I published John Floyd for the first time back in 2006. That collection of mystery/suspense short stories, Rainbow’s End, set the stage for a long-term friendship and a whole series of fantastic story collections that continues this fall with The Barrens. One of the many unique aspects of Rainbow’s End was the inclusion of six humorous mysteries which featured Sheriff Charles “Chunky” Jones and his retired elementary school teacher Angel Potts. The Chunky/Angel stories were already a fixture in Woman’s World magazine (which has ginormous readership), and John and I both thought half a dozen of them would be a wonderful addition to that first book. Over the years, as Woman’s World has continued to publish one Floyd story after another, I’ve paid close attention as the number of published Floyd pieces in the magazine neared the century mark.
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| Great reading made easy, too, with John in nearly every issue! |
Well, that mountain has been scaled. With the July 16th issue of Woman’s World hitting magazine racks all over the country, it marks the ONE HUNDREDTH time they’ve published a John Floyd story. Some interesting facts and figures from this remarkable feat: John’s first Woman’s World story was in the April 20, 1999 edition. In 2001 he began featuring the two aforementioned characters on an ongoing basis, which, as he says, keeps him from having to “introduce them” in each story–and gives him more words to devote to the story’s plot. Also, 62 of the 100 stories involve either a robbery or a burglary, with only 21 involving murders–John notes in his Sleuth Sayers blog that Woman’s World has always liked non-lethal crimes!
Here’s to another 100 stories in Woman’s World from John in the coming years! And he has stories coming up in the next issue of Strand Magazine and in the next print edition of The Saturday Evening Post. There’s more: others are ahead in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and an excellent western called “Gun Work” in the 2018 Best American Mystery Stories. (It’s worth noting that “Gun Work” is included in The Barrens!)
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| Can’t hardly wait, as they say!!! |
Meantime, Molly May is getting ready to hit the road in support of My Crowning Achievement (Beating Cancer). You can meet Molly in person (as well as John, Valerie Winn, Randy Pierce, and me) in the Dogwood Press tent at the Mississippi Book Festival on Saturday, August 18 at the Mississippi State Capitol. You’ll want to pick up autographed copies of all of our books, but you’ll REALLY want to grab a copy or two of Molly’s book–a portion of proceeds from all copies sold will benefit Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis!
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| A powerful message, and a great cause! |
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| An equally powerful story, beautifully brought to life! |
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| SAVE THE DATE! Saturday, August 18 |
We’re really looking forward to the book festival. I have the honor of being on the Mississippi Publisher’s Panel, which is at 2:45 p.m. inside the Capitol. Susan Cushman is the moderator for the Southern Writers on Writing panel, which will include John Floyd. We’ll have the Dogwood Press tent set up first thing in the morning, so please plan on stopping by to say hello! The festival is something very few other states have–nobody throws a literary lawn party like Mississippi!
And a special offer for you: The following Dogwood Press titles are available at the low, low price of just $4.99 via download to your Kindle:
SUSAN CUSHMAN – Cherry Bomb
JOHN M. FLOYD – Dreamland
VALERIE WINN – Forsaking Mimosa
RANDY PIERCE – The Peter Bay
JOE LEE – 40 Days
Hurry, this offer ends without warning! For the full list of Dogwood Press books available for download to your Kindle, as well as cool photos, book signings, and even how to go about submitting your work for possible publication, please visit www.dogwoodpress.com. Have a great day, and thanks for your time!