The Craft of Writing: How To Piss A Publication Off

NEW EDITION TO OUR SHIT LIST. Written in Jack's F-ing blood.

So I’m reading this story in Spinetingler’s submission basket last year. It’s pretty good. The character interested me right away, I wasn’t sure what he was up to -- nice for the tension -- plus some of the things he WAS doing were pretty f-ing scary.

Conflict! The essence of story.

Another wonderful thing: The writing flowed, easily slipping the images and ideas into my head. I barely noticed the words as I gobbled up what happened next.
Spinetingler receives a good number of well-crafted stories, but most aren’t, so it’s always a treat for me to find something that's really fun to read. Stop the presses, Sandra! I am actually being entertained.

Zip, zip, zip went the first 2,000 words of the story. Oh, man. What is going to happen when Martin finds her in the shed? Tick, tock, he’s holding that sharpened axe ... but she’s got the gasoline can...

Nothing happened.

What? That’s the end? But ...

Damn. That’s not good enough for Spinetingler. Yes, the author entertained me for 2,000 words, but short stories need an ENDING. It’s why we readers love them. Twists, surprises, or (like our current fiction entry) a haunting answer to an original question. You have to pay the reader off for getting all the way through. It’s the prize they’ve earned.

Okay, I decide I like the rest of the story so much, I pull the rare caliber from the arsenal. I email the author, ask for a new ending. I’m very polite. The whole idea is up to her, I say. Maybe another editor will like your (stupid fucking nothing) ending. It’s only my opinion.

No, she says. I think you might be right. I’ll try a new one.

Great. She’s smart, I think, knows how to take criticism.

A week later I receive a new version of her story with a top-notch finish. Now trust me, I’m old-school good with twists, in that I’ve been reading mystery stories for half a century. I’d figured out what a Speckled Band was before that snake crawled into Sherlock’s chamber.

But this author had done a fine job fooling me. And I was pretty pleased with myself, too. By pushing this author, suggesting the story needed work, I’d helped create another quality short for Spinetingler.
I’m pretty sure you guys would have loved this story. I say would have because the jerk author just pulled the story nine months after making a deal.

“I withdraw (the story) for publication from Spinetingler. I guess I've just got itchy feet and so have been submitting it to a few contests.”

Oh, really? This is the same story you agreed in writing to sell us? Wonder what those contest people are going do with your original manuscript when they discover Spinetingler owns first worldwide rights?

Itchy feet, my ass. And sticking with the body parts theme, Itchy Feet has a lot of balls. To let us help her with the story, then go shopping elsewhere with it? Ingenious scheme, perhaps. Receive a free edit before submitting elsewhere.

AAAARRRRGGGGG!!!

Some of us around here want to send Itchy Feet white powder in an envelope. Others want to name Itchy Feet, maybe run her picture, humiliate the writer publicly. Publish a map to her house. Only one chickenshit staffer thinks revenge is beneath us. He says if Itchy Feet doesn’t want to shine alongside Spinetingler’s great writers, it’s her loss, not ours.

I think we should leave it up to you, our readers. Name her? Run Itchy Feet’s story (which we completely, legally, and morally own) despite her little tantrum? Only we’ll byline it Itchy Feet.
What do you guys think?

Originally Published June 2015 by Jack Getze

E-Book Sales On The Rise

The Bookseller reports that e-book sales increased 176.6% in 2009 in the US, while sales of trade paperbacks, mass market paperbacks and children's hardcover books were down.

Sales of adult hardcover titles also rose.

Meanwhile, there are indications that Apple may have made allowances to discount e-books of best-selling titles, which means consumers may not see a universal increase in e-book prices, as previously believed.

It isn't surprising that e-book sales figures are increasing, as the growth of the e-book market is tied to the development of readers that make this format appealing to consumers and feasible, but it will be interesting to see how the numbers look a year from now, once Apple is selling e-books for iPad.

The Editor's Desk: A Word on the Craft of Fiction

Three Big Problems

Because we are writers, too, every one of us here at Spinetingler hates form rejections. We know what they feel like: Those stupid editors might as well have painted HELL NO on a rock and thrown it through your window.

Why was my manuscript rejected? Was it close? What could I change that might make it acceptable? Rejection forms tell you nothing. Just another slap in the face to see if you are determined enough as a writer to push on.

