The Short Mystery Fiction Society Celebrates its 30th Anniversary by Josh Pachter

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Level Best Books is publishing Hot Shots: Celebrating Thirty Years of the Short Mystery Fiction Society to mark the occasion. I had the honor of editing the anthology, and I’m grateful to Debra H. Goldstein for inviting me to tell the readers of her blog about it.

Just in case anyone’s not familiar with the SMFS, let me briefly explain that it’s a completely free organization open to writers, editors, publishers, reviewers, bloggers, readers—in fact to everyone with an interest in short-form crime fiction. The society’s main activity is its listserv, a lively discussion board that provides an open forum for members to share their news and opinions, to ask for and give advice; nothing is off-limits, as long as the subject is related to (no surprise here!) short mystery fiction.

In addition to the listserv, the SMFS also hosts occasional “watercoolers,” live Zoom sessions that sometimes feature a panel of speakers or a single guest speaker and sometimes are simply open-door social events.

Perhaps most visible to the outside world, the society gives out the annual Derringer awards in four length-based categories: Best Flash Story (up to 1000 words), Best Short Story (1001-4000), Best Long Story (4001-8000), and Best Novelette (8001-20,000). Last year and this year, there’s also a Best Anthology Derringer on a trial basis, and next year members will vote on whether or not to continue that award; there’s also the Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement, there have twice been special Silver Derringers for Editorial Excellence, and there’s a Hall of Fame that honors deceased authors. These awards are presented at the opening ceremonies at the annual Bouchercon convention.

Okay, so, that’s an overview of the SMFS. I’ve been a member for the last five years, and about eighteen months ago, when I realized that the thirtieth anniversary was coming up, I suggested the idea of a celebratory anthology consisting of one winning story from each year since the Derringers began being awarded in 1998.

The membership liked the idea, and—partly because it was my idea, partly because I’ve had a lot of experience editing anthologies, and partly because I was willing to do the work for no pay—I was asked to put the book together.

At the time I began work on the project, Joseph S. Walker was the Derringers coordinator and Mark Schuster was the assistant coordinator. (Joe is now serving as the society’s president, and Mark has moved up to Derringers coordinator.) Both of them were enormously supportive and helpful: Joe wrote a thoughtful preface for the book, and Mark compiled an invaluable listing of all of the Derringer finalists and winners in all categories across the entire twenty-eight-year history of the awards.

My job was to select one winning story to represent each year, which for an assortment of reasons turned out to be more challenging than it might seem. I wanted to make sure that those writers who’ve won multiple Derringers were represented, that a roughly equal number of male and female winners made it into the book, that the various length categories and subgenres of crime fiction were included … and I had to track down the writers (and, in some cases, their heirs) in order to get permission to reprint their stories, not to mention tracking down the stories themselves.

We wound up with what I think—and what I hope you’ll agree—is a terrific collection of award-winning stories, ninety-thousand words long, featuring tales by not only such familiar authors as Doug Allyn, Michael Bracken, John Floyd, Patricia Harrington, Henry Slesar, Art Taylor, and Melissa Yi, but also some folks whose names you might well not recognize—such as Sandy Balzo, Joyce Holland, Ruth McCarty, Dorothy Rellas, and Michael J. Solender—but whose stories are every bit as enjoyable and worthy of the Derringers they received.

We hope you’ll want to pick up a copy of Hot Shots this spring (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GTRW32CN?ref=sp_email) —and if you’re not already a member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society, we hope you’ll click here and join us. You’ll be more than welcome!

Josh Pachter is an author, editor, and translator of crime fiction. More than 130 of his short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and many other places; his novel Dutch Threat was a finalist for the Agatha, Lefty, and Macavity awards, and First Week Free at the Roomy Toilet, his chapter-book mystery for younger readers, was a finalist for the Agatha and Anthony. A two-time Derringer winner, he was the 2020 recipient of the Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement.