02/20/02    SFWoE wishes to give our contestants (and anyone else who is interested) a chance to learn a little about the writers they are competing against and especially a chance to get to know the contest winners. We, therefore, asked each of the 2001 Top Ten to send us some biographical information. In their own words, here are the 2001 contest Top Ten.

First Place: Theodora Goss.   Biography is, I suspect, the most difficult form of writing. Good stories are supposed to have rising tension, a satisfying climax, a conclusion. Life, with its randomness, its moments of anticlimax, its inconclusive ending, makes for bad story. When I tried to write this biography, it kept falling into fragments. So here are my fragments, sent in the hope that together they will make a kind of sense.

     In elementary school:  Anything with magic. The Chronicles of Narnia, Alice in Wonderland, The Wind in the Willows, The Princess and Curdie, A Wrinkle in Time, The Earthsea Trilogy, The Brothers Lionheart, The Hobbit.

     In high school:  Everything, from cereal boxes to Pride and Prejudice to The Lord of the Rings.

     In college:  The books required for my major in English literature, and the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft.

     Characters:  Milo, who volunteers for the first experimental trip in a time machine. Amura, the woman he meets when he emerges from the machine, in the middle of an orchard. She is lying in a bathtub beneath the trees, pink hair cascading over its rim, surrounded by butterflies.

     Plot:  Yes, well, that was the difficulty. After all, I was only thirteen.

     But finally, you learn to write by writing. Turn on your computer, begin to type. Continue.

     My story began with an image of grass growing through broken tiles. And then I met Twig.

     I invoke literary immunity. No story should ever be explained.

Second Place: Angella Taylor Lofthouse.   "Ripped" is a story about second chances and starting over. It's about lost love and weird astronomical objects. I really had fun writing it. This was one of my most heavily researched stories. I owe a lot to the book Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip Thorne, and to Professor Andrew J. S. Hamilton at the University of Colorado. He took the time to answer my black hole questions via email, and has a really cool website with animated black hole simulations. (Click here to check out his web site.)

     I live in Springville, Utah with my husband, four sons, two cats, and 16 (at last count) tropical fish. When I'm not feeding, caring for, and having fun with that crowd, I spend my time reading, singing, playing piano and guitar, helping out at the kids' school, and of course writing. I am currently in the research/planning stage of a novel about an anthropologist and an isolated, mysterious alien society, tentatively titled Many Faces, which I hope to finish by the end of the year.

     If anyone reading this has never entered the SFWoE contest, I would encourage you to do so. The encouragement I have received from Gil, Ed Bryant, and the rest has been invaluable to my writing endeavors. Thank you all.
(SFWoE Note:   This is Angella's forth straight appearance on SFWoE's Top Ten List. Frankly, we don't know how she does it with the workload at home and all her community activities. But she does find time to write, and when she writes she does it very well. Larry Taylor (SFWoE 2000 Contest winner) is preparing to write a review of Angella's story "Ripped." SFWoE will place the review in this newsletter as soon as we receive it.)

Third Place: Donna Beltz.   I live in Topanga Canyon, CA, USA, with my husband and companion of almost 25 years, Roman Kolkowicz, who is a Professor Emeritus at UCLA. I left behind my unfinished Ph.D. dissertation and the unrewarding battles of academia in favor of Hollywood and an excellent compensation package! As a television Sound Editor, I have worked on many shows, including The Practice, Ally McBeal, The X-Files, and Millennium, have been nominated for two Emmy Awards, and have both received and been nominated for numerous MPSE awards. Roman and I are both avid readers and writers and, in spite of the uncertain stock market and plunging interest rates, hope to retire very early and very soon, so that we can finish a couple of joint writing projects and continue our travels around the world in the off-season!

     The origins of my story "Ancient Gods" go back to the September 1990 issue of Life magazine and a photograph of an enormous sand storm looming over the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. It's this huge impenetrable cloud of coral and brown sand that blots out the sun; it seems so threatening and yet in the photo there are three people walking down the street -- walking, not running. This photograph stayed in my mind (and in my desk) for years. I told myself some day I would incorporate such a storm into a story, and having that photo would help me describe it. Two years ago, my husband and I went to Death Valley, California on a short holiday, and once again I was fascinated by the surreal landscapes and the vivid colors of this very harsh environment. In my head, I began writing various scenes for a story set in the desert. Eventually, I put those scenes on paper and "Ancient Gods" came to life.

