City of Big Shudders

Chicago seems intent on burnishing its rep as a place fond not only of crime but of crime fiction--and the genre’s multiplying fans. Earlier this year, it chose Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye as the subject of its citywide reading program, “One Book, One Chicago.” Now, the magazine Time Out Chicago, together with publisher Vintage Crime/Black Lizard and the Intelligentsia coffee shops is sponsoring a fiction contest for writers with a murderous imagination. According to a news release from Vintage,

We’re offering readers a chance to submit their best 3,000-word crime fiction story set in Chicago by Sept 2. The grand prize winner will be published in an October issue of Time Out Chicago and have his or her work evaluated by a Vintage Books editor. There are also other terrific prizes. Michael Harvey, the co-creator of A&E’s Cold Case Files and the author of the novels The Chicago Way … and The Fifth Floor … will be judging the contest.

Even though this contest has a regional aspect to it, any U.S. citizen is eligible to enter. And as we well know from all the great crime novels keeping us up at night, you don’t have to be from a place to write about it.

Contest rules and more information about this competition are available at the Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Crime Web site.