Million Writers Award

Million Writers Award update

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Since I'm receiving so many emails on the Million Writers Award, I wanted to post a statement: The top ten stories and the public vote are coming! Soon! The top ten stories have been posted and voting is now open.

As I've said before, we have new administrators running the award this year and there's been some teething pains. But the top ten stories have been selected and should be released shortly—as in within days (I hope)—and the public vote will start at that time.

A big part of the delay was on me. Even though I passed the award duties to others because I no longer had time to manage the award, I still volunteered to be one of the final three judges. I probably should have realized that lack of time + still volunteering would result in me being the tardiest of the judges in turning in my selections.

So stay tuned. The Million Writers Award is coming here.

storySouth Million Writers Award notable stories of 2012

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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)

* 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.

Million Writers Award update: Last days to nominate stories, judges and donations needed

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We're into the last days for nominations to the storySouth Million Writers Award. The deadline for nominations is August 3rd.

Judges needed

As always, we need preliminary judges for the award. If you want to volunteer please let me know. As a judge you'll get to select up to 10 stories for inclusion on our award's notable stories list. These stories can come from the reader and editor nominations or from any other means you desire (i.e., you can hunt down the stories on your own).

Donations

So far a number of donations for the prize money have come in, but we still need a few more. Last year we had nearly $1000 in prize money for the winners. All of this prize money was raised through donations from writers, editors and readers. I hope we can reach these amounts again.

To donate, go to the main Million Writers Award website.

And a big thanks to Spotlight Publishing, which is donating copies of the two retrospective anthologies of Million Writers Award stories to this year's winners. For complete information on these anthologies, including how to order, go here for the SF/F anthology and here for the New Online Voices anthology.

Tenth annual storySouth Million Writers Award now open

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The storySouth Million Writers Award is now open. This is the 10th annual edition of the award, which is for any fictional short story of at least a 1,000 words first published in an online publication during 2012. By "publication," we mean an online magazine or journal with an editorial process (so self-published stories are not eligible).

The deadline for nominations is August 3rd.

As many people have noticed—and commented upon, oh my how people have commented—this year's Million Writers Award is starting rather late. In addition, the more sharp-eyed among our fans may notice that the award website and nomination process has a new design and feel.

Well, there's a reason for this, which comes down to me. After nine years of running the Million Writers, I no longer have the time to devote to this annual project. Between family and work and my own fiction writing, the MWA has been suffering because I rarely have the time to focus on it.

Which leads to the following annoucement:

Spring Garden Press takes over Million Writers Award

Yes, Spring Garden Press, the publisher of the online literary magazine storySouth, has now taken over running the award. The award process will not change but the great people at Spring Garden Press—including Terry L. Kennedy, Associate Director of the UNCG MFA Writing Program and editor of storySouth, and Shawn Delgado, Million Writers Award editor—will be able to give much more attention to the award than I can. This also allows the award to expand and live beyond the work of a single person, so many thanks to Terry, Shawn, and Spring Garden Press for doing this.

Donations Needed for Prize Money!

But even though we have a new crew running the MWA, we still need donations to fund the award's prize money. Last year we had nearly $1000 in prize money for the winners; all of this prize money was raised through donations from writers, editors and readers. I hope we can reach these amounts again.

To donate, go to the main Million Writers Award website.

Thanks to everyone who has taken part in the award in previous years, and I hope you enjoy it again on our 10th anniversary. I will be posting updates on this blog throughout the award process. For more frequent updates, be sure to check out my Twitter account.

Dead online magazines and journals

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This year marks the 10th anniversary of the storySouth Million Writers Award. Hard to believe only a decade ago online magazines were so looked down upon by the literati that we had to start our own award to honor online-published fiction. Now online publishing and ebooks are all the rage. Go figure.

I'll be writing more about the award in the coming weeks, but until then I wanted to share a list collected by author Robert Laughlin. Robert went through the archives of the last nine MWA award cycles and collected those magazines and journals which have passed into the great literary afterlife, both in the last year and in the last ten years.

The reasons for this vary — sometimes the editors lost interest in their magazines or no longer had the free time to donate. In a few instances, editors passed away. Others shut down their magazines in fits of angst and anger at whatever injustice they believed was keeping their magazine from reaching wider audiences. Others were shut down by their corporate owners because they didn't generate enough revenue (yeah, I'm looking at you, Sci-Fi Channel, now known by the disease sounding name of Syfy).

