Two UC Riverside creative writing authors have stories included in this year’s “The Best American Mystery and Suspense” short fiction collection.
Tod Goldberg, adjunct professor of creative writing and director of the UCR Palm Desert low-residency MFA program, and Ivy Pochoda, an adjunct assistant professor with the program, are among the 20 featured writers selected by New York Times bestselling author Don Winslow and series editor Steph Cha.
The series honors the best mystery short fiction published in the previous year. Goldberg’s “A Dog’s Year,” which Publisher’s Weekly described as “California noir for the Adderall generation,” was selected. Pochoda is represented with “Jackrabbit Skin,” a tale of a tattoo artist who moves to a remote desert community.
This is the second time two UCR professors have been included in the collection the same year and the third time Goldberg has been selected for a Best American collection. Goldberg and Alex Espinoza, a professor of creative writing, were included in the 2022 collection and Goldberg also was selected for Best American Essays in 2013.
"Being selected for Best American is an honor and a continuing dream come true,” Goldberg said. “I grew up reading the Best American anthologies -- they were my graduate school long before I went to graduate school -- and to share this honor with my friend and colleague Ivy Pochoda makes it all the more sweet."
Goldberg is the author of more than a dozen books, including “The Low Desert: Gangster Stories,” a 2022 Southwest Book of the Year; “Gangsterland,” a finalist for the Hammett Prize; and “Living Dead Girl,” a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
Pochoda said it’s a testament to the low residency MFA program that she and Goldberg appear in the collection, which she called the pinnacle for crime fiction.
“When you set up to write a short story, you don’t think that it’s going to win awards or be chosen for an anthology,” she said. “That is so far from your imagination. It’s not even a consideration. It’s even more unfathomable that your story would get chosen with your colleague and terrific friend.”
Pochoda is the author of six novels including “Sing Her Down,” which won the 2023 L.A. Times Book Prize’s mystery/thriller award. Her latest book, “Ecstasy” ventures into the horror genre in a retelling of the Greek tragedy “The Bacchae,”
An additional three authors associated with the low residency MFA program also had works selected among the year’s best.
The collection includes a short story, “Not a Dinner Party Person,” by Stefanie Leder, a TV showrunner and author, who has been a frequent guest residency faculty member over the last 15 years.
Gabino Iglesias, an adjunct assistant professor and author of several novels, had his short story, “Lighting the Remora,” named a distinguished story as part of the anthology’s honorable mentions.
Author and journalist Jim Rutland, another guest residency faculty member, also was included in the distinguished story recognition for his story, “The Demo.”
The stories by Leder, Iglesias, and Rutland also appeared in a short story collection, “Eight Very Bad Nights,” that Goldberg edited last year.
“The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025,” published by HarperCollins, will be released Oct. 21.