Works in progress:

I've finished three novels, all of them crime thrillers.  The first one, "Stress Fractures," was picked up by an agent right away.  Gareth Esersky of the Carol Mann agency took this novel on in 1998 but was unable to sell it.  Looking back, I think it needed some polishing.  I've actually put some of that polish on it, rewritten it as a YA novel, rewritten it from different points of view, basically been playing with it for a few years now.  My second novel, "Frostbite," was also picked up by an agent, The Cambridge Literary Agency.  This agency basically sat on my manuscript for six months, never sending it out to publishers at all.  This was in 2002.  I finished my third novel, "Lead Poisoning,"  in 2004.  Now I'm back to sending out "Stress Fractures" because I think it's a really good story.  I've rewritten and edited it extensively, it's still the same story, but a different book than the one I wrote 7 years ago.  So far though, no interest from agents.
 
All three of these novels are part of a series about Kevin Markinson; Vietnam Veteran, CIA assassin, mob assassin, fugitive and devoted family man.  Kevin pled guilty to a murder he didn't commit, hoping to get a light sentence, but has repeatedly escaped from custody, keeping him running while he's trying to do his job and find the real killer.  Other recurring characters in all three books are Cindy Markinson: Kevin's wife of more than 20 years, Sally Barnard: Deputy US Marshal, Justin Stewart: Kevin's right hand man, and Charles Marconi: Kevin's current boss.  The first book is set in upstate New York, the second in Concord, NH, and the third in a small fictional town in central NH. 

Just to keep busy while trying to sell my novels, I write short stories too.  "Fish in the Trees," my first published short story, features Chris Powell, police chief of Liberty, NH.  Chris will probably turn up again, I've got her in mind for a novel, if I can ever get those other novels out of my system.  I just finished a short story featuring Deputy Sally Barnard, which went off to the Over My Dead Body St. Patrick's Day fiction contest (but didn't get selected.)

I've had short stories rejected by all the best magazines, including The New Yorker, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Story Quarterly, Tin House, Shred of Evidence and many, many more.  I seem to be a jinx as well, a couple of magazines have gone under while they have my fiction in their possession.  (Hand Held Crime, Larcom Review.)

However, I had a good run in 2005, with short stories appearing in Shots Crime and Mystery ("Slow Burn,") Mysterical-E ("Murder By Committee,") A Cruel World ("From a Distance,") and in "Windchill" an anthology of crime fiction by New England writers ("Life's a Beach.")  In 2006 I had "Blackbird" and "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" published.  2007 saw "Fade Away" move into the published column, and 2008 is starting off with a sequel to "Blackbird," "The Wrong Place," going up at Shred of Evidence.

Short stories in progress or out for consideration include "Death In The Family," featuring Kevin Markinson; "Out of the Shadows," with a new character, a woman with a shady past; and "Pale Horse," featuring a female PI who rides horses and works out of Salem, NH, right around the corner from Rockingham Park.

I'm not going to post any of my writing here, because I don't want it to be considered published.  However, if you happen to be an agent or an editor, feel free to drop me an email and I'll send you my manuscript.

j.e.seymour@earthlink.net