WARNING! BLATANT PRODUCT PLACEMENT! In case you're interested, I touch more upon the nature of online magazines in the introductions to my two recent anthologies of MWA stories: Million Writers Award: The Best Online Science Fiction and Fantasy, which focuses on SF/F stories, and Million Writers Award: The Best New Online Voices, which highlights non-genre stories. The anthologies also collect stories from some of these defunct magazines (and are available in ebook editions for only $2.99).

So what happens to the stories which weren't collected in anthologies or reprinted elsewhere? Hard to say. Some of these journals can be found in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Maybe some day a reader will stumble up a long-ignored story and bring it to the attention of the larger world. But I also know that some of the stories published in these dead online magazine are gone forever. When I was editing my MWA anthologies there were several stories I wanted to reprint but I could no longer locate either them or their authors.

Such stories now exist only in the minds of those who once read them.

Now that we're done with such a depressing thought, here are the lists. Please note that all of these magazines and journals are named because they placed at least one short story on the listings of MWA notable stories of the year. If there are any errors or missed online magazines, please add them into the comments below.

MWA JOURNALS THAT CLOSED IN 2012

  • Cezanne’s Carrot
  • Dark Sky
  • dispatch litareview
  • Dragonfire
  • The Dublin Quarterly
  • elimae
  • Girls with Insurance
  • In the Snake
  • kill author
  • LITnIMAGE
  • Lost Magazine
  • Night Train
  • (parenthetical note)
  • Rough Copy
  • Saltimbanque Review

MWA JOURNALS THAT CLOSED BEFORE 2012

  • 3711 Atlantic
  • 42opus
  • 5_Trope
  • Aberrant Dreams
  • Abjective
  • Absent Willow Review
  • Afterburn SF
  • Alsop Review
  • Arkansas Literary Forum
  • Arriviste Press
  • Atomjack Magazine
  • Baen’s Universe
  • Big News
  • Blithe House Quarterly
  • Bosphorus Art Project Quarterly
  • Bullfight Review
  • Cautionary Tale
  • Cherry Bleeds
  • Conversely
  • Coyote Wild
  • Crime Scene Scotland
  • DayBreak Magazine
  • dead drunk dublin
  • deathlings.com
  • The Deepening
  • Demolition
  • Dogmatika
  • The Edge of Propinquity
  • Edit Red
  • Eleven Bulls
  • The Exquisite Corpse
  • Fantasy Magazine (merged with Lightspeed Magazine)
  • Farrago’s Wainscot
  • Fawlt
  • Fiction Attic
  • Fiction Warehouse
  • Fiction Weekly
  • Figdust
  • FlatmanCrooked
  • A Fly in Amber
  • Fortean Bureau
  • Gator Springs
  • Gowanus
  • Green Integer Review
  • Hardluck Stories
  • Helix
  • The Hub
  • The Infinite Matrix
  • Infinity Plus
  • Ink Pot
  • Kennesaw Review
  • The King’s English
  • Lamination Colony
  • The Land-Grant College Review
  • laurahird.com
  • Lit Rag
  • Lone Star Stories
  • Me Three
  • MWU: Muslim Wake Up!
  • Nerve
  • Newtopia Magazine
  • Noneuclidean Café
  • Outsider Ink
  • The Paumanok Review
  • PERIGEE: Publication for the Arts
  • Pindeldyboz
  • The Pittsburgh Quarterly Online
  • Plaztik Press Literary Magazine
  • Poets & Artists
  • Poor Mojo’s Almanac(k)
  • Potion
  • The Quarterly Staple
  • Raging Face
  • Reflection’s Edge
  • Rouse
  • Rumpus
  • Salon.com (listed b/c they no longer publish fiction)
  • SCIfiction
  • Serendipity
  • SFReader.com
  • Shred of Evidence
  • Small Spiral Notebook
  • Socialist Review
  • Southern Gothic Online
  • Southern Hum
  • Spoiled Ink
  • Steel City Review
  • Susurrus: The Literature of Madness
  • Taint
  • Thieves Jargon
  • Thirst for Fire
  • Three Candles
  • Thunder Sandwich
  • Tryst
  • Twelve Stories
  • Velvet Mafia
  • Verbsap
  • View Unplugged
  • Weekly Reader
  • Writers’ Bloc
  • You Must Be This Tall to Ride

Million Writers Award anthology ebooks only $2.99

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MWAAnthologies

The ebook editions of my Million Writers Award anthologies, which are retrospective collections featuring ten years worth of award-honored stories, are temporarily marked down to only $2.99.

