© by Gerald So | 11:30 a.m.
Every April, I join the Academy of American Poets' celebration of National Poetry Month with a blog tour at The Five-Two.
Check out this year's schedule.
Sunday, April 01, 2018
A Thrilling Twenty Years
© by Gerald So | 9:00 a.m.
Today is the twentieth anniversary of Kevin Burton Smith's Thrilling Detective, a virtual encyclopedia of fictional private eyes.
It's hard for me to believe it's been twenty years. I so associate the site with my discovery of Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels in 1993, which hooked me on the private eye genre. Certainly I got to know Kevin writing in additions and corrections to his already excellent entry on Spenser.
As I recall, Thrilling had been publishing first-run short stories for some time. I submitted one about an ex-cop, ex-linebacker whose most distinctive trait was his soft drinking. When the story was rejected, I considered that maybe I wouldn't break into the genre as a writer. Maybe my ideas weren't as fresh as those I expected from my choice of reading.
I was surprised, honored, and intimidated when Kevin recruited me in March 2001 to take over for fiction editor Victoria Esposito, who was leaving to focus on one of the first magazines for mobile devices, HandHeldCrime.
Kevin, and Victoria especially, reassured me that I could work up to the job of determining Thrilling's future stories. It's difficult to overstate how much Victoria taught me about editing in those two months before she left Thrilling Detective. The three of us worked surprisingly well together, and then, in eight years on the job, I maintained and grew rapport with Kevin. Bouchercon 2017 was the first I met Kevin in person, and it was as epic as I'd imagined.
Being fiction editor, I never did publish my own P.I. story at Thrilling, but I did land a couple elsewhere.
My personal favorite character, though, is roguish aviator C.J. Stone, who debuted in the July 2003 HandHeldCrime story "For Old Times' Sake", who has since appeared in nine more stories, and even gained his own theme music.
I recall replying to Victoria about "For Old Times' Sake", asking if she were sure she wanted to publish it—her standards were so high—and again she assured me she did.
For the last few years, Victoria seemed to have disappeared from the Web, but last week, Kevin put out a call for anniversary material, and she reconnected with us on Twitter. I am forever grateful to her, Kevin, and all the writers we worked with.
Thrilling doesn't publish fiction regularly anymore, but it remains an essential genre resource.
Today is the twentieth anniversary of Kevin Burton Smith's Thrilling Detective, a virtual encyclopedia of fictional private eyes.
It's hard for me to believe it's been twenty years. I so associate the site with my discovery of Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels in 1993, which hooked me on the private eye genre. Certainly I got to know Kevin writing in additions and corrections to his already excellent entry on Spenser.
As I recall, Thrilling had been publishing first-run short stories for some time. I submitted one about an ex-cop, ex-linebacker whose most distinctive trait was his soft drinking. When the story was rejected, I considered that maybe I wouldn't break into the genre as a writer. Maybe my ideas weren't as fresh as those I expected from my choice of reading.
I was surprised, honored, and intimidated when Kevin recruited me in March 2001 to take over for fiction editor Victoria Esposito, who was leaving to focus on one of the first magazines for mobile devices, HandHeldCrime.
Kevin, and Victoria especially, reassured me that I could work up to the job of determining Thrilling's future stories. It's difficult to overstate how much Victoria taught me about editing in those two months before she left Thrilling Detective. The three of us worked surprisingly well together, and then, in eight years on the job, I maintained and grew rapport with Kevin. Bouchercon 2017 was the first I met Kevin in person, and it was as epic as I'd imagined.
Being fiction editor, I never did publish my own P.I. story at Thrilling, but I did land a couple elsewhere.
My personal favorite character, though, is roguish aviator C.J. Stone, who debuted in the July 2003 HandHeldCrime story "For Old Times' Sake", who has since appeared in nine more stories, and even gained his own theme music.
I recall replying to Victoria about "For Old Times' Sake", asking if she were sure she wanted to publish it—her standards were so high—and again she assured me she did.
For the last few years, Victoria seemed to have disappeared from the Web, but last week, Kevin put out a call for anniversary material, and she reconnected with us on Twitter. I am forever grateful to her, Kevin, and all the writers we worked with.
Thrilling doesn't publish fiction regularly anymore, but it remains an essential genre resource.
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