Sandra has talked before about why we can't give individual critiques, even in abbreviated or checklist form. We would like to, but basically a few bad apples prevent everyone's gain by harassing us. Until we can afford armed guards, or take years to earn a black belt in karate, we are forced to use form rejections.

For those fiction writers interested in improving their craft, however, know that nine out of ten rejections involve one or more of the following Big Three problems:

1. No hook. We are not talking about the first line. You have 100-200 words to interest us in SOMEthing -- characters, events, the setting, a question or threat. At least raise our curiosity. The best submissions use many of these elements to grab the reader -- and they do it with style*.

2. Poor storytelling skills. A lack of flow; jarring point-of-view shifts; or the words and ideas seem plain confusing. Boring is also bad. If you must give the reader backstory, slip in that stale cake a nibble at a time, not in chunky slices.

3. Writing needs polish. We see way too many clichés -- characters, stories, and phrases. Don't be lazy. Say it differently. The use of too many weak verbs (was, is) constitutes another lazy practice. Rewrite. Turn the sentence around to use strong verbs. Elmore Leonard** hates adverbs, too much description, and dialogue tags other than "said." We only dislike them.

* -- Read, study, and use Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style."

** -- Rules exist to be broken, but Leonard, a recognized master craftsman, offers ten first-rate suggestions at
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940CE3DD103BF935A25754C0A9679C8B63

Finally, here are specific rejections we would have scribbled on (but did not) two recent, well-written submissions:

Reads like an essay, not fiction.

After a good start, the tension disappeared.

Keep writing, and if you have any questions or suggestions for a topic here, send me an email.
-- Jack Getze

spinetinglermag@gmail.com

The Best Mystery/Crime Fiction of 2009

Keith Rawson’s Top Ten
2009 was without question one of the best years for crime fiction in many years, and trust me when I tell you that my top ten has changed so many times in the last six months that I wish I could’ve put together a top 20, or even a top 30, but somehow I managed to narrow it down to ten favorites and five runners up.

10 ) Fake I.D. by Jason Starr

Yeah, it’s a reprint, but this little slip of a book is the darkest piece of fiction Starr has ever put to paper. Tommy Russo is a vicious, charming sociopath who easily measures up to the classic creations of Willeford and Thompson. I devoured this slice of pure evil in one sitting and was drooling for more afterward.

9 ) Hogdoggin’ by Anthony Neil Smith

Every time I hear someone say, “I liked Yellow Medicine better,” I want to smack the taste right the hell out of their mouths. Don’t get me wrong, Yellow Medicine was a pisser of a novel, but as far as I’m concerned Yellow Medicine was nothing more than a set-up for the broad, blood-soaked canvass that is Hogdoggin’. I won’t say that Hogdoggin’ was a perfect novel, but Smith truly grew as a novelist with this one while delivering a solid piece of entertainment.

8 ) Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott

I won’t say that this was my favorite of Abbott’s novels (The Song is You will always remain my favorite), but Abbott so perfectly captures the feel and atmosphere of Depression-era Phoenix that Bury Me Deep became a very close second. And the brutality of the crime at the center of the novel—and its aftermath—is one of the most shocking in recent memory.

7 ) Pariah by Dave Zeltserman

Darker than dark and grittier than a mouthful of graveyard dirt, Pariah is Zeltserman’s strongest novel to date and is so much more than a simple gangster novel. Pariah is a true page turner that solidifies Zeltserman’s position as one of the very best novelists working today.

6 ) Hollywood Moon by Joseph Wambaugh

Including a novel as mainstream as Hollywood Moon in my top ten might just get my basement noir crazies membership card revoked, but the third installment in Wambaugh’s brilliant Hollywood series is an amazing read that proves Wambaugh knows not only the minds of cops but also of criminals. I really enjoyed this book, and it’s by far the best entry in an already exceptional series.

5 ) This Wicked World by Richard Lange

The true hallmark of 2009 for me was the introduction of several first-time novelists who I’m positive will make an enormous impact on American—and world—literature within the next decade, and Lange is one of those writers. Lange is a writer of exceptional style and power; his language is as stripped down and raw as the California landscape that seems to be as much of a character as his protagonist Jimmy Boone. Lange is a novelist to watch in the coming years.

