In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.
Charlie Kondek’s essay this week marks the third and final in a series by contributors to the forthcoming anthology Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers. Two weeks ago, C.W. Blackwell wrote about his story, “Making Up for Lost Time,” and last week Bethany Maines discussed “Front Desk Staff.” The anthology, edited by Judy Penz Sheluk and due out this week from Superior Shores Press, asks this question: “Desire or desperation, revenge or retribution—how far would you go to realize a dream?” And in addition to the three authors already mentioned, the other contributors exploring the theme include Pam Barnsley, Linda Bennett, Clark Boyd, Amanda Capper, Susan Daly, James Patrick Focarile, Rand Gaynor, Gina X. Grant, Julie Hastrup, Beth Irish, Edward Lodi, Jim McDonald, donalee Moulton, Michael Penncavage, Judy Penz Sheluk, KM Rockwood, Peggy Rothschild, Debra Bliss Saenger, and Joseph S. Walker.
Charlie Kondek’s story is “Secretly Keith”—a tantalizing title to my mind, especially since his essay below mentions local bookie Big John Warmer, bar owner Tim Fleet, musician Nick Papke (our POV character), and Nick’s best friend Rex, the two of them setting out to rob Big John… but no one yet named Keith. I’m drawn ahead both by the first two pages and by that title too!
As Charlie explains on his website, he writes both crime fiction and “crime adjacent” fiction (I love that phrase), and his stories have appeared in Black Cat Weekly, Dark Yonder, Mysterion Online, ADR Crime, MysteryTribune.com, and Yellow Mama, among others. His “general” fiction has appeared in publications including The Saturday Evening Post, BULL, and Hidden Peak Press.
Hope you enjoy his essay below—and to find out what happens next (and who’s “secretly Keith”!), check out the full anthology.
Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay to read off-line.
Kondek_Secretly-Keith_FirstTwoPages_v2
