Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence

Holy cow. I’m a finalist for the 2021 Canadian Crime Writers Awards of Excellence in the short story category:

Best Crime Short Story sponsored by Mystery Weekly with a $300 prize

• Marcelle Dubé, Cold Wave, Sisters in Crime – Canada West

• Twist Phelan, Used to Be, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine

• Zandra Renwick, Killer Biznez, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine

• Sylvia Maultash Warsh, Days Without Name, Carrick Publishing

• Sarah Weinman, Limited Liability, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine

I am in excellent company. The best part? The nomination is for Cold Wave, a story that appeared in the Sisters in Crime Canada West inaugural anthology, Crime Wave. My sister in crime, Winona Kent, is nominated in the novella category, for her Salty Dog Blues, which also appeared in Crime Wave.

You can find the complete list here: https://www.crimewriterscanada.com/awards/annual-awards/current-contest/shortlists

The winners in each category will be announced on Thursday, May 27, 2021. Wish me luck!

My first podcast!

The wonderful Joanna Vander Vlugt, host of the From the Dressing Room podcast, is featuring the authors of the Sisters in Crime Canada West Crime Wave anthology, which includes my own “Cold Wave.” It was my very first podcast and it was a lot of fun to meet the other authors in the anthology: K.L. Abrahamson, J.E. Barnard, Alice Bienia, Debra Henry, Winona Kent, Charlotte Morganti and Merrilee Robson.

Pop in and listen, if you have a moment.

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Does that mean I’m a tourist attraction now?

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Travel Yukon, the Government of Yukon’s official tourism arm, started the Yukon Book Club for people who can’t physically travel to the Yukon because of Covid-19. It features fiction and non-fiction books, classics and new releases, all of which connect to the Yukon in one way or another.

And now they’re featuring The Shoeless Kid, the first of my Mendenhall Mystery series. While Shoeless is set in the fictional town of Mendenhall, Manitoba, it was born in the Yukon—from the inspiration for the book to the name of the town, all Yukon.

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I’m thrilled that they wanted to include Shoeless, and I’m honored to be among these top Yukon writers! Here are the other books featured so far:

Cold Spell: Cocktails and Savouries for a Northern Winder by Michele Genest and Jennifer Tyldesley

From the Klondike to Berlin: The Yukon in World War I by Michael Gates

Gold Diggers: Striking it rich in the Klondike by Charlotte Gray

Nerve by Eva Holland

Strange Things Done by Elle Wild

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

The Caribou Hotel: Hauntings, hospitality, a hunter and the parrot by John Firth

Christmas readings

I love Christmas, even this year. I love it so much that I’ve actually written a few romantic Christmas short stories over the years. If you’re in the mood for some light (mostly light) reading, here are some short stories that might warm your heart.

A Yukon Christmas

Christmas Magic

McKell’s Christmas (A short Mendenhall mystery)

Running Away from Christmas

Trepalli’s Christmas (A short Mendenhall mystery)

The Cold Time

Issue #114 of On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic is out and it contains one of my stories! The Cold Time is about the People, who live in the Arctic Ocean and who are being driven to dangerous depths to escape new predators. I just received my copies and am happily making my way through the issue. I particularly love the cover, by Nikolina Petolas. Too cool.