Today is publication day for Jessica's flash fiction story "Life's a Peach" at Flash Fiction Magazine! In the story, a shady undertaker realizes their newest client may be using them to cover up a crime…which would be a bigger problem if the undertaker didn't make a habit of swindling their clients. Flash Fiction Magazine publishes … Continue reading “Life’s a Peach” at Flash Fiction Magazine

Today is publication day for Jessica's short story, "Home Sweet," published at Cold Caller Magazine! In the story, a family plans to loot the house of a deceased relative, but they find the house is a lot less unoccupied than they were led to believe. Cold Caller Magazine is a great emerging market for crime … Continue reading “Home Sweet” at Cold Caller Magazine & Interview

Today is publication day for Starlite Pulp Review #7! Jennifer joins 14 other writers in the newest collection from Starlite Pulp, the publishers and podcasters who are bringing pulp back (not that it ever left) and making it look so good. The book is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or direct from the publisher’s … Continue reading Starlite Pulp Review #7 LAUNCHES!

2025 marks our 6th year of success in the Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition. This year, two stories—"A Complication,” a watch-themed heist story, and “Everything Burns,” some pulpy horror-crime with arson—were awarded Honorable Mention in the genre category. We’re so happy to keep the streak alive! The full list of winners across all categories in … Continue reading Winter Round-Up — WD and Starlite Pulp 7 Preorder

In March, Jessica was lucky enough to be featured in Cold Caller Magazine's weekly roundup for her flash story, Lucky Number. Cold Caller is a brand-new magazine of crime fiction, book reviews, and interviews, and she did a more in-depth interview with them that was published this month. It goes over her newer work, her beginnings … Continue reading Interview at Cold Caller Magazine

Today is the long-awaited publication day for Jennifer’s short story Redemption Blues. Selected as the featured story in the May/June print edition of The Saturday Evening Post, Redemption Blues re-imagines the Garden of Gethsemane as a western, set in a Nevada silver-mining town at the end of the American Frontier. This story has been talked … Continue reading “Redemption Blues” in The Saturday Evening Post May/June 2025

The premier home of crime, noir, and hardboiled flash fiction just got its newest addition! Jessica's flash fiction story "Lucky Numbers" is now available to read online at Shotgun Honey. Additionally, you can read her contribution to Punk Noir and their February theme My Bloody Valentine. For the month of February they challenged authors to write … Continue reading Flash Fiction Double Feature: Shotgun Honey and Punk Noir

We recently went to our local bookstore, and discovered something remarkable. Each fall, anthologies are released featuring the best short stories for a particular genre published the prior year. These series of books feature everything from mystery and suspense to food writing, and are put out by publishers like HarperCollins and the Mysterious Bookshop. In … Continue reading Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2024

One year ago, we posted about winning the Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition. In fact, we’ve written about the WDAWC every year since 2020. This year is no exception! Writer’s Digest Magazine supports writers in every genre and at every stage in their careers through articles, workshops, and various competitions that the magazine runs each … Continue reading Writer’s Digest 93rd Annual Writing Competition

A little over a week ago, we attended our first writing conference. Bouchercon—named for Anthony Boucher, a mystery writer and critic who helped found the Mystery Writers of America—brings together writers, booksellers, readers, and fans from across the globe for five days of panels, lectures, book signings, and special events. It’s essentially a celebration of … Continue reading Bouchercon 2024