I'm a member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society, an informal association of writers, publishers, and fans that has kept mystery & crime short stories in the public eye since 1996. On April 4, the Society announced the finalists for its 2019 Derringer Awards. An April 15–30 vote of the membership determined the winners, announced May 1.
I still hope to interview any 2019 finalists I've missed. Email me your answers to the following questions.
Leslie Budewitz's January/February 2018 Suspense Magazine story "With My Eyes" won the Derringer for Best Long Story (ranging 4,001 to 8,000 words).
Describe your story in up to 20 words.
A young Seattle banker falls for a beautiful Greek woman and sees what he wants to see, until an eye-opening trip to Athens.
What were the most difficult and most enjoyable parts of writing the story?
This story was sparked by a trip to the Parthenon nearly 20 years ago. An elderly woman was pitching her guiding services to tourists by pointing at her eyes – dark pools in a wrinkled face – and saying we would see so much more with her eyes. I loved the line and it stuck with me. I was a new writer when I started it, and looking back, I’d say the most difficult part was knowing what to play out and what to keep short. Finding Ben’s voice was key, too. The most enjoyable part? Finally feeling it click, and taking the reader to Athens with me.
Do you have a juicy story about how your story came to be published?
I first wrote “With My Eyes” in 2001, a few months after our trip to Greece, and sent it to Ellery Queen, which turned it down. I set it aside until 2005, when I revised but apparently didn’t resubmit. In 2017, the Malice Domestic anthology theme of “Murder Most Geographical” was announced, and I had the perfect story, though it clearly needed more revision; I got started, but a family crisis interfered. Later that year, I was able to refocus, see what needed work, and finish the revisions. Alas, Ellery Queen still didn’t share my joy, but happily, Suspense Magazine did.
How does it feel to be a Derringer winner?
It was a delightful start to what I’m calling Leslie’s Lucky Week – later in the week, “A Death in Yelapa: A Food Lovers’ Village Story,” was published in Murder Most Edible: Malice Domestic 14, and my first historical fiction, “All God’s Sparrows” (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, May-June 2018), won the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Short Story, in a tie with another story from the same issue. When the Derringer nominations were announced, my husband dug out his tiny Derringer; when the Agatha teapot arrives, I’ll take a picture of the two together, along with the anthology, as an illustration of a truly memorable week.
I still hope to interview any 2019 finalists I've missed. Email me your answers to the following questions.
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| Leslie Budewitz |
Describe your story in up to 20 words.
A young Seattle banker falls for a beautiful Greek woman and sees what he wants to see, until an eye-opening trip to Athens.
What were the most difficult and most enjoyable parts of writing the story?
This story was sparked by a trip to the Parthenon nearly 20 years ago. An elderly woman was pitching her guiding services to tourists by pointing at her eyes – dark pools in a wrinkled face – and saying we would see so much more with her eyes. I loved the line and it stuck with me. I was a new writer when I started it, and looking back, I’d say the most difficult part was knowing what to play out and what to keep short. Finding Ben’s voice was key, too. The most enjoyable part? Finally feeling it click, and taking the reader to Athens with me.
Do you have a juicy story about how your story came to be published?
I first wrote “With My Eyes” in 2001, a few months after our trip to Greece, and sent it to Ellery Queen, which turned it down. I set it aside until 2005, when I revised but apparently didn’t resubmit. In 2017, the Malice Domestic anthology theme of “Murder Most Geographical” was announced, and I had the perfect story, though it clearly needed more revision; I got started, but a family crisis interfered. Later that year, I was able to refocus, see what needed work, and finish the revisions. Alas, Ellery Queen still didn’t share my joy, but happily, Suspense Magazine did.
How does it feel to be a Derringer winner?
It was a delightful start to what I’m calling Leslie’s Lucky Week – later in the week, “A Death in Yelapa: A Food Lovers’ Village Story,” was published in Murder Most Edible: Malice Domestic 14, and my first historical fiction, “All God’s Sparrows” (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, May-June 2018), won the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Short Story, in a tie with another story from the same issue. When the Derringer nominations were announced, my husband dug out his tiny Derringer; when the Agatha teapot arrives, I’ll take a picture of the two together, along with the anthology, as an illustration of a truly memorable week.
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