Meeting Tomorrow in Cohoes

Remember tomorrow’s meeting is at the Cohoes Public Library at 10:30. Don’t forget to bring books for the book swap. Here are the directions to the library:

Directions:
From 787, turn left at Bridge Street exit in Cohoes. Go up hill through traffic light and across railroad tracks. Take a quick right onto Mohawk Street. The library is in an old church building on the right. Bear right to parking lot just past the building.
From the Northway, take Cohoes exit 7. Turn right onto Rte 9. Turn right onto Rte 9R. Stay on 9R, bearing left when the road forks. It becomes Columbia Street in Cohoes. Follow Columbia Street downhill into the business area. Turn
left onto Mohawk Street just before the railroad crossing. The library is in the old church building on the right. Bear right to parking lot just past the building.

20130517-215110.jpg


Reminder for May Meeting

From President Betsy Bitner:

Murder Comes to Albany: Bouchercon, the world’s largest mystery convention, is coming to Albany in September. On Saturday, May 18th, the Mavens of Mayhem, the local chapter of Sisters in Crime (the international organization offering networking, advice and support to mystery authors), will host a program about the history of Bouchercon and will give a preview of the authors and activities for this year’s convention. The meeting is at 10:30 am at the Cohoes Public Library. PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE IN MEETING PLACE FOR MAY!

After the meeting, the chapter will hold a mystery/crime book swap. Bring as many books as you’d like, take as many books as you want. Books not taken will be donated to the Cohoes Library. The meeting is free and open to the public.

The writing prompt for May is:

Write a scene/story about your favorite amateur sleuth/detective and describe why. The story does not have to be about a book character. Use your imagination. Bring your completed scene/story (500-750 words) to the meeting and be prepared to read it aloud (or ask someone to do it for you if you’re shy).

See you on Saturday!

20130513-210827.jpg


Murder Comes to Albany

Image

Murder Comes to Albany:  Bouchercon, the world’s largest mystery convention, is coming to Albany in September. On Saturday, May 18th, the Mavens of Mayhem, the local chapter of Sisters in Crime (the international organization offering networking, advice and support to mystery authors), will host a program about the history of Bouchercon and will give a preview of the authors and activities for this year’s convention. The meeting is at 10:30 am at the Cohoes Public Library.

After the meeting, the chapter will hold a mystery/crime book swap.Here’s a chance to do some spring cleaning!  Bring as many books as you’d like and take as many books as you want. Books not taken will be donated to the Cohoes Library. The meeting is free and open to the public.

*Please note the change in meeting location for this month’s meeting.


April Writing Prompt


The writing prompt for April is: Patrick Macnee, best known as The Avengers ‘ Mr. Steed (pictured here with Diana Rigg’s Emma Peel) but who also played both Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (among dozens of similarly mysterious roles), he was born on February 6, 1922.

Writing prompt: Finish the scene that starts with this line from John Steed:

“Six bodies in an hour and twenty minutes. What do you call that?”

Bring your scene to the meeting and be prepared to read it out loud (or have someone read it for you if you’re shy).


Call for Submissions: Noir Carnival

From Fox Spirit Books a call for noir/crime stories:

Noir Carnival

Coming soon from Fox Spirit!

Coming soon from Fox Spirit!

A call for stories from Fox Spirit Books, publishers of Weird Noir and many more superb volumes.

Dark’s Carnival has already left town, but it’s left a fetid seed behind. There’s a transgressive magic that spooks the carnies and unsettles the freaks. Beyond the barkers and the punters, behind the lights and tents where the macabre and the lost find refuge, there’s a deformity that has nothing to do with skin and bones. Where tragic players strut on a creaking stage, everybody’s going through changes. Jongleurs and musicians huddle in the back. It seems as if every one’s running, but is it toward something—or away?

Carnival: whether you picture it as a traveling fair in the back roads of America or the hedonistic nights of the pre-Lenten festival where masks hide faces while the skin glories in its revelation, it’s about spectacle, artificiality and the things we hide behind the greasepaint or the tent flap. Lead us on a journey into that heart of blackened darkness and show us what’s behind the glitz.

Touchstones (to give you a sense of the breadth of the net cast):

John Webster’s “skull beneath the skin” • Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love • Angela Carter’s Nights at the CircusGargantua & Pantagruel • Pinocchio (the novel! Not the Disney atrocity) • Papa Lazarou • Doctor Lau • Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes • Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal • Leonor Fini

Surprise me, delight me, make me afraid of the shadows of a warm summer night, rip my guts out and stuff them back in again. Just don’t bore me. All editors have their tastes or quirks: if you want a clue to my sensibilities, check out my extensive bibliography and of course, read Weird Noir.

