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.
There was a lot of talk at this past weekend’s ShortCon about the new anthology Wish Upon a Crime: Crime Fiction Inspired by Fairy Tales. Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson, who edited the anthology, are also the organizers of ShortCon, and when I first saw Michael, he had a copy in his hand—fresh off the presses! Then Ed Ridgley stopped me to talk about short story structures and pointed me to Laura Oles’ story in the anthology, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” saying he wanted me to read it so we could talk about how it works. And at the Noir at the Bar Friday night, Debra Goldstein read from her story “The Bremen Musicians,” a powerful reworking set in Nazi Germany.
Debra is going to offer a First Two Pages essay on that story soon, and we already hosted Andrew Welsh-Huggins last week with “Jack and the Beanstalk.” This week, we’re welcoming Tom Milani to discuss “The Briar Patch.”
Tom also attended ShortCon, and in the same way many people were talking about the anthology, others were talking about Tom himself—with one attendee sharing with me how much Tom’s guidance and his example had meant to her, inspiring her confidence and her craft.
Tom is, of course, a powerhouse short story writer in his own right. He’s been a finalist twice for the Derringer Award, and several of his stories have been either short-listed or included in best-of-the-year anthologies: “Barstow,” which originally appeared in Mickey Finn: 21st Century Noir vol. 5, was an honorable mention for The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025; “Mill Mountain,” which originally appeared in Black Cat Weekly, was selected for The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2026; and “A Sign of the Times,” which initially appeared in Sleuths Just Wanna Have Fun, was selected for The Best Private Eye Stories of the Year 2026. A great writer and a great guy too.
Back to Wish Upon a Crime, here’s the background: “Fairy tales at their core are dark and suspenseful. These stories are no different. Today’s most respected short-story writers reimagine familiar classics where the line between good and evil isn’t always clear, dreams don’t come true, and there are no happily-ever-afters.” In addition to the writers already mentioned, contributors also include Donna Andrews, David Dean, John M. Floyd, Barb Goffman, James A. Hearn, Adam Meyer, Josh Pachter, Joseph S. Walker, and each of the editors.
Enjoy Tom’s essay below, and stay tuned for Debra’s ahead!
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.
