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.
Continuing with a focus on ShortCon: In addition to an introduction to Jennifer and Jessica Slee, who contributed First Two Pages essays here and here over the last two weeks, ShortCon gave me the opportunity to meet a writer I’ve admired for some time but known only through social media, online interviews, and—of course—his terrific fiction: Victor De Anda. Victor and I shared space last year in The Best American Mystery & Suspense 2025, and it’s his story for that anthology that he’s writing about this week: “Bad Man Down,” which originally appeared at the blog The Yard in October 2024. You can actually read the full story at his website here, and do also check out an interview with Victor at Cold Caller Magazine, where he talks about the story and his writing process generally.
In addition to “Bad Man Down,” Victor’s work has appeared in Dark Yonder, Shotgun Honey, Dark Waters, Yellow Mama, Mystery Tribune, and Punk Noir Magazine, and his novelette “They Eat Their Own” is part of the crime/thriller anthology Myopic Duplicity. He lives in Philadelphia, but you can find him more easily online at his website: https://www.victordeanda.com/
And do remember that registration is now open for ShortCon 2027, with featured presenters including Reed Farrel Coleman, Linda Landrigan, Libby Cudmore, and Tom Milani!
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.
