BTAP #85: Someone to Watch Over Me by Matthew P. Mayo

So, Matthew Mayo and his lovely wife, Jennifer, (well, Matt's not too shabby himself) invited d and I to their home for dinner a couple of weeks ago. We had a super great time discussing books and publishing among many other things. When the talk turned to gardening, we walked to the backyard and I became alarmed. Why? Let's just say that though Jen has a beautiful, manicured vegetable and flower garden, I kept scanning trees in the yard thinking of the short story Matt had sent to BTAP. What if his idea hadn't stemmed from imagination but actual events. It's a little freaky to think about. Here's Matthew Mayo in BEAT to a PULP with "Someone to Watch Over Me."

Next: Elizabeth Zelvin's "Dress to Die"

Next post: The cover to our BEAT to a PULP print anthology revealed!

The Greatest Blog Post Today

Barbara Martin has my favorite blog post of anyone in cyberspace.

Photo-Finish Friday -- Montpelier Garden Gate

This picture of my charmer was taken a couple of years ago at Montpelier, the home of James and Dolley Madison, in Orange, Virginia.



PFF is the creation of Leah J. Utas.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

On Stranger Tides

Penelope Cruz. I'm there.

Ghostscapes

Helen eventually settled on the 31st of July as the date of her death. It was difficult to be certain because for days, perhaps as much as a week, she wandered around the cottage without any glimmer of what had befallen her. Mid-August, it finally occurred to her that an e-mail sent to her editor in late July asking about the color palette she'd chosen for a book about sea birds hadn't been answered. Her inbox, frozen on he screen, displayed only spam, her daily horoscope, the pollen count. There was no snail mail in her roadside mailbox; no newspaper had been tossed on her lawn in weeks. A frisson of fear crept over her. When a passing cluster of bicycle riders threatened to run her down, she had an inkling of her situation.

Ms. Abbott's "Ghostscapes" is in BEAT to a PULP: Round One edited by Elaine Ash and yours truly, coming soon.

Patricia Abbott's fiction has appeared in more than seventy literary and crime fiction publications. Most recently she has had stories in Needle, CrimeFactory, BEAT to a PULP, and Between the Dark and the Daylight. Forthcoming stories will appear in Damn Near Dead 2, Bats in the Belfry, the print edition of Crimefactory, Spinetingler and the 2010 Ed Gorman anthology. She lives and works in Detroit.

Ms. Abbott's blog can be found here.

Kid Eddie

Last Monday, I finished my fifth Cash Laramie western short titled "Kid Eddie." I've been working on it sporadically since October 20, 2009 until about a month ago when I went in for the hard polish. I feel confident it turned out well, special thanks to Rich Prosch for taking a look-see and offering some helpful suggestions. I'm pleased to say the week of September 12th, "Kid Eddie" will be featured in The Western Online, and in some crossover, quick-draw action, The Western Online's editor, Matthew Pizzolato, brings "The Wanted Man" to BEAT to a PULP.

In other Cash/Miles news, Scott D. Parker and I are putting the finishing touches on an action-packed collaboration called "The Adventure of the Sundown Express." This cracking story will combine Scott's Calvin Carter character from "You Don't Get Three Mistakes" with my dynamic duo. For some time I wanted to introduce our western characters and when a nifty idea for a tale popped up, I approached Scott. He's done brilliantly adding flourishes to some rather techie scenes, something I would never have been able to do justice, and adding Carter to the mix has created a whole new dimension to the story.

What is everyone else working on?

Ballad of Paladin Have Gun Will Travel

The definition of cool.