Dark Reflections: A Collection by Paul Kane

Our tenth anniversary year is set to be our biggest yet. We published Tales from the Ruins, our first post-apocalyptic anthology, in February, The Second Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released in July, we're currently taking novel submissions, and we will be opening a submissions window for The Black Beacon Book of Ghost Stories later on. As if all that isn't enough, we can now announce that we're closing the year with a very special release...

Black Beacon Books is proud to inform you that in December we will be publishing the latest collection from one of Britain's most talented and prolific dark fiction authors, Paul Kane. Dark Reflections is a showcase of Paul's short fiction paying homage to his literary influences, including M.R. James, Charles Dickens, William Hope Hodgson, H.P. Lovecraft, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Edgar Allan Poe.

We'll share more delicious details over the summer, including the reveal of the cover by Greg Chapman and a peek at the foreword by the legendary Kim Newman. In the meantime, if you've been living under a rock (one somehow bigger than Uluru) and haven't yet come across Paul's work, you can learn more about him at https://www.shadow-writer.co.uk/

 

An Interview with Edward Lodi

The Second Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 8th of July (but the Kindle version is available for pre-order at just $1.99 instead of $3.99, and you can add it to your Goodreads list today) and to celebrate this new volume of short mysteries bound to get armchair detectives the world over donning their deerstalkers, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. Are you ready to glimpse the inner workings of these criminally clever minds? Sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy the following interview—on second thoughts, don’t drink that!

Hi Edward,

It’s always tricky interviewing a mystery writer about a particular story because we don’t want to give anything away, but can you tell us (carefully) where the idea for your story came from?

I got the idea from a passing reference, in a book of nonfiction, on a tried-and-true but now forgotten (unless my story sparks new interest) way to commit murder.

There are several sub-genres of mystery fiction, but the stories in this anthology are traditional fair-play mysteries in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed. What makes this kind of mystery so timeless?

Who doesn’t enjoy a puzzle along with a challenge?

Give us one classic mystery writer you admire and one new talent (not from this anthology) readers ought to discover.

E. C. R. Lorac (Edith Caroline Rivett, 1894-1958). As for new talent, there are too many I could mention, so I’ll play it safe and give this one a pass.

Is this the first mystery your protagonist has solved?

No. Lena has appeared in a series of six Cranberry Country Mystery novels, beginning with Marmalade and Murder. ‘Lurking in the Shadows’ is her first short story.

If you were a detective, private investigator, investigative journalist, or amateur sleuth, what would be your trademark quirk?

A fondness for, and over indulgence in, fine wines.

Have you ever solved a real-life mystery?

No. I still can’t locate my keys.

How important is setting to you in your writing? Have you lived or visited where your story is set?

Setting is very important. I try to include as much local color in my mystery and horror fiction as is possible. I grew up on the cranberry bogs of Cape Cod and Southeastern Massachusetts. From the age of thirteen until thirty I worked on weekends, and during school vacations, including summers, from high school through grad school, and afterwards when I was teaching. I’ve got cranberry juice in my veins. Or is it ditch water?

What do you aim to give your readers?

Entertainment, and information if I can work it in.

What are you working on now?

A short mystery story set in 17-century New England.

Where can we find you online? 

Hiding.

Thanks for playing along. Enjoy the tea!

This tea tastes funny. 

Poppycock...there's nothing wrong with it. Drink up!

An Interview with F. K. Restrepo

The Second Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 8th of July (but the Kindle version is available for pre-order at just $1.99 instead of $3.99, and you can add it to your Goodreads list today) and to celebrate this new volume of short mysteries bound to get armchair detectives the world over donning their deerstalkers, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. Are you ready to glimpse the inner workings of these criminally clever minds? Sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy the following interview—on second thoughts, don’t drink that!

Hi F. K.,

It’s always tricky interviewing a mystery writer about a particular story because we don’t want to give anything away, but can you tell us (carefully) where the idea for your story came from? 

