Packing a Small Punch

Awards nominations for crime fiction have been rolling in at a swift pace of late. We’ve seen lists of contenders for the ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Awards, the Thriller Awards, the Spinetingler Awards, and now the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s 2010 Derringer Awards. That final roster has been “determined by volunteer judges from the SMFS membership” and was posted this morning. Here’s the full list of nominees in four categories:

Best Flash Story (up to 1,000 words):

“And Here’s to You, Mrs. Edwardson,” by Hamilton Waymire
Published in Big Pulp, November 23, 2009

“Awake,” by David Dean
Published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (EQMM), July 2009

“Gutterball,” by Stephen D. Rogers
Published in Woman’s World Magazine, September 7, 2009

“The Right Track,” by R.T. Lawton
Published in Woman’s World Magazine, October 26, 2009

“Unplanned,” by Libby Cudmore
Published in Thrillers, Killers ’n’ Chillers, August 2009

Best Short Story (1,001-4,000 words):

“Identity Theft,” by Robert Weibezahl
Published in Beat to a Pulp, March 2009

“The Biography of Stoop the Thief,” by Steven Torres
Published in Uncage Me!, edited by Jen Jordan (Bleak House Books)

“The Hard Sell,” by Jay Stringer
Published in Beat to a Pulp, May 2009

“The Right to Remain Silent,” by Debbi Mack
Published in The Back Alley, August 2009

“’Twas the Night,” by Anita Page
Published in The Gift of Murder, edited by John M. Floyd
(Wolfmont Press)

Best Long Story (4,001-8,000 words):

“A Stab in the Heart,” by Twist Phelan
Published in EQMM, February 2009

“Famous Last Words,” by Doug Allyn
Published in EQMM, November 2009

“Regarding Certain Occurrences in a Cottage at the
Garden of Allah,” by Robert S. Levinson
Published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, November 2009

“Snow of Bloedkoppie,” by Berhard Jaumann (translated
from the German by Mary Tannert)
Published in EQMM, August 2009

“The Shipbreaker,” by Mike Wiecek
Published in EQMM, March/April 2009

Best Novelette (8,001-17,500 words):

“Adjuncts Anonymous,” by B.K. Stevens
Published in EQMM, June 2009

“Julius Katz,” by Dave Zeltserman
Published in EQMM, September/October 2009

“The Last Drop,” by R.W. Kerrigan
Published in EQMM, February 2009

“The Pirate’s Debt,” by Toni L.P. Kelner
Published in EQMM, August 2009

“Uncle Brick and Jimmy Kills,” by Allan Leverone
Published in Mysterical-E, Summer 2009

Voting by the SMFS membership will take place between now and April 30, with Derringer winners to be announced on May 1.