4 ) The Mystic Art of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston

There are few writers who can match Huston as a stylist, and in the ten years Huston has been producing novels, I don’t think the man has made a single misstep in any of his novels. With Mystic Art, Huston has crafted not only a fine-tuned crime novel, but also a first rate meditation on how human beings deal with the pain and grief of death.

3 ) Dope Thief by Dennis Tafoya

Much like Lange, Tafoya is a novelist to watch. Dope Thief is yet another crime novel that does not fit easily into genre boundaries. Yes there’s theft, addiction, and brutal violence throughout the entire novel, and Tafoya handles each scenario with a deft, confident hand and turns Dope Thief into a novel about going beyond survival and the need in each of us for some kind of bond to make us more human. I love this book.

2 ) The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville

Oh, it came ever so close to the number one spot, and I’ll have to admit that it broke my heart just a wee bit when I found another novel that I liked more than The Ghosts of Belfast (and I promised myself when I started writing this bad boy that I wasn’t going to cop out and do ties). However, this is the best debut novel of the year, and I expect Neville to be one of the leading lights of Irish crime fiction for many years to come.

1 ) I-5 by Summer Brenner

As a fiction writer, I’ve been obsessed with America’s (and the entire worlds) underground economies for the past year or so, which is why I think I-5 had so much resonance for me. Brenner not only effectively paints a portrait of the life of a front-line sex worker, but also takes on the point of view of the boss/organizer to middle management to the lowliest workers on the totem pole, and packs all of it into a tightly wound ball of sheer horror. A fantastic read from beginning to end.
The runners up, in no particular order:

Slammer by Allan Guthrie

More than a few critics have been citing Slammer as Guthrie’s best novel (sorry folks, but Savage Night is still the best), and I’ll admit it’s a damn fine piece of writing and Guthrie’s most humane—yeah, I can’t believe I’m using the word humane to describe a Guthrie book—novel to date. But like most everything Guthrie writes, Slammer is a hell of ride.

The Coldest Mile by Tom Piccirilli

Yeah, I’m reserving judgment on Piccirilli’s Chase series until the third book in what I’m sure will be a trilogy hits. But I dug The Coldest Mile from beginning to end. A fun, fast-paced piece of noir from a writer who’s becoming one of crime fiction’s premiere stylists.

Sucker Punch by Ray Banks

This came out in the States this year, right? Because it seems like I read this in 2008? Oh, yeah, I did. Why is the lag time between U.S. and European editions so damn long? I liked Donkey–I mean  
Sucker Punch a lot when I first read it. Not the best of the Innes series, but a strong entry all the same.

Rogue Males by Craig McDonald

Nope, not fiction, but it should be required reading for any aspiring writer who wants to try their hand at the dark art of crime fiction.

Blood’s a Rover by James Ellroy

You have no idea how many times I told myself that I should like this more as I was reading Blood’s a Rover. But instead, I kept thinking, I’ve read this before, and this, and this. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I didn’t enjoy Blood’s a Rover, but too much felt like retread from the previous two books of the U.S.A trilogy.

The Nerd of Noir’s Top Ten
10 ) Slammer by Allan Guthrie
The most consistently badass noir author working today took shit up a notch in ’09 with Slammer, the story of prison guard Nick Glass’s descent into unspeakable violence and madness. Not only was Slammer reliably disturbing and intense, but Guthrie also went for the heartstrings this time out, went for them with a rusty shiv.

9 ) Pariah by Dave Zeltserman
With Small Crimes and now Pariah, Dave Zeltserman is shaping up as one of the most fearless writers in crime fiction. Reading Pariah, the reader gets that glorious, horrifying sensation that literally fucking anything could happen. By the time you get to the fuck-the-world finale, it’s clear that Zeltserman could give a shit about playing by the rules.

8 ) Hogdoggin’ by Anthony Neil Smith
If some country noir shit is more your speed, you won’t find a better novel than Hogdoggin’, Anthony Neil Smith’s kick-ass follow-up to last year’s Yellow Medicine. Billy Lafitte is crime fiction’s best “hero” since Charlie Huston’s Hank Thompson, and this time out he’s your tortured guide through some fucked-up Midwest rube version of purgatory.

7 ) Beast of Burden by Ray Banks
With the Cal Innes PI series, Ray Banks punched the genre in the face, then stood outside its apartment making empty promises until it took him back, only to do the same dance all over again later. With Beast of Burden Banks ended the series with a soul-crushing bang, forcing the Nerd to wonder whether we’ll see such a masterful, fresh take on the genre ever again.

