Deadline: November 30th, 2018
Payment: Royalties

Mickey Finn isn’t watered-down mysteries for dilettantes; it’s a crime-fiction cocktail that will knock readers into a literary stupor.

An annual anthology of hardboiled and noir crime fiction to be released each fall beginning in 2020, Mickey Finnwill pick up where the three-volume Fedora anthology series left off, pushing hard against the boundaries of crime fiction. Contributors will be encouraged to push their work into places short crime fiction doesn’t often go, into a world where the mean streets seem gentrified by comparison and happy endings are the exception rather than the rule.

The ideal submission will be approximately 5,000 words—less than 3,000 is likely too short, more than 8,000 is likely too long. Originals only. No reprints.

The first Mickey Finn is scheduled for release fall 2020.

Submissions: Use standard manuscript format. Include name, address, telephone number, and email address on the manuscript. Save as a Word document (.doc preferred) and send as an attachment to [email protected].

Deadline: Submissions open September 1–November 30, 2018. Though rejections may occur at any point during the process, do not expect acceptance and rejection decisions until February 2019.

Payment: A pro-rata share of royalties.

About the editor: Michael Bracken has edited six crime fiction anthologies, including the three-volume Fedoraseries and The Eyes of Texas (Down & Out Books, Fall 2019). Stories from his anthologies have been short-listed for Anthony, Derringer, Edgar, and Shamus awards, and have been named among the year’s best by the editors of The Best American Mystery Stories and the editors of The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories. He is the author of eleven books and more than 1,200 short stories, including crime fiction in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea, Down & Out: The Magazine, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Espionage Magazine, Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, and The Best American Mystery Stories. In 2016 he received the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer Award for lifetime achievement in short mystery fiction. Learn more about the editor at www.CrimeFictionWriter.com.

About the publisher: Founded in 2011, Down & Out Books is an independent publisher of crime fiction based in Tampa, Florida. Their novels, anthologies, and stories published in their anthologies have received Anthony, Macavity, Shamus, Thriller, and many other awards. Over the last seven years, Down & Out Books has published nearly 400 books and includes Shotgun Honey, All Due Respect, and ABC Documentation among its imprints. Learn more about the publisher at www.DownAndOutBooks.com.

 

FAQs

Will I receive acknowledgement that my submission has been received?

Yes. You should receive an auto-response within 24 hours of your submission.

Note, however, that my auto-responder only functions when I turn on my computer and log into my email. Attendance at conferences and conventions, as well as vacations and family time away from home (most of which occur on weekends) may delay your receipt of a response.

Also note: If you have not received a response within seven days of submission, check your spam folder, especially if you use gmail. For some reason gmail users often find my emails trapped in their spam folders.

May I submit more than one story?

Yes. Though I will accept only one per author, I’m willing to read multiple submissions.

Via: Crime Fiction Writer.