The Twin Cities chapter of Sisters in Crime is accepting short stories for our first anthology, the working title of which is “Festival of Crime.”  It will be published by Nodin Press of Minneapolis sometime in 2014.  The theme of the collection will be fairs, festivals and public events set in Minnesota, past and present.  We are looking for engaging, well-written stories with interesting characters.

The anthology editors are Christine Husom, Mickie Turk, and Michael Allan Mallory.

Dan Bernier will serve as the story collector and approver of festival settings.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:  This initial message is a general announcement of the project.  To be considered for the anthology you must send Dan—and only Dan—an e-mail by May 1, 2013 to register your interest in submitting a story and listing your first and second choices for a festival setting.

Your setting must be approved by Dan.  He will follow up with manuscript guidelines and other information.  See Requirement #7.

REQUIREMENTS:

1.    All contributing authors must be both a current member of the Twin Cities chapter of Sisters in Crime and a current member of the Sisters in Crime national organization.  The anthology is sanctioned by the national organization and subject to its rules.

2.    Stories must incorporate a Minnesota fair, festival or public event in a significant way.

3.     Fair/Festival/event settings must have prior approval.  We seek variety and wish to avoid having all stories set at only one or two big events like the Minnesota State Fair.  Only one story per festival will be allowed.

4.    Stories must involve a crime, mischief or other mayhem.

5.    Word count not to exceed 3,000 words.

6.    Deadline for story submissions will be August 1, 2013.

7.    Special Requirement: To be considered for the anthology all interested authors  MUST send an e-mail to Dan Bernier by May 1, 2013 at dan.bernier@yahoo.com. (That’s dan-dot-bernier-at-yahoo-dot-com).

• In the subject line say:  TCSINC ANTHOLOGY
• List your first and second choices for a fair, festival or event setting.  Dan will respond with approval of your story setting or ask you to make another choice. Manuscript guidelines and other instructions will be e-mailed to those who e-mail Dan by the May 1^st registration deadline.

With a limited number of story slots and a goal to be as impartial as possible, the anthology editors will use a blind submission process to select the stories.  In order to preserve author anonymity for the story review process, the editors cannot know which festival was selected by which author, hence Dan’s role in the process.  ALL E-MAILS SHOULD GO TO DAN BERNIER.

Meeting was held on April 2, 2013

Business:
Mickie Turk reminded us to use our Facebook page as a business tool to promote and inform, not to chat. If we have specific questions, we should directly contact officers or committee heads via E-mail or FB message: Rhonda Gilliand, TC SinC President; Mickie Wowchuk Turk, VP, Monthly Programs; Doug Ernst, Treasurer; Barbara Merritt Deese, Secretary/ Workshops; Susan Koefod, Speakers’ Bureau/Library/Bookstore (Mickie Turk temporarily filling in); Michael Allan Mallory, Anthology; Michael Kelberer, Website and Social Media; Marilyn Rausch, Guest Speakers/Field Trips; Allen Eskins, Promotions/Brochures & Flyers.

Michael Allan Mallory gave us an update on the planned Twin Cities Sisters in Crime anthology. The theme is “Festival of Crime,” featuring Minnesota fairs, festivals and events. Short stories are due in July. To avoid repetition, please let Michael know which event you would like to base your story on. Look for more news about Festival of Crime on this page.

Author Spotlight:
Ethan Boatner read from his debut novel, M-O-T-H-E-R Spells Murder.

Program:
Laura Lively, a writer and expert in financial crime prevention and investigation, spoke about the kinds of characters we might create when writing mysteries involving identity theft and bank card fraud.

Next meeting—Please note change of venue:
Tuesday, May 7, 7 PM at the Edina Art Center.

We had a good turnout, despite the date change.

