This January I had finally achieved enough sales to the proper magazines to qualify as a member of the Mystery Writers of America. I consider this a big honor. I now belong to the Florida chapter.
Each year the MWA hands out the Edgar Awards for a whole number of categories, including Best Novel, Best First Novel (which often prefigures a great career), and Best Short Story. The list of the entire slate of nominees is here.
I thought I'd seek out the Best Short Story nominees to read each. This task proved a little more difficult than I thought it would be. So that you wouldn't have to repeat the work, I have included the links, here, below.
First of all, I would have thought that magazines and anthologies would make these available. They would put their best foot forward as an advertising ploy: Hey, one of our stories was nominated for the 2021 Edgar Award! Take a read and see how good our anthology or magazine is.
Or else I would have thought the publishers would make these available to those who can vote on them, but no.
The Nominees
So, first of all, here are the nominees for Best Short Story.
"The Summer Uncle Cat Came to Stay," Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Leslie Elman (Dell Magazines) January/February 2020 issue.
"Etta at the End of the World," Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Joseph S. Walker (Dell Magazines) May/June 2020 issue.
"Dust, Ash, Flight," Addis Ababa Noir by Maaza Mengiste (Akashic Books)
"Fearless," California Schemin' by Walter Mosley (Wildside Press)
"The Twenty-Five Year Engagement," In League with Sherlock Holmes by James W. Ziskin (Pegasus Books – Pegasus Crime)
Where to Find Them.
This doesn't include any copyright-breaking links and I found no freebies.
Two of the nominees are in traditional magazines and three are in anthologies. As for the magazines, this is the first time I've tried to find a single past issue of a magazine available for purchase. A lot of sites have current issues available: these are almost like newsstands. I found one site that had historic (as in the last several years) issues available for print or electronic purchase. This site is Magzter.
Magzter is intriguing. They are like the Amazon Prime of magazine sellers. They will give you 5000 magazine subscriptions for $99/year (after declining this offer, they sent me an offer for $50/year). They also let you choose any five magazines for $50 per year. (Which almost seems more appealing, less overwhelming.)
As for Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (AHMM) and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (EQMM), they are not among the 5000. Several very good mystery magazines are, including Mystery Weekly.
However, Magzter, unlike any other site I visited, allows you to buy a single issue of a magazine (digital or print) from the past several years. These are $5.99 for an issue of AHMM and EQMM, but these magazines are virtually book-length. I was not buying a single story. Here are the links.
"The Summer Uncle Cat Came to Stay," Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Leslie Elman (Dell Magazines) January/February 2020 issue.
"Etta at the End of the World," Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Joseph S. Walker (Dell Magazines) May/June 2020 issue.
The Anthologies.
Purchasing the anthologies is much more straightforward: they were assembled for purchase, then, now, and until e-ink dries up. I include the Amazon e-book link, but of course, you can use your favorite bookstore.
"Dust, Ash, Flight," Addis Ababa Noir by Maaza Mengiste (Akashic Books)
I knew the Akashic Books before they spread their wings.
Here is an interview with the author that mentions this story.
"Fearless," California Schemin' by Walter Mosley (Wildside Press). This collection is the Bouchercon 2020 Anthology. $5.99 via Amazon (which has the first three stories are available in the sample). Mosley's story is the fourth.
"The Twenty-Five Year Engagement," In League with Sherlock Holmes by James W. Ziskin (Pegasus Books – Pegasus Crime). These stories were conceived as an extension to the Holmes canon.
My Best Story from the Past Year.
I didn't make the nominees. Afterglow appeared in the June 2020 issue of Mystery Weekly. I believe this to be my best story from last year. It has a twist at the end that provides for an emotional connection that my pieces often miss. The cost of the single issue is $3.99 through the above Amazon link.
Here is a suggestion to magazines. Allow authors to purchase several e-copies of their stories at a bulk price to send around to friends and family.
My comedy-horror short, The Last Howl of the Chili Dogs, is the first story in the March 2020 issue of The Weird and Whatnot, and is available for free in the sample. The cover artwork (below) is based on the story.
Martin Hill Ortiz is a Professor of Pharmacology at Ponce Health Sciences University and has researched HIV for over thirty years. He is the author of four novels and numerous short stories and poems.
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