The first anthology, Million Writers Award: The Best Online Science Fiction and Fantasy, focuses on SF/F stories, while the second, Million Writers Award: The Best New Online Voices , highlights non-genre stories. 

To order the ebook editions at this discounted price, check out the links below.

Winners of the 2012 storySouth Million Writers Award

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Here they are — the winners of this year's storySouth Million Writers Award. 

Thanks to everyone who nominated stories and voted in this year's award. And thanks also to our great donors. This year's prizes include:

  • $500 for the overall winner, plus a $100 gift certificate from ThinkGeek
  • $250 for the runner-up / second place winner
  • $100 for the honorable mention winner plus a $50 gift card to Powells.com, sponsored by writingprompts.us
  • In addition, all three winners will receive free books from Dzanc Books (who also generously contributed to the overall prize money)

If you enjoyed this year's award, be sure to check out our two retrospective anthologies of Million Writers Award stories. For complete information, including how to order, go here for the SF/F anthology and here for the New Online Voices anthology.

In small things of note

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One of my favorite books while studying archeology was In Small Things Forgotten, an exploration of how the little things we leave behind tell others so much about our lives.

Here are a few small things of note for today:

  • The public vote for the storySouth Million Writers Award is now closed. I'll release the results in the evening on Monday, Aug. 13.

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  • Asimov's Science Fiction has accepted a second story from me. "Monday's Monk" is my first SF story set in Thailand and draws heavily on my experiences there as a Peace Corps Volunteer. When I know the story's publication date I'll let everyone know. Many many thanks to Sheila Williams for accepting the story.

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  • SF Signal has published the English edition of my essay "Opening the SF Translation Pipeline to America," which was originally published in the Czech magazine XB-1. Thanks to Aliette de Bodard, Nick Mamatas, and Ken Liu for their insights on the topic and to both XB-1 and SF Signal for publishing the essay.

 

Million Writers Award vote extended by one day

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Tonight at 11:59 pm Eastern time was supposed to be the end of the public vote for this year's storySouth Million Writers Award. However, the storySouth website went down for nearly a day last week, resulting in much anguish and emailing to me about the inability to vote.

To make up for this problem, I'm extending the public vote by one day. The voting will now end at 11:50 pm on Tuesday, Aug. 7. To vote go here.  For the most recent vote tally, go here.

This year we have nearly $1000 in cash prizes for the top three winners, along with

  • A $100 gift certificate from ThinkGeek for the overall winner;
  • Free books from Dzanc Books for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners (Dzanc Books also generously contributed to the overall prize money);
  • A $50 gift card to Powells.com for the third place winner, sponsored by writingprompts.us.

 

Two weeks left to vote in the storySouth Million Writers Award

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There are two more weeks to vote in the storySouth Million Writers Award. So far we've already had around 800 people vote in this year's contest. Don't forget the winning stories will receive nearly $1000 in cash and prizes.

As of yesterday, here are the vote standings for the ten finalists:

Based on the results so far, this means "The Mill Pond" by xTx (from StoryGlossia) and "On Familiar Terms" by Kelly Cherry (from Blackbird) are battling neck and neck for the lead. However, it doesn't take that many votes to change the dynamics of the race. So be sure to read the stories and vote for your favorite.

Voting ends on Monday, August 6th. To vote, go here.

And don't forget Spotlight Publishing has released two retrospective anthologies of Million Writers Award stories. For complete information, including how to order, go here for the SF/F anthology and here for the New Online Voices anthology.

 

Million Writers Award anthologies now available; early reaction includes a Publisher's Weekly starred review

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MWAAnthologies

Spotlight Publishing has released my two Million Writers Award anthologies, which are retrospective collections featuring ten years worth of award-honored stories.

The first anthology, Million Writers Award: The Best Online Science Fiction and Fantasy, focuses on SF/F stories, while the second, Million Writers Award: The Best New Online Voices, highlights non-genre stories. 

Early reviews for the SF/F anthology are now coming in and — drum roll please — the book received a Publisher's Weekly starred review! To quote:

"Sanford, editor of the online literary journal storySouth, assembles a remarkable collection of science fiction and fantasy works, all originally published online and heralded in storySouth’s annual Million Writers Award contest (some are winners, others finalists and notables). ... Many of these stories have earned other awards and nominations, and they prove that online journals and magazines deserve readers’ respect and attention.

