My new collection of crime short stories, YOU CAN JUMP & OTHER STORIES, will be out in paperback in February 2012 (available direct from

www.matcoward.com) and is now available as a multi-format e-book from…

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COMPETITION - WIN A COPY OF THE 2010 QI ANNUAL



Amongst the many strange jobs I do, I am one of the researchers (or “Elves”) on the BBC TV panel game QI (www.qi.com/tv/).



As you may know, every year we produce a QI Annual (www.qi.com/shop/g_annual.php), full of all the fascinating and comical stuff you find on the TV show, along with illustrations by many of Britain’s leading… Continue

'Acts of Destruction' is now available in paperback, and as an e-book. For details, please see www.matcoward.com



Here are the reviews so far ...



“funny, dark and charming” - Morning Star.



“splendid ... a fine story ...should be on everyone's summer reading list. Wicked sense of humour and tale that barrels along. We thoroughly enjoyed it.” - Eco-Logic Books



"Nothing I’ve read in ages has made me think more than… Continue

Thanks to the brilliant “backinprint” programme run by the Authors Guild, my last “Don and Frank” crime novel, Open and Closed, is at last available as a trade paperback. You can order it through any real or online bookshop, or direct from the website:

http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000127209



Here are some of the reviews of the hardback edition:



“Will… Continue

I have a new website, where you can read the first two chapters of my new novel: www.matcoward.com

The site is courtesy of the (US) Authors Guild. This is a superb organisation, and I would strongly urge anyone who is published in the USA to join it - the benefits of membership are considerable. The Guild is at http://authorsguild.org

A number of my crime short stories are now available as downloads at the Sony e-book store. You can find them at http://ebookstore.sony.com/author/678/73/67873.html



Also downloadable - this time from Fictionwise - are two non-crime titles which may be of interest ...



My 2008 children’s fantasy novel, “Soother’s Boy” is at http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook72722.htm?cache



and my 2007 collection of SF short stories, “So Far, So Near,” is at… Continue

After a lot of thinking over the last few months, I’ve decided to end my column about short stories in Mystery Scene. I’ve been writing it for a long time, and reckon I am probably running out of opinions - so I wanted to leave before my inevitable repetitions and ramblings became too irksome for readers.

I hope MS will continue regular coverage of short stories; thanks to all the writers and publishers who have entertained me during my long stint on “Short and Sweet.”

I’m currently putting together a second collection of my crime short stories, provisionally entitled “You Can Jump and Other Stories.” It will include, in my opinion, almost all of my best crime fiction, and certainly almost all of my most-praised crime stories. I haven’t yet started looking for, or even thinking about looking for, a publisher for it, but if anyone’s interested in publishing it - let me know.



The stories I plan to include are:

The Hampstead Vegetable Heist;… Continue

Thanks to everyone who has sent me “Friend” requests - but for the time being, I’m just going to sit here doing nothing. I really don’t understand the purpose of “Friends” on these sites - I mean, what do they do? What does it mean? What is it for? If anyone can give me a really good reason for falling in with this habit, then please do. Meanwhile, I’m very pleased to talk to anyone who drops by here at this ... ah .... blog thing ... (Is it just me, or was it only yesterday that we were… Continue