Business

1. Barbara DaCosta stepped down as TC SinC secretary and Barbara Deese agreed to take on the duties.
2. The Minnesota Book Awards will be held this year on April 13, 7 PM at the Hilton in Minneapolis. If enough people are interested, we will reserve a table of 10 for $450. If you’d like to be in on the table, respond to the FB Group post or email mailto:webservant@twincitysinc.org
3. Mille Lacs Community Library in Isle, MN won the random drawing of $1000, from the SinC National We Love Libraries Project. On April 17, at 7 PM, Mickie Turk, Pam Leonard, and Christine Husom will be at the library for a panel discussion, and to present the check. All are welcome. So far, besides the panel participants, Rhonda will also attend. See calandar at right for more info.
4. Monthly Speakers: Mickie Turk is lining up the June Meeting speaker. Subject: Sex Trafficking.
5. TC SinC short story anthology. Michael Allan Mallory is gathering participants for an Anthology. Various themes suggested, such as Twin Cities Events, from the St. Paul Carnival to Aquatennial to local music festivals to small town celebrations. Send ideas for a murder-centered theme to Christine Husom by FB message.

Monthly Reading
Barbara Deese read from Spirited Away, the second in the No Ordinary Women mystery series, to be published this fall.

Program
We conducted 3 Mock Panels, subjects covered: How much to share –moderator, Michael Allan Mallory. Story as influence – moderator, Barbara Deese. Characters – moderator, Mickie Turk. Participation was lively. Jessie Chandler followed up with suggestions on better ways to answer questions, giving everyone equal time, and how a moderator can keep the pace up. We will do more Mock Panels in the future.

Next meeting: Tuesday, April 2, 7 PM

Submitted by Barbara Merritt Deese, Secretary

While our monthly meetings are on the first Tuesday of each month, this month we are meeting on March 11th at Once Upon a Crime mystery bookstore, 7:00 pm.

This month will feature Colin Nelson in the Author’s Spotlight reading from Fallout.

Our program this night will be a Practice Speakers Panel to help us be prepared to speak at our Speaker Bureau events.

Everyone welcome!

Once again our Twin Cities Sisters in Crime chapter joined other exhibitors at the annual Twin Cities Book Festival sponsored by Rain Taxi.

We spent the day chatting to festival goers, selling and signing our books, and spreading the word about Twin Cities Sisters in Crime.

Thanks to everyone who came to help out at our table!

Our local chapter was a co-sponsor of KILLER COCKTAILS @ MLA, an annual event that’s become part of the Minnesota Library Association Annual Conference, held from October 3-5, 2012. This year’s venue was the atmospheric James J. Hill Reference Library, on Rice Park in downtown Saint Paul.

Our planning committee, headed up by vice-president Jessie Chandler,  got together with MLA’s fabulous local event committee, who went all out with decorations. Each table was set up with handcuffs, lead pipes, and other props. Twin Cities Sisters in Crime helped organize author tables as well as some fun activities and prizes for attending librarians.

We rented a photo booth and set up a table with mystery props. Linda Koutsky designed our great new brochure, and an autograph sheet that doubled as a drawing entry form. Cheryl Ullyot worked on swag bags for attendees, assisted by Mickie Turk, who also took some of these swell pictures. Stan Trollip worked on gathering prizes for drawings, and made some good-looking certificates for the winners of the Speakers Bureau appearances.

Signature cocktails were the order of the day. Offerings included the Killer Cosmo, Dirty Rotten Scoundrel Martini, Tequila Murder at Sunrise, and of course the Manhattan Murder Mystery.

Everyone had a great time, and we got to meet some wonderful librarians from all across the state!

We went on a field trip to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on Thursday, April 5, touring their facility on Saint Paul’s East Side, and learning about all the facets of their work.

Our April 5 group tour of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was great; everyone seemed to enjoy it and learned so much from our great tour guides, Denny Owens and Eldon Ukestad. There were a number of people who couldn’t make the April tour, so we’re going to book another, perhaps in June. More on that later…

Here are a few pictures from the tour… I’ve posted additional photos at the Twin Cities Sisters in Crime Facebook Group.