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fourth decade firing on all cylinders from the wittiest cozies to the grittiest noir readers can t go wrong with smfs check out just a few of the recent offerings from our writers punk noir magazine has an assortment of dark takes on the theme find what you love and let it kill you including electric tales from two smfs faithful sandra j cady s for the love of writing and elizabeth dearborn s shop till you drop black cat weekly continues to offer fans of thrilling genres a tremendous value with hundreds of pages of new and classic mystery science fiction and pulp adventure every week among recent smfs offerings are christina hoag s debt of silence and josh pachter s turkish muscle don t miss out on the web s best reading bargain woman s world proves that great things come in small packages with dk snyder s twisty whodunit harmonica blues over at killer nashville gregory meece brings us a nail biter of a suspense tale in game over robert j binney is having a great month spinning a gripping tale with this gun s for hire at thrill ride and having his story flat read on the mysteries to die for podcast on the anthology front the tucson chapter of sisters in crime brings us more trouble in tucson featuring that which does not from smfs s michael j ciaraldi in the dichotomy of love smfs member beverle myers brings us a fiery revenge tale in the red windmill 1915 in the savage waves of spring the fourth entry in kelp journal s series of beach noir anthologies curtis ippolito puts a pair of exes to work investigating the allegations about their family in not their son a host of smfs s finest grace the pages of the latest crimeucopia collection a coterie of dicks with pi stories from josh pachter m e proctor jim guigli and many more look for smfs authors in the most surprising places case in point david h hendrickson s playing for all the marbles at the frozen four in romance for all seasons last but not least level best books has published crime scenes the first collection from smfs president joseph s walker the book s twenty stories include two winners of the al blanchard award plus finalists for the edgar derringer shamus and thriller awards make room on your shelves keep reading and look for more great reads from smfs soon posted by joseph s walker at 2 34 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels publications society members news wednesday april 1 2026 smfs official announcement 2026 derringer award finalists image by bethany maines the short mystery fiction society is a group of writers readers editors publishers and others dedicated to the promotion and celebration of mystery and crime short stories since 1998 the smfs has awarded the annual derringers to outstanding published stories and people who ve greatly advanced or supported the form the inaugural best anthology derringer was presented in 2025 our volunteer judges evaluated 495 story submissions to determine the finalists the winners will be determined by member vote in april and announced may 1 the 2026 derringer award finalists are best flash story up to 1 000 words bradycardia by elizabeth dearborn punk noir magazine 2 4 2025 check rear seat by carl tait exquisite death 5 1 2025 it all comes out in the wash by james patrick focarile gumshoe review 10 31 2025 just like old times by shari held yellow mama 2 15 2025 the man under the bridge by bern sy moss spillwords 6 1 2025 best short story 1 001 to 4 000 words blind pig by michael bracken ellery queen s mystery magazine september october 2025 chains by frank vatel all due respect 9 1 25 hollywood prometheus by christa faust crime ink iconic an anthology of crime fiction inspired by queer icons bywater books the artist by linda ann bennett midnight schemers daydream believers 22 stories of mystery suspense superior shores press wax on wax off by nina mansfield donna andrews presents malice domestic mystery most humorous wildside press best long story 4 001 to 8 000 words a sign of the times by tom milani sleuths just wanna have fun private eyes in the materialistic eighties down out books masterpiece by mark thielman black cat mystery magazine 16 september 2025 six armed robbery by ashley ruth m bernier donna andrews presents malice domestic mystery most humorous wildside press whatever kills the pain by c w blackwell whatever kills the pain rock and a hard place press zebra finch by donalee moulton the most dangerous games level best books level short best novelette 8 001 to 20 000 words aswarby hall by david dean ellery queen s mystery magazine march april 2025 loose change from a mini cooper by frank zafiro chop shop episode 10 down out books saint bullethead by nick kolakowski fighting words bruisers brawlers bad intentions leonardo audio the high priest of low men by c w blackwell myopic duplicity do the ends ever justify the means leonardo audio the temporary murder of thomas monroe by tia tashiro clarkesworld january 2025 audio version best anthology previously announced crimeucopia the not so frail detective agency edited by john connor murderous ink press gone fishin crime takes a holiday the eighth guppy anthology edited by james m jackson wolf s echo press hollywood kills an anthology edited by adam meyer alan orloff level best books level short midnight schemers daydream believers 22 stories of mystery suspense edited by judy penz sheluk superior shores press on fire and under water a climate change crime fiction anthology edited by curtis ippolito rock and a hard place press sowest danger awaits a desert sleuths anthology edited by claire a murray eva eldridge suzanne e flaig denise galley and sarah smith ds publishing the smfs official announcement 2026 derringer award winners post is available here related links join the short mystery fiction society membership is always free derringer award policy all derringer award winners and finalists 1998 present our latest anthology hot shots celebrating thirty years of the short mystery fiction society posted by short mystery fiction society at 1 01 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 2026 derringer awards derringer award finalist derringer awards short mystery fiction society smfs sunday march 22 2026 smfs spotlight barb goffman elena smith is back with another interview of one of the great writers in the short mystery fiction society in the spotlight this time is golden derringer winner barb goffman by any measure one of the most honored and accomplished writers in our field today to mention just a couple of the many impressive things about her barb has won the agatha award four times and been a finalist for major industry awards an astonishing fifty times how does she do it take it away elena i think of you as the everything woman one who wears many hats you are an award winning short story writer associate editor of a successful mystery magazine black cat weekly and freelance editor developmental editing line editing and copy editing for crime novels and short stories specializing in cozy and traditional mysteries you have been a finalist for major short story crime writing awards forty seven times and crime editing awards three times including the hoch memorial golden derringer award for lifetime achievement from the short mystery fiction society let s take a look at how this journey started according to your website your first published story was in 2005 and the story was nominated for