Reviewed: "Smoked"

Robert Lopresti reviewed "Smoked," my contribution to Noir at the Salad Bar, at Little Big Crimes, and sums it up:

"The story takes place in modern Texas but it has the feeling of an old-fashioned Western, with the bad guys getting closer and the townsfolk having to decide where they stand. A good story."

Read the entire review here.

Twenty-three

I completed and submitted my twenty-third short story of the year this morning. This one's a 3,800-word bit of holiday crime fiction.

"Little Spring" Reviewed

I just stumbled across Ben Macnair's Booklore review of Haunted (BooHoo Books), an anthology published in 2014 that contains my story "Little Spring." He had this to say about my story:

Michael Bracken’s Little Spring is a love story that crosses the widest divide of all. Set in America, it follows love-lorn Shelby Paulson, who finds her perfect home and lover after her marriage ends. Unfortunately her new partner is already late.

And he closes the review with this assesment of the collection:

This is a fine collection of stories by a cast of talented writers, and although there is nothing really horrific in the book, the stories can certainly set an atmosphere.

Read the entire review here.

"Last Good Day"

My story "Last Good Day" is the story of the week at Tough:

http://www.toughcrime.com/2017/07/last-good-day-by-michael-bracken.html

27

I received my 27th acceptance of the year this evening. This for the crime fiction story I submitted Friday.

Twenty-two

I completed and submitted my twenty-second short story of the year this evening. This one's a 5,300-word bit of crime fiction.

14 years and counting

With four short stories published so far this month and another scheduled for release on the 24th, I have now had one or more short stories published each and every month for 168 months. That's 14 years.

I suspect this streak won't last much longer. Though I have stories scheduled for publication in August, September, and October, several of my regular markets have died during the past few years, a few more are displaying unhealthy symptoms, and I've not yet found new publications or anthology editors to replace those I've lost or may be losing.

I have cracked new (or new to me) markets recently, but none have yet shown a desire to publish the volume of material I had been placing previously. So it goes.

Noir at the Salad Bar

The Kindle edition of Noir at the Salad Bar is now available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073ZJ6B8V/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500332869&sr=1-1

The paperback edition is also available: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1548829064/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500335188&sr=1-1&keywords=noir+at+the+salad+bar

Noir at the Salad Bar, Culinary Tales with a Bite is a crime fiction anthology featuring gastronomic mysteries. Inside are dark and varied tales with a common theme of food and drink. The contributing writers represent a mix of bestselling authors, brand new voices, and seasoned professionals from the crime writing community. Bon Appétit!

Among the 30 stories is my "Smoked."

26

I received my 26th acceptance of the year today, this time for a private eye story.

Twenty-one

I finished and submitted my twenty-first short story this year. This one's a 7,200-word private eye story I started July 5.

Leo Margulies and the grandchildren of the pulps

Philip Sherman's Leo Margulies: Giant of the Pulps (Altus Press, 2017) is a mixture of biography and history of the pulps that never quite commits to either but is fascinating nonetheless.

What most intrigued me was how writers of my generation owe a debt of gratitude for what Margulies accomplished, even though many of us aren't quite old enough to have written for the pulps. The writers we admired and who, directly or indirectly, served as our mentors had long careers writing for the pulps, and we looked up to them as role models.

When they touched our lives, though, we had a direct connection to the past even if we may not have realized it at the time. Robert Bloch, for example, once wrote a brief article for Knights, a science fiction fanzine I published during my late teens and early twenties.

Dennis Lynds, writing as Michael Collins, contributed "The Horrible, Senseless Murders of Two Elderly Women" to Fedora: Private Eyes and Tough Guys (Wildside Press, 2001), my first anthology. His story was nominated for an Edgar Award, which I believe was his last nomination prior to his death in 2005.

He also passed my name along to Jeff Gelb, who invited me to contribute to his and Max Allan Collins's Flesh and Blood: Guilty as Sin (Mysterious Press, 2003). My story, "Feel the Pain," was selected for inclusion in Maxim Jakubowki's Best New Erotica 4 (Carroll & Graf, 2005), my first ever appearance in a best-of-year anthology; Gelb then invited me to contribute to his and Michael Garrett's Hot Blood: Strange Bedfellows (Kensington, 2004); and "Moe Ron" Boyette, the protagonist of "Feel the Pain," appeared in a handful of additional short stories.

