Stone’s Throw 2024 annual anthology
Published January 23, 2025
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Welcome to Stone's Throw.
Each month we offer a theme. We challenge our authors to hit the theme hard in stories that are shorter than short and darker than dark, then we publish the best of the best (they're all knockouts) on our website. And when we're done, we collect the stories in an annual print anthology.
Just like this one that has your fingerprints all over it.
Might as well open it and start right in on a year's worth of dark done right.
A year's worth of bad decisions and desperate people. And we're just getting started.
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
(In order of appearance of work)
SALLY MILLIKEN (Instagram: @sallyhistorymystery) writes contemporary and historical mysteries and crime fiction. Besides finding creative ways to bring villains to justice, she enjoys bending clay to her will on the pottery wheel and shooting pucks on net with her ice hockey team. Her stories have been published online and in various anthologies. The flash fiction story "Adam-13" was the 2023 winner of the Golden Donut Award. She also won first prize in the 2023 Bethlehem Writers Story Contest. She is working on her first novel, a historical mystery set in 1882 Massachusetts. Find her at https://www.sallymillikenauthor.com/. Sally is a member of Sisters in Crime, Sisters in Crime NE, SinC Guppy Chapter, MWA, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society.
M.E. PROCTOR (Substack: https://meproctor.substack.com/; Website: https://shawmystery.com/) was born in Brussels and lives in Texas. The first book in her Declan Shaw PI series, Love You Till Tuesday, came out from Shotgun Honey with a follow up scheduled for 2025. She’s the author of a short story collection, Family and Other Ailments. Her fiction has appeared in various crime anthologies and magazines like Vautrin, Bristol Noir, Mystery Tribune, Shotgun Honey, Reckon Review, and Black Cat Weekly.
L.P. RING (Twitter / X: @L_P_Ring; BlueSky: @lpring.bsky.social) has been living outside his native Ireland for the past twenty years. He's had fiction published with Black Beacon, Shotgun Honey, Chthonic Matters, and Creepy Podcast among others. He lives in Japan with his wife and a cat which is always around at mealtimes.
RUSSELL THAYER’s (Twitter / X: @RussellThayer10) work has appeared in Brushfire, Tough, Roi Fainéant Press, Guilty Crime Magazine, Mystery Tribune, Close to the Bone, Bristol Noir, Apocalypse Confidential, Cowboy Jamboree Press, Hawaii Pacific Review, Shotgun Honey, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Rock and a Hard Place Press, Revolution John, Punk Noir, Expat Press, Pulp Modern, The Yard Crime Blog, and Outcast Press. He received his B.A. in English from the University of Washington, worked for decades at large printing companies, and currently lives in Missoula, Montana.
JOHN BOVIO (Twitter / X: @john_bovio) is a writer, artist, and chef. His work has appeared in various publications and galleries around the world. He lives in Oakland, California.
MAGGIE NERZ IRIBARNE is 55, lives in Syracuse, NY, writes about witches, priests / nuns, the very, very old, struggling teachers, neighborhood ghosts, and whatever else strikes her fancy. She keeps a portfolio of her published work at https://www.maggienerziribarne.com/.
ASHLEY-RUTH M. BERNIER’s (Threads / IG: @armbernier) stories have appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, Stone’s Throw, Smoking Pen Press, Mystery Most Devious, and The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2023. Originally from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Ashley-Ruth writes mysteries highlighting the vibrant culture of her home island. She currently lives in North Carolina with her husband and four children, where she teaches first grade and finds few things more valuable than uninterrupted writing time and the perfect cup of tea.
VINCENT MARSHALL (Threads / IG: @vincentmmarshall) is an award-winning journalist living in Arkansas with his wife Shauna and their five children. When he is not writing he’s either reading, fishing or out on the hiking trail and never passes up the opportunity to wear a hoodie.
LESLIE ELMAN (Bluesky: @leslieelman.bsky.social) is an Edgar Award-nominated writer whose short fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Vautrin, and Mystery Magazine.
JUSTIN WALSH lives on the land of the Guringai people in eastern Australia. A long-time avid reader of crime and spy fiction, he’s trying his hand at creative writing.
MIKE McHONE’s (Twitter / X: @mike_mchone; Instagram: @mike_mchone) fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Dark Yonder, Mystery Tribune, Mystery Magazine, Rock and a Hard Place, the Anthony Award-nominated anthology Under the Thumb: Stories of Police Oppression, Edited by SA Cosby, and elsewhere. A former journalist, his articles, op-eds, and humor pieces have appeared in the Detroit News, the AV Club, Playboy, and numerous other outlets. He is the 2020 recipient of the Mystery Writers of America’s Hugh Holton Award and placed twice on Ellery Queen’s Annual Readers List. His short story "The Last Ruined Night," originally published by Rock and a Hard Place was cited as a Distinguished Story in 2024's Best American Mystery and Suspense anthology. He lives in Detroit.
TOM ANDES (Twitter / X: @thomaseandes; Instagram: @thomasandes) wrote the detective novel Wait There Till You Hear from Me, forthcoming from Crescent City Books in 2025. His stories have appeared in dozens of publications including Best American Mystery Stories 2012, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, and Santa Monica Review. He lives in Albuquerque, where he is a working musician, performing solo and with several bands. He is also a freelance editor, writing coach, teaches, picks up catering shifts, and pet sits. His two acclaimed EPs of original songs will be rereleased on vinyl by Southern Crescent Recording Co. in 2025. He can be found at tomandes.com.