It was the summer of 2018 when I came up with the idea of publishing a multi-author mystery anthology, The Best Laid Plans, under my imprint Superior Shores Press. I’m not sure why, but as soon as I thought of the idea, I couldn’t shake it. I ran a few ideas by Kevin Tipple, a blogger, book reviewer, and a tireless volunteer with the Short Mystery Fiction Society. With Kevin’s help, I developed with submission guidelines and a plan. I decided to send the callout on Oct. 18th, allow 90 days for submissions, or Jan. 18, 2019, with a promise to advise all authors who submitted with a yes or no by March 18th, and a tentative publication date of June 18, 2019.

I’ll admit I was terrified. What if no one submitted? What if all the stories were horrible? What if, what if, what if…and then something magical happened. More than 70 stories, from Europe, the UK, Australia, South America, the U.S., and Canada flooded my inbox. Suddenly my ‘what if’ worry became ‘how can I possibly choose just 20 stories?” (the title says 21 stories, but I’m including a story of mine in the collection).

I won’t lie. It was really, really difficult. I read, reread, and reread each submission again. I made notes. Did comparisons. If there was one story about a black cat, there couldn’t be two. Which story about a black cat had to go? Then I checked word counts. The guidelines stipulated 1,500 to 5,000 (with some modest flexibility). There had to be a selection of short, medium, and long. And finally, there had to be a good mix of humor, darkness, mystery, suspense, but especially, the unexpected, the twist that made the story fall under the “Best Laid Plans” umbrella. It didn’t make it easy, but it did make it easier, although I’ll admit that many excellent stories simply could not be included. It’s my fervent wish that each of those untold stories find a good home.

And now: I’m beyond excited to be working with the following authors on this inaugural journey.

Tom Barlow

Susan Daly

Lisa de Nikolits

P.A. De Voe

Peter DiChellis

Lesley A. Diehl

Mary Dutta

C.C. Guthrie

William Kamowski

V.S. Kemanis

Linda Leszcuk

Lisa Lieberman

Edward Lodi

Rosemary McCracken

LD Masterson

Edith Maxwell

Judy Penz Sheluk

KM Rockwood

Peggy Rothschild

Johanna Beate Stumpf

Vickie Weisfeld

Chris Wheatley

Stay tuned for updates: The best of The Best Laid Plans is yet to come.