I tend to go one of two ways when writing an impossible crime: One way is to start from the desired effect - the illusion that the culprit is trying to create. Starting this way is great fun, since at this stage I'm only concerned with how baffling a scenario I can cook up. From there I work backwards, trying to figure out how the magic trick was done. It can be tricky to walk the line between a compelling setup and a solution that feels both satisfying and fresh. The second approach is the inverse. I start with the solution, focusing on everyday objects or concepts that can be applied in unorthodox ways to create an effect greater than the sum of its parts. Ideas like a murder weapon made of ice, or the poison introduced into the paranoid man's drink via a tampered faucet. Personally, I find these ideas tend to be hard to come by, especially in such a well-trodden sub-genre. But when you have a good one on your hands, you can feel it immediately. From there, it's just a matter of extrapolating out from that core concept in a way that feels organic and interesting. So to answer the actual question, “Lost at Sea” was a result of the second approach. That one small idea that unravels the culprit's plot was what informed the details of the setting and the supporting cast.

There are several sub-genres of mystery fiction, but the stories in this anthology are traditional fair-play mysteries in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed. What makes this kind of mystery so timeless?

A good fair-play mystery is a 2-for-1 deal - both an engaging story and a battle of wits between the reader and the author. It's a game you can't really lose, because even if you don't manage to outwit the sleuth, you still have the promise of a mind-blowing reveal to look forward to. I believe this is one reason that the sub-genre has continued to capture readers, but I think you'll find there are countless different, equally valid answers to this question!

Give us one classic mystery writer you admire and one new talent (not from this anthology) readers ought to discover.

John Dickson Carr. He is practically synonymous with the locked-room mystery, a maestro of the form unmatched in both output and quality. The Judas Window, as one example, is my ideal locked-room mystery, ticking every box: an entertaining cast led by a force-of-nature protagonist, an engaging framing narrative, and a solution that unravels a suffocating illusion in a single stroke. While not a new talent per se, Hiroshi Mori's debut novel, The Perfect Insider, is a refreshing take on the locked-room mystery that I often think back on. It may be a niche-within-a-niche, leaning heavily on technical jargon to evoke its academic setting, but the core mystery is a dark twist on the classic problem with a jaw-dropping solution. It was just recently translated to English, and hopefully it’s the first of many.

If you were a detective, private investigator, investigative journalist, or amateur sleuth, what would be your trademark quirk? 

It may be cliché, but I can't say no to a cup of tea. I do all my best thinking over a freshly brewed pot, so I imagine that would translate over into any hypothetical sleuthing!

How important is setting to you in your writing? Have you lived or visited where your story is set? 

Fairly important! How I end up using the setting really depends on which of the two approaches (see above) I take. If I'm starting from the result and "solving backwards", the setting is an invaluable tool for making the impossible effect pop. The locked-room mystery in a stately country manor is a timeless classic, but the Ice Floe Mansion built at an uncanny angle on a seaside cliff in Soji Shimada's Murder in the Crooked House drips with character and novel avenues for reasoning about the mysteries presented. With the second approach, the setting is often just the logical consequence of the idea I'm fleshing out. It's no less important than in the first approach, but the details of the setting tend to serve a more practical purpose rather than acting as embellishment. I’ve never traveled by boat, luxury yacht or otherwise!

What do you aim to give your readers?

The stories I love most have felt like sitting across from the narrative’s sleuth over a chessboard, so I'm happy if my stories can provide that feeling for others. But no matter how well-constructed a mystery is, if the narrative doesn't keep the reader engaged, the game is over before it begins. This is why my casts tend to include a character that strings the reader along, playfully taunting them. A character playing this role is the last bit of seasoning that elevates a fair-play mystery from an elegant puzzle to an engrossing experience.

Where can we find you online? 

