BILL CRIDER PRIZE FOR SHORT FICTION: Bouchercon 2019

Bouchercon 2019 Denim, Diamonds, and Death 

Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction 

The 2019 Bouchercon Dallas committee has launched the Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction to celebrate this treasured literary form, both the short story and the widely-admired mystery author and reviewer, Bill Crider. Designed to encourage writers from all over the world, these distinguished prizes award stories with fascinating characters and twisty plots, all in the mystery genre. This award is debuting at the 2019 Bouchercon.

Prizes

First Prize: $1000
Second Prize: $750
Third Prize: $500
Bill Crider Memorial Scholarship: Registration to Bouchercon 2020

Judging Longlist Finalists An anonymous judging panel of published authors will select an initial round of finalists (no public announcements will be made).

Shortlist Finalists A second anonymous judging panel of published authors will select the shortlist finalists (no public announcements will be made).

Winners 

Janet Hutchings, editor of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and Linda Landrigan, editor of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, will choose the winners from the shortlisted writers.

Please note that no automatic publication in either EQMM or AHMM is attached to winning or being a finalist in this contest. All contestants (whether they make judges cuts or not) are welcome to submit to either magazine—but not both at the same time.

Once the final four writers have been chosen, all shortlisted authors will be notified on or near October 1.

Bouchercon Dallas Guest of Honor Hank Phillippi Ryan will recognize the shortlisted authors and award the top prizes during Bouchercon 2019 in Dallas, Texas.

All decisions are final and may not be contested.

Submissions 

Deadline: Mar 1, 2019 Open to all writers regardless of Bouchercon registration or residency

Stories must be an original work, not previously published, submitted anonymously (as provided in these rules), and without identifiable series characters

Theme: Deep in the Heart (relating to Texas, whether locale, characters, history, etc.) with an element of mystery or crime 

One submission per person  

Manuscript Guidelines: 

Word count: 3,500 - 5000 words

Format: Standard font Times New Roman at 12 pt size; no fancy fonts

Denote scene breaks with asterisks: ***

Double-space with one-inch margins on all sides

Email as an attached Word doc to: subs.deepintheheart@gmail.com 

Subject line: CRIDER CONTEST SUBMISSION
Contact info (body of email only, not in Word doc):
Name: Actual
Pen Name: If applicable
Mailing address
Phone number
Email address
Story Name
Word Count
No identifying information anywhere in the story or document
Entrants retain full copyright of her/his work with the stipulation it cannot be published until Bouchercon Dallas ends on Nov 3, 2019.
No automatic publication in either EQMM or AHMM is attached to winning or being a finalist in this contest. All contestants (whether they make judges cuts or not) are welcome to submit to either magazine—but not both at the same time.
There is no entry fee, nor will any monies be paid for stories other than the four prizes stated.

Questions 
Direct all questions to: subs.deepintheheart@gmail.com
Question subject line: QUESTION on Crider Contest

BILL CRIDER PRIZE at Bouchercon 2019

Bouchercon 2019—the 50th world mystery convention, to be held next October 31-November 3 in Dallas, Texas—will debut a new Prize named in honor of the late author Bill Crider. Called the Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction, it will offer a first-place award of $1000 (plus prizes for second and third place) to what judges determine are the best original stories—3500 to 5000 words in length, and submitted anonymously—“relating to Texas… with an element of mystery or crime.” Deadline for submissions is March 1, 2019. 

More details here. 

Bill Crider: R.I.P.

Art Scott and Bill Crider 2017

Bill Crider was a special guy--a fine writer, a good man, a clever and funny person. He brought much joy to so many through his writing and his friendships. R.I.P., Alligator Man.

Bill Crider was a wonderful man, author, fan, and collector. He won the Edgar, the Macavity, the Anthony, and the Shamus Awards, and probably others I've missed. Quiet, with a dry wit, warm, a true gentleman, Bill has charmed and entertained readers and friends over the years. I've known him 30+ years through DapaEm, Bouchercon, and MDM. His posts of the adventures of the VBKs have kept us all smiling on Facebook. His encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture is astounding. Bill was always a class act and a true Renaissance man. I'm glad I was able to spend time with him this summer and at Bouchercon in Toronto. 

My condolences go out to his family, friends, and everyone who knew him. He was a very special guy! He will be missed.

