by Donna Andrews of the Femmes Fatales.
Short story lovers take notice! Fur, Feathers, and Felonies, the eighth volume in the award-winning Chesapeake Crimes series, is now available from Wildside Press. All of the authors in the book are members of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime.
To quote the sales copy: 13 writers spin tales crime around the theme of animals. A pet groomer. A pet crow. A dog named Rasputin. Exploding cattle. Even an octopus figures in a mystery. Contributors include: Chris Grabenstein (introduction), Shari Randall, Carla Coupe, KM Rockwood, Alan Orloff, Eleanor Cawood Jones, Robin Templeton, Barb Goffman, Marianne Wilski Strong, Linda Lombardi, Josh Pachter, Joanna Campbell Slan, Cathy Wiley, and Karen Cantwell.
If you just like reading short stories, you're free to stop reading me and go pick up your copy of the book. But if you like hearing the story behind the book . . .
Barb Goffman, Marcia Talley, and I serve as coordinating editors for the Chesapeake Crimes series. But we don't choose the stories—for each book we recruit what we call the editorial panel. These generous volunteers read all the stories and pick which ones will appear in the book. The stories are submitted blind—the editorial panel members—for Fur, Feathers, and Felonies this consisted of Brendan DuBois, Toni L.P. Kelner, and Mary Jane Maffini--don't know who wrote each story until after they make their decisions. (Thank you again, Brendan, Toni, and Mary Jane!)
Then Marcia, Barb, and I get to work. We divvy up the stories between us, each serving as primary editor for approximately a third of the stories, which means working closely with the authors until each story is as strong as it can possibly be. A lot of horse trading happens at this point, as we try to ensure that we have a roughly equal workload, although in the end, all three of us end up looking very closely at every single story and not until all three of us and the author are in agreement do we consider a story ready. There's a reason we only come out with an anthology every two years!
Meanwhile, our cover team—Stacey Logan has been our designer for the past several books, and Robin Templeton has provided several of our cover photos, including the eerie sunset scene for This Job Is Murder (CC5) and the creepy banquet for Homidical Holidays (CC6). I'm particularly proud that I provided the basic photo for They Had It Comin' (CC4), although it was Stacey who added in the gun-toting trenchcoat-clad figure that changed it from a pretty sunset scene to a menacing one.
I'd tell you about some of the stories, but I hate picking favorites, so if I started, I'd have to say something about all thirteen—and they're short stories! Why should I spoil them for you? You have a lot of good reading ahead of you!
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