Thursday, January 7, 2010

Genre Wars Winners!

Michelle's Thoughts
So, the moment you've all been waiting for! Some have said waiting was like hanging from a cliff, but I hope it wasn't that bad. I am, of course, talking about my coming back to the Literary Lab to do posts again! Not the winners listed down below. Silly that you'd think anything different than that. Hah!

In all seriousness, I'm glad to be back, although I'm terrified to start posting again. So much pressure to sound intelligent and entertaining. Without further ado, we present to you the cover for the 2009 Genre Wars Anthology!



We had a lot of entries, and overall I was pleased at the well-rounded turnout of all genres. Reading so many varied genres has been amazing for my skills as a reader and a writer. I found a few entries that didn't quite fit in the genre they were put under by the author, and because of that I read the entry differently. For instance, if a very Literary story is labeled under Romance, I'm going to view it with a certain slant. If it doesn't fit right, I might not like the story as well, and on and on.

I really do hate to say that genre might affect how something is received, but it's true in my opinion. I find it more true now after I've done this contest with Scott and Davin. I know that it might have been tough to find the right fit for the limited genres we offered you to choose from, but like Davin says down below, all of the stories we have chosen fit together to form a masterpiece of flavors that when sampled all together offer a wonderful experience for the writerly palate. In the end, though, I found myself ignoring genre as I voted which stories would go into the anthology.

Overall I LOVED reading all of the entries! It was a fantastic ride, and I must say thank you thank you thank you to all of the entrants. Without you this contest would not have happened. It was absolutely tough to choose winners and who would go into the anthology. Because it was a voting process, some of the stories I loved didn't make it in. Please know that just because you aren't in the anthology, that does not mean you didn't make my favorites list!



Davin's Thoughts
I almost hate that I suggested the name Genre Wars for this contest, because the one thing I realized was how well these different types of stories work together. As a collection, each piece helps to balance out the others like a perfect meal, and while I was judging, I always felt refreshed transitioning from one genre to another. Speaking of judging, the majority rules approach we took to deciding our selections and winners was fascinating for me. Even among the three of us, we had many differences in opinion, and I think we all ended up losing some stories that we actually loved. At the same time, the great thing about being part of this trio was that I can blame someone else when a story we didn't choose ends up being part of a Pulitzer-winning collection. Thanks to everyone who entered and mentioned this contest to others!

Scott's Thoughts
Judging this contest was difficult. First, we got a lot of entries and if you add up all the stories, you get something like 200,000 words which means that Davin, Michelle and I read the equivalent of two good-sized novels, all while working on our own writing and having real lives and reading books on the side; there was just a lot of reading to do. Secondly--and most importantly--the quality of entries was high and it was hard to narrow down our choices. We all agonized about the finalists and it was only--as Michelle and Davin have both already said--it was only because we each have our individual tastes that we were able to have some differences of opinion and decisive votes. Almost every story that was entered had one of us judges championing it. Alas, some of my favorites didn't make the final selection and I'm just lucky indeed to have had the chance to read them here before they're published in legit venues. I'd like to thank everyone who entered. It's been an amazing and amusing couple of months for me, and a nice bonding experience with Davin and Michelle. We're all tired now, thanks to you lot. But tired in a very good way.

Here are the winners for the 2009 Genre Wars Anthology:


Grand Prize Winner and Young Adult/Children's/Middle Grade
Frances O'Brien - Two Separate Pieces


Literary
Judith Mercado - Asunder


Experimental
Jason King - LLAC EMIT DOOG A ROF


Sci-Fiction/Fantasy
E. J. Alexander - Heart Seeker


Horror/Crime
Donna Thorland - Napoleon's Boots


Romance/Women's Fiction
Susan James - Luminescence


Congratulations! Each of these winners above receives an interview here on the Literary Lab, their story posted here on the Literary Lab, their story published in the anthology, and a $10 gift certificate to a bookstore of their choice. The grand prize winner receives a $50 gift card to a book store of her choice.

Here's the list of the other stories that will be included in the anthology. Congrats!


