IGMS offering Peter S. Beagle story for free during Million Writers Award voting

While I stay neutral in the voting for the top story in the Million Writers Award--aside from removing hamfisted attempts at ballot stuffing, which is always done by a few fools--I want to let everyone know about "We Never Talk About My Brother" by Peter S. Beagle from Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. Normally, readers have to pay $2.50 an issue to read IGMS, but editors Orson Scott Card and Edmund Schubert have given free access to the story during the MWA voting period. So check it out. And I highly recommend putting $2.50 down for the current issue of IGMS, because you can't beat that price for some of the best SF/F on the web.

Million Writers Award top ten stories of 2007

I have now picked my Million Writers Award top ten stories of 2007. The stories are:

The public vote for the top story will run through July 17. This year's award is sponsored by the Edit Red Writing Community. As a result of this sponsorship, the award features a $300 prize for the overall winner.

I'll have more to say about these stories and the process in the coming day, but for now I'll let the stories speak for themselves.

The final Million Writers Award update

This will be the final Million Writers Award update before I release the top ten stories of the year and the public voting starts. I've now picked the top ten stories. What I'm doing now is trying to arrange for access to one of the selected stories, along with programming the public vote. Look for the stories to be posted either Monday or Tuesday. I know I've been slow with this year's award, and for that I apologize. But as much as I enjoy doing this award, it doesn't pay the bills (in fact, it generates a number of bills, so please consider donating to help support the effort). As such, it has to come after work and family obligations.

MIA: Million Writers Award?

I'm sure a number of people are wondering if the Million Writers Award has gone MIA, but don't worry--I'm still reading through the 164 notable stories. I have now read 122 stories and have some 40 odd stories left to go. I expect to finish and have the top ten up by the end of next week.

One reason this has taken longer than expected is there are more notable stories to read than in previous years. Also, there are a ton of great stories in this year's list, meaning I'm going back and rereading quite a few of them. So thanks for the patience and check back next week.

Million Writers Award update

I'm still working on picking the Million Writers Award top ten stories. Reading through all this short fiction has literally worn me out.

A few more stories which have caught my attention include "Intellectual Property" by Angela Woodward, "Casa de Serenidad" by Zachary Amendt, and "Elsbeth Rose" by Lavie Tidhar. Doesn't mean I'll pick these stories for the top ten, but from my last two days of reading these are my favorite stories.

Story of the Week: "Johnny Cash Beset by Darkness" by John Marshall Daniel

I'm still working on my top ten selections from the Million Writers Award notable stories of 2007. While I haven't made up my mind about a handful of stories, there is one tale I'm totally in love with. This is also a story which, tragically, I can't select: "Johnny Cash Beset by Darkness" by John Marshall Daniel.

The reason I can't pick this story is because it was published in storySouth, a literary journal I edit. Our fiction editor Scott Yarbrough is to be commended for selecting this amazing story, which--without giving too much away--involves a lush Southern setting and a disturbing travelling sideshow. But while a lesser story would have dog-paddled in the warm waters of these familiar story-telling cliches, this tale dive deep into the cold, fresh waters of Daniel's unique writing voice. The result is a classic tale which stays with the reader. While I can't select this story because of the obvious conflict of interest, I highly recommend it.

"Do Not Hate Them Very Much" by Matthew M. Quick

I am continuing to read through the list of Million Writers Award notable stories of 2007. Another story which has seared its way into my mind is "Do Not Hate Them Very Much" by Matthew M. Quick. Published in AGNI online, this strong slice-of-life story is a gripping examination of the cross-cultural conflicts and communications surrounding a traffic accident in war-torn Iraq. The writing is extremely strong, with the main character crafted into life as only the best authors can do. What I particularly like is that this story doesn't present easy answers to the conflict and situation. The U.S. soldiers, the Pakistani drivers, the Indian narrator--everyone here exists as fully realized people trying to do their best in a difficult situation.
 