6 ) Shadow Season by Tom Piccirilli
With his searing prose and organic approach to storytelling, Tom Piccirilli has been kicking ass in the crime genre for a few years now. With this year’s Shadow Season, he truly came into his own, letting the crime world know that he is unafraid to take a horrible situation to its natural conclusion without blinking or pulling a single punch.

5 ) West Coast Blues by Jacques Tardi
Jacques Tardi’s strange, beguiling adaptation of Jean-Patrick Manchette’s West Coast Blues was the most rewarding comics experience of the year (other than Scalped, of course, the best crime shit going in any medium). To call this gem of a book indescribable is an understatement – I honestly don’t know how to convey the experience of this book in words.

4 ) The Long Division by Derek Nikitas
Derek Nikitas burst onto the crime scene with Pyres last year, and with The Long Division he took his talent for tension and character to darker, more satisfying extremes. Nikitas takes the makings of great melodrama and twists that shit into an agonizing thriller that is unlike anything we’re seeing elsewhere in noir. If you liked to be emotionally rocked, Nikitas will floor you.

3 ) The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville
The most talked-about crime debut of the year, The Ghosts of Belfast deserves all the hype with its riveting story and ingenious premise. Neville’s story of an ex-IRA hitman killing his former brothers to silence the ghosts of his victims was complex, violent, and painful, yet a no-bullshit thriller all the same. In other words, it’s a shining example of what genre-writing can achieve.

2 ) The Disassembled Man by Nate Flexer
Speaking of debuts, Nate Flexer announced himself as a major swinging dick in noir with The Disassembled Man, the psycho-iest of psycho noirs to be released this year. With a nasty sense of humor and a willingness to take the story right to edge then piss into the abyss, Flexer sated the appetites of even the most basement-esque of the basement crazies.

1 ) Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott
Megan Abbott stepped up her already fairly peerless game this year with Bury Me Deep, her plunge into James Ellroy territory. Her take on the infamous Trunk Murderess of the 1930’s, Bury Me Deep proves that sexual obsession stories are not limited to men lusting after femme fatales, that homme fatales can be just as lethal. Consider the trails fucking freshly blazed, dear reader.
  Brian Lindenmuth’s Top Ten
11 ) The Devil’s Staircase by Helen Fitzgerald
When I finished reading this book I knew that I had never read anything like it before. And that is a rare thing that should be celebrated when it happens. Its mix of styles and story types is fresh and unique. It’s bold and daring in a way that few others are.

10 ) Scalped by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera
Despite a hiccup subplot, Scalped continues to be one of the, if not the, best ongoing crime fiction series being told. The complexities of this story and these characters are legion. I can’t even begin to fathom how Aaron will begin to resolve some of these elements and where the story will go, but I trust in his ability to do the former and can’t wait for the latter.

9 ) Ravens by George Dawes Green
A psychological thriller with the deadly simplicity of a knife slipped between the ribs.

8 ) Balzac of the Badlands by Steve Finbow
A postmodern detective story. If you don’t mind post-modernism (some like it and others don’t), then it’s quite inventive. It’s a veritable grab bag of pomo tricks, not all of which are wholly effective, that eventually settles down into a unique crime story. It got its hooks into me early and I had to keep reading.

7 ) Breaking Bad Season Two
I’ve long been an advocate, when talking about the best of a genre, of including other mediums. The bottom line is that Breaking Bad is some of the best and most original crime fiction out there right now. It’s just that simple.

6 ) Fifty Grand by Adrian McKinty
This is a great book that I would recommend with the strongest possible terms to any and every reader.

5 ) Last Days by Brian Evenson
I hope in 2010 that all readers of great, really daring fiction but especially readers of crime fiction will try some Brian Evenson. He really is that good. He’s a game changer.

4 ) Dope Thief by Dennis Tafoya
Dennis Tafoya wrote one of the year’s most intriguing crime fiction novels, and you won’t leave his world the same as when you entered.

3 ) Finch by Jeff VanderMeer
A stunning act of world-building coupled with a great crime story that leaves you wanting more.