Margulies also indirectly impacted my writing career by founding Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine. Many crime fiction writers of my generation sold their first stories to MSMM before and after his involvement with the publication. My first appearance in MSMM, my third mystery short story sale, came well after Margulies's death. Charles Fritch was editor by the time "Vengeance to Show in the Third" appeared in the October 1983 issue, and I went on to place three more stories (my fourth, fifth, and seventh mysteries) in the magazine before it ceased publication.

So, even though I never wrote for the pulps, I think I can lay claim to being a grandchild of the pulps.

Twenty

I completed and submitted my twentieth short story of the year this evening, a 2,000-word confession I began May 11, 2010.

A glance at my records shows that I'm falling behind in production, but my acceptances for the year are on track.

The Digest Enthusiast, Espionage, and Me

The sixth issue of The Digest Enthusiast arrived in yesterday's mail, and I'm looking forward to diving into it soon. I've read almost every word in the first five issues and am expecting to do the same again.

One of the things that has me devouring each issue is the realization that my writing career is entwined with the digests. My first professional short story sale in the late 1970s was to a digest-sized children's magazine (Young World), my third professional mystery sale was to a digest (Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine), and my stories have since appeared in several current and now-defunct digests (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Espionage, and more). I even have a story coming out next year in Weirdbook, a publication I first sold to in 1990 when it was a full-size publication, but which has been resurrected as a digest.

One category of digests not yet covered by The Digest Enthusiast is the sex digests, which I wrote for early in my career, and which provided me with an opportunity to contribute to Espionage.

The sex digests had titles such as Chic Letters, Hustler Fantasies, Letters, Turn-On Letters, Uncensored Letters, and so on. The primary content of these publications were "true" letters from "readers" describing their sexual encounters. Some of these digests were low-budget affairs containing little else but letters and others were more like their full-sized men's magazine counterparts, with photographs and actual short stories and articles. I wrote for both kinds.

Which is how writing for the sex digests gave me an "in" with the editor of Espionage. Jackie Lewis, the editor/publisher of Espionage, and her twin sister Jeri Winston, the associate publisher, are Bob Guccione's sisters. (You should recognize him as the publisher of Penthouse.) Prior to starting Espionage, Jackie and Jeri published a great many sex digests, and Espionage may have been their attempt to go legit.

At that point I had already placed a few mystery short stories in other publications (Mike Shayne, for one), and I was a regular contributor to the sex digests Jackie Lewis edited. Even though I was an unknown--compared to many of Espionage's other contributors--Jackie purchased my stories and splashed my name on the covers as if it meant something.

Well, it did to me.

Learn a little more about Jackie, Jeri, the digests they published, and the start of Espionage: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-02-22/features/8501100834_1_bimonthly-publication-penthouse-science-fiction

25

I received my 25th acceptance of the year this afternoon. This one's for a reprint of a story first published in Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine.

Published

My story "Wedding Day Disaster" appears in the June issue of True Story. My stories "Baseball Daddy" and "Summer Skeevy" appear in the June True Confessions.

Nineteen

I completed and submitted my nineteenth short story this year. This one's a mere 1,100-word bit of crime fiction, begun September 10, 2016.

Eighteen

I completed and submitted my eighteenth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 3,000-word mystery.

24

I received my 24th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for a confession.

23

I received my 23rd acceptance of the year this afternoon, this for a bit of crime fiction.

Seventeen

I finished and submitted my seventeenth short story this morning. This one's an 1,800-word bit of crime fiction I began writing October 25, 2014.

Sixteen

I completed and submitted my sixteenth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 5,000-word confession I started writing May 4, 2016.

22

I received my 22nd acceptance of the year this morning, this for a bit of crime fiction.

21

I received my 21st acceptance of the year this afternoon. This one's for a bit of crime fiction.