Wow!

In addition, Jamie Todd Rubin at Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show also review the SF/F anthology. He said: 

"We are living in a golden age of short science fiction and fantasy. Having read and written a great deal about classical Golden Age science fiction, having done a pretty good job keeping up with most of the short fiction markets today, I feel I can make this statement with some authority. If further evidence is required, however, I point to Jason Sanford's recent anthology,Million Writers Award: The Best Online Science Fiction and Fantasy."

Again, wow! Many thanks to both reviewers for the kind words.

Contributor copies have now mailed, and this weekend I'll be mailing out signed copies to anyone who pre-ordered (those would have gone out last weekend but the storm and power outage intervened). 

To order a print or ebook edition, click below.

Million Writers Award update (the power outage edition)

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Thanks to the storms which swept through the eastern U.S. this weekend, my house has gone off the grid. For now, my iPhone is still working so I have a rudimentary ability to post items to this blog, along with access to email and social media. But that's the extent of my online abilities.

Unfortunately, today was when I planned to both release the judge's picks for the Million Writers Award top ten stories and start the public vote for the overall winner. But to do that I need FTP and other online access. As soon as I have it we'll start the final part of the contest. Thanks to everyone for their patience.

Also, the two Million Writers Award anthologies are now available. However, the distributor is still working on placing them with online bookstores like Amazon. That should happen in another week or two. Until it does, if people order from Spotlight Publishing they'll receive immediate shipping and still receive the pre-order pricing of $13.99 for the book and .99 cent shipping. Details and links here.

Million Writers Award notable stories of 2011

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The storySouth Million Writers Award notable stories of 2011 have been released. These are the stories our preliminary judges believed were the best online short stories published last year. Congratulation to all the selected authors, and to Cha: An Asian Literary Journal for winning the best online magazine and to The Good Men's Project for winning best new online magazine.

Our three final judges will now begin going through these stories and picking out their top ten stories of the year; this top ten list will be released in June. 

Many thanks to the editors and readers who nominated stories. And a big thanks to the preliminary judges who screened the nominations and/or picked their own favorites: Lena Andersson, Sarah McCraw Crow, Thom Didato, Shaun Duke, Dorothee Lang, Robert Laughlin, Judah Mahay, Sean Markey, Erica Naone, Karen L. Newman, Nick Ripatrazone, Wayne E. Yang, and Peter Young (along with the judges who wished to remain anonymous).

Signed and numbered copies of Million Writers Award anthologies, along with free chapbook and new Plague Birds story!

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MWAAnthologiesWhen Spotlight Publishing released my short story collection Never Never Stories last year, I offered readers the chance to purchase signed and numbered copies. Because that was so popular a few people asked if I'd do the same with the upcoming Million Writers Award anthologies.

Short answer: Yes!

Anyone who orders Million Writers Award: The Best Online Science Fiction and Fantasy or Million Writers Award: The Best New Online Voices through Spotlight Publishing before the publication date of June 14 will have their books signed and numbered by me. (See note at bottom for more details, including how international orders will be handled and what to do if you've already ordered an anthology.)

But wait – cue television pitchman voice – there's more!

  • Everyone who pre-orders one print copy of either MWA anthology will receive a signed, limited edition chapbook of a new story by me, "The Bayou Witch's Guide to True Forgotten Love."
     
  • Anyone who orders both MWA anthologies will also receive a sneak preview of the new novel I'm working on, Plague Birds. The novel continues the story first told in my Interzone Readers' Poll winning "Plague Birds" and continued in "The Ever-Dreaming Verdict of Plagues" (both originally published in Interzone). The sneak preview contains the first third of the Plague Birds novel, meaning you'll receive the equivalent of a third brand-new story along with the two already mentioned above. I'd send you the preview as your choice of either a PDF or e-book readable file.

And all that's on top of the special pricing and free ebook offers Spotlight is already giving for pre-orders.

The reason we're doing the special offers is I really want people to read these anthologies. These stories are, in my opinion, reshaping the world of short fiction. The authors in these anthologies are the people you'll be reading in the decades to come.

To place your order, go to 

Please note: If you order a signed copy, please allow an extra week after the June 14 publication date to receive the anthology(ies). The simple truth is the laws of time and space are difficult to bend and Spotlight needs that week to ship me the books required for signing.

