| Chief Editor Tony Burton |
SAMPLE ISSUE FOR NON-SUBSCRIBERS — ONLY THE UNDERLINED LINKS WORK |
Assistant Editor Yvonne Battle-Felton Reviews Editor Wil A. Emerson Contributing Editor Dorinda Ohnstad |
Welcome to the twenty-fifth issue of the Crime and Suspense
ezine, the ezine for lovers of short crime, mystery and suspense
fiction.
The theme for this issue is "Celebrating Crime" and most of our stories deal with a crime, suspense or mystery story that wraps around some sort of celebration. However, we also have the stories from the First, Second and Third Place winners of our Homecoming Writing Contest in this issue! (Hey, a Homecoming Dance is a celebration, right??)
One other interesting point about this issue is the INTERNATIONAL flavor of the author list. We have one author who was born in the U.K and moved to Oregon, one author who was born in and lives in the U.K., an author who was born in the U.K. but now lives in France, and an author who was born in France but who now lives in Italy!
Our authors for this issue are Nathalie Boisard-Beudin, Beth Groundwater, Deborah Pass, Carola Dunn, Vinnie Hansen, Gary R. Hoffman, W. S. Cwik, Therese Kinkaide and B.V. Lawson. There's also a classic story of suspense during the Carnival by Edgar A. Poe, performed in audio by your humble editor, Tony Burton.
In the review department, we have CRUEL CUTS by John R. Lindermuth reviewed by Kevin Tipple, FITNESS KILLS by Helen Barer reviewed by Wil Emerson, the anthology MURDER NEW YORK STYLE reviewed by Diane T'Other, and Christopher Ryan gives us his review of BLONDE FAITH by Walter Mosley.
You can learn more about these contributors and authors in the Rogues' Gallery.
GIFT CERTIFICATE GIVEAWAY!!
One of our wonderful sponsors, TBO Tech, has contributed a gift certificate worth $25 to use while shopping at their site.
How do you win it? Simple enough -- just drop by their site (you can click on the banner above to get there.) When there, browse around. After you've found something that strikes your fancy, write a short email to me about how that item would be a cool thing for you to have (make it between 100 and 150 words.) The item itself doesn't have to cost exactly $25. I'll randomly select a winner from the emails and publish their little essay/story on the Crime and Suspense ezine site.
OH! Be sure to get it in to me BEFORE January 11, 2008. That's the deadline!
(This is only open to subscribers, so when you send the email, make sure you send it from the email you used to subscribe to the 'zine.)
Sleuth Fest |
Malice Domestic XX |
Murder In the Magic City |
Crime Fest 2008
|
Review of CRUEL CUTS by John R. Lindermuth-- Living in a small town means everyone knows your business. It also means that virtually everyone is a suspect when something heinous is going on...
Review of FITNESS KILLS by Helen Barer -- Nora Franke is an amateur sleuth who travels to Baja, California to lose a few pounds, heal a broken heart and create a few heart-healthy meals for over-indulged spa worshipers. This cozy novel won’t make you break a sweat but it will leave you wondering...
Review of MURDER NEW YORK STYLE -- Twenty-one stories by twenty-one Sisters In Crime New York/Tri State Chapter authors. The stories all take place in the Greater New York Area including two stories that are set in “The Outer Reaches.” This book has at least one story to satisfy each mystery reader.
Review of BLONDE FAITH -- Reading Walter Mosley, especially his Easy Rawlins mysteries, is like getting hugged and slapped at the same time; you love the familiar warmth of his rock solid characterization, organically involving pace, and pitch perfect dialogue (I’ll admit to loving when his characters say“cain’t”), then get thrown because they never do what you expect them to. Ever.
We'd love to see one of your stories for a future issue of Crime and Suspense! Check out the themes and guidelines!
Lew Stowe's story, "Dying Again" was selected as the Readers' Choice story for the November/December 2007 issue, so Lew received one of our awesome Crime and Suspense t-shirts. Here's a picture he sent me, of him wearing the t-shirt.
Remember, readers, you'll have a chance to vote on your favorite story from this issue, too, so keep that in mind when you're reading them!
Scratching her flannel sheep-print
PJs, Janet stumbled out of her bedroom into the living room. A huge box wrapped in shiny blue paper sat on the coffee table. Janet
circled the box and searched for a tag.
When her brother, Bill, exited his bedroom, she asked if he knew where the extra gift came from. Bill shook his head and went into the kitchen, rubbing his lower back. He returned with two cups of coffee and handed one to Janet.
New Year Resolution by Deborah Pass
Brett held his head in his hands to avoid looking at the
mess he'd left on the bed. The woman's clothes were scattered
across the floor, a shoe turned towards the door as if about to make a run for it. He picked it
up and tried squeezing it onto the dangling, limp foot.
The urge was gone now, leaving a dirty metallic smell and another missing prostitute. He tried
to think, but as always, after one of his little excesses, his mind was a jumble of confused
images and sensations.
Miss Primrose and the March of Progress by Carola Dunn
“It’s not natural,” said I, pausing in my dissection of a succulent kipper to eye my nephew severely. “I read in the Liverpool Mercury that one of those locomotive engines travelled at thirty miles an hour in the trials! It’s enough to give a person heart failure. If the good Lord had meant us to move so fast, he would have given horses steam boilers and wheels.”
Are you a small-press or independently-published author?
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Smoked Meat by Vinnie Hansen
Uncle Beanie’s death was not the Christmas present I had wished for.
Since his demise was unexpected, I eyed everyone in the house with suspicion, including my mom.
Uncle Beanie’s latest paramour, an obvious gold-digger named Maureen; his
business partner Nikos and wife, Anna; Uncle Teddy and his son, Brandon, had
converged on my mom’s house for the holiday.
