Million Writers: Another Update

Nominations are still open for the storySouth Million Writers award–have you cast your ballot yet?

I’m very grateful to see that I now have four stories on the nomination list: Pieces from Small Spiral Notebook, my own favorite for the year; I might not miss you from the Summerset Review, a reader nomination (and my second-favorite of the year); Self Defense from Pindeldyboz, which got the nod both from a reader and from the editors of Pindeldyboz; and Ichthyology from JMWW, an editors’ nomination and probably my third (a very close third) favorite (and more in line with the direction I’ve been going lately in my writing, having spent far too much time lately in the worlds of Kelly Link, Ali Smith, and Angela Carter).

Of the stories I had published this year that meet the requirements–published on line in 2005 and coming in at 1,000 words or more–only Carabosse from Clean Sheets hasn’t been nominated. And since this story was published in an “erotic” journal, and is a bit … direct? … in tone and words, it may not be the sort of thing that should be on the list. (Though I didn’t write it as a “dirty story”–like the rest of Clean Sheet’s publications, it’s a story first, and incidentally erotic.)

None of my stories float your boat? Fine by me; I’m not always a fan of my work either. But there are some other stories I really loved that haven’t been nominated yet; I would love to see any one of these take the prize this year:

• Respectful Beatings for Very Good Help by G. K. Wuori, from Barcelona Review
• Her Babies by Steven Gullion, from Edifice Wrecked
• The Tyranny of the Middle-Aged Short Story Writers by Andrew Day, from Eyeshot

I was thrilled to see Thief by Debra Anne Davis get the nod from Small Spiral Notebook’s editor.

Still not convinced? Fine, then. Go thee forth and read; take a look at the rest of the offerings at great journals like JMWW, Pindeldyboz, Small Spiral Notebook, The Summerset Review, and all the other outlets on line for fresh fiction, and show some love. Let the world know that short fiction is not dead, but is alive and vibrant and rocking your socks off in cyberspace, The Atlantic be damned.

(I don’t really mean “damned”, Atlantic; I meant “darned”, and in a nice way; you got my story, right? I haven’t heard from you for a while, but I know you’ll like it, really I do, even if I’m not Joyce Carol Oates or Charles Baxter…)