     I want to thank Edward Bryant for choosing "Ancient Gods" as the third prize story; it's more encouraging than he can know to have a writer of his caliber consider my story worthwhile. I also want to thank the judging panels, Gil Reis, and everyone else at SFWoE for making this contest possible, and for giving so many of us a chance to write.
(SFWoE Note:   Donna Beltz placed seventh in the SFWoE 2000 Contest, which had 108 entries. Moving up to third place in our 2001 contest, which received a record 239 entries, is what our judge Edward Bryant was referring to when he reported that some of SFWoE's aspiring writers put in so much obvious hard work it's hard not to notice when they do indeed improve and progress. SFWoE will place a review in this newsletter of her third place story.)

First Honor: Jillian Staik.   "The Gypsy and the Egyptian" began in 1995-96 as part of an anthology by several of my friends concerning ethnic and multi-cultural storytelling. As one can see by the dates, this was long before Titanic and The Mummy were released or even heard of, and so I find myself wondering if I was the victim of unscrupulous mind reading screenwriters back when I was in high school.

     My story began simply enough with one of the most little known facts about the Titanic - it really was carrying a sarcophagus on board, with the film reel to prove it (saw the clip on a Discovery channel episode about ancient curses). The natural extrapolation was what was going on to get that mummy on board, and how can I drop in fantasy elements like patron Gods and everyday magic?

     Bastet Jocastian was my answer to Lara (gag) Croft - a true woman of archeology who could spend hours in university library without it exploding, and was merely on the hunt for history, not treasure. Who could resist a woman of 1912 with brains and patron Gods and didn't have to flash her skin to keep interest? (Sorry, I have a poor opinion of how young women are portrayed in movies, television, and comic books, particularly in science fiction and fantasy; their personalities are so lacking, they have to dress in skin-tight clothes to draw in viewers.)

     My life is still not as interesting as those of my characters:  I gave up a career of being stuck behind a grocery store bakery counter to being stuck behind the register counter (and sometimes bookkeeper) of a Goodwill. A satisfactory job change, though the pay has much to be desired, as are all jobs. At least I don't spend my time wondering how my supervisor would look being stuck in the jaws of an Elder God.

     I am working on my second year of marriage to my husband Jack, while several friends are beginning to hint about us producing offspring and have little uber-Jacks and uber-Jills running around and taking over the world. My only answer is that I am not ready to explain to everyone why my precocious two-year-old is able to form full sentences about the actuality of warp travel.

     The husband is making noises about having another cat; my Pixel is boring him with her needs of food, sleep, food, water, food, sleep, and food. Still, there is the used bookstore we still want to own. By end of this year, we should have the basis to start looking for a small-business loan. Any and all are welcome to our grand opening!

     We still reside in Florida - don't ask me why, I'm still trying to justify the reason to myself. Our new dream is to live out in New Mexico near the Rockies, and hopefully will make a trip out there this summer to at least check out the UFO Fest in Roswell.

     And we're still looking for a publisher for our Hanover Chronicles ... seems no publishers are in the market for a sci-fi/fantasy crossover with hints of romance and lots of Celtic spiritualism. Go fig; anyway, onward with the slushpiles!

     My recent activities have been a renewed interest in Renaissance Festivals, Goddess sculpturing, and making audio books for a friend with bad eyesight. And writing is always on that list.

     Again, thanks to Gil and the SFWoE staff and especially to Mr. Bryant - and if only there were a movie deal!
(SFWoE Note:   Jillian's remark about a movie deal refers to Ed Bryant's statement about her story in his Judge's Report:  "The first honor award goes to Jillian Staik for 'The Gypsy and the Egyptian,' a hyperkinetic romp set in 1912. Her protagonist is a bright young woman of English/Egyptian heritage who is about to accompany a newly excavated mummy, cursed, of course, being shipped to America on the Titanic, when she's kidnapped by gypsies. No, I'm not kidding. Then this melodrama of a most-favored daughter of the Egyptian cat goddess kicks into high gear. There's gotta be a movie deal lurking somewhere in the background! Or at least a UPN series.")