Also, I want to thank Spotlight for covering the extra domestic postage required for this special offer. I'm also personally covering the additional cost for internation orders, but what the heck, me thinks. I doubt the cost will break me. But I'm also often wrong about things like this.

And finally, if you already ordered a print copy of the anthologies and you'd like it to be signed and numbered, simply email me and I'll pass the word to Spotlight.

Million Writers Award donation update

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Thank to donations, we now we have nearly $800 in cash prizes for the top three winners of this year's Million Writers Award, along with

  • A $100 gift certificate from ThinkGeek for the overall winner;
  • Free books from Dzanc Books for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners (Dzanc Books also generously contributed to the overall prize money);
  • A $50 gift card to Powells.com for the third place winner, sponsored by writingprompts.us.

Thanks to everyone who donated. I'll post the names of individual donors soon (unless the donor wished to remain anonymous). And don't forget our goal is to offer $1000 in cash and prizes, so if you want to donate it's not too late. Simply use the button below.

Please note that because donations do not go through Spring Garden Press (storySouth's publisher), donations are not tax deductible. However, the entire donated amount is used for prize money, minus the small fee PayPal deducts for transmitting the money.

 

Here they come: Million Writers Award anthologies to be published June 14!

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MWAAnthologiesThis year's Million Writers Award is off to a great start, with reader and editor nominations already rolling in. Thanks to everyone who has already nominated a story and/or donated toward the award's prize money. We literally couldn't do this without you!

This is the 9th year I've run the award and during that time I've read a ton of great online short stories. I've long wished someone would publish an anthology of MWA stories so I could showcase the amazing vitality of online authors and fiction.

Well, guess what — wishes do come true! I'm please to announce the release of two MWA anthologies, which will be published on June 14 by Spotlight Publishing. The first, Million Writers Award: The Best Online Science Fiction and Fantasy, focuses on SF/F stories, while the second anthology, Million Writers Award: The Best New Online Voices, highlights non-genre stories. All of the stories in these anthologies either won the Million Writers Award, were in the top ten stories of the year, or were selected as notable stories by our judges. 

In making my selections I picked those stories which remained burned in my brain long after I read them. Some of these authors have been published in print magazines and books; others are only known for being published online. But all of them are reshaping the world of short fiction. Read these groundbreaking short stories and you’ll understand why online magazines and journals are the place to find today’s most vital and challenging stories.

Pre-Order Special — free ebook offer!

If you pre-order one or both anthologies from Spotlight Publishing before June 14 you'll receive special pricing on print editions and ebooks (and please note these ebooks are DRM-free). The regular price for each anthology is $15.95 + S&H. However...

  • If you pre-order the cost for one anthology is only $13.95 + S&H (1.99). 
  • If you pre-order one copy of both anthologies the cost is only $23.95 + S&H (1.99)
  • Only want the ebook? The regular price is $4.95 but the pre-order price is $3.95 for one copy or both anthologies for only $6.95.

In addition, if you use the following Million Writers Award codes when purchasing print copies of the anthologies you'll receive a free ebook. To do this, enter the following codes on the check-out page that says 'Order Summary' and 'Review Your Information.' At that time click on the link that says "Add special instructions to the seller." In the box that pops up, simply add the code you desire.

  • MWA-SF-MOBI — Code for the mobi version of the Best of SF&F ebook.
  • MWA-SF-EPUB — Code for the epub version of the Best of SF&F ebook.
  • MWA-VOICES-MOBI — Code for the mobi version of the Best New Online Voices ebook.
  • MWA-VOICES-EPUB — Code for the epub version of the Best New Online Voices ebook.
  • MWA-BOTH-MOBI — Code for the mobi version of both ebooks. Note: to receive both ebooks you must order both print editions.
  • MWA-BOTH-EPUB — Code for the epub version of both ebooks. Note: to receive both ebooks you must order both print editions.

Ebooks will be emailed to the address associated with their order/payment info at the same time the print editions are mailed out (i.e., June 14).

For more information and to pre-order, go here for the SF/F anthology or here for the New Voices anthology.