2 ) Shadow Season by Tom Piccirilli
Piccirilli’s embrace of the crime genre has been a match made in heaven, providing a good fit for some his reccurring themes and motifs. Shadow Season is the first crime novel of his that isn’t riffing off of old stories or treading too far into horror territory (the noir-ellas have their moments) and is just comfortably his own crime story, in his own voice. With Shadow Season Piccirilli came in to his own as a mystery writer, took it to a new level, and it shows.

1 (tie) The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville

The perfect storm of great characters, a great story, and great writing. The Ghosts of Belfast is a tour de force.

1 (tie) Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon

I see no reason to waiver from my original statement, made on Twitter, upon finishing the book: The novel as an art form exists to tell stories like this. Chaon has crafted something fine and precise with this tale of shifting identities. Subtle and powerful, it’s like a Dim Mak death touch that affects the reader long after you finish and more than you expected. It’s one of the best books of this year or any year.

Honorable Mention:
I-5 by Summer Brenner, The Midnight Room by Ed Gorman, You Have Killed Me by Jamie S. Rich and Joelle Jones, West Coast Blues by Jean-Patrick Manchette and Jacques Tardi, Britten and Brulightly by Hannah Berry, The Nobody by Tom Piccirilli, Jump by Tim Maleeny

Originally Published December 30, 2009 by Brian Lindenmuth

Of Awards, Publications and Delete Buttons

Last year, we launched the Spinetingler Awards. I wasn't happy with the level of voter participation for the Best Short Story On The Web category, and this year we made several changes in an effort to increase the exposure of the writers, and to generate more votes. I was pleased to see that the short story category was one of the most active awards during the voting process, and it was also a close battle, with the lead shifting throughout the voting.

However, this category still poses more of a dilemma for me than any other we have for the Spinetingler Awards. I know there are a lot of great stories being published online, and I know there are a lot of great online publications. I want to increase their exposure. This is good for the writers, as they may gain readers, and it's good for readers who are interested in short fiction. I believe it's ultimately good for the industry as well, as editors and agents have ready access to content online. I do know writers who've secured agents after having stories published in Spinetingler, and I must assume the same is true of other publications.

I set out to raise the level of participation, and we did that... So why is this category still frustrating me? Recently, I've been forced to question whether some online publications should be considered for the awards.

One of my specific goals has been to highlight the quality publications online. On many occasions in the past I’ve been asked to change a story that has been published in Spinetingler. If I realize that the error is one that I’ve made, or that was made in production, I will correct the work. However, if we ran the edited version of the story that was sent to us by the writer, we don’t make the changes.
Why? Part of the reason is that all writers have already had an opportunity to review their work and edit it. Most often, the writers who contact me after publication are the ones who responded five minutes after I put out the last call for edits and said the story was perfect. And while it’s possible that some of these writers really are sitting by their computer, with nothing else to do but wait for my e-mail, I’m left feeling that they either didn’t read their story or rushed through it. It’s possible they may have been so excited they really thought they’d read it over thoroughly… But usually they haven’t treated the editing seriously.

Now, perhaps it would be in the best interest of Spinetingler to edit these stories post-publication. After all, don’t the errors reflect on us? To some extent, yes, but there are several other reasons to consider. Beyond the time involved in a labor of love - for which the editing and production staff of Spinetingler do not get paid – there is the reality of the publishing business. What comes out in print cannot be recalled on a whim, and if a writer wants to get to the point where they can be published in magazines, or get a book deal, they need to understand the editing process, and they need to accept a little egg on their face when they make a mistake. I would think it’s easier to learn that through an online publication, with a limited audience, than to learn it after your debut book has been shipped to stores all across the country.

If we nominate a story, and then the story is subsequently edited and revised, it's unfair to the other nominees. I think that if a story has been posted online for several weeks or months, that if upon receiving critique of the story the author seeks to change it and the publication allows them to edit it, it damages the credibility of the publication. I can't take the publication seriously if a story I read today is changed three weeks from now. I'm not talking about a typo, like changing 'her' to 'here'. I'm talking about substantive changes to content within the story that are not based on factual errors.
Several years ago, I participated in some book discussions on Val McDermid’s forum. Some of us decided to read Val’s first book – REPORT FOR MURDER – and discuss it. It was 2005, and RFM had been published in 1987. Eighteen years later, how would RFM hold up against works such as the Dagger Award-Winning THE MERMAIDS SINGING and Val’s critically acclaimed standalone, A PLACE OF EXECUTION?

