Every Writer Needs a Pat on the Back

We’re not even halfway through 2017 yet, but we are already up to our sternums in book award nominees and winners. The latest such announcement comes from organizers of this year’s Killer Nashville conference, which is set to take place in Franklin, Tennessee, from August 24 to 27. Among the 10 categories of candidates for Killer Nashville’s annual Silver Falchion Reader’s Choice Awards are those vying to be singled out as the Best Mystery:

• A Black Sail, by Rich Zahradnik
• A Brilliant Death, by Robin Yocum
• Amaretto Amber, by Traci Andrighetti
• Another Day, Another Dali, by Sandra Orchard
• Bailey’s Law, by Meg Lelvis
• Brazen, by Lili Feinberg
• Center Stage, by Denise Grover Swank
• Clouds Over Bishop Hill, by Mary Davidsaver
• Crime and Catnip, by T.C. Lotempio
• Crime and Poetry, by Amanda Flower
• Crosswise, by S.W. Lauden
• Deadly Wedding, by Kate Parker
• Doubt, by Twist Phelan
• The Dying Hour, by Nancy Hughes
• Exhume, by Danielle Girard
• Exit, by Twist Phelan
• Fake, by Twist Phelan
• Fighting for Anna, by Pamela Fagan Hutchins
• Frosty the Dead Man, by Christine Husom
• Grace, by Emily Montaglione
• Heart of Stone, by James Ziskin
• The Heavens May Fall, by Allen Eskens
• Inherit the Bones, by Emily Littlejohn
• Jaheewah, God of the Winds, by John Arnn
• Love You Dead, by Peter James
• The Masterminds, by Olivia Wildenstein
• One Dead, Two to Go, by Elena Hartwell
• Play Nice, by Michael Guillebeau
• Playing with Fire, by Gerald Elias
• Poisoned Justice, by Jeffrey Lockwood
• Rain Dogs, by Adrian McKinty
• Secrets and Shamrocks, by Phylis Gobbell
• The Shattered Bull, by Patrick Kanouse
• Should Have Played Poker, by Debra Goldstein
• The Spyglass File, by Nathan Goodwin
• Stone Cold Blooded, by Catherine Dilts
• Stripped Bare, by Shannon Baker
• Unraveled, by Reavis Wortham
• Winter’s Child, by Margaret Coel

There are nominees as well in the Best Thriller and Best Suspense categories. Since this is a “reader’s choice award,” anyone can vote online for their favorite works simply by clicking here.

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Meanwhile, the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers is out with its list of contenders for the 2017 Scribe Awards. Those prizes are intended to “honor licensed [published] works that tie in with other media such as television, movies, gaming, or comic books. They include original works set in established universes, and adaptations of stories that have appeared in other formats and that cross all genres.” Among the five brackets of Scribe nominees are these two:

Adapted—General and Speculative:
• Assassin’s Creed, by Christie Golden
• Road to Perdition, by Max Allan Collins
• Suicide Squad, by Marv Wolfman

General Original:
• 24: Trial by Fire, by Dayton Ward
• Don Pendleton’s The Executioner: Missile Intercept, by Michael Black
• Murder Never Knocks, by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins
• Robert B. Parker’s Slow Burn, by Ace Atkins
• Tom Clancy’s True Faith and Allegiance, by Mark Greaney

The recipients of this year’s Scribes will be declared during Comic-Con International, to take place in San Diego, California (July 20-23).