 

Million Writers Award: The Best Online Science Fiction and Fantasy

MWA_SFF_800px

Table of Contents

  • Non-Zero Probabilities - by N. K. Jemisin
  • The Faithful Soldier, Prompted - by Saladin Ahmed
  • Arvies - by Adam-Troy Castro
  • There’s a Hole in the City - by Richard Bowes
  • Horus Ascending - by Aliette de Bodard
  • Blue Ink - by Yoon Ha Lee
  • Eros, Philia, Agape - by Rachel Swirsky
  • A Song to Greet the Sun - by Alaya Dawn Johnson
  • Time to Say Goodnight - by Caroline M. Yoachim
  • The Fisherman’s Wife - by Jenny Williams
  • Intertropical Convergence Zone - by Nadia Bulkin
  • Urchins, While Swimming - by Catherynne M. Valente
  • The Shangri-La Affair - by Lavie Tidhar
  • Elegy for a Young Elk - by Hannu Rajaniemi

 

Million Writers Award: The Best New Online Voices

MWA_OnlineVoices_800pxTable of Contents

  • Friday Afternoons on Bus Number 51 - by Sruthi Thekkiam
  • The Incorrupt Body of Carlo Busso - by Eric Maroney
  • The Mountain’s Laughter is a Landslide in the Seed Moon’s Light - by J. M. Scoville
  • Hospitality - by Summer Block
  • I Am My Rooster - by Taylur Thu Hien Ngo
  • Do You Have a Place For Me - by Roxane Gay
  • Cancer Party - by Nicola Mason
  • Interview With A Moron - by Elizabeth Stuckey-French
  • Grief Mongers - by Sefi Atta
  • Alex Trebek Never Eats Fried Chicken - by Matt Bell
  • The Infinite Monkey Theorem - by Marshall Moore
  • Sandwiches From Home - by Jessica Schneider
  • The Black Tongue - by Anjana Basu
  • The Rules of Urban Living - by Kara Janeczko
  • Madame Sabat’s Grave - by Corey Mesler
  • The Boy With the Hole In His Head - by Gokul Rajaram
  • Vertically Divided, Blue-White-Red - by Mark MacNamara
  • Ditch - by Eric Beetner
  • You Are a 14-Year-Old Arab Chick Who Just Moved to Texas - by Randa Jarrar

 

The 2012 storySouth Million Writers Award is open

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Pre-order Million Writers Award anthologies and receive special pricing, free ebook!

On June 14th Spotlight Publishing will release two anthologies of Million Writers Award stories. If you pre-order one or both of the anthologies before June 14th you'll receive special pricing and a free ebook. For more information, go here.

Update: We know have nearly $1000 in cash and prizes. Thank to all our donors. More information is here.

The storySouth Million Writers Award is now open. I will be running the reader and editor nominations from this blog; the main award page on storySouth will be where the notable stories and top ten stories are posted.

For background information on the award, please see my introduction to the award and the award rules. The award is for any fictional short story of at least a 1,000 words first published in an online publication during 2011. By "publication," I mean an online magazine or journal with an editorial process (so self-published stories are not eligible).

  • Reader nominations can be made here.
  • Editor nominations can be made here.

The deadline for nominations is April 9, 2012. The list of notable stories of the year will be released around the first of May, with the top ten stories released by the end of that month. Voting on the top stories of the year will last for three weeks after the top ten stories are released.

Donations Needed for Prize Money!

Here's the big thing: We need donations to fund this year's prize money. Last year there were three cash prizes: $600 for the overall winner, $200 for the runner-up, and $100 for the honorable mention/third place, plus a $100 gift certificate from the great folks at ThinkGeek. The majority of this prize money was raised through donations from writers, editors and readers. I hope we can reach these amounts again.

Please note that since these donations do not go through Spring Garden Press (storySouth's publisher), donations are not tax deductible. However, your entire donated amount will be used for the prize money, minus the small fee PayPal deducts for transmitting the money. All donors will have the option of having their name and donation listed on the Million Writers Award page. Donors may also remain anonymous.

To donate, go here.

Thanks to everyone who has taken part in the award in previous years, and I hope you enjoy it again this year. I will be posting updates on this blog throughout the award process. For more frequent updates, be sure to check out my Twitter account.

Editor Nominations for the 2012 Million Writers Award

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Pre-order Million Writers Award anthologies and receive special pricing, free ebook!

On June 14th Spotlight Publishing will release two anthologies of Million Writers Award stories. If you pre-order one or both of the anthologies before June 14th you'll receive special pricing and a free ebook. For more information, go here.

The 2012 Million Writers Award is now open for nominations. This page is for EDITORS to nominate three short stories published in their online magazine. Individual nominations are here.

