Red Hot?

There are a handful of blogs that if I've only got a couple of minutes to browse, I always click through to and one of them is Paul Brazill's excellent, You Would Say That, Wouldn't You.  There were two surprises waiting for me there this afternoon.  First, there is a review of The White Gallows - not the usual blog fare given that TWG is a straight-up police procedural rather than the more usual noir and hardboiled YWSTWY covers.  Second, my short story, Stakeout, has been shortlisted for the Jason Duke's Red Hot Writing Contest, which has made my day.  I'm chuffed to make the last eight, and thrilled for Harry and Pete, the stars of the story.  I've been meaning to write another installment of Harry and Pete's politically incorrect observations of life and bad jokes and this is a spur to get my act together and get on with it.  A good review of The White Gallows and making the Red Hot shortlist - a double whammy.  Red hot?  Well I'm certainly flushed.