Fifteen

I finished and submitted my fifteenth short story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 5,300-word confession I started writing on August 4, 2014.

19, 20

I received my 19th and 20th acceptances of the year this afternoon. Both are for confessions.

18

I received my 18th acceptance of the year this afternoon. This one's for a story I think is an alternative history mystery. Or, maybe, sword and sorcery with no sorcery.

17

I received my 17th acceptance of the year late last evening. This one's for an erotic fairy tale.

Reviewed

Catherine Dilts reviewed "Atonement" (Mystery Weekly Magazine, April, 2017), and summed up the story this way:

"Atonement begins with a bang, and continues relentlessly to a powerful closing."

Read the entire review here.

Published

Coming April 25 from Deep Desires Press:

One Knight with the Swordsmith's Daughter.

All the women of Miriam’s village lust after Sir Humphrey of Fox Glen, newly arrived to attend to his aging uncle, Sir Edmund, Earl of Northwoods Shire. When the young knight commissions a new side arm from her father the swordsmith, Miriam discovers why.

Unable to reveal to anyone that she actually smiths the swords her father sells, and unable to reveal her own carnal desire for the young knight, Miriam listens to the village women’s bawdy comments about Sir Humphrey yet keeps her thoughts to herself, until a chance meeting at the waterfall where she bathes changes her life.

Miriam finds herself keeping more secrets than any woman should. But if she gets too close to Sir Humphrey, it might mean revealing her family’s secret. Does she dare risk her family’s heritage just to quench the fire in her loins?

Order from Amazon, from Smashwords, or the publisher.

Fourteen

I completed and submitted my fourteenth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 6,100-word private eye story I began August 17, 2015.

16

I received my 16th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for a confession.

Thirteen

I completed and submitted my thirteenth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 2,000-word bit of crime fiction begun March 9.

Twelve

I completed and submitted my twelfth short story of the year. This one's a 3,500-word confession I started on March 30.

15

I received my 15th acceptance of the year this afternoon. This one's for a bit of crime fiction.

Eleven

I finished and submitted my eleventh short story of the year this evening. This one's a 3,000-word confession begun July 23, 2015.

Published

My story "Atonement" appears in the April edition of Mystery Weekly Magazine.

Published 3x

My stories "Fashion Disaster" and "My Second Mother" appear in the May True Confessions, and my story "Sibling Rivalry" appears in the May True Story.

13, 14

I received my 13th and 14th acceptances of the year this evening. Both were for confessions.

12

I received my 12th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for a confession.

Ten

I completed and submitted my tenth short story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 2,700-word confession I began on March 9.

Nine

I completed and submitted my ninth short story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 2,300-word confession I started August 20, 2016.

11

I received my 11th acceptance of the year this morning. This one's for a confession.

10

I received my 10th acceptance of the year last evening. This is for a bit of crime fiction.

Published 4x

My story "Blossoming Romance?" appears in the April True Story. My stories "April Fools' Day?" "Bearded for My Pleasure," and "The Wild Life's Not for Me" appear in the April True Confessions.

Eight

I finished and submitted my eighth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 5,900-word confession I started February 22.

9

I received my 9th acceptance of the year this evening, this time for a bit of crime fiction.

8

I received my 8th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for yet another confession.

7

I received my 7th acceptance of the year this evening, this time for a confession.

Seven

I finished and submitted my seventh short story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 3,700-word confession I started writing on February 15.

Six

I finished and submitted by sixth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 5,700-word confession I start writing on February 8.

Reviewed

Robert Lopresti reviews my story "Mr. Private Eye Behind the Motel with a .38" (published in Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea), calls it "a good story," and then uses it as a jumping-off point to discuss anthology building. Read the full review here.

Published 4x

My story "Phony St. Patrick's Day" appears in the March True Story. My stories "Break Up to Make Up," "My Drunk Sister," and "Spring Job Fair" appear in the March True Confessions.

