Listed below are the storySouth Million Writers Award notable stories of 2012. Congratulations to all of the named authors. The list will be uploaded to the storySouth website soon, along with the names of the preliminary judges who selected the stories. Many thanks to these judges and to all the readers and editors who nominated stories.
The three final judges—and in the interests of full disclosure I'm one of the them—are currently reading through the stories and picking the top ten. Those stories will be released early in October.
In other news, thanks to the great donors who stepped up this year the Million Writers Award will be offering more than $1000 in cash and prizes to the top stories.
And in a final round of appreciation, thanks also to the great people at Spring Garden Press—especially Terry L. Kennedy, Associate Director of the UNCG MFA Writing Program and editor of storySouth, and Shawn Delgado, Million Writers Award editor— for taking over the Million Writers Award at the last minute and running this year's award.
2012 storySouth Million Writers Award notable stories
(Stories listed in random order—because hell, we've all working our asses off and didn't have time to alphabetize them)
- "Freezing Time" by Murli Melwani
http://www.asiancha.com/content/view/1268/357/ - "All the Things the Moon is Not" by Alexander Lumans
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/lumans_05_12/ - "Dirwhals!" By Ethan Rutherford * (see note below)
http://www.fivechapters.com/2013/dirwhals/ - "For Old Times' Sake" by Billy O'Callaghan
http://www.mendacitypress.com/20OCallaghan.html - "Red Planet" By Jo Ann Heydron
http://www.pacificareview.com/?p=372 - "Polly" by Nik Korpon
http://blackpetalsks.tripod.com/yellowmamaarchives/id434.html - "Invisible Men" by Christopher Barzak
http://christopherbarzak.com/invisible-men/ - "Shadows under Hexmouth Street" by Justin Howe
http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/shadows-under-hexmouth-street-by-justin-howe/ - "Secrets of the Sea" by Jennifer Marie Brissett
http://futurefire.net/2012.24/fiction/secretsofthesea.html - "Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream" by Maria Dahvana Headley
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/give-her-honey-when-you-hear-her-scream/ - "The Grinnell Method" by Molly Gloss
http://www.strangehorizons.com/2012/20120903/grinnell-f.shtml - "Hands" by Lou Gaglia
http://www.waccamawjournal.com/pages.php?x=423 - "Tiny Lives" by by Alan Baxter
http://dailysciencefiction.com/fantasy/modern-fantasy/alan-baxter/tiny-lives - "After We Were Nothing" by Alan Stewart Carl
http://www.dzancbooks.org/the-collagist/2012/6/11/after-we-were-nothing.html - "The Battle of Candle Arc" by Yoon Ha Lee
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/lee_10_12/ - "Distance" by Susan Tepper * (see note below)
http://www.thricefiction.com/pdf/ThriceFiction007X.pdf - "Sasha, That Night" by G. K. Wuori
http://www.eclectica.org/v16n3/wuori.html - "Lightning My Pilot" by Samuel Snoek-Brown
http://www.bartlebysnopes.com/lightningmypilot.htm - "The Three Feats of Agani" by Christie Yant
http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-three-feats-of-agani/ - "Lone Wolf" by Eric Freeze
http://carvezine.com/2012-winter-freeze/ - "An Occurrence at School" by Okechukwu Otukwu
http://www.eclectica.org/v16n2/otukwu.html - "The Anastasia Caper" by Bruce Graham
www.eclectica.org/v16n2/graham.html - "West" by Ryan W. Bradley
http://www.pankmagazine.com/west/ - "Woodrow Wilson" by Tim Horvath
http://www.mhpbooks.com/woodrow-wilson/ - "Birthday Americana" by Erika Swyler
http://www.litro.co.uk/2012/07/erika-swyler-birthday-americana/ - "Cousin Barnaby is Dead" by Clifford Garstang
http://www.joylandmagazine.com/stories/midwest/cousin_barnaby_dead - "Reform, AL" by Christopher Lowe
http://baltimorereview.org/index.php/winter_2012/contributor/christopher-lowe - "The Cathedral of Es" by Michael Stein
http://www.pilvaxmag.com/the-cathedral-of-es-by-michael-stein/ - "Mother Ship" by Caroline M. Yoachim
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/mother-ship/ - "Who Cooks for You" By Holly Goddard Jones
http://www.fivechapters.com/2012/who-cooks-for-you/ - "Why I Hate the Holidays" by Andrea Broxton
http://www.eclectica.org/v16n1/broxton.html - "Confidante" by Michael Barber
http://www.eclectica.org/v16n1/barber.html - "And the Hollow Space Inside" by Mari Ness
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/ness_02_12/ - "Chlorine Mermaid" by Rachel Steiger-Meister
http://carvezine.com/2012-spring-steiger-meister/ - "Serkers and Sleep" by Kenneth Schneyer
http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/serkers-and-sleep-by-kenneth-schneyer/ - "Art Lessons" by Gleah Powers
http://www.primenumbermagazine.com/Issue17_Fiction_GleahPowers.html - "Household Management" by Ellen Klages
http://www.strangehorizons.com/fund_drives/2012/special-issue-household-f.shtml - "Everyday Murders" by Jasobn Ockert
http://www.storysouth.com/2012/09/everyday-murders.html - "Watching Alice Watch" by Nan Cuba
http://www.storysouth.com/2012/03/watching-alice-watch.html - "Literature Appreciation" by Man Martin
http://carvezine.com/2012-winter-martin/ - "The Raven" by Jacqueline Kolosov
http://cimarronreview.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/kolosov4web.pdf - "The Ones" by Nicholas Rombes
http://fiddleblack.org/journal/issue-6/the-ones - "Treasures Few Have Ever Seen" by Mary Akers
http://www.primenumbermagazine.com/Issue29_Fiction_MaryAkers.html - "And the Ruin of That House Was Great" by Ric Hoeben
http://tampareviewonline.org/fiction/and-the-ruin-of-that-house-was-great/ - "The Eternal Youth of Everyone Else" by Adrienne Celt
http://carvezine.com/2012-summer-celt/ - "The King's Huntsman" by Jennifer Mason-Black
http://giganotosaurus.org/2012/09/01/the-kings-huntsman - "Melt With You" by Emily C. Skaftun * (see note below)
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/skaftun_04_13/ - "The Tree Poachers" by James Zerndt
http://www.spiltinfinitive.com/the-tree-poachers/#.UfBgNVOt7-c - "The Butterfly Effect" by Daniel Harris
http://madhattersreview.com/issue13/cnf_harris.shtml - "Ocean of Ash" by Kirsten Perry
http://www.wordriot.org/archives/4450
* Note: The three stories indicated above were published in 2013, not 2012 as required by the rules. As a result the stories can't be considered for this year's award. The good news, though, is that both stories are now on the notable list for next year's award.