Bill Crider News

Such sad news. Last night Bill Crider posted that he will be entering home hospice care today. I, like his family, friends, and everyone in the mystery community, are saddened by this news. Bill Crider is a wonderful man, author, fan, and collector. He has won the Edgar, the Macavity, the Anthony, and the Shamus Awards, and probably others I've missed. Quiet, with a dry wit, warm, a true gentleman, Bill has charmed and entertained readers and friends over the years. I've known him 30+ years through DapaEm, Bouchercon, and MDM. His posts of the adventures of the VBKs have kept us all smiling on Facebook. His encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture is astounding. Bill is and always will be a class act and a true Renaissance man. I'm glad I was able to spend time with him this summer and at Bouchercon in Toronto.  

Life is not fair. Cancer sucks. Sending love and light for an easy journey, Bill. You will be in my heart forever, Alligator Man.

Here's what Bill posted on his Blog.

Things could change, but I suspect this will be my final post on the blog. I met with some doctors at M. D. Anderson today, and they suggested that I enter hospice care. A few weeks, a few months is about all I have left. The blog has been a tremendous source of pleasure to me over the years, and I've made a lot of friends here. My only regret is that I have several unreviewed books, including Lawrence Block' fine new anthology, Alive in Shape and Color, and Max Allan Collins' latest collaboration with Mickey Spillane, The Last Stand, which is a collection of two novellas, "A Bullet for Satisfaction," an early Spillane manuscript with an interesting history, and "The Last Stand," the last thing that Spillane completed. It saddens me to think of all the great books by many writers that I'll never read. But I've had a great life, and my readers have been a big part of it. Much love to you all.

Bruce Taylor, Art Scott, Bill Crider, & Me. July 2017

Mystery Readers Journal: Small Town Cops I (Volume 32:3)

Mystery Readers Journal: Small Town Cops I (Volume 32:3) is now available as a PDF and hard copy. Because we had so many terrific essays, articles, and reviews, we had to divide this theme into two issues. So, contributors, if you don't see your article or review in this issue, it will be in Small Town Cops II (Volume 32:4) that will be out in Winter 2016-2017. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this making this issue such a success.

This issue is available with subscription or can be purchased individually --as Hardcopy. Go here and scroll down or as a PDF.

SMALL TOWN COPS I: (Volume 32: 3)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• I’ll Be Your Warrior of Care by Margot Kinberg
• Parker’s Jesse Stone: Fragile Power by Mimosa Stephenson

AUTHOR! AUTHOR!

• A Whole New Territory by Victoria Abbott
• Life Under the Magnifying Glass by Kelley Armstrong
• Wild West by Shannon Baker
• How I Learned to Start Writing and Embrace My Small Town Cop by Patrick Balester
• Changing the Dynamics of Small Town Cops with One Experienced Detective by Laura Belgrave
• My Cousin, the Small Town Cop by Linda Berry
• Uncovering the Truth about Small Town Policemen by Rhys Bowen
• Community Policing in Italy by Grace Brophy
• Small and Cozy by J. D. Crayne
• Small-Town Texas by Bill Crider
• A Small-Island Cop by Thomas Rendell Curran
• Kendal’s Cold Case Cop by Martin Edwards
• “32” Jones and “Scary” Larry by Tom Franklin
• Knowing Everyone by Name by Anne Hagan
• Finding the Sweet Spot Between Mayberry and Fargo by S.W. Hubbard
• The Making of a Small Town Cop by J.A. Jance
• Small Town Cop Life In Ipswich, Massachusetts by Gavin Keenan
• A Writer Survives in the North Woods by Henry Kisor
• How I Found My Small-Town Cops by Jill Kelly
• It’s Always About the Little Things by Victor Letonoff Jr.
• A Copper in a Small English Mill Town by Priscilla Masters
• Snapshots of a Mountain Town by Margaret Mizushima
• Discovering Joe Silva by Susan Oleksiw
• Silver Rush Woes by Ann Parker
• A Different Point of View by Cathy Perkins
• From Family to Fiction by Terry Shames
• Crime Moves Into the Bedroom… Town by Neil Plakcy
• Small Town in a Small Country by Vanda Symon
• Got Writer’s Block? by Elly Varga
• The Last Uncorrupted Mexican Cop by Jonathan Woods
• An Old-Time Bluegrass Sheriff by Sally Wright

COLUMNS

• Mystery in Retrospect: Reviews by Vinnie Hansen, Lesa Holstine, L.J. Roberts
• Top Ten: No Small Cops, Only Small Towns by Jim Doherty
• The Children’s Hour: Small Town Cops by Gay Toltl Kinman
• Crime Seen: Small Town USA by Kate Derie
• Just the Facts: A Tale of Two Cops by Jim Doherty
• From the Editor by Janet Rudolph

Sidewise Awards for Alternate History

Winners of this year's Sidewise Award for Alternate History, presented at MidAmeriCon II on August 20.

