Albert Tucher
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EQMM !!
April 23rd, 2013 16:30 by Albert Tucher
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine is the top of the heap when it comes to short crime fiction. After at least a dozen tries dating back ten years, I have finally made it. My contributor's copies of the July 2013 issue just arrived, with my stand-alone story Hangman's Break.
I'm in there with some A-list people, including Bill Pronzini, Edward Marston, Peter Tremayne and Twist Phelan.
I keep opening the magazine and admiring the table of contents, although I try not to do it when I'm driving.
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Who can't use a morale boost like this?
March 11th, 2013 15:24 by Albert Tucher
My short story Calories, published by Untreed Reads, has received a very positive review.. No matter what writers say about reviews, we all love those occasions when somebody "gets it."
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"Stimulus" in more ways than one.
March 7th, 2013 14:38 by Albert Tucher
Diana is not sure she approves of this, but she's thinking about it:
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ThugLit 4!
March 6th, 2013 14:26 by Albert Tucher
Issue no. 4 of the new, revamped ThugLit is now available. It includes stories by such hardboiled/noir stalwarts as Eric Beetner and Patti Abbott, as well as a new Diana story called Under the Bus, in which Diana tangles with the religious right.
Seriously, I look at the lineup in this issue and I feel pretty damn A-list.
Kindle edition available here
Hard copy, here
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Diana takes on Valentine's Day!
February 15th, 2013 12:07 by Albert Tucher
Plan B is up at A Twist of Noir.
Editor Christopher Grant issued a challenge to all his authors to come up with a noir story with a Valentine's Day theme. As I so often do, I channeled my Technical Consultant. I once asked her for her take on Valentine's Day, and she said it was a ridiculous Hallmark holiday, and she and her boyfriend paid little attention to it.
She usually gave me the unvarnished truth, but once in a while I had the feeling that she was falling back on her work habits and telling the client--me--what he wanted to hear. And that gave me my story.
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This hooker joke isn't funny!
December 15th, 2012 23:33 by Albert Tucher
Cast Iron just went online over at Shotgun Honey, a great venue for flash fiction--stories generally under 1,000 words. I recommend staying around to see what else is there.
Like so many of my Diana stories, this one comes from the experience of my Technical Consultant. Early in her career she found herself alone in a motel room with a 300-pound man who announced that they were going to skip the condom, because "You have HIV anyway." Think about what that implies. She put his money back and left, and fortunately he didn't stop her.
By the rules of the business she was entitled to keep the money, but it wouldn't have been prudent to stand on her rights.
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Contracts 101
December 4th, 2012 00:48 by Albert Tucher
Contracts 101 is another old favorite that first appeared in DZ Allen's Muzzle Flash. That great zine for flash fiction is defunct now, but Shotgun Honey has taken over as the go-to web destination for short short stories in the hardboiled/noir subgenre. A new Diana story is due out there in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know.
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Diana story with a difference.
November 23rd, 2012 17:18 by Albert Tucher
My Diana story Shoot Me originally appeared as one of the first stories in the erotica zine Temptations. Now Diana is misbehaving in an anthology of stories from the zine. Available in hard copy: here and in the various e-book formats here.
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Coming up for air.
November 14th, 2012 16:11 by Albert Tucher
After Superstorm Sandy, that is.
Westfield is starting to look like itself again. It was widely reported that the city lost more than a thousand trees, and I believe every one of them took a power wire down with it. I was in the dark (and cold) from the Tuesday of the storm until late in the afternoon of the following Monday.
The Westfield Public Library was practically alone in keeping its power and staying open. Much of the population of the city descended on the library, looking for warmth, light, and an electrical outlet for recharging cell phones, which were the only means of communication left. The staff of the library deserve commendation. They rose to the occasion.
Right next door, Cranford was nearly unaffected, but I don't begrudge the citizens anything. Last year Irene hit them very hard.
I hope this will not be an annual event.
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Another gift from my Technical Consultant.
October 21st, 2012 21:37 by Albert Tucher
I just posted another story in my writing samples that comes from my Technical Consultant's experience. She told me that a man's characteristic smell unlocked all her memories of him, and would help her remember things he had told her and his favorite topics of conversation.
No Hands appeared in the excellent zine Beat to a Pulp in 2009.
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