Almond Press "Broken Worlds" Contest Winners Announced

"Broken Worlds" by Almond Press

So I was fortunate enough to be shortlisted in the Almond Press "Broken Worlds" short story competition. No idea when the collection will be put out yet, but here's an excerpt from the site and the list of winners/shortlisted authors (HERE). I was really happy that the folks over at Almond Press liked my piece "Equity Lamp" enough to shortlist it as it's one of my personal favorites from the Scaring the Stars into Submission collection I put together last year. I'm quite anxious to dig into the full "Broken Worlds" collection to see how it plays with the other pieces/authors selected.

Excerpted from the site:

"We are delighted to announce the winning stories of the Broken Worlds short story competition, and a very creative competition it has been. This year’s winning story is by Thomas Brown. Thomas has not gone unnoticed in our previous competitions, but his entry this time around, The Sad Man, is a story that truly captivated our imagination, a brilliant and darkly escalating creation. Let us offer our sincere congratulations!

We were looking for stories which made us see things a little differently, for writing that enabled us to transcend the ordinary and be transported elsewhere, and for characters who would remain in our minds afterwards. The 25 writers chosen for the shortlist have crafted works that offer a great deal of reading pleasure to the dystopian mind. We look forward to sharing their work with you.

We would like to thank all who entered and commiserate with those who were not placed. Please keep writing, and we look forward to reading your stories in the future.

Here are the shortlisted stories for ‘Broken Worlds’. We would also like to share with you the cover art for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy."

Broken Worlds: Tales of Dystopia

Winner:
The Sad Man – by Thomas Brown

Vision of Paradise – by Clare Banks
The Deepening Well – by Sam Hurcom
The Paperboy - by Gemma L Thompson
The Farm – by George Vernon
Dreg Town – by Steph Minns
It Was the Best of Times – by Konstantine Paradias
Urbanova – by Christian Cook
Carved in Ice – by Doxa J. Zannou
Watch – by Miles Gatrell
Water Rats – by Terry Holland
Pioneer – by Joe Saxon
Leadership Gene – by Francis Beckett
Equity Lamp - Adam “Bucho” Rodenberger
Graduate Scheme - by Holly Seddon
Silva's Plague – by Ian Green
Meat is Murder – by David Turnbull
Machinations – by Shira Hereld
The Last Canvas – by Paul Dawson
Screens – by Alix Owen
The Rebel's Daughter – by Virginia Ballesty
The Insects – by Gavin Bryce
The Secret Rooms – by Claire Smith
The Architect – by Gavin Haran
3AM Job – by Mark Schultz

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Update on Publications in 2014

Right now, the good folks over at Fox Spirit are putting their finishing touches on the 2-volume collection called "The Girl at the End of the World," in which my story "Only So Far" is included. I dig the cover art and everything looks pretty stellar inside. I'm hoping to see the final/finished copy by the end of the summer.

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Just this morning, my story "The Memory of a Gypsy Moth" went up at Eunoia Review. You can read it here. It's a dark piece (like many of mine), but set in a countryside locale with the remnants of a family. It's not gory, but it's not for the weak of stomach either. 

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I'd post up a picture or logo from the Serving House Journal site, but they seem to frown on that, so instead I'll just send you to the link where my story "The Department" was published in their ninth issue earlier this year. You can read it here. That was a fun little experience with editor Clare MacQueen as we scrambled to figure out whether or not any part of federal/state laws could be used in a work of fiction verbatim without permission (answer: you can as no one holds the copyright on the language of laws). 

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Back in May, the Lunch Ticket crew (based out of Antioch University in Los Angeles) published the title piece of my last collection of stories "Scaring the Stars into Submission" in the Amuse-Bouche section of their site. You can read that piece here.

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The most recent issue of L'Allures des Mots (issue XIII) contains the title piece of my newest collection, "The Machinery of the Heart." I was really really happy with how this one came out and I'm glad the crew over at LAdM liked it enough to want to publish it. You can't read it on the web, but the print issue is absolutely gorgeous from front to back. You can order a copy of it here.

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And for the moment, that's where things stand on the 2014 publications. I've put a few more new stories out into the ether, so hopefully I'll have more updates in a few months, but until then...write your ass off.


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