The line-up of stories for the anthology Chesapeake Crimes: Invitation to Murder was announced last week, and I’m so pleased that my story “All Tomorrow’s Parties” will included!
Here’s the full list of stories and contributors for the collection, which will be published in spring 2020 by Wildside Press in coordination with the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime:
- “RFP/RIP” by Britt Alan
- “The Dame and Thaddeus Birdwhistle” by Karen Cantwell
- “The Mysterious Affair at the Escape Room” by Leone Ciporin
- “Aumakua” by Maddi Davidson (Diane Davidson and Mary Ann Davidson)
- “Good Morning, Green Leaf Class” by Sarah Hogroian
- “The Great Bedbug Incident and the Invitation of Doom” by Eleanor Cawood Jones
- “Guns and Yoga” by Maureen Klovers
- “Make New Friends” by Jane Limprecht
- “The Do-Gooder” by Adam Meyer
- “Muggins” by Josh Pachter
- “Secrets to the Grave” by KM Rockwood
- “The Green Dress” by Joanna Campbell Slan
- “The Killing Winds” by Mary Stojak
- “All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Art Taylor
- “True Colors” by Robin Templeton
- “The Problem with Open-Ended Invitations” by Cathy Wiley
- “Sunnyside” by Stacy Woodson
My story is a fairly dark one—to my own mind, maybe one of the darkest I’ve written: a reverse Cinderella story, with a woman struggling with loss and addiction attending a party that might change her life and looking toward midnight as the magic hour, either for deliverance or as a more literal deadline. As I hinted on Facebook, “All Tomorrow’s Parties” has its own dark history as well in terms of its path to publication. I’m hesitant to share that story now, but likely will as we get closer to publication itself. (2020 should be enough time for that… I think.)
In the meantime, thanks so much to the editorial selection committee this year for their hard work on reading submissions and selecting the final stories: G.M. Malliet, Greg Herren, and James Lincoln Warren. And thanks in advance to the anthology’s editors—Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley—for all their hard work ahead; they’re a great team and always pull together a stellar collection.