"Small Pale Humans" by Daniel Spinks

As I read through the Million Writers Award notable stories of 2007, one thought that kept returning to me is that there are a lot of sick puppies writing fiction. I mean, I couldn't even begin to count how many stories in this list deal with murder, sex, torture, insanity--and murderous sex while torturing someone with an insane rubber chicken (okay, I made that last one up).

Seriously, if there is one constant in the realm of fiction, it is that authors will turn time and again to stories about extreme people exploring the extremes of human nature. One story from the list that captures this aspect of humanity in a good way is "Small Pale Humans" by Daniel Spinks. Published in Bear Parade, the story follows a seriously crazy individual as he goes through the endless repetitions of his life. As Einstein is believed to have said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." In "Small Pale Humans," you can easily see why this is a valid definition of insanity. I especially liked the format of the story, which is spread over 16 small chapters. This forces people to click through the chapters as they read them, giving a circular nature to the story which fits in well with its repetition theme. Spinks' writing is also top-notch.

Million Writers Award update

I'm now reading through the Million Writers Award notable stories of 2007. There are a ton of great stories in the list this year, which will make selecting the top ten finalists extremely hard. I'm still aiming for having these story selections up by the last week of May. Until then, I'll post comments on this blog about stories I really like (although this doesn't mean I'll pick these stories for the top ten).

I should also note that in response to my previous post about some minor screw-ups in the list of notable stories--and the resulting tempest in a teapot from some writers and fans of flash fiction--it appears no one will take me up on my offer to remove their name from consideration for the award. I guess this means these mistakes didn't truly undermined the award's credibility, despite claims to the contrary.

More flash fiction crap--and how authors can remove their names from consideration for this award

This morning I received several outraged e-mails, all stating I'd undermined the credibility of the Million Writers Award by not kicking out all the stories which were under 1000 words (see yesterday's post for more on this). Others wanted to know why we didn't employ a legion of fact checkers to go through each nominated story to make sure they met the award guidelines.

In response to that last question, I am the entire fact checking army for the MWA. I am ultimately responsible for any mistake in the award process. I collected the notable stories from each preliminary judge--all 164 of them--and then did my best to screen them to make sure they met the award criteria. As I stated yesterday, I made mistakes. In my haste to get the notable stories up, I missed several that came in under the 1000 minimum word count. One of these stories was so far under the word minimum (at only 208 words) that I felt I had no choice but to remove it. Two or three other stories were in the 700 to 1000 word range and, feeling these were closer to the intent of the award guidelines, I let them remain in the notable stories list.

Which brings us back to the main point of these outraged e-mailers, which is that I undermined the credibility of the award by doing this. To which I respond: Bullshit. What the e-mailers are really complaining about it that their flash fiction didn't get considered for the award while the judges had the audacity to pick someone else's 700 word story for this honor. As stated, none of these stories should have been picked for this notable list--that was a mistake. Still, a judge felt these two or three stories were worth honoring. So what are these e-mailers suggesting: That I revoke this honor from someone whose story is only slightly under the guideline minimum? Will that make you feel better that your own story wasn't considered? The complaints on this strike me as rather self-centered.

The MWA has one of the most open and transparent nominating processes of any literary award.  Our goal is to bring attention to deserving writers and their stories.  I have admitted making some honest mistakes with this year's list of notable stories. If anyone feels this undermines the credibility of the award, then that is what you will believe. However, I also hope you do not merely state this opinion in the privacy of an e-mail or a closed forum. Put your own credibility as an author on the line. E-mail me and ask that your stories not be considered for this award in the future. I will be happy to remove your name from consideration from this point onwards (or, if you have a notable story in this year's list, remove that story from further consideration). I will also publish a post in the near future naming all the authors who feel this way and contact me. After all, I wouldn't want anyone to risk taking part in an award they consider lacking in credibility.

