Guest Blogger: Patricia Abbott - Discount Noir

Guest Blogger: Patricia Abbott - Discount Noir 

I started writing a blog back in 2006 and more often than not it felt like I was pleasuring myself, and if that was the case, why not just keep a diary and keep it to myself? I wanted to find a way to make it a more communal endeavor. Gradually I came upon the idea of asking people to contribute reviews of forgotten books every Friday. Although I never envisioned it lasting more than a few weeks. It has gone on for nearly three years. I cannot articulate how much I admire the men and women who have managed to come up with a book and a review almost every week. And I am also grateful for the occasional reviewer.

But since most of the commenters on my blog were writers, I thought maybe writing flash fiction might be fun. My favorite flash fiction site, Tribe’s Flashing in the Gutter, had just folded up its tent, So I began what would eventually be around six or seven flash fiction challenges. I dislike contests so I didn’t want to name winners, just share our work. I didn’t see the need to frame it as a competitive venture.

At some point, Steve Weddle suggested that I do one based on the website People of Walmart. And so I used that theme next, garnering the most entries I’d ever had in a challenge—thirty some. And many of them were excellent. Stacia Decker, an agent from the Donald Maass agency, thought it might have commercial value and pursued a publisher. We changed the name to DISCOUNT NOIR and rounded up a few more well-known writers to attract interest. Charles Ardai graciously agreed to write a short introduction.

Putting this together was both more and less work than I anticipated. The contributors were uniformly helpful. Stacia did an amazing job in editing the stories. Steve and I shared duties along the way. And eventually Untreed Reads agreed to publish it as an ebook and has done an incredible job in finding outlets for it across the globe. However, an ebook with no famous name on its cover has a hard time getting found online. Had I to do it over again, I would ask someone like Lee Childs or Laura Lippman to be the editor, if in name only. Their name on it would probably double or triple its sales.

But the quality of the stories is very good. And I thank people like Paul who are trying to help us get our foot in the door.

Bio: Patricia Abbott is one of the best short story writers around. She has published more than fifty short stories in various literary and crime fiction publications including Beat To A Pulp, Murdaland, A Twist Of Noir, Plots with Guns, Pulp Pusher, The Thrilling Detective, Hardluck Stories and Thuglit. Her story "My Hero" won a 2008 Derringer Award and her story "A Saving Grace" (The Thrilling Detective) was included in PRISONER OF MEMORY, an anthology of 2007's crime fiction. She lives and works in Detroit, Michigan.Her essential blog,Pattinase, is here.