Welcome
Wish Upon a Crime
Level Short, 2026
Fairy tales and crime fiction collide in Wish Upon a Crime.
Fairy tales at their core are dark and suspenseful. These stories are no different. Today’s most respected short-story writers reimagine familiar classics where the line between good and evil isn’t always clear, dreams don’t come true, and there are no happily-ever-afters.
Edited by Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson
Awards for Michael’s writing AND EDITING
“All My Yesterdays”
“Blind Pig”
“Getting Out of the Box”
“The Downeaster Alexa”
Shamus Award Nomination
“Disposable Women”
Edgar® Award nomination
“Blindsided”
co-authored with James A. Hearn
DERRINGER AWARD
BEST ANTHOLOGY
Murder, Neat
co-edited with Barb Goffman
ANTHONY AWARD NOMINATION
BEST ANTHOLOGY
Murder, Neat
co-edited with Barb Goffman
ANTHONY AWARD NOMINATION
BEST ANTHOLOGY
The Eyes of Texas
ANTHONY AWARD NOMINATION
BEST ANTHOLOGY
Scattered, Smothered, Covered, and Chunked
co-edited with Stacy Woodson
“Aloha Boys”
“Cuts Like a Knife”
“Denim Mining”
“Love, or Something Like It”
“Dogs of War”
co-authored with Stacy Woodson
THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW EROTICA 4
“Feel the Pain”
THE BEST MYSTERY STORIES OF THE YEAR 2024
“Beat the Clock”
OUTSTANDING STORY AS NOTED IN THE BEST MYSTERY STORIES OF THE YEAR 2023
“Kissing Cousins”
OTHER DISTINGUISHED MYSTERY STORIES AS NOTED IN THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE 2023
“Kissing Cousins”
THE BEST MYSTERY STORIES OF THE YEAR 2021
“Blest Be the Tie that Binds”
OTHER DISTINGUISHED MYSTERY STORY AS NOTED IN THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE 2021
“Blest Be the Tie that Binds”
OTHER DISTINGUISHED MYSTERY STORY AS NOTED IN THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2020
“The Town Where Money Grew on Trees”
OTHER DISTINGUISHED MYSTERY STORY AS NOTED IN THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2019
“Itsy Bitsy Spider”
THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2018
“Smoked”
OTHER DISTINGUISHED MYSTERY STORY AS NOTED IN THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY
STORIES 2005
“Dreams Unborn”
About
Michael Bracken is the author of several books, including All White Girls, Bad Girls, Deadly Campaign, Psi Cops, Tequila Sunrise, and Yesterday in Blood and Bone, and more than 1,300 of Bracken’s short stories have appeared in anthologies and in literary, small press, and commercial publications worldwide. One of the most prolific living short-story writers, he had—before the streak ended in May 2018—one or more short stories published each and every month for 178 consecutive months.
