And when they met, it was Murda...

I am proud to tell you that a new short story of mine, entitled FIVE BAGS OF BILLY, will be in issue #2 of MURDALAND. This new mag has been getting a lot of buzz around the place, and will debut later this year. The line-up is under-wraps but I managed to get editor Cort McMeel drunk (via email) and sat back while he reeled off an eye-watering list of names. Not just big names, but interesting names. Ah, I wish I could tell you more, but if I do I'd have to watch my back. Keep an eye out for a new website for the mag coming up soon, which should give you a bit more of a preview. In the meantime check out Cort's "mission statement":

Currently, the predominant "mystery" magazines are two lame, staid, old fogey establishment publications: Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Both are put out by the same publisher and stuck in a timewarp of 1950's schlock. They even have mystery crossword puzzles catering to nuns living sober lives in the cornbelt.

Murdaland will not be kin to this kind of writing or experience. More risk taking in nature, possessing the kind of vision and rebellious attitude as such rogue presses as Olympia (Naked Lunch, Burroughs), our mission will be to free American crime fiction from the cage of civility where it now rots. Murdaland is a beast of three parts: part literature, part rabid dog, part sad whiskey shot spilled on the barroom floor. The final result will be in the tradition of crime writer David Goodis (Shoot the Piano Player), as he was once described by Kerouac: "the poet of the losers."

Looks like I'll fit right in there. Hey, I'm on a short-story roll here. I've got them queued up for MURDALAND, BULLET, BEST NEW NOIR, and THE FLASH. I've got one more to write before I start my next novel, and I'll announce it here if it turns out good. Why am I crowing about this? Because before this year you'd have to go back to 2001 to find my last short. So I guess it'll be 2011 before my next flurry.