from Sandra's blog:
Next week, we will launch the Cozy Noir contest. What is cozy noir, you ask?
Well, guess what? We need a definition.
And that's where the pre-contest contest comes in.
Here's the idea. Noir stories, unusual protagonists. Now, conversely, I suppose cozy noir could also be cozy stories with unusual protagonists. Of course, being the sickos we are, we were thinking of the first definition. If you're a bit hazy on subgenre definitions, check out the subgenre guide.
So, here's the deal. I need your tag line and definition. How would you describe Cozy Noir?
Email me at sandra.ruttan@spinetinglermag.com and give me your suggestion. Say "Cozy Noir Definition" in the subject line please so I don't miss it. If anybody emails, on Thursday, I'll post the top contenders and let you, the reading public, vote for the winner.
This is when we find out that only two people read my blog, and my mother-in-law is one of them.
The winner will get their choice of a $10 amazon gift certificate or a copy of the Spinetingler Anthology with my signature in it. Or I'll buy you a drink at a conference if I'm going to see you in person. Or maybe the prize would be having me NOT buy you a drink and leave you in peace. I'm easy.
Which substantially increases the value. Not. But the anthology does have this really cool short story in it by Stuart MacBride.
And here's the inside scoop on the contest. Stories can be submitted between June 21 and September 5 - stories submitted before or after will not be considered. You will need to check the next issue and follow the submission guidelines.
And we're cutting it off at 100 entries. Which is why knowing now is a bit of an edge, because it gives you one extra week to get those creative juices flowing.
No editing on the contest, so take the time to polish your entry. There will be one or two sample stories in the next issue of Spinetingler so that you have an idea of exactly what we mean.
And prizes? Well, publication in our Winter Issue and an autographed book. No, you don't get an autographed book by each author, but you get at least one book, maybe more. We will have autographed books by Mark Billingham, Anne Frasier, Simon Kernick, JA Konrath, Stuart MacBride, Ian Rankin, Cornelia Read, JD Rhoades, David Skibbons and Duane Swierczynski. Some will be ARC's of their next works, some will be UK copies of books not yet released in the US.
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12 comments:
I still haven't figured out what a cozy is.
So funny, I'm sitting here reading while still groggy and I pick up "crazy noir" instead of cozy. hehe.
Cool contest! =D
rob, i think of old ladies, sweaters, knitting, bifocals, cats, tea....
ouch. i think i just described myself.
now a cozy noir -- that's interesting. i suppose like arsenic and old lace.
kelly crazy noir works for me!! :D
it's really interesting to think of those old noir movies juxtaposed against the post WWII perfect-family ideal that americans were being spoon-fed to the point of propaganda.
i've never studied noir; i imagine this is something that is always discussed.
I've always been fascinated with movies and books in context of their time. B-movie science fiction alongside the cold war and McCarthy, for example.
I wonder about these films as a rebellion against and an argument for that sort of perfect family life. Post-modern fairy tales as it were. The human suffering that people aren't supposed to have in the god fearing nuclear family can be acceptably shown in film.
"If you're like these people and do these things, you'll end up dead, too."
Cozy noir? I'm going to have to give this some thought. The contest does look interesting. :)
Cozy noir: brooding blanket-knitting Grandmas with .45s and a hankering to solve a crime.
"Pass me the orange pekoe and the hollow-points, honey."
Coming to a theatre near you. Rated R for dark themes, heady violence, and resplendent knitting.
stephen, i think maybe they were a rebellion. when you think about it, there were so many really dark movies made in the fifties.
jeff, yes you should submit something!
emeraldcite: LOL! resplendent knitting! i love it! and you gave me an tag idea to send sandra!
oh, it's
knit one, kill two
hehe
a joke for knitters...
Anne, thanks SO MUCH for plugging this! The arc arrived today, btw, and I've just gotten out of marathon edits so I was going to email you!
Hope some people actually enter the definition thing...
happiness is a warm gun.
bang bang
shoot shoot
sandra, you're welcome! i'm glad the arc arrived!
vampran and emeraldcite: now i have that song stuck in my head! :D could be much worse -- could be it's a small world.
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