Capitol Crimes is cooking up a new short story anthology for 2024!
We want members to have plenty of time to let those ideas simmer, so we’re kicking January off with a panel of award-winning short story authors, editors and judges to help plant some seeds and cultivate winning submissions by spring.
Please join Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier, Joseph Walker, Holly West, and Simon Wood in conversation with Jennifer Morita at 1 p.m. Jan. 20 on Zoom as we chat about what anthology editors and judges look for and helpful tips to getting your short story published.
At the end of our meeting, we’ll announce the 2024 Capitol Crimes Anthology theme. (Psst…… we may have sprinkled in a few clues.)
OUR PANELISTS
ASHLEY-RUTH BERNIER
Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier’s short fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, Stone’s Throw, Smoking Pen Press, The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2023, and The Caribbean Writer.
Originally from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, she is a writer of Caribbean mysteries. Ashley-Ruth is the winner of the North Carolina Writers Network’s 2022 Jacobs/Jones Award for Black writers, a 2023 Derringer nominee (novelette category, Short Mystery Fiction Society), and 2023 Killer Nashville Claymore finalist (Best Short Story Collection). She is an active member of Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Color, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, Mystery Writers of America, and the North Carolina Writers Network.
Ashley-Ruth currently lives with her husband and four children in North Carolina, where she teaches first grade and finds very few things more valuable than uninterrupted writing time.
To learn more about Ashley, go to her website www.ashleyruthbernier.com or follow her on X (Twitter), Instagram or Threads at @armbernier.
JOSEPH WALKER
Joseph S. Walker lives in Indiana and teaches college literature and composition courses. His short fiction has appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, Tough, and a number of other magazines and anthologies, including the 2023 edition of Best American Mystery and Suspense and three consecutive editions of The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year. He has been nominated for the Edgar Award and the Derringer Award and has won the Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction. He also won the Al Blanchard Award in 2019 and 2021.
Learn more about Joseph at www.jswalkerauthor.com or follow him on Facebook or X (Twitter) at @JSWalkerAuthor
HOLLY WEST
Holly West (she/her) is the author of the Mistress of Fortune historical mystery series. She’s written numerous short stories and edited the Anthony Award-nominated anthology, Murder-A-Go-Go’s: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of the Go-Go’s. Her novella, The Money Block, is available now from Down & Out Books. Most recently, she edited Killin’ Time in San Diego, the 2023 Bouchercon anthology. She lives in Northern California with her husband and two spoiled dogs.
For more information about Holly go to her website www.hollywest.com or follow her on Facebook or Instagram.
SIMON WOOD
USA Today bestselling author Simon Wood is a California transplant from England. He's a former competitive racecar driver, a licensed pilot, an endurance cyclist, and an occasional PI. He shares his world with his American wife, Julie, and their menagerie of rescue animals. He's the Anthony Award winning author of a dozen thrillers, including Paying the Piper, Terminated and The One That Got Away. He’s a regular contributor to Writer’s Digest and other writing magazines.
Visit Simon's website at www.simonwood.net or follow him on Facebook.