Val entered the discussion to answer a few questions, and said:
It's hard for me to go back to the very beginning because all I can see are the flaws -- the infelicitous words, the clunky sentences, the lack of sophistication in the plotting...

I look back on some of my early short story efforts and groan. I can see areas where the story could have been tightened, things that were unclear, repetitive word choices. I could re-write those stories today and make them so much better.

However, those stories provide a valuable marker in my development as a writer. Even just thinking about that book club discussion on Val’s forum stuns me with the awareness of how much has changed for me in the past four years. In 2005 I wasn’t close to having an agent or a book deal. Now, in 2009, my fourth book is in production and I’ve been translated into Japanese, and have a story coming out in Finnish this year as well.

Four years is actually a relatively short amount of time in the publishing industry. That may be hard for some to grasp. We live in a world that thrives on instant gratification. If we have to wait three minutes for food at McDonald’s it’s shocking. If our pizza isn’t delivered in 15 minutes we don’t want to pay.

In art, there is a public learning curve. Since the rise of American Idol we’ve seen contestants shamed by past actions and in some cases removed from the competition. It is perhaps a failing of the media, in response to our microwave-and-fast-food culture, that they quickly elevate previously unknown sensations to overnight celebrity status, and sometimes later find out that the person has a shady past, that the event that put them on the map was staged, or that they’re a lip-syncing fraud.

The other night we were having a family dinner, and the kids were playing with the video camera. I kept covering my face. When family members teased me about it I pointed out that we now live in the Youtube generation, and while I’m not a famous author I do have a public aspect to my career, and I have to think about that. I don’t want reams of video footage out there, just waiting for the right moment to be uploaded. Consider Miss California and, while I have a lot less to worry about as an author, you can’t deny I have a point.

A lot of writers fail to consider this. Many want the instant gratification, recognition for their genius. Some start blogs and post their work online, allegedly for feedback, but anyone who offers critique is usually chased off the blog. Others self publish, and while self publishing may sometimes be a viable option, part of the reason many authors and editors view it skeptically is because writers will self publish because they refuse to take editorial feedback, refuse to see their own potential for growth, and refuse to embrace the learning curve needed to grow to the point where they’re ready for publication.

There is value in being able to look back on your body of work and see the growth potential. While aspiring authors can take some encouragement from the fact that outstanding writers, such as Val McDermid, also went through a learning curve on their path to greatness, most of the value is for the writer of the work. The fact that I can look back on earlier efforts and see the weaknesses shows me how much I’ve grown as a writer. It’s the proof that I’ve improved over the years.

The mistakes of actors, journalists, comedians and even average citizens can be immortalized through the internet. Writers should consider this, and tread carefully, for an online magazine is no less significant than many print publications in terms of its potential for reaching a global audience. It is the responsibility of the writer to ensure what they submit for publication is correct, and it is the mark of maturity to own your mistakes.

Although some are enamored with instant celebrity, secretly, I think most people are reassured by the fact that the average person has to learn their craft. In the publishing industry things move slower. These days, debut authors are pushed as though they are already great and accomplished, but my experiences on discussion lists tell me devoted readers are skeptical of the debuts that come with fanfare and much acclaim. Even Dan Brown had a learning curve - The DaVinci Code was not his first book, or even his second. I have more respect for the slower burn of authors such as Ian Rankin, Laura Lippman and yes, even Val McDermid – writers who paid their dues, who learned the craft. Instead of looking back and trying to erase past mistakes they looked forward and focused on making the next work better than the last.

If, as a writer, you spend your career looking over your shoulder at what you’ve done, when will you ever have time to prove what you can do with new material?

Although we did not have a story nominated for an award this year that was revised upon nomination, there has been another situation I've been involved with that made me consider what I would do if that happened in the future, and there is no doubt in my mind about what would happen. The stories nomination would be revoked, and the publication wouldn't be considered in future years. If you - yes you, editor, and you, writer - can't take it seriously enough to get your product right I have no idea why I should treat it seriously.

