Event: Malice Domestic, May 3-5

I’ll be part of several events at this year’s Malice Domestic Convention, May 3-5 at the Hyatt Regency in Bethesda, Maryland—thanks in part to my story “When Duty Calls” being an Agatha Award finalist for Best Short Story!

• On Friday, May 3, at 10 a.m., I’ll take part in my first “Malice-Go-Round”—billed as “like speed dating, with authors.” (I’ll start practicing my pitch soon.)
• On Saturday, May 4, at 10 a.m., the panel discussion “Make It Snappy” will feature this year’s nominees for the Agatha Award for Best Short Story: Dana Cameron, Sheila Connolly, Barb Goffman, B.K. Stevens, and me (!!!). Steven Steinbock, a good friend and gifted critic, will moderate.
• Saturday night at 7 p.m. is the Agatha Awards Banquet—wish me luck! (Last I heard, I’ll be hosting a table, too. Folks signing up for my table should expect bourbon of some sort as party favors… and free-flowing wine, of course.)
• On Sunday, May 5, at 11:15 a.m., I’ll be taking the moderator role at the panel “Murder With A Little Education on the Side: Mysteries That Tackle Social Issues,” with John Billheimer, Joan Boswell, Donis Casey, and Edith McClintock.

Looking forward to the whole program—and to seeing so many fellow writers, readers, and friends throughout the weekend! —Art Taylor

Event: CityLit Festival, Baltimore

I’m so pleased to have been invited to participate in the 10th annual CityLit Festival up in Baltimore—and on such a very cool panel! “Mysterious Adaptations: Noir from Novels to the Movies” will feature a chat on film adaptations of some killer (literally killer!) books. Joining me on the panel are Ariel S. Winter, author of the recent novel The Twenty-Year Death; Brian Lindenmuth, nonfiction editor at Spinetingler Magazine and one of the fiction editors for Snubnose Press; and moderator Nik Korpon, a terrific writer whose books include Old Ghosts, By the Nails of the Warpriest, Stay God, and Bar Scars: Stories. We’ll be talking on Saturday, April 13, at noon, at the Enoch Pratt Free Library. — Art Taylor

Derringer Award Win (Long Story) & Spinetingler Award Nomination

I’m honored, awed, and humbled to have won a third Derringer Award from the Short Mystery Fiction Society—this year in the Long Story category for the story “When Duty Calls,” originally published in Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder and also recently nominated for an Agatha Award. Other winners this year included “The Cable Job” by Randy DeWitt (Best Flash Story), “Getting Out of the Box” by Michael Bracken (Best Short Story), and “Wood-Smoke Boys” by Doug Allyn (Best Novelette). Congratulations to all!

And on top of that news, I also learned that “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” originally published in PANK Magazine and winner in the flash fiction category of the 2012 Press 53 Open Awards Anthology, has been nominated for this year’s Spinetingler Award for Best Short Story on the Web. A thrill and an honor there as well! — Art Taylor