an agatha award was this your first stab at getting published or had you been trying for a while that story murder at sleuthfest was the first fiction i had written since high school and it was my first crime story at all i had been working on a suspense novel in 2004 and short stories weren t on my radar i know sacrilege but when my sisters in crime chapter put out a call for short stories for an anthology i decided to try my luck thinking a publishing credit might be helpful toward getting my novel published who knew i would fall in love with writing short stories anyway that first story was accepted and i have been focused on short stories ever since i always like to give thanks to jan burke i had received a collection of jan s stories and before i wrote my own i read a few of jan s to see how crime short stories worked i don t like reading craft books i prefer to learn by immersing myself in fiction and figuring out what works and what doesn t and why at what point in life did you decide you wanted this to be your day job and how did you transition to it i would love it if i could write short stories as my day job but that won t pay the bills so i earn my living by editing i used to be an attorney and before that i was a reporter when i was laid off from my job working as an in house counsel about fifteen years ago i didn t want to return to working at a law firm by that time i had been editing the chesapeake crimes anthology series with donna andrews and marcia talley and some friends whose work i had edited told me i was good enough to hang out my shingle i decided to try it i was quite fortunate to get a number of clients right away through word of mouth it didn t hurt that i knew a lot of people in the crime fiction community from regular attendance at my sisters in crime and mystery writers of america chapter meetings as well as at malice domestic and bouchercon was there any special person or special moment in your process when someone told you this was what you should be doing i m going to focus this answer on writing and i m going to give a shout out to toni kelner i d had maybe ten stories published all of them in anthologies toni reached out to me and asked if i was submitting to ellery queen and alfred hitchcock which i wasn t because i knew they were the big leagues and despite having a few award nominations i didn t think i was ready for that but she told me i was she told me i definitely should be submitting to these magazines it was a real confidence booster i ve always been so appreciative and it s one of the reasons i sometimes reach out to newer authors to cheer them on i like following toni s example in your career as an attorney what was your area of practice how much did that career contribute to your writing and in what way s i practiced higher education law with a little election law early in my career i was in my second year at my old law firm and found writing legal memos and briefs stifling i needed a creative outlet i d had an idea for a mystery novel while i was in law school but never wrote a word because i didn t know how to write a book just articles even when i was at the firm and realized i needed a creative outlet i didn t start writing because again i didn t know how i decided to give up on that dream but fate had other ideas less than a week after i made that decision i saw an ad for a how to write a mystery workshop that was being held on saturday mornings a mile from my apartment i signed up so my legal career did contribute to my writing career by pushing me to seek it out i expect i m not the only attorney with a story like that my legal career is still helpful i have a decent understanding of police procedure and rules of evidence and other types of law that often play a role in mysteries and crime fiction this knowledge helps me to get details right in my own writing and it enables me to point out legal issues in manuscripts i edit for others do you prefer to write from prompts when you re not writing from prompts how do you come up with story ideas i like writing from prompts and i like coming up with my own ideas on my own i don t really have a preference these days prompts are great because they can spark an idea but i get ideas from lots of places newspaper articles can prompt ideas advice columns i also mine my memories for story ideas if something happened to me decades ago and i still remember it that means there s probably something i can pull from that and use in a story my story beauty and the beyotch is a perfect example that story was sparked by something that happened to me in high school most of the story is fiction but there s one little part of it that s real and i built the story up around it have you always lived in virginia does the south influence your stories i ve lived in virginia for nearly twenty years i grew up on long island i also have to give a plug to the great state of maryland where i lived for nine years i ve written a number of stories set in the south because there s something about that voice that is really appealing every time i watch steel magnolias i get itchy to write you have a long list of published work and award recognition i m sure it is thrilling each time but was there any one recognition that was really special why winning the readers award from ellery queen s mystery magazine for my story dear emily etiquette is a big standout for me as i ve said i spent years thinking i wasn t good enough to even submit to the big magazines and even after i started submitting it took a few years before i sold a story to alfred hitchcock s and a few years more before i sold to eqmm so receiving an email from janet hutchings in 2021 telling me i had won the readers award was an incredible high and a real honor each year eqmm readers get to submit a ballot listing their three favorite stories published in the magazine in the prior year for my story to rise to the top well it still makes me smile what made it even more special is that dear emily etiquette is one of my funny stories and humorous fiction often doesn t get the same recognition that serious work does be it novels or short stories even though writing funny stories isn t easy you have to do all the things you do in a typical story and make it funny too so i was delighted that the eqmm readers appreciated dear emily etiquette enough that it won i know you asked for one but i can t wrap this answer up without mentioning receiving the lifetime achievement award the short mystery fiction society gave me in 2024 being recognized this way by my fellow authors and readers in the society was an unexpected and amazing honor i remain thankful who would you recommend that i interview next feel free to name more than one person i ll make two recommendations first john m floyd who is incredibly prolific and funny and helpful and kind second i recommend ashley ruth m bernier who is only a few years into her career but already she has developed a wonderfully lyrical voice and real storytelling prowess they also are easy to work with true professionals you can t go wrong with either of their work you can find out more about barb at her website https www barbgoffman com posted by joseph s walker at 11 05 am 3 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels barb goffman smfs spotlight monday march 16 2026 hey kids check out some fantastic recent tales from the short mystery fiction society with 2026 in full s...