“Just Another Date Night on the Highway Out of Town”

Two exes and their new girlfriends on double-date hell night at the rankest pizza dive in creation end up biting off more than they can chew. A bittersweet first-contact story best consumed nowhere near mealtime.

In print (Pulp Literature #32) and now FREE AUDIO at StarShipSofa!!! Narrated by bestselling author Alethea Kontis.

includes “Just Another Date Night on the Highway Out of Town” by Zandra Renwick

“Drowntown” in translation

“Drowntown” by Zandra Renwick | Danish translation

A couple books (lovely, lovely boooooooks) arrived recently via post. One is this Danish anthology of translated stories, 48 timer i Massachusetts-havet: 14 science fiction klimafiktioner, in which my underwater-city climate fiction “Drowntown” appears alongside stories by Carrie Vaughn, Cat Valente, Sam J. Miller, Ken Liu, Pat Murphy, Lavie Tadhar… I mean wow! What a crew.

Fun Fact: Danish was once my second language! After years of unuse, it mostly it just pops awkwardly into my brainspace during attempts at French or Spanish.

The author, gettin’ drowny with cli-fi:

“Nightshift in Strange Rain”

mystery weekly magazine cover including short story "nightshift in strange rain" by zandra renwick
includes “Nightshift in Strange Rain” by Zandra Renwick

My story “Nightshift in Strange Rain” is out in the February 2021 issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine. From the publisher: “Green blood and trench coats and death in the rain—an old-fashioned murder detective and his coroner ex-flame tackle a newfangled problem in this retrofuture gumshoe tale set in a small town not at all close to you. “

On Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions, or free at one of the 30,000+ libraries and schools worldwide via Flipster.

♥ Huge love to all librarians everywhere.♥

“A Peripheral Vision Sort of Friend” at Campfire Queer Storytime

campfire queer storytime

The intrepid Miss Ruby Lamb will be adding her rendition of my short story “A Peripheral Vision Sort of Friend” to tonight’s virtual edition of Campfire Queer Storytime, which in a less bepandemicked era was hosted at the Vortex Theater in Austin, Texas. Instead the event will be broadcast & archived on YouTube. Sunday, October 11, 2020 from 7-8pm CDT.

Shine on, beautiful distant diamonds.

Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine blog

“The Moment Expectations Change” by Zandra Renwick for EQMM

Short fiction writers, of all genres, for any number of reasons, surely must universally dread the question: What are your stories about? The smart thing to do (a path one sadly rarely chooses, amiright?) would be to not overthink the business and toss off a quick, “I tend to write crime fiction” (or “historical” or “westerns”—or even “historical crime westerns with hot time-traveling feminist werewolves”*). But such limited answers feel so ungenuine, so inadequate, so lacking the scope of what you write, right?”

*Sadly, there is no story like this in the works, but you can read my personal essay “The Moment Expectations Change” in its entirety over at the Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine blog, where I reminisce (drinks with writer pals in a Portlandian bordello bar! barstool fiddlefaddle and coffee shop philosophizing!) and talk about the joy of seeing short fiction translate to the screen. This one’s in celebration of my sweet petty criminal story “Killer Biznez.”