Two Things
On his blog, Jason Sanford asks if online genre fiction is all powerful.
Here’s a video about online literary journals.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPBp2GGjcyg
storySouth Million Writers Award
storySouth‘s Million Writers Award has announced the top ten stories of the year:
- “The Whale Hunter” by Steinur Bell (Agni)
- “Intertropical Convergence Zone” by Nadia Bulkin (ChiZine)
- “No Bullets in the House” by Geronimo Madrid (Drunken Boat)
- “Fuckbuddy” by Roderic Crooks (Eyeshot)
- “The Fisherman’s Wife” by Jenny Williams (LitNImage)
- “Every Earth is Fit for Burial” by Cyn Kitchen (Menda City Review)
- “Interview With A Moron” by Elizabeth Stuckey-French (Narrative Magazine)
- “The Tale of Junko and Sayuri” by Peter S. Beagle (OSC’s Intergalactic Medicine Show)
- “Grief Mongers” by Sefi Atta (Per Contra Fiction)
- “Nine Sundays in a Row” by Kris Dikeman (Strange Horizons)
Congrats to all. You can vote for them here. The ‘notable stories’ from which the winning list was culled is here.
New Masthead at storySouth
Jason Sanford has changed some things over at storySouth. Here’s an excerpt from his letter prefacing the latest issue.
The new publisher will be Spring Garden Press, a well-regarded literary publisher in Greensboro, North Carolina. storySouth‘s new editor will be Terry Kennedy, the Associate Director of the MFA Writing Program at UNCG Greensboro and the editor of Spring Garden Press. Joining him as fiction editor will be Drew Perry, a UNCG alum who teaches fiction writing at Elon University; as poetry editor Julie Funderburk, who previously served as one of storySouth‘s associate editors; as designer Andrew Saulters, who created the websites for the UNCG MFA Program, The Greensboro Review, and Spring Garden Press.
All of the current storySouth editors will remain involved in the journal in different ways—for example, I will continue to direct our Million Writers Award—but the journal will now be run by Terry and his crew. I’m really excited about the skills and abilities Terry and Spring Garden Press bring to storySouth., and I know they will continue the journal’s mission of publishing the best writings from the New South.
Anyhow, this is merely a press release post to let people know if they didn’t already know.
Nothing exciting here.
Goodbye.
Uncategorized / 4 Comments
March 21st, 2009 / 1:12 am
March 21st, 2009 / 1:12 am
storySouth 2009 Million Writers Award Now Open For Nominations
Every year since 2004, Jason Sanford of storySouth has curated the Million Writers Award, a contest designed to promote online fiction. Here’s how it works: editors and readers nominate their favorite online stories of 1000 words or more, then a team of judges whittle these nominations into a list of Notable Stories. Sanford then selects a Top 10, and people vote for the final overall winner, who this year will receive a $100 cash prize. Here are a couple paragraphs from Sanford explaining and advocating the award:
As the old saying should go: If you can’t join them, beat them. The storySouth Million Writers Award for best online fiction of the year will help all internet-based journals and magazines gain exposure and attention … The Million Writers Award takes its name from the idea that we in the online writing community have the power to promote the great stories we are creating. If only a few hundred writers took the time to tell fifteen of their friends about a great online short story–and if these friends then passed the word about this fiction to their friends (and so on and so on)–this one story would soon have a larger readership than all of the stories in Best American Short Stories.
Last year, HTMLGIANT friend Matt Bell won the award for his story “Alex Trebeck Never Eats Fried Chicken”, published in Storyglossia. Since Storyglossia is an excellent magazine, “Alex Trebeck” is a great story, and Matt is a terrific writer, something must be going right.
To be fair, the 1000 word rule is controversial. Some editors of online magazines believe the rule marginalizes sub-1000 word stories, which many proponents of online literature believe to be the form that the internet serves best. Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions award is a different and equally excellent showcase effort that helps somewhat alleviate this issue.
The important thing: celebrating online fiction. Which the Million Writers Award has done for 5 years now, so kudos. And remember: it’s up to you. Nominate your favorite stories, or Barack Obama’s going to win this thing too.