5, 6

I received my 5th and 6th acceptances of the year this afternoon, this time for a pair of confessions

Reviewed

Jochem Vandersteen reviewed Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea at his blog Sons of Spade. He wrote about my story "Mr. Private Eye Behind the Motel with a .38": "Michael Bracken served up a very noir little tale" and concluded by calling the entire project a "great anthology." Read the complete review here.

Five

I finished, but have not submitted, by fifth short story of the year. This one's a 6,400-word bit of crime fiction started January 19. Alas, I wrote it with no particular market in mind and don't yet know where I'll send it.

4

I received my 4th acceptance of the year this morning, this for a confession.

3

I received my 3rd acceptance of the year this morning, this time for a confession.

Published

My story "Mr. Private Eye Behind the Motel with a .38" appears in the just-released anthology Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea (Down & Out Books) edited by Andrew McAleer & Paul D. Marks. Order yours here.

Four

I finished and submitted my fourth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 2,700-word confession I started on the 17th.

Three

I finished and submitted my third short story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 7,300-word P.I. story I started on January 10.

Published 2x

My private eye story "Twink" appears in Heater, Vol. 4, No. 12, and my short mystery "Dead Things" has been reprinted in Big Pulp Annual 2016.

2

I received my 2nd acceptance of the year, this time for a confession.

Two

I completed and submitted my second short story of the year this morning. This one's a 2,000-word confession I started September 1, 2016.

1

I received my 1st acceptance of the year this afternoon, this for a historical erotic romance.

Published 2x

My story "Mr. Right" appears in the February True Confessions, and my story "Romance Rejection" appears in the February True Story.

One

2017 is off to a slow start. I haven't sold anything all year!

On the other hand, I did just finish and submit my first short story of the year, a 5,000-word bit of crime fiction I started on December 25, 2016.

2016 in review

45 acceptances (vs. 41 in 2015).

35 rejections (vs. 32 in 2015).

40 original short stories published and two reprinted (vs. 37 in 2015), 4 articles/essays published (vs. 3 in 2015).

I completed 56 short stories (vs. 41 in 2015).

I completed (to final draft) 169,430 words of short fiction (vs. 153,000 in 2015).

That's an average story length of 3,026 words (vs. an average of 3,732); the shortest story was 300 words; the longest was 8,000 words.

I completed and submitted an average of 1.08 short stories each week (vs. an average of .79 each week in 2015).

(I only track completed short fiction word counts, not words written for incomplete projects, nor words written for other forms of writing.)

Observations:

1) The increased number of completed stories and the decline in the average length of my stories is partially attributable to a mid-year attempt to crack Woman's World. I failed.

2) Woman's World and a few other publications do not send rejections. Non-responses are not included in the rejection count.

2017 Goals

I have three annual goals, and they remain the same as in previous years.

1) To complete and submit an average of at least one short story each week. This goal is completely within my control.

2) To receive an average of at least one acceptance each week. (Reprints and non-fiction pieces count for this goal.) This goal is under my control to the extent that I control how much I write and how much I submit. I do not, however, have any control over editorial tastes and requirements.

3) To continue to have one or more short stories published each and every month, as I have for several years now. This goal is under my control to the extent that I control how much I write, how much I submit, and how often I write seasonal stories (for example: Valentine's Day stories for February, Thanksgiving stories for November, etc.). I do not, however, have any control over editorial publishing schedules.

44, 45

2016 is ending strong. I received my 44th and 45th acceptances of the year this evening!

43

I received my 43rd acceptance of the year this afternoon. This one's for a 4,700-word bit of crime fiction.

42

I received my 42nd acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for a 2,100-word confession.

Fifty-six

I completed and submitted my fifty-sixth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 5,200-word confession I began writing January 20, 2010.

Fifty-five

I completed and submitted my fifty-fifth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 4,400-word bit of crime fiction I started December 13.

Fifty-four

I completed and submitted my fifty-fourth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 2,100-word confession I started April 23, 2014.

Fifty-three

I completed and submitted my fifty-third short story of the year this evening. This one's a 3,400-word ghost story I started November 25.

Fifty-two

I completed and submitted by fifty-second short story of the year this morning. It's a 3,600-word confession I started November 9, 2015.

