Crime Scenes: a new anthology of short Oz crime fiction

After diligently blogging my way through Thailand between December 2015 and the start of the year, it’s taken nearly a month after returning home to catch my breath for long enough to post again. My excuse, if you need one, is that I’ve been too busy integrating the material and ideas I accrued on that trip to Thailand into my work in progress, aka ‘the PhD novel’. However, my killjoy of a highly responsible supervisor has advised me to set aside the creative component in order to focus on my next academic progress report over the next few months.

Not that I’m blogging to procrastinate the academic writing. Perish the thought. No, I’m blogging because I’ve got exciting news. My Scarlet Stiletto winning short story, ‘The Teardrop Tattoos’, will soon appear in Crime Scenes, a killer new anthology of short Australian crime fiction due to be released in March.

Crime Scenes features short stories by some of my favourite Australian crime writers, Leigh Redhead, David Whish-Wilson, PM Newton, Peter Corris and my partner Andrew Nette, together with authors Carmel Bird and Tony Birch, who are not usually associated with the crime genre, and emerging crime writers Amanda O’Callaghan, Eddy Burger, Melanie Napthine and Michael Caleb Tasker.

Here’s what some of Australia’s other leading crime writers have to say about the anthology:

‘A gripping ensemble of dark delights.’ MARELE DAY

‘Highly original stories, many using the standard elements of cop, crook, crime and punishment and yet producing fresh and intriguing tales. People who like reading crime stories will love this book. Australian crime writing is soaring.’ GABRIELLE LORD

‘A clever, diverse and exciting collection of some of Australia’s finest new crime writers as well as gems from more established voices. If this is the future of Australian crime writing then the genre is in good hands’ ADRIAN MCKINTY

Crime Scenes is edited by Zane Lovitt, whose award-winning debut The Midnight Promise, is a collection of interconnected short stories. It is published by Spineless Wonders, a company devoted to short, quality fiction produced by Australian writers.

As Andrew points out on his blog, anthologies of Australian crime fiction are a rare thing, which makes this anthology something of a special event. You can even pre-order Crime Scenes at a reduced price here.

Stay tuned for news on plans for the launch in early April.