Introducing our new mid-month feature, Mid-Month Mayhem, where the Mesdames and Messieurs share secrets about their lives that their readers could never guess.

And what better way to debut our new feature than to reveal secrets about our three CWC Award nominees, Catherine Astolfo, Therese Greenwood and Melissa Yi!

Mme Catherine Astolfo is a world traveller!

Cathy tells us: “On my tenth trip to Israel, assisting with pilgrimage groups, I stepped off the bus into a hole and broke my ankle. Part of the reason for falling over could have been my backpack full of beer. No, this does not have anything to do with the title of my recent novel, Auntie Beers.”

Cathy’s story, “Farmer Knudson”, one of the connected stories in Auntie Beers, is a finalist for the 2025 CWC Award for Best Short Story.

Mme Therese Greenwood escaped a wildfire!

Therese tells us: “I was alone with fifteen minutes to pack when escaping the Fort McMurray wildfire. After our house (and entire neighborhood) was destroyed, I wrote in What You Take With You about the “valuables” I grabbed on my way out the door: A rolling pin, a beekeeping book, a cat photograph, and a box of stuff that wasn’t worth fifty bucks. Turns out, almost everyone who fled Fort McMurray that day had a box of similarly random items.”

Therese’s story, “Hatcheck Bingo” from our very own anthology, The 13th Letter, is a finalist for the CWC Best Short Story Award.

Mme Melissa Yi can cut your throat – and get away with it!

Melissa is an emergency room physician who can save your life by performing a necessary tracheotomy. How does she find the time to save lives, raise a family AND publish several works a year in a variety of genres from crime, speculative fiction, romance, poetry and YA? Maybe she’s a magician who bends time…

Melissa’s story, “The Longest Night of the Year”, published in EQMM, Nov/Dec 2024, is nominated for the CWC Best Short Story Award. AND her YA mystery, The Red Rock Killer, is short-listed for the CWC Best YA/Juvenile Novel Award!