Short Form: Bill Crider. "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" in Tales from the Otherverse: Stories of Alternate History (ed. James Reasoner). Rough Edges Press, 2015

Long Form: Julie Mayhew. The Big Lie. Hot Key Books, 2015.http://www.uchronia.net/sidewise/

Bill Crider Health Update

Bill Crider is one of the nicest people in the Mystery Community, and by now you may have heard that he has a very aggressive form of carcinoma. I've known him for over 40 years, and he is one of the most supportive and positive people--a great writer, adamant fan, and nice guy. Please send powerful thoughts, prayers, and light to this wonderful man for a positive outcome. Miracles do happen.

Bill posted this on Facebook:  Updated 7/25/16

Dear Facebook friends: I've been reading your many posts of love and support, and I'll admit that sometimes I've had tears in my eyes. I'm out of the hospital now, having been subjected to more tests and humiliations than anyone should have to undergo. My condition has not improved, I'm sorry to say. The VBKs were happy to see me, but they they're happy to see anyone. Turns out they weren't as lucky as we thought, though. I won't be posting anywhere for a while, if ever, but I want you to know how much I appreciate you and your caring for me. I'll be trying to get into M. D. Anderson and hoping for a miracle. Thank you all so much for your continuing to keep me in your minds and hearts. The outlook isn't brilliant for the Mudville Nine. I might not be posting here again, so I want to say now how moved I've been by your comments. You guys are the best. Even if we've never met in person, you are truly my friends. Love to you all.

***

Bill was our guest for a Literary Salon a few weeks ago in Berkeley. It was a wonderful afternoon by a terrific raconteur. He looked great and those who attended were rewarded with a very special afternoon. Award winning Texas author Bill Crider is a prolific writer. He has been an Edgar Award Nominee, a two-time Anthony Award Winner, and a Derringer Award Winner.

Bill Crider has written over 75 novels. He is the author of the Professor Sally Good series, the Carl Burns mysteries, the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series, the Truman Smith PI series, and  three books in the Stone: M.I.A. Hunter series under the pseudonym "Jack Buchanan." He has also written stand-alone mystery and suspense novels, as well as Westerns, Horror, Short Stories, and books for Young Readers.

Bill Crider is a native Texan who’s lived in that state all his life. He’s been reading, writing, and collecting mystery and western fiction for most of that time. He received a PhD from The University of Texas at Austin, where he wrote his dissertation on Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross MacDonald. He taught both high school and college before his retirement, and he combined his teaching career with his writing career, publishing more than 75 novels and an equal number of short stories. He’s best known for the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series, which features a sheriff in a small Texas county. Though contemporary in setting, the Sheriff Rhodes books have many of the qualities of the classic western.

Bill Crider is also a fan. He has contributed to fanzines for decades, has been to just about every Bouchercon, publishes a daily Blog about Pop Culture, watches and enjoys noir and Western films, and so much more. He recently took in three rambunctious kittens aka The VBKs (the Very Bad Kittens).

We're pulling for you, Bill!

Bill has a new Dan Rhodes coming out in August: Survivors Will Be Shot Again. Why don't you pre-order now? Suggestion of Dana Cameron, and it's a good one!

Literary Salon Wednesday, July 6: Bill Crider

Join Mystery Readers NorCal for an afternoon Literary Salon with award winning Texas author Bill Crider. A prolific writer, Bill Crider has been an Edgar Award Nominee, a Two-time Anthony Award Winner, and a Derringer Award Winner.

Bill Crider has written over 75 novels. He is the author of the Professor Sally Good series, the Carl Burns mysteries, the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series, the Truman Smith PI series, and  three books in the Stone: M.I.A. Hunter series under the pseudonym "Jack Buchanan." He has also written stand-alone mystery and suspense novels, as well as Westerns, Horror, Short Stories, and books for Young Readers.

Bill Crider is a native Texan who’s lived in that state all his life. He’s been reading, writing, and collecting mystery and western fiction for most of that time. He received a PhD from The University of Texas at Austin, where he wrote his dissertation on Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross MacDonald. He taught both high school and college before his retirement, and he combined his teaching career with his writing career, publishing more than 75 novels and an equal number of short stories. He’s best known for the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series, which features a sheriff in a small Texas county. Though contemporary in setting, the Sheriff Rhodes books have many of the qualities of the classic western.

Crider is also a fan. He has contributed to fanzines for decades, has been to just about every Bouchercon, publishes a daily Blog about Pop Culture, watches and enjoys noir and Western films, and so much more.  He recently took in three rambunctious kittens aka The VBKs (the Very Bad Kittens). You can follow their antics on his Facebook page.

