ANTICIPATION: Guest post by Lisa Preston

Lisa Preston:
Anticipation 

Enjoying the present (often with a good book), we may also look and lean forward. Anticipation is part of why we roll out of bed in the morning, why we cook, call a friend, read. What will the day bring? How will that taste? How was her trip to Scotland? Where is this story going? What happens next?

“Ooh, I can’t wait to find out,” we say, as we wait.

So, while I have a new mystery series debuting in November, I’m also looking forward to a 2019 anthology of mystery stories. 

Last spring, a general call for submissions to Malice Domestic’s next anthology was announced. This will be the fourteenth collection, published just in time for next year’s Malice Domestic conference in May.

I can’t wait.

The submission process is blind, and something in the neighborhood of 125 stories were received by the selectors.

Ooh, I can’t wait.

Thirty-five new mysteries were selected. Each Malice Domestic collection has a unique theme. Murder Most Historical. Murder Most Geographical. The next theme is culinary-related and the anthology is titled Murder Most Edible.

I’m hoping there will be a chocolate-related story—or two—perhaps with a recipe that can be showcased on Janet’s Dying for Chocolate blog.

2019’s Murder Most Edible sounds like such a fun read. As soon as I heard the title, I thought about Rainy Dale, the young horseshoer heroine who serves as the amateur sleuth in my new series, which starts with The Clincher. Rainy’s love interest, Guy, is a chef.

Ooh, I can’t wait.

I asked my editor at Skyhorse for the okay to use The Clincher’s characters in a new short story I planned to write for the anthology. Permission secured, I penned a little mystery set in rural Oregon to reveal the early days of Rainy and Guy’s relationship. Anticipation.

Anticipa-a-tion, is keeping me wai-ai-aiting.

Last week, anthology selections were announced. Readers will find stories by Marcia Adair, Laura Brennan, Leslie Budewitz, Richard Cass, Lynne Ewing, Debra Goldstein, Marni Graff, Kristin Kisska, Cynthia Kuhn, Ellen Larson, Linda Leszczuk, Joan Long, Sharon Lynn, Edith Maxwell, Ruth McCarty, Rosemary McCracken, M.A. Monnin, Josh Pachter, Elizabeth Perona, Adele Polomski, Ang Pomano, me (Gutbombs ’n’ Guinness), Stephen Rogers, Verena Rose, Sara Rosett, Harriette Sackler, Terry Shames, Nancy Cole Silverman, Shawn Reilly Simmons, Mark Thielman, Victoria Thompson, Christine Trent, Gabriel Valjan, Kate Willett, and Stacy Woodson.

This line-up has me leaning forward, eager to see what all of the authors reveal.

If you can’t make it to Malice Domestic, you can still try to get your hands on the highly anticipated anthology, Murder Most Edible, when it is published in May 2019.

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Lisa Preston is the author of the psychological thriller Orchids and Stone, and the psychological suspense The Measure of the Moon (Thomas & Mercer). Her new mystery series debuts in November with The Clincher (Skyhorse). She turned to writing after careers as a cop and a paramedic, and lives with her hubby in the Pacific Northwest.