Teaser: A Special Crime/Mystery/Suspense Litcritter Open Session

The past weekend was quite exciting, sports-wise: there was the all-sister ladies' finals at Wimbledon, Venus vs. Serena Williams, both of whom seemed to be following the same strategy (Plan A: hit the ball hard; if that doesn't work, then go to Plan B: hit the ball harder); there was the UAAP season opening (Philippine equivalent of the U.S.'s NCAA) where the fans are like rabid dogs (some of them are my relatives, the fans I mean, not the dogs); and there was the epic Wimbledon gentlemen's finals between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal! Five sets of top tennis! That was one match that was, to use ESPN-Star Sports' announcer Vijay Amritraj's favourite adjective, "glorious"! For long time aficionados like me (I've been following this sport since the mid-70's), it's a great time to be a tennis fan! I can't wait for the Beijing Olympics and the U.S. Open!

Besides these, and the rest of the usual stuff, something else happened in the middle of last weekend. Hmm, what was it? Oh yes, now I remember. :D

I was lucky to find the time to attend the Manila Litcritters session at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at Robinson's Galleria last Saturday afternoon. During a break, I suggested to them that maybe, in addition to the usual speculative fiction pieces and the occasional realist tale, it would be nice to take up crime/mystery/suspense stories. Even if this genre is outside most of their comfort zones, they agreed! And I'm grateful.

The story requirements, as stipulated by the Manila Litcritters moderator, is one canon piece (most likely from way in the past), one from the mid-past (I'm guessing mid to latter-mid 20th century), and one more recent piece (mid-1990's to present). There have been many wonderful suggestions of authors and stories to take up, many of them no less from the guest-editor of the PGS Special Crime/Mystery/Suspense issue, who just may "attend" this special session via Live Chat (someone has to bring a laptop with robust specs, and I hope the Wifi will also be fast enough at the venue).

For the first requirement, I'm thinking of choosing a Poe, Doyle, or Futrelle. One member also suggested Maurice LeBlanc's Arsene Lupin burglar stories. For the second requirement, the guest-editor has suggested stories by Shirley Jackson, Ed McBain, Susan Glaspell, and Jose Luis Borges. In addition, The Bibliophile Stalker has provided a trunkful of stories from Agatha Christie; I'm considering of course a short-story with either Poirot or Marple. I would have liked to choose Three Blind Mice (the story from which the long-running play The Mousetrap was based on), but it might be too long for the time given. The third requirement will take some doing, but it'll be fun to choose a story from my crime and mystery anthologies and magazines that were recently published.

Consider this post a teaser, folks. The session is scheduled for sometime in August, most likely in the last two weeks of the month. There'll be an announcement here on the PGS blog once the date and time is set. The Manila Litcritters Open Sessions are just that: open to the public. You don't need to join in the discussion if you don't want to. You can sit-in and listen, if you're all right with that. Just make sure to read the stories beforehand so you know what's going to be talked about. It's free to join the online group; that way you'll have access to the readings. All you need to do is email the Manila Litcritters moderator your request and query. His email is dean(at)kestrelddm(dot)com. Thanks a lot! Looking forward to seeing a lot of you there!