Upcoming Meetings
October 8th Online Meeting
The Rocky Mountain MWA monthly meeting will be held via Zoom on October 8th starting at 6:30 p.m. Mountain time, and will feature award-winning author Judge Debra H. Goldstein. Members will receive the link and password by email, groups.io, and our newsletter. Non-members may send an email to chapterpres@rmmwa.org to request access. Hope to see you September 10th!
Program:
FOLLOWING THE PATH TO PASSION
Agatha, Anthony, Derringer, and Silver Falchion Finalist Judge Debra H. Goldstein discusses the path to her passion, with an emphasis on the road she almost didn’t take.
Speaker Bio:
Debra Goldstein
Judge Debra H. Goldstein writes Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery series (Three Treats Too Many, Two Bites Too Many, One Taste Too Many). She also authored Should Have Played Poker and IPPY Award winning Maze in Blue. Her short stories, which have been named Agatha, Anthony, Derringer finalists, have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Weekly. Debra serves on the national boards of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and is president of SEMWA and past president of SinC’s Guppy Chapter. Find out more about Debra at DebraHGoldstein.com
Meeting Agenda:
6:30-7:00 Announcements, Introductions, and News
7:00-7:15 Mystery Minute by ZJ Czupor
7:15-8:15 or so: Program featuring our guest speaker
After Party: Stay after the program to mingle and visit.
Announcements and Special Events
RMMWA 2020 6-Word Mystery Contest is live!
Writers who can boil down a mystery into a half-dozen words are encouraged to enter the fourth annual Six-Word Mystery Contest sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (RMMWA).
Six-word “whodunits” can be entered in one or all five of the following categories: Thriller, Cozy, Romance and Lust, Police Procedural, and Hard Boiled/ Noir. See more information about the categories here.
The Six-Word Mystery Contest is open to all adults 18 and over. There are no residency requirements. Entries must be received by midnight, Oct. 31, 2020
The contest entry fee is $6 for one entry (just $1 per word); or $10 to enter six-word mysteries in all five categories. The grand prize winner will receive $100 in cold, hard cash. Winners in all other categories will receive $25 gift certificates, and all winners and finalists will be featured in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, on our RMMWA website, and in our popular newsletter, Deadlines.
Finalists will be invited to the chapter’s annual Mystery & Mistletoe Holiday Party in December, to be held on Zoom this year.
A Statement from Mystery Writers of America
“Mystery Writers of America does not support or tolerate discrimination of any kind. We stand proudly with our Black members, and implore our entire membership to start listening, speaking out, and amplifying the voices that have been silenced for far too long. Listening leads to understanding, and action leads to change. We cannot move forward as a society or culture without recognizing the disparities that permeate both.”
The complete text of this statement, and suggestions on how to get involved, can be found on the MWA national site.
RMMWA Member
News and Notes
What Rocky Mountain MWA Means to Me
by Christine Carbo
Living in a rural state like Montana, it’s difficult to feel connected to the book business, let alone other writers of crime fiction. When I joined RMMWA, I was dubious at first. I assumed most of the good networking and action took place in Denver, where the vast majority of RMMWA events seemed to be held. However, after six years of membership, RMMWA proved me wrong. I have found the organization to be extremely supportive across the region. read more…
September 2020 Mystery Minute
by ZJ Czupor
A Curious Incident
In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, published in 1893, is a short story “The Adventure of Silver Blaze” in which an unusual line of dialogue becomes the title of a best-selling mystery published one-hundred and ten years later. read more…