And, did I mention he's a nice guy!

I'm thrilled that he'll be in Berkeley for a Literary Salon next week!

Wednesday, July 6, Berkeley, California, 3 p.m.
Please RSVP for directions and to attend. Make a comment below with your email address.

Partners in Crime: Bill Crider

I asked Bill Crider to be my Guest Blogger today on Mystery Fanfare's Partner in Crime series: Writers who write with a partner (s).

Bill Crider is a real writer's writer. He writes several mystery series including the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series, the Carl Burn series and the Sally Good series. He also writes the Truman Smith P.I. series. In addition he writes non-series mysteries, Westerns and children's books. I know a forgot a few others, but you can read more about the books and about Bill Crider here. You should also read his books! Bill is also a big mystery fan and has contributed to mystery fandom in many ways.

Writing with a Partner by Bill Crider

If I hadn’t had a writing partner, I’d never have published a novel.

That might sound strange, coming from someone who’s now published well over fifty books under various names, but it’s true. In a way, I owe my whole career to a man named Jack Davis.

When I was living in Brownwood, Texas, I was in a small writing group. One of the members was Gwen Davis, who was working on a romance novel. Her husband was Jack. He drove her to the meetings and stuck around to listen to the rest of us talk and read what we’d written. I was writing sensitive poetry at the time, but I was reading a lot of crime fiction, and so was Jack. After a while he decided that he and I should write a Nick Carter novel.

Jack was the manager of the local branch of a national moving company, and he said that the guys who worked for him read a lot of the Nick Carter novels. He’d picked up a few that they’d left lying around his office. “It’s like James Bond for truck drivers,” he told me. This was in 1978 or 1979. I’d been reading the novels off and on since 1965. I knew what he meant, but I wasn’t so sure we could write one of the books.

Jack was sure. He sent off for the writing guidelines, and when he got them, he made a deal with me. He’d plot the book and rough out the chapters. I’d do the actual writing and the final draft. If the book sold, we’d split the money 50-50. I didn’t have anything to lose but time, so I told him it was a deal.

We eventually did three chapters and an outline. Jack would give me his pages scrawled on yellow paper from a legal pad, and I’d translate them into what I hoped was readable prose on an old Underwood manual typewriter. Then my wife, Judy, retyped everything on an IBM electric.

Jack and I never had any discussions, much less any arguments or disagreements. Neither of us knew enough about what we were doing for that. We were entirely clueless. So clueless, in fact, that Jack believed we’d get a call from the publisher within weeks of our sending off our chapters.

It didn’t happen. Jack couldn’t believe it, and you won’t believe what he did next, either. He called the publisher to find out why. That’s right. I told you we didn’t know what we were doing.

What Jack found out was that the editor we’d sent the manuscript to had left and gone to work for another house. You really won’t believe what Jack did then. He tracked the guy down and called him. Here’s what the guy told him: “Your chapters aren’t bad, but the new editor already has some writers she knows and trusts. You and your writing partner are just two guys from Brownwood, Texas, wherever that is. Nobody ever heard of you. You can write three chapters, but nobody knows if you can write a whole book or if it would be any good if you did. Go ahead and finish the book and send it in. That’s your best chance.”

So we finished the book. Jack gave me the chapters, ranging from one to five handwritten pages. I fleshed them out and turned them into what I thought was classic literature on a par with Hemingway. Judy retyped them. After a long time, we had something resembling a book. We sent it to New York. They bought it. Believe me, nobody was more surprised than I was.

The book was published in January 1981. Jack and I planned to make a long career of being Nick Carter, and now that we were famous, we figured we could sell on sample chapters and an outline. We quickly did chapters for two more books and sent them in. The editor loved them and said we were going to be part of the Nick Carter stable. Within weeks, she was gone. The new editor wasn’t impressed at all and said he wouldn’t be needing us. We were crushed, and that was the end of our collaboration.

A few years later I went out on my own and published my first solo novel. I’ve done a lot of collaborating since, both officially and unofficially, but that first experience was the best. Jack Davis for persuaded me it could be done, came up with the idea, and persisted in the face of what seemed like failure. Thanks to him I’ve had a fairly long and interesting career in the writing game.

Jack Webb, R.I.P.