Micro Award for flash fiction

Shortly after my previous post in which I mentioned a possible flash fiction version of the Million Writers Award in the works for next year, Robert Laughlin e-mailed to say that "It is too late for you to set a precedent by establishing the firstcompetition for previously published flash fiction; I have already done so. I am the creator and administrator of the Micro Award, an annual award for fiction not over 1000 words in length. Authors and editors may each nominate one story published in the previous year, and the award accepts stories published in print and online venues. Rules are posted on our website, at www.microaward.com. This year's submission deadline is Sep. 30, and the winner and non-winning finalists will be announced on or about Dec. 15."

More power to Robert with the award and I encourage people to submit early and often.

Screw-ups in the Million Writers Award

I have received a number of e-mails about screw-ups with this year's list of Million Writers Award notable stories. Many of these mistakes are minor--misspellings of either journals or authors' names and wrong links to stories. As I have been made away of these mistakes I have corrected them.

But as many people have pointed out, a couple of stories didn't appear to meet the guidelines for this year's awards. First, there seems to have been a story or two listed which were published prior to 2007. This is a mistake, but not one I take too seriously. Let me explain: some journals (such as the Barcelona Review) do not archive their stories in a way which lets the judges easily determine when a story was published. It also happens that judges can make mistakes and miss a story's publication date, meaning they might select a story which was not published in the preceding year. When any of this happens, my view is to not remove the story from the notable list PROVIDED the story wasn't also listed in a previous year's MWA. The main goal of the MWA is to bring attention to deserving authors. As such, I have little desire to remove a story because a judge messed up the story's publication date.

Another issue that has come up is that some of the notable stories this year don't meet the MWA's 1000 word minimum. The MWA rules state that the genre of short stories called flash fiction or short shorts is not eligible for the MWA. The reason for this is simple: When I started the MWA, I felt that the award should be used to promote longer fiction on the web. Partly this was because I am not a fan of flash fiction, and partly because I felt online flash fiction was already receiving a good deal of attention.

This year one notable story, Maryanne Stahl's "Your Hair, Your Weight" in Per Contra review, is well under 1000 words--clocking in at exactly 208 words. I asked the preliminary judge who selected this story what happened and she told me she'd forgotten about the 1000 word limit. Unfortunately, I also goofed and failed to notice the story's length when I was compiling the notable story list. Because the story is so far below the word minimum, I feel it would be unfair to leave it as a notable story and have now removed it from the list. I apologize to Maryanne and Per Contra for this mistake. The only good thing is that Maryanne is already a highly accomplished author, so I don't think this will derail her writing career in the slightest.

This leaves the final issue, which is that several people have noticed other stories on the list which appear to be slightly below the 1000 word minimum. In these cases, I will not remove the stories. I do not ask the judges to do a word count on stories--if they are close to the minimum, then they will remain. Again, this gets back to promoting deserving authors.

Now before people start harassing me because of my well-known dislike of flash fiction and how this episode marks me as a hypocrite or, worse, a sloppy editor, everyone should know that I was approached several months ago by an author and editor about doing a flash-fiction version of the MWA. We both agreed it was a good idea but that we didn't have the time to do it this year. If all goes well, this flash fiction MWA will be launched early next year alongside the regular award. And in even better news, I won't be running this flash MWA! So my biases against the flash genre will be kept well away from the award.

I hope this clarifies everything and settles any disputes about this year's award.

Crunching the Million Writers Award numbers

The Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2007 is now out in the world and appears to be generating a fair bit of excitement, based on website traffic and the number of blog posts about the list. In my previous post announcing the notable stories I asked people who felt like doing some number crunching on the list to send me the results. As usual, the number crunchers out there quickly responded!

Robert Laughlin responded first, noting that there were 164 notables stories this year. In addition, he analyzed the first five years of the award to do a breakdown on which magazines have had the most MWA Notable Stories. His findings: Eclectica is first with 31 notable stories selected across five years. Pindeldyboz is second with 26 while Agni, Strange Horizons and Word Riot tied for third with 16 each. Rounding out the top ten are Narrative Magazine with 15, Fiction Warehouse with 13, The King's English and Mississippi Review both with 12, and Blackbird, Blithe House Quarterly, and Storyglossia with 11 nominations each.

