Short & Sweet

Short Stories Considered.

- Ben Boulden

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine has been publishing great short crime and mystery fiction for as long as I can remember, but I didn’t realize just how long until its 75th Anniversary Issue arrived at my local newsstand. Janet Hutchings, EQMM’s longtime editor, explains the timing of the issue in her, “From the Editor’s Desk,” column: “The first issue of EQMM carried the seasonal date ‘Fall 1941,’” and, to paraphrase, while it is difficult to determine the exact release date of that first issue, “[o]ur best guess is that this issue—our only double fall issue [September/October 2016]—comes closest to marking the true anniversary.” And the celebratory issue is indeed a wonderful tribute, but it is less a tribute to the magazine and more a tribute to its readers since it provides a stellar lineup of stories that touch all of the subgenres the magazine has published over the years.

Bill Pronzini—who has been contributing to