Get the Knowledge Without the College! You are a writer. You dream of sharing your words with the world, and you're willing to put in the hard work to achieve success. You may have even considered earning your MFA, but for whatever reason--tuition costs, the time commitment, or other responsibilities--you've never been able to do it. Or maybe you've been looking for a self-guided approach so you don't have to go back to school. This book is for you. DIY MFA is the do-it-yourself alternative to a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. By combining the three main components of a traditional MFA--writing, reading, and community--it teaches you how to craft compelling stories, engage your readers, and publish your work. Inside you'll learn how to: • Set customized goals for writing and learning. • Generate ideas on demand. • Outline your book from beginning to end. • Breathe life into your characters. • Master point of view, voice, dialogue, and more. • Read with a "writer's eye" to emulate the techniques of others. • Network like a pro, get the most out of writing workshops, and submit your work successfully. Writing belongs to everyone--not only those who earn a degree. With DIY MFA, you can take charge of your writing, produce high-quality work, get published, and build a writing career.

Steph Cha, a rising star who brings a fresh perspective as series editor, takes the helm of the new The Best American Mystery and Suspense, with best-selling crime novelist Alafair Burke joining her as the first guest editor. "Crime writers, forgive the pun, are killing it right now creatively," writes guest editor Alafair Burke in her introduction. "It was difficult--painful even--to narrow this year's Best American Mystery and Suspense to only twenty stories." Spanning from a mediocre spa in Florida, to New York's gritty East Village, to death row in Alabama, this collection reveals boundless suspense in small, quiet moments, offering startling twists in the least likely of places. From a powerful response to hateful bullying, to a fight for health care, to a gripping desperation to vote, these stories are equal parts shocking, devastating, and enthralling, revealing the tension pulsing through our everyday lives and affirming that mystery and suspense writing is better than ever before. The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021includes JENNY BHATT- GAR ANTHONY HAYWOOD- GABINO IGLESIAS- AYA DE LEÓN- LAURA LIPPMAN DELIA C. PITTS- ALEX SEGURA- FAYE SNOWDEN- LISA UNGER and others

A disappearing corpse draws Miami PI Mike Shayne into a deadly political conspiracy in this hardboiled mystery that inspired the film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. A year after marrying the toughest PI in Miami, Phyllis Shayne longs for a few weeks alone with her husband. She and Mike are about to board a train to New York when a client shows up at the door. Her face gray and her voice slurred, the mysterious woman passes out before she’s able to get through her story. Mike carries the stranger to his spare bedroom and, trying to save his wife from worry, tells Phyllis to go on to the train station without him; he’ll meet her in a few days. When he goes back to check on the woman, she is dead, with one of her stockings wrapped tightly around her throat. Something is fishy, but it’s about to get far more complicated when the body disappears. The woman arrived just after Mike took a call from Sam Marsh, a close friend who’s in a mayoral race that’s about to turn bloody. To save his friend’s campaign and keep himself out of jail, Mike will have to find the killer—but he’ll have to find the body first. Bodies Are Where You Find Them is the 5th book in the Mike Shayne Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

The "unputdownable courtroom drama" (Stephen King) and riveting sequel to the landmark bestseller Presumed Innocent, in which Tommy Molto and Rusty Sabich come head-to-head in a second murder trial. Twenty years after Rusty Sabich and Tommy Molto went head to head in the shattering murder trial of Presumed Innocent, the men are once more pitted against one another in a riveting psychological match. When Sabich, now 60 years old and the chief judge of an appellate court, finds his wife Barbara dead under mysterious circumstances, Molto accuses him of murder for the second time, setting into motion a trial that is vintage Turow--the courtroom at its most taut and explosive. With his characteristic insight into both the dark truths of the human psyche and the dense intricacies of the criminal justice system, Scott Turow proves once again that some books simply compel us to read late into the night, desperate to know who did it. A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

Famous features such as "Sherlock Holmes Faces Death," "Johnny Allegro," "My Forbidden Past," "His Kind of Woman," "The Big Carnival," and "After the Thin Man" are examined, plus the "Bulldog Drummond" series, and a number of serials including "The Clutching Hand," "Chick Carter, Detective," "Panther Girl of the Congo," "Holt of the Secret Service" and "The Last of the Mohicans." Two bonus features are monographs on Robert Siodmak (of "Cobra Woman," "The Phantom Lady," "The Spiral Staircase," etc.) and Otto Preminger, who made "Laura," "Fallen Angel," "Whirlpool," "Where the Sidewalk Ends," "The 13th Letter" and "Angel Face."

Over 1,200 DVDs in the mystery, suspense and film noir categories were examined and rated for this illustrated guide. The book is divided into two main sections. In the first, 218 movies are given the glamour treatment with comprehensive details of players and crews, plus background information and reviews. In the second section, essential details on over 500 films are briefly described. Bonus articles includes a survey of "The Thin Man" series, "Sherlock Holmes," "Humphrey Bogart versus Alan Ladd," "Raymond Chandler on the Big Screen" and "The Big Clock." This book will not only prove most useful for all movie fans, but will enthrall and entertain for years to come.