I'm not on social media, but you can find my contact info at fkrestrepo.com - I'm always happy to chat about locked-room mysteries!

Thanks for playing along. Enjoy the tea!

An Interview with E. E. King

The Second Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 8th of July (but the Kindle version is available for pre-order at just $1.99 instead of $3.99, and you can add it to your Goodreads list today) and to celebrate this new volume of short mysteries bound to get armchair detectives the world over donning their deerstalkers, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. Are you ready to glimpse the inner workings of these criminally clever minds? Sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy the following interview—on second thoughts, don’t drink that!

Hi Elizabeth (E.E.)

It’s always tricky interviewing a mystery writer about a particular story because we don’t want to give anything away, but can you tell us (carefully) where the idea for your story came from?

I got interested in mushroom hunting when I lived in a small town in the redwoods in Northern California. Later I moved to the beautiful, but Mormon, mountains of Utah. The cooking and culture there are rather…interesting. (All the recipes in this story are real, though I don’t recommend making any of them.) Though I have lived there for years, it’s the only story I set there.

There are several sub-genres of mystery fiction, but the stories in this anthology are traditional fair-play mysteries in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed. What makes this kind of mystery so timeless?

It’s so much fun to try to solve the mystery yourself ! And when you do discover the solution, hopefully at the end of the story, you say, “I GET IT!” and not, “Well, that wasn’t clear” or “That doesn’t make sense” or “Hey, the murderer wasn't introduced till the last page”.

Give us one classic mystery writer you admire, and one new talent (not from this anthology) readers ought to discover.

I love Raymond Chandler, not for his plots so much as his use of language and street rough poetry.

Is this the first mystery your protagonist has solved?

Actually, NO! My main Character, Eddie Evers, is the lead in two novels, with a third planned. He came into being in a short entitled, Electric Detective, where he is struck by lightning and learns to “speak” electric. The lightning supercharges his neurons, giving him the ability to see into other dimensions.

If you were a detective, private investigator, investigative journalist, or amateur sleuth, what would be your trademark quirk?

I would have, I do have, a mystery solving Black cat, Max, who works with me. He’s also in the Electric Detective novels. He too was struck by lightning and is a super cat! I’d also be a nail-biting vegetarian.

Have you ever solved a real-life mystery?

Yes, but I don’t want to give away who done it!

How important is setting to you in your writing? Have you lived or visited where your story is set?

Setting is very important. Setting is a main character. It sets the mood and the feel of the story. I lived in Mexico for a few years and set many stories there. I’m from LA, the Hollywood Hills, where my detective, Eddie, is from, and I know the mean streets, golden hills and dirty alleys personally. In Christmas Potatoes, Alta and the Silver Fork Lodge are real places. So far this is my only story set in Utah. I have not lived everywhere I’ve written about, but usually I have. And if not, I do a lot of research.

What do you aim to give your readers?

It depends on the tale. Here, I really just want them to have a good time. Sometimes I want to change or influence their minds and hearts. I want to capture them with words. And despite best intentions there’s usually a not too hidden moral message. I can’t help myself.

What are you working on now?

I have a few novels, a Mexican Story collection, and a ginormous short story collection entitled, “Jack the Ripper’s Home for Wayward Girls.” But for the last few months I’ve mostly been planting coral and diving.

Where can we find you online?

www.elizabetheveking.com

Thanks for playing along. Enjoy the tea!

An Interview with Karen Keeley

The Second Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 8th of July (but the Kindle version is available for pre-order at just $1.99 instead of $3.99, and you can add it to your Goodreads list today) and to celebrate this new volume of short mysteries bound to get armchair detectives the world over donning their deerstalkers, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. Are you ready to glimpse the inner workings of these criminally clever minds? Sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy the following interview—on second thoughts, don’t drink that!

Hi Karen,

It’s always tricky interviewing a mystery writer about a particular story because we don’t want to give anything away, but can you tell us (carefully) where the idea for your story came from?