Stories should be:

  • Previously unpublished anywhere
  • Not submitted anywhere else
  • Length 3-8K
  • Formatted: Times New Roman, regular, 12 point. 1″ margins. 1 space after full stop. Spaced 1.5 lines. Use paragraph formatting to indent first line not tabs. No header/footer.
  • Identified with a title, your name (and pen name identified as such), working email address on the first page: file name should include your surname & title
  • Submitted in RTF format via email to katelaity at gmail with at least your name, the story title and total word count included in the body of the email; make sure the Subject line includes “Submission: Noir Carnival” + your name
  • Due by Walpurgisnacht

We will ask for world-wide print & ebook rights for a year and pay $10 via Paypal as an advance against the royalties to be split with the publisher. We plan to launch the book at EDGE-Lit in Derby in July 2013.


Call for Submissions: Untreed Reads

The Killer Wore Cranberry edited by J. Alan HartmanBetsy Bitner forwards this call:
Untreed Reads is pleased to announce a call for submissions.
Moon Shot: Murder and Mayhem on the Edge of Space will be a short story anthology showcasing mystery and crime stories that combine the genres of science fiction and mystery/crime/suspense. We’re looking for great stories that take these genres into new territory, whether on our planet or another.
Please note that we have already accepted a story that takes place on the International Space Station, therefore we are not looking for any other stories that do (it was the inspiration for this call).
This is an open call and may be reposted anywhere and everywhere. This anthology is expected to be published in August of 2013.
This anthology will be edited by J. Alan Hartman, Editor-in-Chief of Untreed Reads and the editor of the bestselling anthologies The Killer Wore Cranberry, The Killer Wore Cranberry: A Second Helping and Year’s End.
1. All stories must be between 1500-5000 words.
2. Deadline for submission for consideration is May 30, 2013. This is a firm date; no submissions after this date will be considered.
3. All submissions should be sent to Jay Hartman at jhartman@untreedreads.com with the words MOON SHOT in the subject line.
4. Stories may take place in the past, present or future of our galaxy, but may not introduce aliens or undiscovered planets. Stories may take place on Earth, but must be somehow related to the space program if they are.
5. Stories should lean more towards mystery/suspense/thriller than the science fiction side.
6. Submissions must be in DOC, RTF or ODT format.
7. We will not be publishing the stories individually. Only the anthology will be available.
8. Authors will receive royalty, but not upfront payment. Authors will each receive a share of royalties of 50% of net (net = cover price – vendor commission) based on the number of authors in the final anthology.
9. Characters appearing in other Untreed Reads series or other series not published by us are strongly encouraged. Please check your contract with your publisher to make sure you may legally do so.
10. Stories not used for the anthology may be resubmitted for future calls.
11. Previously published works are fine providing that electronic rights have reverted to the author.
12. Stories currently published through a self-publishing venue (i.e.: Smashwords, Amazon KDP, etc.). will not be accepted.
13. There are no restrictions whatsoever on age, race, sex, sexual orientation, etc in the work.. Just tell us a great story!
Best,
Jay Hartman
Editor-in-Chief
Untreed Reads Publishing
http://www.untreedreads.com
http://store.untreedreads.com

Upcoming Mystery Events

799px-albanynewyorkfromrensselaer.jpgHi all,

This turns out to be a jam packed weekend for mystery events in the Albany area so I wanted to send out a reminder to make sure you were aware of them all.

Tomorrow, March 23rd, Susan Sundwall will be signing copies of her Minnie Markwood mystery, The Red Shoelace Killer, at the Barnes and Noble in Colonie Center at 12:00.

Also, tomorrow there’s a mystery reading by various authors in the Albany area and the Berkshires at the East Greenbush library at 1 pm. This event is co-sponsored by the Hudson Valley Writers Guild and SinC New England. Our own Kate Laity (writing as K.A. Laity) will be reading from her new mystery. The event is free and open to the public.

On Sunday, March 24th, there’s a Murder Mystery Reading and breakfast from 10-12 at the Schenectady JCC, 2565 Balltown Rd, Niskayuna. Forensic dentist Stanley Woods-Frankel will read from his latest novel. The reading is free, there’s an optional bagel and lox breakfast for $5. For more information, go to http://www.schenectadyjcc.org <http://www.schenectadyjcc.org>

Also on Sunday, The Book House in Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany will host a panel discussion on writing and publishing at 2pm. Panelists are Dennis Mahoney, Coleen Paratore, Elizabeth Brundage, Jenny Milchman and Peter Goldman. The event is free.

Have a great weekend!

Betsy