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.
In this week’s essay, M.E. Proctor starts out with her excitement about the call for submissions for the anthology Celluloid Crimes—and I have to admit that I shared that same enthusiasm when I first saw the call for stories. It seemed like such a great idea! Good intentions don’t always lead to successful follow-through (at least for me), but I’m glad to see the collection is out, and with such a terrific list of contributors in addition to Proctor: Gabriel Valjan, Robert Lopresti, Peter W.J. Hayes, P.A. De Voe, J.J. White, Deborah Lacy, Jeff Tanner, Nina Wachsman, Nicky Nielsen, C. C. Guthrie, Greg Herren, Wendy Harrison, Devon Ellington, Kerry Hammond, Matt Cost, and Colin Campbell (in order of appearance in the book).
Here’s the description of the anthology:
Lights. Camera. Murder.
In Celluloid Crimes, the silver screen casts long, dangerous shadows. This gripping anthology of short stories pays homage to the spirit of the razor-sharp wit and smoky intrigue of classic noir-think The Thin Man with a fresh twist of lemon and blood.
Tales include sharp-talking investigators, private eyes, weary cops, rookie reporters, and even the occasional actors, on the way up, or on the way down. One thing is for sure: Everyone is hiding something. Smart, stylish, and steeped in grit and glamour, Celluloid Crimes delivers mystery with a knowing smile and a loaded .38.
Cue the dramatic music. The reel is rolling. Time to solve a murder.
From there, I’ll let M.E. Proctor step into the spotlight! She’s the author of the Declan Shaw detective mysteries Love You Till Tuesday and Catch Me on a Blue Day and of a short story collection, Family and Other Ailments. She’s also the co-author of a retro-noir novella, Bop City Swing. You can find out more at www.shawmystery.com.
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.
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