Category Archives: Administrivia

February 24, 2016 · 9:21 pm

Unexpected Directions: April 2016

A classic trope of the private-eye story is the seemingly straightforward investigation that takes an unexpected turn. This month’s issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine features two fine examples with “Heathen Springs” by James L. Ross and our cover story “Lovers and Thieves” by Charles John Harper, in which kidnapping and adultery lead to unexpected places.

Speaking of unexpected, you’ll be surprised at the behavior of a monsignor after he’s beaned by a baseball in “Play Ball” by Jim Fusilli. A young wife finds her life’s disappointments measured in broken glasses in B. K. Stevens’s “The Last Blue Glass.” And our issue is rounded out with two police procedurals: David Edgerley Gates’s “The Kneeling Nun” is set among white supremacist gangs in New Mexico; and Jay Carey’s Detective Eureka Kilburn investigates an uptick in guns in a dystopian, post–global warming Florida in “We Walk On Top of Guns.”

You can always expect an entertaining story from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine!

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January 2, 2016 · 5:17 pm

Happy New Year!

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine passes a milestone this year as we celebrate our sixtieth anniversary. You’ll see to the right the special cover we commissioned from Joel Spector for our January/February issue.

The magazine debuted in 1956, capitalizing on the fame of director Alfred Hitchcock and his association in the popular mind with the mysterious and macabre. The television show Alfred Hitchcock Presents had reinforced this association when it began in 1955, but we have now out-lived the TV show by decades thanks to the creative fecundity of our authors and to the loyalty of our readers: your appetite for murder and mayhem appears to be endless.

Though now eligible for AARP membership, AHMM still strives to keep up with the times. We maintain a lively Facebook presence, where we have lately been posting classic covers from past issues, and if you haven’t yet checked out our podcast series on iTunes and Podomatic featuring authors reading their stories, I encourage you to do so.

And even after threescore years, we’re still looking to try new things. Our January/February issue also features our first-ever graphic short story, “Not a Creature Was Stirring . . .” by Dale Berry.

Over the course of the year, we’ll be looking for other ways to celebrate our sixtieth anniversary. But most importantly we will continue to do what has gotten us this far: Bring you, month in and month out, the best mystery and crime short stories from both new and established authors.

Thank you for sixty years of support, and here’s to a delightfully criminous 2016!

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September 9, 2014 · 9:10 am

Behind the Scenes at 267 Broadway: Jackie Sherbow

Jackie Sherbow is the senior assistant editor for EQMM and AHMM. This post will also appear at Something Is Going To Happen.

My recent contribution to SleuthSayers, an inside look at the submissions process, had me wondering if people wouldn’t be interested in a literal inside view of our offices. So, come on in!

267 Broadway

267 Broadway

267 Broadway has been the NYC home of Dell Magazines since 2009. Its residents include the editorial staff for AHMM, EQMM, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Dell Horoscope, and a variety of Dell’s puzzle titles. We work closely with our two other outposts, both in southern Connecticut (Milford and Norwalk).

The view across Broadway: City Hall Park

The view across Broadway: City Hall Park

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February 24, 2013 · 10:31 pm

The Case of the Copyrighted Characters

Long before the days of Star Trek, Harry Potter, and Twilight fan fiction, people were writing their own stories featuring the world’s first consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes. In just the past few years, this most protean of icons has been reimagined as a steampunk action hero, a twenty-first century self-described high functioning sociopath, and – a New Yorker (though an immigrant).

One of the most famous fictional characters in the world, Sherlock Holmes was the creation of Arthur Conan Doyle. Nobody disputes that.

During his lifetime, and for years after his death, Conan Doyle and his descendants retained the right to profit from the good doctor’s intellectual labor. Nobody disputes that, either.

But copyright laws exist to strike a balance between the proprietary interests of the creator of intellectual property and the benefits to society of making such property freely available as part of the public domain. A recent lawsuit argues that Holmes and Watson have passed that line in the United States.

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May 20, 2012 · 1:50 pm

Five Myths About AHMM

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine has been publishing mystery short stories for over fifty-five years – which is plenty of time for some curious misunderstandings to arise. When I go out to talk with readers and writers about the magazine, here are some of the most common misconceptions I encounter.

1.  The magazine was founded and/or edited by Alfred Hitchcock himself.

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May 20, 2012 · 1:15 pm

Welcome to the Blog

Welcome to the AHMM blog!

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine has been publishing mystery and crime short stories since 1956. Here, the magazine’s editor will reflect on mystery fiction, writers, publishing, and stray topics that take my fancy. I expect to post once a week, on Fridays, and in between as time and topics allow.

For several years, I was posting regularly in the Readers’ Forum on the AHMM web site, but we have decided to move this feature to its own blog in order to increase its visibility. I hope that we will continue to have the same likely lively discussions that we enjoyed in the Forum. I look forward to reading your comments.

Please note, however, that this is not a place to submit stories to the magazine; for information on submitting your stories, please see our web site.

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