I then received a detailed analysis of this year's notable stories from a correspondent who prefers to stay anonymous. According to him, the 164 notable stories for 2007 came from 92 different publications. Of these selections, 67 (or 41%) were first nominated by editors while 21 (or 13%) were first nominated by readers. This means that the preliminary judges selected stories solely on their own in 82 cases (or 50% of the time). In addition, 16 stories were nominated by more than one judge. These percentages don’t add up to 100% because of overlap--about 4% of stories were nominated by both editors and readers.

This breakdown on how the stories were selected seems good to me. In fact, it highlights one reason I like the format used by the MWA--we cast a wide net for stories. Several of the judges have told me how great the reader and editors nominations are b/c they point them to stories they wouldn't otherwise have considered. Likewise, I feel having the preliminary judges go out on their own brings in stories that likewise could have been overlooked.

According to this anonymous analysis, the top publications in this year's award (producing 26% of overall notable stories) were:

  • Blackbird (with 7 notable stories)
  • Pindeldyboz (5)
  • Subterranean (5)
  • Agni (5)
  • Clarkesword Magazine (4)
  • Baen's Universe (4)
  • Storyglossia (4)
  • Word Riot (4)
  • Mississippi Review (4)

This year's top authors were:

  • Elizabeth Bear (with three notable stories)
  • Cat Rambo (2)
  • Eric D. Anderson (2)
  • Elizabeth Crane (2)
  • Nick Antosca (2)
  • Andrea Fitzpatrick (2)
  • Corey Mesler (2)
  • Spencer Dew (2)
  • Jeff VanderMeer (2)

According to this analysis, of the top publications' notable stories, 25 of 42 (60%), including all seven of Blackbird's, were nominated solely by judges. Similarly, 11 of 19 (58%) of the top author's notable stories were nominated solely by judges.

To close out this number crunching, I should mention the previous analysis Scott Boyan did of the MWA. Scott used the analysis to create a ranking of the best online literary magazines and journals. While the analysis doesn't incorporate this year's list of notable stories, it is still a fascinating examination of both the award and online magazines.

Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2007

The Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2007 have now been released. The MWA award for best overall online publication goes to Blackbird for having seven of their stories selected as notable stories of the year. The MWA for best publisher of novella-length fiction goes to Jim Baen's Universe, while the award for best new online magazine or journal goes to Farrago's Wainscot (with runner ups being Wheelhouse Magazine and Coyote Wild).

I want to thank all the readers and editors who nominated stories and the preliminary judges who screened and selected this list of notable stories. I will begin reading these stories shortly and aim to release the top ten stories--and start the public vote for the best overall story--in late May.

BTW, I was too exhausted to count up all the stories on this list, but I swear it's even bigger than last year. If someone wants to do a breakdown and analysis of the notable stories, e-mail it to me and I'll post it here.

The Final Countdown (UPDATE: The not so final final)

I'm really not trying to milk this whole notable story thing--life has been hectic and I simply haven't had the time needed to finish the job. But I'm committed to staying up as late tonight as needed to get this finished. To keep myself focused, I'll post updates on this post through the night.

UPDATE 1 (April 28, 8:40 pm): I'm plugging away at the list. Taking longer than I thought to get the programming out. Still, I should have this up before midnight!

UPDATE 2 (9:00 pm): Blackbird and Agni are looking really good this year. Lots of notable stories.

UPDATE 3 (9:41 pm): A major irritation of mine is when online journals only keep links to stories up for a year or so. I mean, this is the frickin internet. Why remove a story from a place where readers can find it?

UPDATE 4 (10:41 pm): Reality set in when I estimated how much time was required to finish formatting the list. I'm still three hours from being finished and I have to go to work in the morning, so this drama is at an end for the night. Check back tomorrow night around 9 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time.

