Authors in This Issue
“A Courtyard of Villains” by H.K. Slade
North Carolina–based author H.K. Slade specializes in mysteries and crime but takes occasional forays into horror and science fiction. Friday Hampton, who stars in this story, also appears on Mysteries to Die For (S9, E2), in Black Cat Weekly, and in The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2026.
“The Case of the Vanishing Faces” by Miller Ed Frank
Miller Ed Frank is a Nigerian writer based in Delta State. His short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in places like Kinsman Quarterly, Mysterion, and Brittle Paper. Among other honors, he was shortlisted for the 2026 Elizabeth Alexander Award for Creative Writing.
“Death by Misadventure” by Andrew Kass
Andrew Kass’s short fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train, Central Park, the New York Times, and elsewhere, earning honorable mentions from Writer’s Digest, the 2024 Black Orchid Novella Award contest, and the 2025 CRAFT First Chapters Contest. He is the author of the novel A Woman of Agency (Holand Press, 2026), with a second historical thriller coming soon.
“Chronostasis” by Red Orange
Red Orange is a young mystery writer from China—eighteen at the time of submitting this story. His work is regularly published in Chinese mystery magazines such as Mystery World, Legendary Stories, and Little Sherlock Holmes.
“A Terrible Kind of Love” by Billie Livingston
Billie Livingston is the author of four novels and a collection of short stories. She was a finalist for Best Short Story in the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in both 2025 and 2026, and her fiction was selected for The Best Mystery Stories of the Year those same years.
“It Ain’t Right” by Andy Edge
Andy Edge is a fiction writer who serves on the board of the Write A Great Story Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to mentoring writers. The author’s work has appeared in the anthology Crumpled (January 2025).
“The Float House” by Jillian Grant Shoichet
Jillian Grant Shoichet is a writer, editor, and policy analyst on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. Her early short mystery fiction appeared in AHMM and Canada’s Mystery Magazine and won the genre category of the 2024 Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition. She pens The Backyard Poisoner, her “facetious but informative blog series on murder method.”
“My War 2” by Stephen M. Pierce
Stephen M. Pierce is a marketing coordinator for a nonprofit in Asheville, NC. His work has appeared in EQMM, the Saturday Evening Post, Cowboy Jamboree, and The Most Dangerous Games anthology from Level Best Books. Find his short stories and book reviews at stephenmpierce.wordpress.com.
“The Sons of Geryon” by Alesio Piccirillo DeVito
Alesio Piccirillo DeVito is an Argentinian writer and former archeology student. This fun historical mystery in which a well-known figure solves a puzzle aboard a ship is the author’s first professionally published short story.
“Leo” by Alan Toth
Alan Toth is a writer and filmmaker based in San Francisco, CA. His nonfiction has been published by magazines, newspapers, and universities, and his fiction has appeared in literary journals.
“Fear” by Sheila Kohler
Two-time O. Henry Award winner Sheila Kohler is the author of twelve novels, three collections of short stories, and a memoir. Her work has appeared in the Best American Mystery Stories and Best American Short Stories anthologies. Her next novel is Talent to Burn (Open Road, 2027).
“Chance Meeting” by Bill Pronzini
Author and anthologist Bill Pronzini’s most recent book is Tales of the Impossible (Stark House, 2025), a collection of locked-room and impossible crime stories. He is well known as the creator of the San Francisco based Nameless Detective, who featured in over forty books from the 1970s-2000s.
“Science, Supersition, and Suspicion: A Unique Approach to Solving a Murder” by Mary H. McCay
Lifelong Ellery Queen fan and former NASA payload specialist Mary H. McCay writes mysteries featuring rocket scientists, including her professional fiction debut in these pages. Currently alternating between Florida and Texas, her primary interests are reading, tennis, writing, and cooking.
“Death is Only the Beginning” by Sue Parman
Sue Parman is an anthropologist who enjoys writing stories that blend science and speculative elements. Her short stories have been published in The Antioch Review, Lumina, and a number of anthologies. She is also an award-winning artist and playwright.
“Baby Can’t Fly” by Sam W. Pisciotta
Writer and visual artist Sam W. Pisciotta’s short fiction appears in our sister magazines Asimov’s, Analog, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and elsewhere. He is a graduate of the Odyssey writing program (2023) and a member of Clarion’s 2026 Novel Writing Workshop. “Powered on morning coffee and late-night tea,” Sam splits his time between Colorado and New York.
“The Servant’s Stars” by Mehnaz Sahibzada
Mehnaz Sahibzada is a 2022 Jack Hazard Fellow in fiction writing and a published poet (see My Gothic Romance, 2019). Her stories have appeared in On the Run, Flash Fiction Magazine, and The Chamber Magazine. This is her third publication in EQMM after debuting in the Department of First Stories in 2010 (under the byline Mehnaz Turner).
“Be Still, Your Heart” by Josh Pachter
Virginia author Josh Pachter—whose contributions to the mystery-fiction field include short stories, translation, novels, editorship, and more—frequents our pages under both Fiction and Passport to Crime. His debut fiction appeared in EQMM in 1968.
“Tiger, Tiger” by Savio Pham
Savio Pham’s stories have appeared in The North American Review and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, along with EQMM. He is currently at work on a nove