Second Honor: Bee Love.   The idea for "Look Through" did not happen all at once, but came together from many puzzle pieces of notes and drafts. The beginning took place on a night when the moon was at its closet to the Earth and was full and bright.

     I was driving to a friend's house in another city, heading east into the rising moon. I turned off the radio and stared at the moon (in between glimpses of the road, of course). I was wishing for a telescope and a spot to stop my car beside the highway and take a good long look at the craters and valleys. Instead, I began to work on a character doing just what I did not have a chance to do. Then I wondered what it would be like to have a celestial companion that would fill most of the sky.

     When I got to my friend's house, I borrowed some paper and wrote down a quick description of scene and character before the thoughts could be forgotten. My friend was very accommodating. Since then, I've dabbled with the character, searching for just the right scene. The reworking process can be slow, but it's worth it for something noteworthy to come out at the end.

     I have been writing since the age of twelve, when I realized that I could put my vivid and playful imagination into words. My mother suggested that I try not to use the same descriptive words twice on a page, so I spent a lot of time looking up words in the thesaurus and broadening my vocabulary.

     I received my Bachelor's degree in Creative Writing from the University of Kansas. Though my parents never attended college, they are two of the most knowledgeable people I have ever known. Mom reads more books in a year than I want to try to count, and Dad learned a lot in the Navy during WWII. I inherited my artistic talents from my father, who passed away February 12, 2002. I dedicate this story, "Look Through," to my father. I will miss him very much.

     Currently, I work at a small corporation in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. My husband (of 8 months), a Kansas high school band director, keeps encouraging me to submit stories for publication. Thanks to receiving this honor, I feel a little more confident in doing so.
(SFWoE Note:   Ed Bryant, in his judge's report, indicated that Bee Love's story, "Look Through," was a more traditional variety of classic science fictional theme than the other top ten stories, "but executed with obvious affection and a touch of freshness." Two qualities editors desire in a good story.)

Sixth Place: Mary Pat Glynn.   When I was ten, I was given a gorgeously illustrated book, entitled Snow White and Other Tales, retold by Shirley Goulden, and illustrated by an Italian illustrator, mysteriously called "Nardini." I was enchanted with all the fairy tales:  "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Hansel and Gretel," "Rose White and Rose Red," "The Frog Prince."

     Then there was the story of "Princess Cat-Skin," a Cinderella-like tale of how a princess disguises herself in a many-furred cloak to find a king, to prove to her father that she can indeed be a queen when he dies. I poured over the sumptuous illustrations:  the many-furred cloak; the three dresses, like the sun, moon and stars; the princess's three spinning talismans that she takes with her: a gold ring, wheel, and reel, all packed in a walnut shell, and the three balls. Even at age ten, I found the magical element of three to be deeply satisfying.

     Many years later as an adult, when reading Grimm's collected fairy tales, I was surprised to find the tale, "Allerleirauh" (which means "of many different kinds of fur"), upon which "Princess Cat-Skin" was based. Imagine my further surprise to find out that in the original tale, the king wishes to make his own daughter the next queen, and it is to escape this horror that the princess flees in her many-furred cloak. Interesting, but perhaps not too surprising that in the re-telling of the tale, this incestuous beginning is deleted.

     When it came to my own re-telling of "Cat-Skin," I wanted to keep the rich, concrete details of the many-furred cloak, the three dresses, the three spinning implements and the three balls, but I wanted to make the princess more empowered. A witch, in fact, called, appropriately enough, Catherine, or Cat, with her own cat, Gabriella, as her familiar. Through my poetry and the three dreams foreshadowing the three balls, I wanted to create a colorful, hypnotic effect, not only for the enchanted king, but also for the reader.