On a personal level, I've fumbled my way through many online blunders and mistakes. I've had my disagreements with people, I've argued over issues and accusations. However, I won't simply press delete and restart a new blog or remove all my comments from forums to save face now. The people who do drive me nuts. To me, it's the other side of the coin in this equation. We want instant gratification, but we also don't want responsibility. The minute our actions have negative consequences we want to press 'delete' and obliterate the record so that we don't have to prove that we're just like everyone else - human.

On a professional level, we have to learn to take our lumps. I have so much respect for how candid Val was about her feelings about her own debut, and when I see that the greats in the business didn't start off perfect, but had room for improvement, it encourages me. Just because I didn't start with a flawless debut doesn't mean that some day, I can't produce a work as memorable as one of Val's.

However, doing that requires the willingness to grow, and dedication to the craft of writing. Running around and trying to edit out my past mistakes so that nobody will see them has no part in the process, but it does send a message to readers and editors alike. It tells me you're more invested in your image than your writing, and it tells me that you aren't motivated to get it right because of your dedication to the craft, but only if you get embarrassed.

Editors talk, and people get reputations. Own your mistakes and move on. Prove you're a bigger person.

Try to erase your mistakes and you may find your name gets on every editor's radar, and for all the wrong reasons.

I know it's painful to see mistakes attached to your work and your name. In one case, I had a short story selected by an ezine. They contacted about edits, and gave a window of time to make changes and submit them, but they'd put all the stories online (without active links from their site) for the writers to view. Despite the fact that it had been clearly stated they'd take a few days for changes and go live that weekend, one of the writers posted links to all the stories on their site the next morning. I'd made my changes and already e-mailed them in, but with the issue going live prematurely, those corrections were never made to my story. It was frustrating, but I certainly wasn't about to run around from blog to blog saying they hadn't posted my edits. Doing so would have been unprofessional, and while I may have technically been in the right, it would have made other editors leery of working with me in the future. Whatever you do, don't compound your first mistakes with actions that may have a long-lasting impact on your chances of being published again in the future.

Originally Published May 6, 2009 by Sandra Ruttan

2009 Spinetingler Awards - Winners

Winners in Bold

Best Novel: New Voice
Sharp Teeth, by Toby Barlow (Harper)
The Price of Blood, by Declan Hughes (Morrow)
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, by John McFetridge (Harcourt)
Borderlands, by Brian McGilloway (Minotaur Books)
Go With Me, by Castle Freeman Jr. (Steerforth Press)
The Crazy School, by Cornelia Read (Grand Central Publishing)
Who Is Conrad Hirst?, by Kevin Wignall
Crimson Orgy, by Austin Williams (Borderlands Press)

Best Novel: Rising Star
When Will There Be Good News?, by Kate Atkinson (Black Swan)
No More Heroes, by Ray Banks (Polygon)
Money Shot, by Christa Faust (Hard Case Crime)
The Shadow Year, by Jeffrey Ford (Morrow)
Savage Night, by Allan Guthrie (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
A Nail Through the Heart, by Timothy Hallinan (Morrow)
Empire of Lies, by Andrew Klavan (Harcourt)
Victory Square, by Olen Steinhauer (Minotaur Books)

Best Novel: Legend
Hit and Run, by Lawrence Block (Morrow)
Nothing to Lose, by Lee Child (Delacorte Press)
Chasing Darkness, by Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster)
Leather Maiden, by Joe R. Lansdale (Knopf)
The Given Day, by Dennis Lehane (Morrow)
Dooley Takes the Fall, by Norah McClintock (Red Deer Press)
A Darker Domain, by Val McDermid (Harper)
Salt River, by James Sallis (Walker & Co.)

Graphic Novel:
100 Bullets, by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso
Criminal, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Femme Noir, by Christopher Mills and Joe Staton
Hawaiian Dick, by B. Clay Moore and Steven Griffin
Incognegro, by Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece
Scalped, by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera

Best Editor:
Ben LeRoy, Bleak House
Charles Ardai, Hard Case Crime
Neil Nyren, Putnam
John Schoenfelder, Thomas Dunne

Best Reviewer:
Ali Karim
Larry Gandle
Lesa Holstine
Karen Chisholm
Glenn Harper

Best Publisher:
Bleak House
Hard Case Crime
Soho Press

Special Services to the Industry:
Declan Burke, Crime Always Pays
Barbara Franchi, Reviewing the Evidence
J. Kingston Pierce, The Rap Sheet
John and Ruth Jordan, Crimespree Magazine
Peter Rozovsky, Detectives Beyond Borders
Ruth Jordan and Judy Bobolik, Bouchercon 2008

