Bytes and Pieces

• Winners have been announced in A Twist of Noir’s first short-fiction contest. Themed around alienation, the competition brought out a trio of top picks. First place goes to Keith Rawson for “In the Shower, Thinking.” Eric Beetner takes second-place honors with “Past Due.” And Andy Henion has captured the third spot with “Henson Comes Home.” Stories worth savoring on a quiet Sunday.

• Speaking of short stories, southern Indiana writer Frank Bill is responsible for this week’s offering in Beat to a Pulp: “Tweakers.” And there are two new yarns posted in Thrillers, Killers ’n’ Chillers: Paul Brazill’s “This Old House” and Col Bury’s “Forum of Fury.”

• Novelist Bill Crider has posted yet another bunch of book covers from years past (and largely forgotten). His latest collection is of Novel Books and Merit Books, “the publishers of the estimable [Tokey] Wedge series (not to mention the publishers of the Ennis Willie novels).” Feast your curious eyes here.

• Oline Cogdill previews the 14th annual Festival of Mystery, scheduled to take place on May 4, in Oakmont, Pennsylvania.

• Patrick Shawn Bagley reports that, on May 10, the short-story podcast site CrimeWAV will host eight works of poetry from the first and second editions of The Lineup, editor Gerald So’s unique collections of crime rhymes.

• And I like novelist Mark Billingham’s response to the question, posed by blogger-author Declan Burke, as to what the worst and best things are about being a writer. Answers Billingham: “Best? It’s a close-run thing between the free books and being asked where you get your ideas from. There aren’t too many bad things (let’s face it, it’s a bloody marvellous way to make a living) but I’ve never got used to the creative schizophrenia; the fact that you look at something you wrote the day before and thought you were happy with, and it suddenly appears to be unpublishable rubbish.” You can read all of Billingham’s Q&A here.