Before introducing today’s column, I’d like to call your attention to a new feature of the website, Petition the Court, at right in the Sidebar. Leigh pointed out to all of us that it’s been some time since the regular contributors all joined in a common project or thread. After a lot of discussion, we […]

WHY? WHY? WHY NOT? by Leigh Lundin Thursday, Deborah listed questions readers (and apparently non-readers) asked. John and James have written about readers’ questions, and I think Melodie may have. Wait! Nobody asks me! But that might be my own fault when my writing turns dark. Deborah’s questions intrigued me to vicariously respond. Why should […]

COLLECTIBLES by John M. Floyd Since I know most of you enjoy not only short stories in magazines and anthologies but collections of shorts by well-known authors, I thought I’d mention a few that I have here at home. Most of the books in this list are by mystery/suspense writers — I’ve intentionally left out […]

A BOUQUET OF STORIES by Steven Steinbock Ever wonder where the word anthology came from? Oh come on, admit it. The question has been keeping you up on these cold winter nights. You came to the right place, for in this week’s Bandersnatch dispatch all will be revealed. Sometime in the first century before the […]

WHY? WHY? WHY? by Deborah Elliott-Upton This week I have nothing but questions. While I ponder them and find a few answers for myself, I pose a series of those that I have been asked concerning writing. Why should we still be reading old-fashioned books when technology is throwing entertainment at us faster than we […]

We have a special treat today. R. T. Lawton has FOUR series of stories running in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. How many people have that many going anywhere? And he writes both light and serious, current and historic, foreign and domestic. Recently we were e-discussing our writing and he made a point I thought was […]

WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT MY WRITING WHILE WRITING by Melodie Johnson Howe Writing short introductions to each of my Diana Poole stories for the book that is now in production, I learned a few things about myself as a writer. 1. I am a very female-centric writer. I’m using the word female instead of woman […]