Daydreaming about yummy desserts. Good ol’ fashion comfort food to warm the innards on a cold winter’s day. What followed was my imagination taking me to snakes. I know, it makes no sense, but
there you go. Why leave home when we can imagine ourselves anywhere, doing anything? I did a bunch of research, and voila! I had the idea. The story flowed from there.

There are several sub-genres of mystery fiction, but the stories in this anthology are traditional fair-play mysteries in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed. What makes this kind of mystery so timeless?

I think readers love to be engaged. I know I do. Growing up and reading the great mysteries by the likes of Agatha Christie and my favourite, Rex Stout, I was always trying to see if I could figure it out before the truth was revealed. Watching mystery shows on TV with my kids over the years, often I got it figured out before they did. Sometimes they’d make me write down who-dun-it well before the ending. When I was right, it drove them crazy ~wink, wink~

Give us one classic mystery writer you admire and one new talent (not from this anthology) readers ought to discover.

Rex Stout is by far my favourite. I call them my Archie books, and I’ve read them over and over. I’m sure I have most that were published back in the day. I started collecting them thirty years ago. I have a good writer friend, Marcelle Dubé. I don’t know that she’s exactly new (she’s been writing for at least twenty years, with a bunch of books and stories to her credit), but even so, she might be new to others, and I love her writing! She’s definitely one of my faves.

Is this the first mystery your protagonist has solved?

This is the first story my protagonist has appeared in. He came to me one day, talking in my ear, telling me about his latest adventure which included bread pudding. He seems accomplished so I’m pretty sure he’s solved other cases. He simply hasn’t told me about them yet ~wink, wink~

If you were a detective, private investigator, investigative journalist, or amateur sleuth, what would be your trademark quirk?

I’m not a hat person, but if I were, I’d wear a hat similar to what Arlo Guthrie wore on the Alice’s Restaurant album. I wrote a story (published in Murder! Mystery! Mayhem!) with my ‘60s private-eye gal wearing that hat—I like to think she was me, in another universe.

Have you ever solved a real-life mystery?

I fixed a broken lamp once, which was a total mystery to me. Had to make a trip to the hardware store for the electrical parts and ask how to do the job. Three hours later (and three good stiff rye ‘n cokes later) I got ‘er done, and didn’t electrocute myself. Not the mystery you’re asking about, but hey! It was a mystery to me at the time. It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a little fortitude and willpower in the guise of a bunch of Q-tips (used as scaffolding to keep the wiring intact) and duct tape.

How important is setting to you in your writing? Have you lived or visited where your story is set?

Setting is most certainly important. It can set the mood, the tone, and the voice of the story. No, I didn’t actually visit the setting where my story takes place in the Second BBB of Mystery, but I got close with a holiday in London. Research provided more insights.

What do you aim to give your readers?

Entertainment. A jolly good story, as the English would say. One where the reader says at the conclusion of the story, hey! That was pretty darn cool!

What are you working on now?

I have a PI named Syd Malloy who lives and works in post-WWII-Vancouver solving cases with his long-time pal, Detective Al Simms. (I have no idea why that era other than Syd came to me, talking in my head, and he had stories to tell). I’m hoping to make a second collection of short stories featuring Syd. My first collection, Syd Malloy, Private Investigator, There Goes the Neighbourhood came out in 2022. The book features some previously published Syd stories, and some new ones.

Where can we find you online?

www.karenmkeeley.blogspot.com which is a work in progress.

Thanks for playing along. Enjoy the tea!

An Interview with Robert Runté (Dave Duncan's editor)

The Second Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 8th of July (but the Kindle version is available for pre-order at just $1.99 instead of $3.99, and you can add it to your Goodreads list today) and to celebrate this new volume of short mysteries bound to get armchair detectives the world over donning their deerstalkers, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. Are you ready to glimpse the inner workings of these criminally clever minds? Sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy the following interview—on second thoughts, don’t drink that!