YoungAdult/Children's/Middle Grade
Robbin Taylor - My Family Goes Out For Ice Cream
Mary Whitsell - Felix in the Hot Seat
Katelin Shea - The Little Wolf and the Big Bad Pigs
Anne R. Allen - The Big Ones


Literary
Chuck Hocter - Day 25,567
AJ Tanek - Temptations
Simon C. Larter - How To Write Like Hemingway
Steven Argyle - Sweating the Captives
Lisa Katzenberger - In Amsterdam
Jennifer Walkup - The Beginning


Experimental
Jeanie Decker - Channel Surfing and Alternate Realities
Susannah Pabot - Goldilocks is no Fairy Tale Princess
C.N. Nevets - The Best Medicine
C.N. Nevets - Death, Be Not Me


Sci-Fiction/Fantasy
Jason A. Myers - A Reply
B.J. Anderson - Fully Loaded
Maddalena Tarallo - As You Asked
Heather Zundel - A Story More


Horror/Crime
Loren Eaton - Bark
Brandon Boucher - Into the Arms of Digital Angels


Romance/Women's Fiction
Kelli A. Wilkins - Setting the Stage for Love
Anne Gallagher - High Tide
Natasha Ramarathnam - Agonies of Agony Aunt


The 2009 Genre Wars Anthology will be available for purchase by the end of January. Please remember to vote for which non-profit organization you want us to donate the proceeds to in our poll to the right. Below is a list of links to the interviews with each of the groups.










58 comments:

  1. Can’t wait to see the entire anthology, and thanks again for running this contest! Must have been quite a lot of reading for you all. Happy 2010 and looking forward to following your helpful blog during the year. Love the cover, by the way! Was it drawn by one of your blog readers?

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  2. Jennifer: Davin drew it, I colored it, and Scott decided some red would look good with the tan colors. It was a great collaboration! Thank you for your compliment! Can't wait to see your comments on our posts this coming year. Thank you for your participation!

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  3. Congratulations to the winners! I can't wait to read their work, and the rest of the collection. And yay for the anthologification of one of my pieces! (Terrible neologism, I know, but there you have it.)

    Thanks for running a cool contest, lady and gents. I had a lot of fun with it! Plus, the cover works quite well. Are those your alter egos, folks?

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  4. Congratulations, everyone!

    Simon, no, these are not our alter egos...but yes they are. This cover also gave us a chance to reference (in the subtlest way possible, naturally) the grand prize winner.

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  5. Congratulations to the winners! Looking forward to reading everyone's work.

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  6. So happy to be included! And that cover is so beautiful -- nice work. Looking forward to reading all the great pieces of fiction!

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  7. Congratulations to Frances O'Brien and the other winners, and also to the anthologized! I can't wait to read the stories.

    And thanks to Michelle, Davin, and Scott for hosting the contest. And, in doing so, for convincing me to write a short story and send it in.

    --Jason King

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  8. Simon: Alter egos? Possibly... ahem. I actually have drawn/painted another one but it was too busy to be included on the cover. I love the subtle simple nature of this one.

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  9. Congrats to the winners and the judges/organizers! I can't wait to read the stories.

    The cover is Absolutely Gorgeous! The talent you three have!

    I hope you'll run the contest again (it's true, after you give birth, you forget how painful it is!)

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  10. Thanks, Michelle, Davin, and Scott, for sponsoring the Genre Wars—what a great opportunity for us novelists to try out something new!
    Love the cover! It's perfect!

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  11. Congrats to all the winners!

    Oh...and my last name only has one "e" in it ;-)

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  12. I am SO buying this anthology.

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  13. Jason, sorry for the typo! I corrected it!

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  14. Jason: That would be my fault. Sorry! Thanks, Davin, for fixing that. :)

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  15. Congrats to everyone who entered and those who won! And special thanks of course to the judges...I don't envy the task!

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  16. Hi Everyone,
    I just realized I messed up on the poll. I had the wording wrong for one of the groups, so that has had to be reset. I really apologize for the mistake!

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  17. Hey I thought I left a comment but it doesn't look like it showed up.
    So I'll try again.

