The Unofficial History of BLACK CAT MYSTERY MAGAZINE

A few weeks ago, acclaimed mystery writer Michael Bracken devoted a blog post to the unofficial history of BLACK CAT MYSTERY MAGAZINE, which, until very recently, was published by Wildside Press. The final issue was released in September of 2025. Since BLACK CAT MYSTERY MAGAZINE was hands down one of the best crime noir magazines of the past ten years, I was extremely proud to have sold my 13,000-word novelette “The Loser" to Michael Bracken, who took over the editing reins with issue #5. I was even prouder when he took it upon himself to nominate "The Loser" for a Derringer Award in the "Best Novelette" category. The Derringers, of course, are the annual honors given out by the Short Mystery Fiction Society to recognize excellence in mystery and crime fiction.

"The Loser" is a crime noir story based loosely on an actual murder committed by someone I knew back at Kurt T. Shery High, a continuation school in Torrance, California. The novelette appeared in issue #6 and was later reprinted in my debut short story collection, CRYPTOPOLIS & OTHER STORIES (which is currently on sale for only ten dollars if you purchase the book directly from the publisher, Lethe Press). Electronic copies of BLACK CAT MYSTERY MAGAZINE #6 are still available from Wildside Press right HERE. I recommend checking out Michael Bracken's February 24th post entitled "Sixteen Lives," which briefly charts out the rise and fall of one of the last great print mystery magazines.