Writers Digest Popular Fiction Contest

Writers Digest is seeking short stories in the romance, horror, sci fi/fantasy, mystery/crime, and thriller/suspense categories

Length: 4,000 words or less
Deadline: November 3, 2008
Prize: $2,500, $100 worth of books, and 2009 Novel and Short Story Writers Market
Entry Fee: $12.50 per manuscript
See the website for details or to enter online.

Take the Free Book Crack - You Know You Want To

Stack of Books Creative Commons

A new trend is busting out all over publishing - free books by download.

• SmartBitches reports you can get the first two books in Julia-Fleming Spencer's mystery series for free (so they can hook you and you'll be jonesing to buy the next four). Diabolical. If I like the first two, I'm much more likely to buy the remaining books in the series.

• And Tor has just started Tor.com, a sci fi website offering a free book download and wall paper every week for everyone who signs up for their newsletter. I just received my first free book, Orphans of Chaos by John Wright. Again, if I like his first book, I'll hunt up the second.

• HarperCollins is also offering large segments of their books for browsing in a try before you buy strategy.

I'm in book heaven! I But I wish I had a Kindle to read them on instead of the pdf on my laptop. Here Kindle, Kindle, Kindle.

Check out Paul Schmit's Mystery Novel in the Gather Contest

Coffee and Critique member Paul Schmit has entered the first chapter of his mystery novel, Memory Stick over at Gather.com's mystery novel contest.

You'll need to join Gather to read it and vote. Voting starts November 15, 2007 and ends on December 9th.

The top 25 chapters will move on to be whittled down to a final five, and then to one grand prize winner. Contest judges for the last stage include Davis Baldacci, Harlan Coben, and Sandra Brown, plus additional people from Borders Corp.

St. Louis Sisters in Crime Invites the Public to their "Make Mine Mystery" Halloween Party

From the flyer:
For Grownups Who Never Lost Their Love of Dressing Up in Costume

Proceeds to benefit the St. Charles County Library Foundation

Wednesday, October 10, 2007 Middendorf-Kredell Library Branch
7:30 - 10 p.m. 2750 Hwy K; O'fallon, MO

• Enjoy Fashion parade by legends of mystery in the March of the Mysterious and Macabe presented by SinC members.

• Strut your Stuff in the Sultans of Sleuth and Kingpins of Crime Costume Competition. Come as your favorite real life or fictional sleuth or villan to win a special basket of prizes.

• Guess who's who in the Sultans of Sleuth and Kingpins of Crime Contest.

• Can you mystify and amuse the audience in just three minutes? Try your wit in the Make Mine Mystery Open Mike Slam.

You'll find freaky food, fanatical entertainment from St. Louis Sisters in Crime, and fabulous one-of-a-kind items up for auction such as lunch and a critique session with three published authors.

Want to know more? See http://www.sincstl.org/

Free Writers' Workshop on Poisons and Audio Interview

Choose your poison.

The Missouri Romance Writers of America and the Greater St. Louis Chapter of Sisters in Crime are sponsoring an evening with "The Poison Lady" Lucy H. Zahray. Ms. Zahray is a registered pharmacist with a master's in toxicology from Texas A&M University.

Her class, Behold, Here Poison, talks about poisons and poison detection from a writer's perspective. The session discusses types of poison, doses, methods of exposing victims, and the physical symptoms.

Date: Tuesday, October 23
Time: 6:30 - 9:30
Location: Barnes and Noble at 9618 Watson Rd, Sappington, MO. 314-843-9480
Cost: Free

Audio Interview On Poisons:
The pamphlet on the workshop also recommend you check out NPR's interview with John Emsley, author of The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison. So if you can't make the conference, listen to the interview.

Sisters in Crime's Forensic University of St. Louis: 50 Ways to Catch a Killer

Sisters in Crime is hosting a writing workshop called the Forensic University of St. Louis at the Hilton St. Louis Airport November 1-4, 2007.

The postmark deadline is September 15, 2007.
Fee: $250 for Sisters in Crime member
$290 for non-members (includes a year membership in Sisters in Crime)

After September 15 (subject to space)
Fee: $300 Walk-in Sisters in Crime member
$340 Walk-in non-members (includes a year membership in Sisters in Crime)

Examples of Workshops:
The ABC's of Forensic Science
Poisons: Basics of Toxicology
DNA 101
Forensic Anthropology: Finding and Recovering Remains
The CSI Effect: Forensic Science and the Courts
Interviews and Interrogation
Firearms

And many more.... So learn how to kill them softly in your books - or at least using correct forensic science techniques.