction challenge posed by Patricia Abbott in 2009, and it had a different title then. My story won a Flash Fiction Award in the Public Safety Writers Association's 2010 Writing Competition. I proudly accepted the award during their Las Vegas conference this past June.

The Insight of Maxwell Perkins

On this date in 1884, William Maxwell Evarts Perkins, better known as Maxwell Perkins, was born. He is probably one of the most famous literary editors who ever lived; he worked with Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Thomas Wolfe.

I found some wonderful quotes on the Famous Quotes and Authors site, attributed to the talented Mr. Maxwell, and I wanted to share them with you:

"Every good thing that comes is accompanied by trouble."

"Just get it down on paper, and then we'll see what to do with it."

"Anybody can find out if he is a writer. If he were a writer, when he tried to write of some particular day, he would find in the effort that he could recall exactly how the light fell and how the temperature felt, and all the quality of it. Most people cannot do it. If they can do it, they may never be successful in a pecuniary sense,

but that ability is at the bottom of writing, I am sure."

"I believe the writer... should always be the final judge. I have always held to that position and have sometimes seen books hurt thereby, but at least as often helped. The book belongs to the author."

"You have to throw yourself away when you write."

I'm sure that one or more of these resonates with you.

The beautiful Snapdragon Inn, located in Windsor, Vermont, was once owned by Maxwell Perkins. Looks like a lovely place to visit.

Max Perkins: Editor of Genius by A. Scott Berg, a 1978 National Book Award Winner, will be going on my TBR pile. The word is that Sean Penn is in talks to portray the famous Scribner editor, based on the Berg biography of Perkins.

Perkins died in 1947 at age 62.

Photo sources: North Carolina Historic Sites and The Snapdragon Inn.

The Versatile Blogger Award

Le0pard13 of Lazy Thoughts From a Boomer has so kindly chosen to bestow upon me the Versatile Blogger Award. Thank you, le0pard13!

Here are the rules:

•Thank the person who gave you this award
•Share 7 things about yourself
•Pass the award along to 15 who you have recently discovered and who you think fantastic for whatever reason
•Contact the blogs you picked and let them know about the award

7 things about me:
1. I gave up ballet & dance lessons as a child because I didn't want to miss watching The Monkees on Saturdays. 2. I had about 50 pen pals as a teenager; my record was 14 letters received in one day.3. The first concert I attended was at the Westbury Music Fair, to see Bobby Sherman. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was the opening act. 4. I've been read by John Edward at least three times. I appeared on "Crossing Over with John Edward" in 2001.5. I love going to the movies, several times a month if possible.6. As a Public Information Officer, I spent eight weeks at the scene of the tragic Flight 800 plane crash in the summer of 1996.7. Before becoming a cop, I was a music teacher. I also waitressed, worked at a bakery, a deli, a real estate office, a summer camp, was a gal friday, and I delivered mail, too.
It is my pleasure to pass along and share the Versatile Blogger Award with:
Misfit Salon
Marilyn Meredith
Dark Voyage - Travels with Crime Writer Hilary Davidson
Hannah Grace - Hope, healing & the Cat-Human bond - Tracy L. Strauss
Confessions of a Mystery Novelist ~ Margot Kinberg
Mystery Writing is Murder ~ Elizabeth Spann Craig
Join Our Loop
The Bookshelf Muse
Portia Sisco
Practicing Writing
Mysteries and Margaritas
Tactical Pants
Thoughts in Progress
Mystery Lovers' Kitchen
One Minute Writer