The Big Killer Groundhog Event by W. S. Cwik
The splash of cold water on my face did nothing to ease the alcohol-induced pounding at my temples. As I straightened up, the water streaked down my chest soaking my BVD’s. Opening my eyes was painful enough until the skinned five-foot gopher stared at me over my shoulder in the vanity mirror. I rubbed my eyes and looked again. A large brown head with chubby cheeks and long whiskers smiled back at me.
Worth Millions by Richard Hallows
It was three o’clock on Christmas morning. Outside it was a clear, star scattered night and the temperature had fallen below freezing.
“Merry Christmas,” said Sam, He hung his leather coat in the metal locker with his name stencilled across the door, took out his black helmet and heavy turnout jacket, checking the fireproof Nomex hood was clipped onto the shoulder, and carried them into the rest area.
Turkey Fry by Gary R. Hoffman
Fortunately for Deputy Sheriff Margo Tyson her hair was pulled back into a regulation bun. She was bent over behind a storage shed throwing up everything she had eaten for breakfast. She felt foolish, but at least her hair was out of the way. None of the other deputies came over to comfort her, but she was sure she would take a lot of ribbing about getting sick. It was only her second week on the force and had just witnessed her first dead body.
Homecoming Writing Contest Winners
Third Place
Winner of a $25 Amazon gift certificate
Dance Macabre by B. V. Lawson
Penn strode over to his target, just as he’d practiced a hundred times before and shouted, “Jennifer, my love, I can’t bear seeing you with that jock Jamison any longer. If I can’t have you, no one else will!” and with that, he thrust the knife into her abdomen. As expected, she fell onto the parquet floor, blood seeping through fingers clutched over her stomach.
Second Place
Winner of a set of four great books for writers, signed by their authors:TAKE THE MYSTERY OUT OF PROMOTING YOUR BOOK, YOU CAN WRITE A MYSTERY, SUCCESSFULLY MARKETING PRINT-ON-DEMAND FICTION and DON'T MURDER YOUR MYSTERY
Murder In the Kingdom by Therese Kinkaide
Jarrod Dietrich had thrown an interception, and that mistake had cost the Harrison Ford High Eagles the big game. He still hadn’t forgiven himself the sloppy pass; he’d known when he spotted Dorsey open for a fleeting second that there wasn’t enough room to get the ball to him clean. Jarrod hoped to get a full college ride on his right arm; this certainly wasn’t the way to do it. At least it was homecoming weekend, and he had Randi Egan in his arms right now.
First Place
Winner of a cash prize of $125.00
A Knight's Tale by Gary R. Hoffman
"Ok, Greg, let's go over this again," Detective Garrity said.
Greg Hodges, the quarterback and captain of Harrison Ford High School's
football team, was slouching in his chair. He now sat up and put his elbows on the table.
He was still wearing a blood-stained light blue tuxedo. His tie was untied and the top two
buttons on the ruffled shirt were open. "Lila and I got to the dance around ten. I brought
a pint of whiskey with me because I figured Lila would want to celebrate. She was pretty
much of a shoe-in for homecoming queen. I figured I would be celebrating, too, but after
my piss-poor performance in the game, I decided maybe I needed to have several snorts.
Thought it might help me forget I lost the game for our team.
The Judges
The following published authors generously gave their time to score the entrants' stories:
Again, no one has submitted an audio performance of a story. So this month's story is an audio performance of
The Cask of Amontillado (.mp3 version, 19.6 MB)
The Cask of Amontillado (.m4a version, 14.7 MB)
The Cask of Amontillado (sample .mp3)
"The Cask of Amontillado" is a tale of revenge and murder, which takes place during the season of Carnival in Italy. The Wikipedia had this interesting bit to say about the origins and inspiration for the story:
Poe wrote his tale, however, as a response to his personal rival Thomas Dunn English. Poe and English had several confrontations, usually centered around literary caricatures of one another. One of English's writings went a bit too far, and Poe successfully sued his editors at The New York Mirror for libel in 1846. That year English published a revenge-based novel called 1844, or, The Power of the S.F. Its plot was convoluted and difficult to follow, but made references to secret societies and ultimately had a main theme of revenge. It included a character named Marmaduke Hammerhead, the famous author of "The Black Crow", who uses phrases like "Nevermore" and "lost Lenore." This parody of Poe was depicted as a drunkard, liar, and domestic abuser. Poe responded with "The Cask of Amontillado", using very specific references to English's novel. In Poe's story, for example, Fortunato makes reference to the secret society of Masons, similar to the secret society in 1844, and even makes a gesture similar to one portrayed in 1844 (it was a signal of distress). English had also used an image of a token with a hawk grasping a snake in its claws, similar to Montresor's coat of arms bearing a foot stomping on a snake - though in this image, the snake is biting the heel. In fact, much of the scene of "The Cask of Amontillado" comes from a scene in 1844 that takes place in a subterranean vault. In the end, then, it is Poe who "punishes with impunity" by not taking credit for his own literary revenge and by crafting a concise tale (as opposed to a novel) with a singular effect, as he had suggested in his essay "The Philosophy of Composition."
Poe may have also been inspired, at least in part, by the Washingtonian movement, a fellowship that promoted temperance. The group was made up of reformed drinkers who tried to scare people into abstaining from alcohol. Poe may have made a promise to join the movement in 1843 after a bout of drinking with the hopes of gaining a political appointment. "The Cask of Amontillado" then may be a "dark temperance tale," meant to shock people into realizing the dangers of drinking.
The audio is about 17 minutes. Remember, if you are on a Macintosh computer or have RealPlayer installed on your PC, you can listen to the .m4a version, which is a much smaller download (about 15 MB.)
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