Nominations will be accepted through April 9, 2012. As always, there is no fee to nominate a story and no fee to take part. To nominate stories from your online magazine or journal, please first read the rules then use the format below to place your nominations in this page's comment box. Failure to use this format can result in nominations not being considered.

To post nominations people will need to log into this site using either Facebook, Twitter, Typepad, or another social media account. If anyone experiences problems please contact Jason Sanford.

If you like what we're doing with the Million Writers Award, please consider making a donation to increase the amount of prize money we can offer.

Correct nomination format
Enter all editor nominations in the comment box at the bottom of this page

Interzone
http://ttapress.com/interzone
Story 1: "Flying in the Face of God" by Nina Allan
http://ttapress.com/downloads/flying-in-the-face-of-god.pdf
Story 2: "The Shipmaker" by Aliette de Bodard
http://ttapress.com/downloads/the-shipmaker.pdf
Story 3: "Plague Birds" by Jason Sanford
http://www.jasonsanford.com/files/plaguebirds.pdf

Note: The above stories from Interzone are not eligible for this award since Interzone is a print magazine. However, Interzone is an amazing magazine which recently published a special issue on the fiction of Jason Sanford. Since Jason runs the Million Writers Award, he decided to use this spot to plug Interzone. He also urges people to subscribe.

Reader Nominations for the 2012 Million Writers Award

in

Pre-order Million Writers Award anthologies and receive special pricing, free ebook!

On June 14th Spotlight Publishing will release two anthologies of Million Writers Award stories. If you pre-order one or both of the anthologies before June 14th you'll receive special pricing and a free ebook. For more information, go here.

The 2012 Million Writers Award is now open for nominations. This page is for READERS to nominate one short story published in an online magazine during 2011. Editor nominations are here.

Nominations will be accepted through April 9, 2012. As always, there is no fee to nominate a story or to take part in the award process. If a story is already nominated below, there is no need to nominate that story multiple times. Attempts to "stuff" multiple nominations of the same story by one reader or a group of readers will be deleted.

To nominate a story, please first read the rules then use the following format to place information in the comment box at the bottom of this page.

Asimov's Science Fiction
http://www.asimovs.com
Story: "Stone Wall Truth" by Caroline M. Yoachim
Story URL: http://carolineyoachim.com/Stories/StoneWallTruth.html

(Note: the above story—while a top-notch piece of short fiction—is not eligible for the Million Writers Award because it was first published in Asimov's, a print magazine.)

Failure to use the above format when making a nomination can result in nominations not being considered.

Please enter your nomination into the comment box at the bottom of this page. To post nominations people will need to log into this site using either Facebook, Twitter, Typepad, or another social media account. If anyone experiences problems please contact Jason Sanford.

Finally, if you like what we're doing with the Million Writers Award please consider making a donation to increase the amount of prize money we can offer.

Introduction to the 2012 Million Writers Award

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When I founded the online journal storySouth more than ten years ago, the literary establishment didn't believe online magazines were legitimate places to publish fiction. In fact, many of these heads-in-the-sand fools also believed that the internet was a passing fad.

Now these same people are tweeting each other links to their favorite online stories. It's amazing how the literary world can change in a decade. And now here we go again, launching the 9th go around of the storySouth Million Writers Award.

To make sure the award runs smoothly this year, please make note of these points and changes:

  1. Only stories first published in online literary journals, magazines, and e-zines that have an editorial process, during the 2011 calendar year, are eligible for nomination. This means that an editor must have selected the story for publication. Self-published stories are not eligible. Stories reprinted online, but originally published in a print edition, are not eligible.
  2. In order to keep people from spamming multiple nominations, any reader, writer, or editor who nominates stories will have to log into this site using either Facebook, Twitter, Typepad, or another social media login. The lists of ways to log in is rather long so I'll be surprised if too many people have a problem. But if you do please contact me to arrange another way of uploading your nominations.
  3. I will no longer pick the top ten stories of the year. Instead, three judges selected by me will take over this duty. I hope this will create an even more diverse and exciting group of finalists.
  4. Last year we did an experiment, declaring stories published in online editions of print magazines to no longer be eligible for the award. This change is hereby revoked. The Million Writers Award is for online publications, so if the online edition of a print magazine publishes short stories those stories are eligible provided the stories were first published online (and not first published in the print edition).

The literary world has changed massively in the last decade and I'd like to think storySouth and the Million Writers Award played a part in shaking up the old ways of doing things. It'll be interesting to see what the coming decade brings.

Sincerely,

Jason Sanford