Hi Dr. Runté,

Dave Duncan passed in 2018 and you were the one who submitted his story. What was your connection to Dave?

I was Dave Duncan’s editor. I had acquired nine of his books when I was Senior Editor at Five Rivers Publishing, and copyedited one for him for Open Road. We were finishing up two new books, The Traitor’s Son and Corridor to Nightmare, when he passed suddenly. I was surprised to discover that he had left me all his unfinished manuscripts to edit and see published. I consider that a great honour. We had originally connected when he was starting out as a writer and I was starting out as reviewer. Eventually, he recruited me as one of his handful of beta readers. Over the course of three decades, we corresponded extensively about his writing, so I got to know that side of him pretty well. I thought of Dave as a close friend, though in truth we’d only met in person a few times.

Did Dave Duncan write a lot of mysteries?

No, but also yes. Dave was universally known as a fantasy and science fiction writer, with over sixty-five traditionally published novels. He was hugely popular with both fantasy and science fiction fans for his universe building and uniquely inventive magic systems. “Alexander’s Nose” is one of only three or four short stories he ever wrote and his only ‘pure’ mystery story. On the other hand, the driver of many of his SF&F plots were definitely mysteries of one sort or another. Pillar of Darkness, for example has a recognizable Agatha Christie vibe in that Duncan gathers all the characters in a villa for the first half of the book and the reader has to suss out who is up to what. His Alchemist’s Apprentice series are straight-up murder mysteries, set in an alternate Renaissance Florence. His Omar books are about a fast-talking conman, just in a sword and sorcery world. His SF thriller, Hero, is essentially a spy novel (though for an attentive reader, there is also a deeply satirical subtext of the whole macho hero motif). And so on. With a few exceptions, all his books challenge the protagonist(s)—and therefore the reader—to figure something out, so are in that sense “traditional fair-play mysteries”.

How important is setting in Duncan’s writing?

Setting was an essential part of what made Duncan’s books so popular. Anything set in historical times was researched down to the tiniest detail. I was never able to catch him on an anachronism and his knowledge of ninth century Ireland, medieval England, or Renaissance Florence, or whenever, informed all his fantasy. Setting was even more fundamental to his SF, given his world-building was often the defining element in initiating the action: some new technology or new world our hero was thrust into.

What are you working on now for Duncan?

The Traitor’s Son and Corridor to Nightmare are coming out from Shadowpaw Press sometime in 2023-2024. Duncan was working on the sequel to Corridor when he passed, but had gotten stuck a third of the way in. He had asked for my input and agreed with my analysis about why it wasn’t jelling. The last thing he ever said to me in person was, “I’m like what you said, but it will mean changing the ending.” I’ll always regret I didn’t ask him, “What’s the new ending, then?” I’ll figure it out. I think I can channel Duncan well enough, but I am in contact with his other beta readers, and I won’t release the sequel unless they agree the final product is seamlessly a Dave Duncan book. There are other partial manuscripts as well, so I’m looking for other published authors familiar with Duncan’s extensive canon that might be open to collaborating with his ghost to finish them up.

Where can we find Duncan online?

Duncan’s website expired a couple of years after his passing, so his Wikipedia page is probably the best resource to track down his books: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Duncan_(writer) Or people can contact me at EssentialEdits.ca.

Thanks for playing along. Enjoy the tea!

The Second Black Beacon Book of Mystery: Facebook Launch

Join Black Beacon Books and our contributors for the Facebook launch of "The Second Black Beacon Book of Mystery". The anthology will be released on the 8th of July, and in the lead-up, there will be interviews, previews, and more on the event page. Simply follow this link to join the event: The Second Black Beacon Book of Mystery: Online Launch | Facebook

Kindle pre-orders of the anthology are open now. Take advantage of the deal to grab a copy for just $1.99 instead of $3.99! Amazon

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