A winner of the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement from the Short Mystery Fiction Society and many other honors, Michael Bracken is one of the most prolific and popular short-story writers (he’s also a novelist!) in our genre. You can find a new story by him, “Bermuda Triangle,” in our upcoming May/June 2024 issue (on sale April 9th). He’s here to tell us about an important new venture that every fan of short crime fiction, as well as every writer, will likely be interested in.—Janet Hutchings

Novelists soak up attention at mystery conferences and conventions, dominating the guest of honor lists and most of the panels. If writers of short crime fiction are lucky, a multi-track three- or four-day convention may have two panels—sometimes three!—devoted to short fiction, and a writing conference dedicated to crime fiction may not have any presentations specifically for short-story writers. This frustrates me.

I’ve had a long career writing short fiction, placing more than twelve hundred of the little buggers in various publications across multiple genres. As an editor, I’ve shepherded several hundred stories by other writers through to publication. And no matter how far afield I travel in my literary endeavors, I always come home to crime fiction. That’s why it bothers me that our genre doesn’t respect the short form the way other genres do.

I’m not the only writer of short crime fiction who feels this way. Put two or more of us together and we will inevitably try to out-Rodney Dangerfield one other by listing all the ways we “don’t get no respect.”

What we don’t often do is turn kvetching into action.

Prior to the pandemic, my wife Temple and I discussed how we might change this dynamic, and we had a few ideas. Then, well, the pandemic. Everything shut down. Conferences and conventions were either cancelled or went online. We were more concerned with surviving than thriving, and our grand ideas were pushed aside while we stockpiled toilet paper.

As the worst of the pandemic passed, things returned to near-normal. In-person conferences and conventions resumed, and we were back where we started. This time, though, we didn’t just talk to each other about our grand ideas. We mentioned them to other writers, to publishers, to academics, and to conference organizers. My own opportunities to write, to edit, and to speak about short crime fiction increased. More importantly, though, others provided ideas, suggestions, and connections, that, combined with the ideas we already had, could lead to greater recognition of short crime fiction and increased opportunities for short crime fiction writers to pay it forward.

Many of the projects are in various formative stages, some are under consideration by organizations that could make changes to provide greater recognition for short fiction, and some are still a dream away from ever happening.

But the one idea Temple and I had pre-pandemic took the first steps toward reality at Bouchercon San Diego. From conversations begun there and continuing regularly ever since, Stacy Woodson, Shawn Reilly Simmons, Verena Rose, and I created ShortCon—an immersive, one-day event to learn how to write short crime fiction, get stories published, and develop and sustain a long-term career writing short—which takes place Saturday, June 22, 2024, at Elaine’s Restaurant in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

The day includes:

• Three hours of in-depth instruction on how to craft short crime fiction from New York Times bestselling novelistand multiple-award-winning short-fiction author Brendan DuBois.
• Insider-look at the world’s leading mystery magazines by Alfred Hitchcock’s and Ellery Queen’s Senior Managing Editor Jackie Sherbow.
• Career lessons from the author of more than twelve-hundred short stories—Michael Bracken.
• Wrap-up discussion led by short crime fiction rising star Stacy Woodson.

Our hope is to expand this one-day conference into a multi-day, multi-track convention next year, with an entire track devoted exclusively to short fiction, and with a short story writer as a guest of honor in addition to a novelist guest of honor.

And maybe someday, several years from now, if we do this right and if the other projects underway come to fruition, crime fiction novelists will kvetch about short-story writers getting all the attention.

Learn more about, and register for, ShortCon: https://www.eastcoastcrime.com/#/.