One of my goals each year is to write and submitt an average of one story each week. With this story, I've reached this year's goal...and I have a few weeks remaining and a few stories near completion. So, this year I might exceed my goal.

Published 2x

My story "Kicking Bad Habits" appears in the January 2017 True Confessions and my story "Surviving Cabin Fever" appears in the January 2017 True Story.

Fifty-one

I completed and submitted my fifty-first short story of the year this evening. This one's a 2,000-word bit of crime fiction I started writing on November 25.

Fifty

I completed and submitted my fiftieth short story of the year this afternoon, a 2,700-word bit of crime fiction I started October 19.

41

I received my 41st acceptance of the year today, this time for a confession.

40

I received my 40th acceptance of the year this morning, this time for a Valentine's Day confession.

39

I received my 39th acceptance today. This is for another essay.

Forty-Nine

I completed and submitted my forty-ninth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 5,500-word Valentine's Day romance I started October 30.

Published: "The Santa Suit"

My story "The Santa Suit" appears in the December issue of True Story.

Tales from the Dark Side

My "Tales from the Dark Side," an essay about errors of professionalism that writers make, is a guest blog today at Sleuthsayers.org. Read it here.

Published: "Selfies"

My story "Selfies" appears in the just-released anthology A Dose of Murder, Mystery and Mayhem.

Order the Kindle edition at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dose-Murder-Mystery-Mayhem-ebook/dp/B01M3V2G8V/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477874798&sr=1-2&keywords=michael+bracken

My story is the first one in the anthology, so by using Amazon's "Look Inside" feature you can read the entire story.

Forty-eight

I completed and submitted my forty-eighth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 2,400-word Valentine's Day story I started October 12, 2009.

38

I received my 38th acceptance of the year. This one's for an essay, not a short story.

Meanwhile, in NYC

 While in New York City last Sunday, I had lunch with Loretta and Stacy Folk. Loretta is Vice President of True Renditions, LLC, publishers of True Story and True Confessions magazines, and we had a wonderful conversation about the magazines, about publishing, and about potential future opportunities. (Alas, I have no photo of Stacy because he's the man behind the camera.)

That evening I had dinner with mystery writers Elizabeth Zelvin and Gerald So. Gerald So, in a blog post (https://geraldso.blogspot.com/2016/10/nizza-to-meet-you.html), and Liz her in response to his blog post, provide their take on our dining adventure.

37

I received my 37th acceptance of the year this morning while I was in NYC. Signed and returned the contract as soon as I returned home this evening.

36

I received my 36th acceptance this afternoon. This one's for the story I submitted this past Sunday.

Forty-seven

I completed and submitted by forty-seventh short story of the year this evening. This one's a 4,000-word confession I started October 9, 2010.

Forty-six

I finished and submitted my forty-sixth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 4,000-word New Year's Eve romance I started writing April 9.

Published 2x

My stories "He Mall Walked into My Heart" and "Unexpected Thanksgiving Gifts" appear in the November issue of True Story.

Forty-five

I completed and submitted my forty-fifth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 3,100-word erotic romance that I started writing November 14, 2008.

35

I received my 35th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for a bit of crime fiction.

34

I received my 34th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this one for a Christmas story.

Forty-four

I completed my forty-fourth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 5,500-word bit of crime fiction I started June 15 and had almost finished before Bouchercon last week. I went through it after returning home, corrected typos and made a small adjustment to chronology, and submitted it.

33

I received my 33rd acceptance of the year this afternoon, for a story I submitted to an anthology June 30, 2014. On April 7, 2016, I pulled the story from the submitted queue, thinking the project had been abandoned. Surprise! The anthology's a go and today the story was accepted.

Publishing 3x

My story "I Dated My Brother" appears in the October True Story, and my stories
"His Punching Bag" and "My Halloween Princess" appear in the October True Confessions.

Published

My story "An Unhealthy Death," which appears in this month's Mystery Weekly Magazine, was yesterday's free story of the week, emailed to everyone on the magazine's email list. If you'd like to receive a mystery every Tuesday, join their email list: http://mysteryweekly.com.