The Rap Sheet brings us news today via Bill Crider's Pop Culture Blog that novelist John Alfred “Jack” Webb (not the same Jack Webb who brought us Dragnet) has died at age 92. January 13, 1916 - February 12, 2008. He also wrote as John Farr. During the 1950s and ’60s, Webb wrote mysteries featuring the crime-solving pair of Father Joseph Shanley and Sammy Golden. Father Shanley was a Catholic priest in Southern California. Golden was a Jewish detective-sergeant working with what was apparently the Los Angeles Police Department’s Homicide Division. Among Webb’s titles: The Big Sin (1952), The Damned Lovely (1954), The Brass Halo (1957), and One for My Dame (1961). Jim Doherty wrote an article on Jack Webb for one of the early issues of Religious Mysteries of Mystery Readers Journal.

16 Random Things About Me

I've been tagged by J. Kingston Pierce of The Rap Sheet! This is part of a new meme (yes, it's a noun, look it up) which was born on Facebook. Here's the gist:

Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 16 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

The rules say that I'm supposed to tag 16 people, but I'm tagging only four bloggers, Louise Ure (Murderati), Bill Crider (Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine), Declan Burke (Crime Always Pays), and Karen Meek (Euro Crime). I've asked them to participate, and I'll update you when they do... if they do. It's a bit of an ego-centric exercise, but a lot of fun.

So here goes. 16 Random Things about me:

1. I have two golden retrievers, Busby Berkeley and Topper. I’m a big fan of 30s movies. Actually I’m a big fan of movies and TV. I used to have a cat named Dashiell Hammett who lived to be 21. Now I have a cat named Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty). Nothing mysterious there. She’s a Siamese rescue.


2. I used to work with juvenile offenders and adolescent parents in the inner city. On the one hand it was a rewarding job since I taught “Human Survival Skills” such as filling out a welfare app, WICKS app, etc. On the other hand every Monday morning there was always one of the kids or one of their relatives or friends who had been shot over the weekend. I went to a lot of funerals. Murder in real life. 10 years in the trenches.

3. I once taught a class on Women in Science Fiction, although my heart belonged to mysteries. I knew I’d get a good sign up. The next class, though, was Women of Mystery, and it’s history from there. The mystery courses developed into Mystery Readers International, and our own local mystery group has been meeting for over 30 years—every Tuesday night.

4. The Mystery Readers Journal grew out of my participation on a Bouchercon committee. I did the publicity newsletter. Cut and paste. Those were the days.

5. I love to garden, and I have over 120 rose bushes on my property. It’s double-fenced to protect the garden from the deer.

6. I have a home in Bodega Bay, site of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. There really are an incredible number of birds there, including flocks of the infamous wild turkeys, as well as rare migrating birds. It’s a sleepy little town on the coast and not much different from when The Birds was made, except I’ve never been attacked by the birds.

7. I once drank Southern Comfort backstage with Janice Joplin at a concert.

8. I came to Berkeley for graduate school, and I never left. My mother used to say I was married to Berkeley, and I guess I am, Frank notwithstanding. Maybe I’m a bigamist, but Berkeley was my first love. It’s beautiful, politically diverse, full of bookstores. What’s not to love?

9. I’m a morning person, and I can get a good three hours in before most people wake up.

10. I’m a tea drinker, probably because my grandmother who lived with us when I was growing up was a tea drinker. She spent 10 years in London where she was married. I take my tea with milk and honey.

11. My favorite writers are usually the ones I’m reading right now, so that would include Peter Lovesey, Reginald Hill, Val McDermid and Peter Robinson. Of course, tomorrow that might all change. I did see a Philip Kerr and a Garcia-Roza and an M.C. Beaton peak out from the TBR pile. What a mix! I’m eclectic in my reading.

12. I have a Ph.D. in religion and literature, specializing in religious mystery fiction. Luckily there wasn’t as much out there at the time. I had a framed copy of an Albert Einstein letter that read, “I shall not become a PhD” hanging above my desk. Didn’t take his advice although it took years to finish. I guess I just got tired of being introduced as ABD. All but dumb? I’ve never really used it for anything, so don’t call me Doctor! Dr. Rudolph was my father.

13. When I was young, I thought I’d be a painter and live in a garret in Paris. Maybe in my next life.

14. I love my Macintosh. I’ve always been an Apple person, and I dedicated my dissertation to my Dad (a big mystery reader), Mystery Readers International and my Mac. I made a cake in the shape of my Macintosh 512 for my PhD party. Couldn’t have done it without my MAC.

15. I’m a TV junkie. I love sitcoms. I love TIVO! I can balance my love of the written word with TV and films. It’s not always easy, but it fulfills my senses.

16. I used to travel a lot, and I have had Fulbrights to India and Brazil. I now travel through books—there is no frigate like a book to take you miles away, and it's even more fun when it's a mystery.