Daily Archives: January 15, 2017

30 Essential Crime Reads Written by Women in the Last 100 Years | Literary Hub

Undisputed Queen of Crime Agatha Christie died on this day in 1976. Crime fiction is a genre that has traditionally been dominated by men—but on the other hand, Christie is the best-selling author …

Source: 30 Essential Crime Reads Written by Women in the Last 100 Years | Literary Hub

Undisputed Queen of Crime Agatha Christie died on this day in 1976. Crime fiction is a genre that has traditionally been dominated by men—but on the other hand, Christie is the best-selling author of all time, so that should tell you something. In honor of her life (and her prolific publishing career) I’ve picked out a few great crime novels written by women from each of the last ten decades. Now, of course, there are more than three crime novels from each decade that you should read (and probably more than three novels in every genre that you should read), but one has to stop somewhere, so add your own recommendations with abandon. NB: This is not a definitive list by any means; genre is necessarily a bit fluid here, privilege has gone to important, groundbreaking or otherwise historically notable works where I’ve noted them, but taste has, as ever, played a factor.

More at the link listed above.

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American Short(er) Fiction Contest –

The American Short(er) Fiction Contest is now open for submissions. This year we are honored to have Justin Torres as our guest judge. Submit your entry online between October 25, 2016 – February 1, 2017. The first-place winner will receive a $1,000 prize and publication in a future issue of ASF. One runner-up will receive $250 and publication, and all entries will be considered for publication.

Source: American Short(er) Fiction Contest –

The American Short(er) Fiction Contest is open for submissions. This year we are honored to have Justin Torres as our guest judge. Submit your stories of 1,000 words or fewer now!

General Guidelines
Submit your entry online between October 25, 2016 – February 1, 2017.
– The first-place winner will receive a $1,000 prize and publication in a future issue of ASF. One runner-up will receive $250 and publication, and all entries will be considered for publication.
– Please submit your $17 entry fee and your work through Submittable. We no longer accept submissions by post. International submissions in English are eligible.
– Stories must be 1,000 words or fewer. You are allowed to include up to three stories per entry. Please submit all stories in one document. Each story must begin on a new page and be clearly titled. For the title of your submission list the story titles, separated by a comma. Please DO NOT include any identifying information on the manuscript itself.
– You may submit multiple entries. We accept only previously unpublished work. We do allow simultaneous submissions, but we ask that you notify us promptly of publication elsewhere.

Conflicts of Interest
Staff and volunteers currently affiliated with American Short Fiction are ineligible for consideration or publication. Additionally, students, former students, and colleagues of the judge are not eligible to enter. We ask that previous winners wait three years after their winning entry is published before entering again.

Justin Torres is the author of the novel We the Animals, winner of an Indies Choice Book Award. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, Granta, and other prestigious publications. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he has received numerous awards, including a Rolón Fellowship in Literature from United States Artists, a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford, and a Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard.

On his taste in fiction, Mr. Torres has said:
“I love voice; a deeply imagined and inventive voice does more for me than a fantastic plot or vivid setting. For me, the magic of fiction lies in the words chosen and the structure of the sentences. I could write about men on Mars or about a childhood similar to my own, but my goal would be the same: get the words right, cast a spell.”

We can’t wait for your submissions to cast their spells on us. Good luck!

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Haruki Murakami to release new novel titled ‘Killing Commendatore’ – The Mainichi

Source: Haruki Murakami to release new novel titled ‘Killing Commendatore’ – The Mainichi

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami will release a new novel titled “Killing Commendatore” on Feb. 24, its publisher Shinchosha Publishing Co. said Tuesday, his first multivolume novel in seven years.

The novel, comprising two books, is priced at 1,944 yen ($16.77), tax included, said Shinchosha, via which Murakami, 67, released in 2009 and 2010 a long excerpt from “Book 1” through “Book 3” of his novel “1Q84.”

Murakami, one of Japan’s best-known contemporary novelists and often touted as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature, released the novel “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage” in April 2013, and a collection of short stories entitled “Onna no Inai Otokotachi” (Men Without Women) in April 2014. The two books were published by Bungeishunju Ltd.

Shinchosha had announced in late November that Murakami will release a new novel in February. At that time the publisher did not disclose details including the title.

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