Consolation

With the start of Bouchercon 2010 today in San Francisco things will be a bit quiet around the mystery regions of the web. No, I'm not going. Attending cons isn't an option for me, but that's okay because I still get to interact with all those fine folks here in the blog world. So those of you attending Bcon, have a great time, those not going, hey, stop feeling sorry for yourself and take a look around at what you do have.

There's a new issue of Yellow Mama out there on the streets. http://blackpetalsks.tripod.com/yellowmama/index.html

There's a great story called "Shootout" by William Hart in the September issue of Thieves Jargon. http://www.thievesjargon.com/workview.php?work=1462

Editor, Christopher Grant, has kicked off his 600 - 700 flash series over at a Twist of Noir with the first five stories already gone live. http://a-twist-of-noir.blogspot.com/

Today is the last day to get your submissions in to Beat to a Pulp. Hey, it's a great zine to hang your stories in, so what are you waiting for?!? http://www.beattoapulp.com/

And Brian Lindenmuth has an essay over at Spinetingler about the loss of short stories that have been published on the Internet. http://www.spinetinglermag.com/2010/10/13/collecting-the-short-crime-fiction-scene/ He's got a good case for collecting these stories into anthologies. Don't think so? Drop on by Ralan.com and click on the dead link. There are 857 dead markets listed and that's by no means all of the markets that have come and gone over the years. In the Mystery/Crime field alone we have lost Flashing in the Gutters, Muzzle Flash, PulpPusher, Mouth Full of Bullets, Crime and Suspense (the last two do have anthologies available so not all of the stories are lost), Scalped, Grim Graffiti, and Demolition. All sites that are completely gone. There are many others out there like Crooked, Flash Pan Alley, and Black Mask where you can read the archived stories, but, what's to keep them from disappearing forever?

While we lose track of print magazines and anthologies, there are still copies available at flea markets, yard sales, book sales and in libraries so finding copies can be difficult, but it's not impossible. Once the stories are lost in the ether, they're gone forever.