The Second Mystery Megapack. Mack Reynolds

      COPYRIGHT INFO

      The Second Mystery Megapack is copyright © 2014 by Wildside Press LLC. All rights reserved.

      * * * *

      “Funny Stuff,” by Ron Goulart, originally appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, November 1996. Copyright © 1996 by Ron Goulart. Reprinted by permission of the author.

      “Pit on the Road to Hell, by John Gregory Betancourt, originally appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, July/August 2006.

      “What Is Courage?” by Mack Reynolds originally appeared in Esquire, December 1946. Copyright © 1946 by Esquire, copyright renewed 1974. This version of the story has been edited for republication by John Betancourt. Edited version copyright © 2014 by Wildside Press LLC.

      “Just the Facts” is original to this collection. Copyright © 2014 by Meg Opperman. Published by permission of the author.

      “Ten Grains of Sand,” by Christopher B. Booth, originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine.

      “More Allisons Than I Know What To Do With,” by Michael Hemmingson, originally appeared in The Chronotope and Other Speculative Fictions, by Michael Hemmingson. Copyright © 2013 by Michael Hemmingson. Reprinted by permission of the author.

      “Grim Reaper’s Handicap,” by Fergus Truslow, originally appeared in 10-Story Detective, April 1945. No record of copyright renewal.

      “Cash,” by Arlette Lees, originally appeared in Hardboiled #35, Spring 2006. Copyright © 2006 by Arlette Lees. Reprinted by permission of the author.

      “Seas of Misunderstanding,” by Ray Cummings, originally appeared in

      “Hocus Pocus Homicide,” by Gene D. Robinson, originally appeared in 10-Story Detective, April 1945.

      “The Right Betrayal,” by John L. French, was originally published as “Turquoise” (Double Danger Tales 25, February 1999) and “Turquoise Betrayal” (Double Danger Tales 27, April 1999, Fading Shadows Publications). Copyright © 1999 by John L. French. Reprinted by permission of the author.

      “The Sending of Dana Da,” by Rudyard Kipling, is taken from The Lock and Key Library: Classic Mystery And Detective Stories, Modern English.

      “Phantom Getaway,” by Leon Mearson, originally appeared in Secret Agent X, March 1939.

      “The Murder of Silas Cord,” by Harold F. Sorensen, originally appeared in 10-Story Detective, January 1942.

      “The Dead Woman,” by Dr. David H. Keller, originally appeared in Fantasy Magazine, April 1934.

      “Hook, Line, and Sucker!” by Robert Turner, originally appeared in Famous Detective, November 1952.

      “The Judgment of the Gods” first appeared as “The Judgement of the Gods,” in The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits, Third New Collection, edited by Mike Ashley (London: Robinson, 2005), and simultaneously as “The Judgment of the Gods” in The Mammoth Book of New Historical Whodunits, edited by Mike Ashley (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005); and was reprinted, with minor changes, in The Judgment of the Gods and Other Verdicts of History, by Robert Reginald (Borgo Press, 2010). Copyright © 2005, 2010, 2013 by Robert Reginald. Reprinted by permission of the author.

      “Will for a Kill,” by Emil Petaja, originally appeared in 10 Story Detective, November 1946.

      “Bodyguard,” by James C. Glass, originally appeared in A Matter of Crime. Copyright © 1988 by James C. Glass. Reprinted by permission of the author.

      “The Masked Alibi,” by John Gregory, originally appeared in 10 Story Detective, January 1931. No record of copyright renewal.

      “Dr. Watson’s Wedding Present,” by J. Alston Cooper, originally appeared in The Bookman, February 1903.

      A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

      I became a mystery writer almost by accident—I was attending a writer’s conference (as a speaker, talking about Wildside Press and careers in writing). Although I had published some 40 books and more than 100 short stories, all but one of them had been in the science fiction/fantasy/horror genre.

      That’s when I met her…Linda Landrigan, the editor of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine (also attending as a speaker). We ended up at the same banquet table, where, of course, every mystery writer and would-be mystery writer at the conference also sat.

      For after-dinner entertainment, the conference staged a Murder Mystery Theatre.

      Guess what? I was the only one at our table who solved it correctly.

      Then, at the end of the conference, the conference raffled off a selection of gift baskets. Every speaker received a complementary ticket. And I won one of the baskets. The Mystery Writer’s Basket, to be precise, complete with a half-dozen how-to-write-mysteries books, a pair of handcuffs, a vial labelled “poison” (I haven’t dared open it!), and similar murderous items.

      I figured the Fates were trying to tell me something. So I went home, wrote 3 mysteries in the space of 3 weeks, and mailed them all off to my Linda Landrigan.

      It took a year, but she bought all three stories…and so my career as an occasional mystery writer was launched. I’m including one of those original 3 stories, “Pit on the Road to Hell,” in this volume. (I’m particularly proud of it.) Peter “Pit-Bull” Geller—Pit to his friends—has gone on to star in 6 stories, one of which won the Black Orchid Novella Award. (Five of them are collected in Pit and the Pendulum. The sixth is forthcoming in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine as I write this.)

      * * * *

      I have very eclectic tastes. I like pulp fiction, but I also like contemporary work. One of the great things I’ve found about mysteries is that they really don’t age; stories written in the 1920s become period pieces (unlike, say, science fiction from the 1920s…or 1930s…or 1940s which…to put it kindly!…often creaks with age.)

      In selecting the stories for this volume, I looked primarily for the sort of tales I enjoy reading. I tried to find less familiar stories, or stories that have never been reprinted before.

      I turned up a brief Sherlockian tale from 1903 (“Dr. Watson’s Wedding Present,” by J. Alston Cooper) which is fun if you’re a big Holmes fan. And I’m delighted to showcase a few newer writers, like noir writer Arlette Lees and newcomer Meg Opperman. In fact,

       Meg’s “Just the Facts” is original to this collection—her third sale (the other sales being to Weird Tales and a regional anthology). I think you’ll be hearing a lot from her in years ahead. We don’t normally run original stories in the Megapacks, but this one is a worthy exception.

      And, of course, there are fun stories by great writers like Ron Goulart, Mack Reynolds (his first published story—before he became famous as a science fiction author), Michael Hemmingson, Ray Cummings, and many more.

      Enjoy!

      —John Betancourt

      Publisher, Wildside Press

      ABOUT THE MEGAPACKS

      Over the last few years, our “Megapack” series of ebook anthologies has grown to be among our most popular endeavors. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”

      The Megapacks (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!)

      A NOTE FOR KINDLE READERS

      The Kindle versions of our Megapacks employ active tables of contents for easy navigation…please look for one before writing reviews on Amazon that complain about the lack! (They are sometimes at the ends of ebooks, depending on your reader.)

      RECOMMEND