Wait.
That sounded better in my head.
Anyway. Today is the day. KILLING MALMON is out in the world. And holy crap is this a weird feeling. Kate and I have been fans of crime and mystery fiction in all of its many forms for as long as we both can remember. Books. Comics. Movies. All of it. (Remember: THE MONSTER AT THE END OF THE BOOK is a thriller, after all.) We were introduced to this community first through social media, and then through Crimespree Magazine.
And life was good. Hanging out. Reading books and comics. Meeting up with folks at once a year conferences. Writing reviews and hand-selling books to strangers because god-dammit-you’ve-got-to-read-this-it’ll-change-your-life.
Sure, it was kind of weird when Crimespree sponsored the original Killing Malmon flash-fiction contest in 2014. I had a really hard time explaining to my family why every morning a new story would show up online, where someone named “Dan Malmon” buys the farm in new and… interesting… ways. I still don’t know if my mom bought my explanation of “It’s not Dan Malmon that dies every day, it’s the ROYAL Dan Malmon. You get the difference, right, mom?” Some great stories came out of that contest, and Kate and I met a bunch of new friends as well. But we were still taken completely off guard last year at Murder and Mayhem in Milwaukee, when Eric Campbell of Down and Out Books expressed interest in putting those stories together in a book.
Wut.
Yes.
What.
YES.
With a slew of amazing new stories coming in, we were able to assemble a deep and diverse lineup that could stand toe-to-toe with any other anthology on the shelf. Stand? Pfft. It would walk up to the biggest anthology in the yard and knock it on its ass. Eric Beetner gave us not only an amazing story, but an incredible cover as well. All the pieces were coming together as a for-real, honest-to-goodness book. Reviewers and bloggers were kind and generous. The same community that had accepted us as friends and reviewers had accepted us and supported us as curators of this anthology as well.
People have been getting their preorders in the mail the last week or so. That’s a real mindbender. But today, it’s for real. Today is PUBLICATION DAY. This afternoon we will be at the Source Comics
From left to right, Cory Funk, Jeff Shelby, Dan Malmon, Kate Malmon
and Games in St. Paul for our first official signing event. That’s another mindbender. Then, we’ll be at Once Upon A Crime in Minneapolis in November. I think we’re at Mindbender #3 with that one?
All of this is our clumsy way of saying “THANK YOU.” Thank you to our friends. Thank you to our families. Thank you to our friends who have become our families. Thank you to the MS Society, who have stood by Kate and me for so many years. Lastly, thank you all for joining us on this journey. It’s been a hell of a year.
Thank you everyone for supporting this project. It’s weird. It’s quirky. It’s filled with amazing authors who are at the peak of their game. And it’s all for a good cause.
You are our family and our tribe. We love you weirdos.
D & K