I know what people are saying about me right now

Based on comments I made last weekend, I can assume people are cursing my name for missing another self-imposed deadline for getting those Million Writer Award notable stories up. But If it makes people want to hold off on the whole burning in effigy thing, I took my kids camping yesterday. So yes, I picked family quality time over editorial work.

But the good news is the notable stories will be up tomorrow night! Check back then.

Still working on Million Writers Award notable stories list

By the traffic this blog is receiving from the storySouth 2008 Million Writers Award page, its obvious that people are eagerly awaiting our release of the list of notable stories of the year. Unfortunately, between the demands of work and life I was unable to finish coding the list for upload today. If all goes well, the notable stories will be released next Sunday. If I don't make that deadline, I give the readers, writers and editors of the world permission to both burn me in effigy and slander me at will on the literary blogs of their choosing.

As always, a big thanks goes to the Edit Red Writing Community for sponsoring the contest, which means there is a $300 prize for the overall winner. I should also note that the Edit Red community has nothing to do with me taking too long to compile this year's lists of notable stories.

Is the Short Fiction Market in Trouble? Hell no!

SF Signal, which has become the web's most essential SF/F blog, has a fascinating discussion up titled "Is the Short Fiction Market in Trouble?" Personally, I agree with Charles Coleman Finlay's comment that "This is the Golden Age of the short story in science fiction." As he states, yes, few people can make money merely by writing short fiction these days. But the only reason there's a debate on whether SF short fiction is dying is "because people are fixated on the old paradigm." Amen to that. I love short fiction. I read tons of short fiction, both in print and online, and I know there are many others out there just like me.

Just because people aren't buying short fiction magazines the way they did 30 years ago doesn't mean there's no interest in short fiction. After all, people don't buy record albums or CDs the way they did even a decade ago, but that doesn't mean people aren't listening to music. Instead, people are finding new ways to listen to music such as through iPods, iTunes, and other digital delivery systems. The same goes for short fiction. As I finish compiling the notable story selections for this year's Million Writers Award for best online short story, I'm constantly amazed at how many top-notch online magazines there are. While the professional SF magazines may have had larger circulations a few decades ago, there were no where near as many people writing, editing, and promoting short fiction as there are these days.

As Finlay states, the paradigm is changing and that scares some people and excites others. Speaking for myself, I prefer to embrace the excitement instead of the fear.

Million Writers Award update

Most of the preliminary judges have turned in their selections for the Million Writers Award. As soon as the remaining judges turn in their selections, and I combine these selections into the official list of notable stories, I will post the information onto the storySouth site. I'm aiming to have all this done by the end of next weekend.

Million Writers Award nomination summary

The editor and reader nomination period of the 2008 Million Writers Award for best online short story is now closed. The complete list of editor nominations can be seen here, while reader nominations are on this page.

A "mysterious, anonymous benefactor with an obsession for spreadsheets" (in his words) sent me a wonderful analysis of the nominations so far. According to his analysis, there are 537 nominated stories by 458 authors from 189 different publications. The publications with most nominations are:

  • Eclectica Magazine, 31 nominations
  • Storyglossia, 20
  • MendaCity Review, 9
  • Thieves Jargon, 9
  • Word Riot, 9
  • Helix, 8
  • Pindeldyboz, 8
  • Clarkesworld Magazine, 7
  • FRiGG Magazine, 7
  • Night Train, 7
  • Thuglit, 7
  • AGNI Online, 6
  • Narrative Magazine, 6
  • Underground Voices Magazine, 6

The preliminary judges have been screening these nominations, along with looking for stories which may have escaped the notice of nominating readers and editors. These preliminary editors will compile the list of notable stories, which will be released in a few weeks. I will then select the top ten stories of the year from this notable list; the public vote for the top story will occur shortly after that.

I want to thank everyone who took part in this nominating period. And, as always, a big thanks goes to the Edit Red Writing Community for sponsoring the contest, which means there is a $300 prize for the overall winner.