Although I’m technically on vacation, I have some exciting news to announce this week, so I’m here writing anyway.

Smokey Dalton’s most recent adventure, Street Justice, just got nominated for a Shamus Award. Given by the Private Eye Writers of America, the Shamus honors the best Private Eye novels and stories of the year. Street Justice shares the Best Original Paperback P.I. Novel category with Michael Craven, M.C. Grant, Robert K. Lewis, and Vincent Zandri.

“I’m honored to be in such company,” Kris posted on her Facebook page after I shared the news with her.

Honored, indeed. And Kris deserves it. If you haven’t read the Smokey Dalton novels yet, which she writes as Kris Nelscott, you really should. They’re some of the best writing I’ve ever seen. And I’ve read a lot, as you might imagine.

In case you missed my post on Street Justice when we released it last year, here’s the link. The winner of the Shamus will be announced in October. Don’t worry, though. If Kris wins, I’ll certainly let you know.

But that wasn’t all the award news we received that week. Kris, writing this time under her real name—Kristine Kathryn Rusch, won the AnLab Award from Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine for her short story “Snapshots,” which WMG reissued last fall. She shares the honor of Best Short Story with Tom Greene. Again, we couldn’t be more proud.

And I’ll tell you a secret: Kris takes the greatest pleasure in Readers’ Choice Awards like the AnLab. Because you, the readers, decide them. And to have the readers say your story is the best, well, that’s the greatest compliment of them all.

To celebrate, I’m posting the story here for free for one week. See for yourself what all the fuss is about.

Happy reading!

Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.