    I love the cover. Its so cool how all 3 of you contributed to it. Michelle, Simon, and Davin, thanks for running the contest. I'm honored to be included.

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  18. Clever cover! Congrats to all the winners! I'm excited to read their stories and interviews.

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  19. Congratulations to the winners! I like the cover and the contest was wonderful. I'll bet you guys got to read some amazing stories.

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  20. Congrats to all the winners. I bet it was very hard to pick them .There had to be a lot of wonderful writing in the contest. :0)

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  21. Thanks for all your hard work! The cover is marvelous. It has a timeless literary feel--like a classic New Yorker cartoon. Love it. I'm so pleased that my story is going to be included. It's one of my first ventures into YA, so I'm going to take this as serious encouragement to continue writing in the genre. I can't wait to read the book!

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  22. Congrats to the winners! Love the cover.

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  23. Congratulations to the winners and everyone included in the anthology! I will be buying several copies. I can’t wait to read them.

    I love the cover. Echoing Anne, it has a timeless classic feel.

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  24. Woot! Congrats to all the winners. I can't wait to get the anthology and read read read.

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  25. Thanks and no worries! Happens all the time.

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  26. Congrats to all the winners!

    This is excellent--can't wait to buy a copy!

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  27. You three are awesome to have run this contest, and thanks so much for putting in all that TIME! Which is something none of us have enough of! I'm thrilled and honored to be included in the anthology. Thank you so much!

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  28. Congratulations to the winners and to the authors included in the antholology. It's great to see some folks I know included and I'm excited to get to know the others through their writing, as well.

    Great job putting this together and pulling it off. It was ambitious!

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  29. I love your cover. Is that Dorothy Parker??

    Congratulations to those chosen and thank you for the opportunity

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  30. great contest, guys! Literary Lab just gets better and better. happy one year anniversary! will definitely be buying the anthology.

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  31. edithroad,
    In all the chaos, we forgot to announce that this is indeed our one year anniversary! Thanks for remembering! I can't believe we forgot ourselves.

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  32. This Big Daddy thing is cracking me up!

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  33. Congratulations to all the winners. I can't wait to get my hands on the book. I love, love, love the cover. Happy Anniversary.

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  34. Congrats to all! I'm excited to read the stories and get the book.

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  35. You guys really know how to throw an aniversary party! And, Davin, I had no idea you were such a talented artist--I love that cover! Congratulations to all the winners and a huge thank you to Michelle, Davin and Scott for putting in so much work for a great result.

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  36. I am still smiling after receiving your notice about my story. Thanks for honoring my story Asunder. I very much look forward to reading the anthology, and I'm thrilled that I will be included. The cover, I agree, is wonderful. Thanks for your hard work and dedication. Congratulations to all the other winners!
    Judy

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  37. Judith, congrats! Your story was lovely!

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  38. Tricia, Thanks for the art compliment! I'm just an amateur, and Michelle and Scott helped too. We actually got some lovely other covers from our readers but we decided it would be nice to reference the winning story a bit.

    Yvonne, that's not Dorothy Parker, but it may have come from someone impersonating her!

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  39. Brilliant cover art - the three of you are really talented.
    And thank you for running the contest. I loved sending in my entries, and am overjoyed that one of them is going to be anthologised.
    The day it appears in Indian bookstores, I am so buying the book.

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  40. congrats to the winners.

    ..........dhole

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  41. Happy Anniversary and congrats to the winners!

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  42. It's so cool that you guys did this! I'm looking forward to reading it. Congratulations to everyone who will be included in the book!

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  43. Congrats to all the contest winners and anthology writers! Very exciting!

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  44. I'm so excited to read this compilation of work.

    Many congrats to the winners!

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  45. Congrats to all the winners and to those who put themselves out there by entering as well!!!

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  46. Wow - so awesome. Congrats to the winners and everyone chosen to be in the book. Love the cover.

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  47. When will the collection be published and where can I get a copy?

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  48. Shirley: The collection is published now. You can purchase a copy by selecting the link in our side bar. :)

    If you have any other questions just let us know!

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