Themes, Dreams & Schemes: Guest Post by Judy Penz Sheluk

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Pacing, hair-pulling, scribbled up lists, asking friends and family - no, it's not naming a baby, it's naming a book. Not too long or readers will mess up the title. Not to short, or they'll forget it. Not too much like the latest blockbuster, but, you know, maybe a little like it?

If you're lucky, the work sets some guidelines. Lucy and Jenn have punchy, punny titles for their food-related cozies. I use quotes from Episcopal hymns. Rhys gets to use a lot of archly British phrases for the Her Royal Spyness series.

But what if the writing doesn't lay out a blueprint for a title? What if you need the title to guide you in what to write? Judy Penz Sheluk, editor of the upcoming anthology Larceny and Last Chances, tells us what goes into creating a successful and inspiring short story theme (hint: it doesn't involve having "Murder" in the title...)                                              

 

 

 Many authors will tell you that coming up with a title can sometimes seem as difficult as writing the book or short story. That difficulty is doubled when it comes to dreaming up a theme for an anthology. Not only does it have to work as a book title, it also has to offer writers the latitude to explore any number of schemes they might want to concoct. For the Superior Shores Press (SSP) anthologies of mystery and suspense, that pretty much eliminates putting “murder” in the title…because, well, then there’d have to be murder in every story. And while I certainly enjoy a good murder mystery, I don’t think I’d want to read twenty of them in a row. I expect you’re much the same.

 

That brings us back to dreaming up the theme. The first SSP entry —The Best Laid Plans—was easy (the definition of the adage being, “the futility of making detailed plans when the ability to fully or even partially execute them is uncertain.”). The second, Heartbreaks & Half-truths, worked perfectly for a short story I’d already written (translation: one less thing for me to worry about). And the third, Moonlight & Misadventure, continued to feed into my love of alliteration. Of course, I ran the risk of getting a lot of stories about werewolves (I really don’t get werewolves) but I’m born under the astrological sign of Cancer and we’re all about the moon.

 

After editing and publishing three multi-author mystery anthologies in as many years, I took a much-needed hiatus. In fact, I had joked to my hubby that if I ever contemplated publishing another anthology, he should duct tape me to my office chair.

 

He didn’t, bless his heart (though I suspect he was sorely tempted). Then, in the summer of 2023, a new theme popped into my head: Larceny & Last Chances (I did warn you that I love alliteration). Because who wouldn’t be above a bit of larceny if it was their absolute last chance to…

 

To what? It’s the ambiguity of that last, desperate chance that makes it work as a premise. The result? Twenty-two schemes, twenty-two dreams, and one overarching theme, duct tape optional.

 

What about you, readers? What “last chance” would entice you to partake in bit of larceny? 

 

About Larceny & Last Chances: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense: Sometimes it’s about doing the right thing. Sometimes it’s about getting even. Sometimes it’s about taking what you think you deserve. And sometimes, it’s your last, best, hope. Edited by Judy Penz Sheluk and featuring stories by Christina Boufis, John Bukowski, Brenda Chapman, Susan Daly, Wil A. Emerson, Tracy Falenwolfe, Kate Fellowes, Molly Wills Fraser, Gina X. Grant, Karen Grose, Wendy Harrison, Julie Hastrup, Larry M. Keeton, Charlie Kondek, Edward Lodi, Bethany Maines, Gregory Meece, Cate Moyle, Judy Penz Sheluk, KM Rockwood, Kevin R. Tipple, and Robert Weibezahl.

 

About the editor: JudyPenz Sheluk is a former journalist and magazine editor and the bestselling author of Finding Your Path to Publication and Self-publishing: The Ins & Outs of Going Indie, as well as two mystery series: the Glass Dolphin Mysteries and Marketville Mysteries. In addition to the Superior Shores Anthologies, which she also edited, her short crime fiction appears in several collections. Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she served on the Board of Directors for five years, the final two as Chair. Find her at www.judypenzsheluk.com.

Low Down Dirty Vote! An anthology

JENN McKINLAY: When I first heard about this anthology, I thought what a perfect way to commemorate the Fourth of July, by celebrating the right to vote shared by each and every citizen of the U.S. And here is Ann Parker, one of this all star crime fiction lineup, here to tell us more about it! Take it away, Ann.

Ann Parker: July 4—The perfect day for the launch of the crime fiction anthology Low Down Dirty Vote! What is more central to our country, to our government, to the ups and downs of our politics, than the vote? Who has it, who doesn’t. How the right to vote can be subverted, twisted, denied.

So, when editor Mysti Berry asked if I wanted to contribute to this anthology, which has the theme of voter suppression, I said, “Sure!” 

But first, I had to come up with a story… 

Being that I am who I am, my musings turned to the past, and a long buried memory stepped forward to nudge me. I couldn’t have been more than seven years old, maybe eight. We were visiting grandparents and relatives in Colorado, and the “grownups” were talking about some recent or upcoming election. (I’m going to guess that it was the 1960 election, given my age at that time and the fact that this was about when I became “aware” of such things as political parties, voting, elections, etc.) I recall, very clearly, my paternal grandfather saying to the room at large: “She [my grandmother] votes the way I tell her to.” I waited to see if he laughed. If what he said was some kind of joke.

He didn’t. It wasn’t.

His comment stuck with me, and decades later, surfaced again as I pondered story possibilities for Mysti’s anthology. 

Voter suppression? 

Indeed.

And at the most personal, intimate level.

So, I had my hook. Now, I needed a time and place. 

I turned my focus to the past and began exploring the history of women’s rights and politics in the U.S. … And I found my setting: 1870, Wyoming Territory.

On December 10, 1869, Wyoming’s territorial legislators passed a bill that was signed into law granting women the right to vote. As to why Wyoming, and why then...well, there are all kinds of stories and theories. Arguments abounded against giving women the vote. You can read some of the common 19th century arguments against women’s suffrage in the online Slate article, “Common 19th Century Arguments Against Women’s Suffrage, Neatly Refuted,” by Rebecca Onion.

 Women Vote in Cheyenne, November 1888. The steeple of the Union Pacific Depot is visible in the background. Library of Congress.

So, did men stop their wives from voting, or tell them how to vote? This is not the kind of thing one would read about in the newspapers of the day, but I suspect such voter suppression (or manipulation) existed in the private sphere: over dining tables, in the bedrooms, on the way to the polls—admonitions, threats, orders, directives, delivered from man to wife, father to daughter, brother to sister. 

I have only a single, personal data point from 1960. How many more, do you imagine, might there be, stretching from the past to the present?

Even one is one too many. 

IMHO.

What about you, Reds and readers, what does voting mean to you? And we're not talking political parties or any of that jazz, we're talking the simple act of voting. How did you feel the first time you pulled the lever, punched the card, or inked in the spot?

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Low Down Dirty Vote: Find buy links and learn more about the anthology here. All proceeds are being donated to the ACLU to fight voter suppression.

Ann Parker is the author of the award-winning Silver Rush historical mystery series. Her short story, “A Clean Sweep,” appears in the Low Down Dirty Voteanthology.