Sylvia Warsh

Greetings Readers!

As you know, The Mesdames’ latest anthology, In the Key of 13, is centerstage on Art Taylor’s blog, The First Two Pages!

Art invited three Mmes to reveal the craft behind the first two pages of their stories in our anthology.

Sylvia Warsh is Art’s third guest and this is timely, too, because the story she’ll be discussing is “None Shall Sleep”, which is nominated for a 2020 Derringer!

“None Shall Sleep” is a dark story about revenge. Galina, a star of the Moscow Opera, is sent to a labour camp on a trumped-up charge where she falls into the clutches of Nikolai Petrov, a party official. He forces her into sexual slavery and to serenade him with the arias of his favorite opera, Turandot. Upon her release from prison, Galina escapes to Canada, but she has lost her voice forever. Years later, by random chance, she encounters Nikolai again. What will she do?

Sylvia has taught creative writing for many years. She is an Edgar Award winner and her novels and stories have been honoured many times, including nominations for the Arthur Ellis and Derringer awards.

Art Taylor is a critically acclaimed author of short crime fiction, the winner of multiple Agatha, Macavity and Derringer awards. In 2019, he won  Edgar Award for Best Short Story.

Follow this link to Art Taylor’s blog here.