Best Cover:
At the City’s Edge, by Marcus Sakey (St. Martin’s Minotaur)--cover design: The DesignWorks Group
Death Was the Other Woman, by Linda L Richards (St. Martin’s Minotaur)--cover design: David Baldeosignh Rotstein
Empty Ever After, by Reed Farrel Coleman (Bleak House)--cover design: 2Faced Designs
Fifty to One, by Charles Ardai (Hard Case Crime)--cover design: Cooley Design Lab
Mad Dogs, by Brian Hodge (Cemetery Dance Publications)--cover design: Jill Bauman
Sharp Teeth, by Toby Barlow (Harper)--cover design: Suzanne Dean

Best Short Story on the Web:
“Cold Rift,” by Sandra Seamans (from Crooked)
“Fruits,” by Steve Mosby (from Spinetingler)
“Hard Bite,” by Anonymous-9 (from Beat to a Pulp)
“Lenny and Earl Go Shooting Off Their Mouths,” by Ray Morrison (from Word Riot)
“Random Acts of Fatherhood,” by Robert Pesa (from Darkest Before the Dawn)
“Red Hair and Black Leather,” by Jordan Harper (from ThugLit)
“She Watches Him Swim,” by Claude Lalumiere (from Back Alley)
“Sisters Under the Skin,” by Naomi Johnson (from A Twist of Noir)
“They Take You,” by Kyle Minor (from Plots With Guns)
“Wishing on Whores,” by John Weagly (from Thieves Jargon)

Originally Published May 6, 2009 by Brian Lindenmuth

2008 Spinetingler Award Winners

Best Novel: Legend: What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman
Also nominated: Cross, by Ken Bruen; Priest, by Ken Bruen; The Tin Roof Blowdown, by James Lee Burke; The Naming of the Dead, by Ian Rankin; and Dust Devils, by James Reasoner

Best Novel: Rising Star: The Cleanup, by Sean Doolittle
Also nominated: The Shotgun Rule, by Charlie Huston; The Ragtime Kid, by Larry Karp; A Perfect Grave, by Rick Mofina; A Thousand Bones, by P.J. Parrish; and Concrete Maze, by Steven Torres

Best Novel: New Voice: Hard Man, by Allan Guthrie
Also nominated: Queenpin, by Megan Abbott; The Big O, by Declan Burke; The 50/50 Killer, by Steve Mosby; Safe and Sound, by J.D. Rhoades; and The Blonde, by Duane Swierczynski

Best Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
Also nominated: Europa Editions; Hard Case Crime; Poisoned Pen Press; and Text Publishing

Best Cover: Hard Man, by Allan Guthrie (design by Vaughn Andrews; photo from Corbis)
Also nominated: Kill Now, Pay Later, by Robert Terrall (cover painted by Robert McGinnis); The Vengeful Virgin, by Gil Brewer (cover painted by Greg Manchess); Blackmailer, by George Axelrod (cover painted by Glen Orbik); Mr. Clarinet, by Nick Stone (designed by Emily Cavett Taff)

Best Editor: Stacia Decker, Harcourt
Also nominated: Charles Ardai, Hard Case Crime; Alison Janssen, Bleak House; Barbara Peters, Poisoned Pen Press; and Dave Thompson, Busted Flush

Special Services to the Industry: Daniel Hatadi of Crimespace
Also nominated: Ali Karim of Shots and The Rap Sheet; Graham Powell of CrimeSpot; J. Kingston Pierce of The Rap Sheet; Maddy Van Hertburger of 4MA; and Sarah Weinman from Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind

Best Short Story on the Web: “Seven Days of Rain,” by Chris F. Holm (Demolition)
Also nominated: “The Leap,” by Charles Ardai (Hardluck Stories); “Breaking in the New Guy,” by Stephen Blackmoore (Demolition); “Amphetamine Logic,” by Nathan Cain (ThugLit); “The Switch,” by Lyman Feero (ThugLit); “Shared Losses,” by Gerri Leen (Shred of Evidence); “The Living Dead,” by Amra Pajalic (Spinetingler); and “Convivum,” by Kelli Stanley (Hardluck Stories)

Original Post: January 31, 2008 by Brian Lindenmuth