     My sincere thanks to author/judge, Ed Bryant and to Gil Reis, SFWoE Administrator. It is an honor for my story to have been chosen in the top ten.
(SFWoE Note:   "Ah, it's the tale you're wanting, as long and as lush as your own. You know it's about you and I, my pet, you know it's about spinning and the fate we ourselves create." So starts Mary Pat Glynn's well-told fairy tale, and we at SFWoE are convinced we will hear more tales from our sixth-placed top ten contestant.)

Seventh Place: Nina Munteanu   I live in Ladner, BC Canada, in a semi-rural area outside of Vancouver with my husband and son and make my living as an environmental consultant. I was born in a sleepy French-Canadian town nestled in the rural hills of the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Story-telling was my pastime since I can remember. My sister and I used to lie in bed awake until late at night and spin outrageous yarns of fantasy and science-fiction to the murmuring snores of my dad in the room next door.

     When I moved west to BC, I began work on a novel, which spawned several short stories. Three years ago, I started entering the SFWoE contest and formed a writer's group, Critical Ms., to learn the unique and challenging craft of short story writing. The writing and the attention to craft paid off. Since entering the 2001 contest, I have sold two of my short stories:  "Virtually Yours" to Hadrosaur Tales (to appear in Issue 15, October, 2002) and "Angel's Promises" to My Legacy. I was then overjoyed when my entry, "Angel of Chaos" placed in the top ten of the SFWoE contest (2001 was a good year!).

     "Angel of Chaos" was originally conceived as a prologue for my novel of the same name and has its roots in chaos theory. Written in the second person to evoke the distant yet tremulous intimacy of a young man's tortured soul, the story explores the theme of unresolved and misplaced guilt. Set in a time when techno-types and greens have ravaged the Earth in a bitter struggle for supremacy, a young boy witnesses an atrocity that he could not prevent and chooses to carry his child's guilt with him into manhood. Forced to maturity too soon, his crippled ego imagines in his ravaged cousin, without recognizing it in himself, how the almost unobservable effect of a single event has the potential to spiral into overwhelming and irrevocable change.

     I've been long fascinated with chaos theory and Edward Lorenz's work and had wanted to write a story that explored the concept of the Butterfly Effect:  sensitive dependence on initial conditions, based on the strange notion that a butterfly stirring the air in Peking today could set off a tornado in Texas next month. I, therefore, thank Lorenz for his stunning and imaginative work in chaos theory and for providing the seed for this short story and ultimately my novel of the same title.

     I also wish to thank Mr. Gil Reis for his tireless, respectful, and kind attention to the SFWoE contest and its contestants. I extend my appreciation to Mr. Edward Bryant for judging this contest.
(SFWoE Note:   By placing in our top ten, Nina Munteanu follows a group of successful Canadian writers who have entered our contest, placed in the top ten, published their story or stories; thus, becoming ineligible to enter again. And that is what SFWoE is all about:  creating opportunities for talented writers to become published authors. Congratulations Nina.)

Eighth Place: Michael Barry.   I am a Canberra writer whose ambition is to work in enough different jobs to make a SF publicist buy my novel.

     I attended Clarion West in 2001 and strongly recommend intercontinental jetlag as a source of surreal story ideas.

     Half of the idea for "The Endling" came to me when I visited the new National Museum of Australia, and saw the last Tasmanian Tiger preserved in formaldehyde. The other half came just after arriving in Seattle last June, when I realized that I couldn't eat most American food (too much fat and sugar, blecch) and that the freaks drove on the wrong side of the road in cars that were much too big. And even the stars were wrong.... What would it feel like, I wondered, if I could never go home?
(SFWoE Note:   Michael Barry's statement about the last Tasmanian Tiger providing him with part of the idea for his story "Endling" is in reference to his main character, who is the last remaining robot in the known Universe.)

Ninth Place: Mina Athanasopoulos.   I'm thrilled to be chosen in the top ten. I'd almost given up hope of ever having any of my stories read and appreciated by anyone.

     I live in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia with my husband and two ankle-biters. I work as an optometrist (the boring day job) and in my spare time I read SF, wade through the slush pile of a SF magazine, and this year I'm undertaking a Diploma of Arts to brush up on my other area of interest, history.

     The "Sins of the Father" came to me as most of my stories do, in a vivid dream. Like most dreams it was just random scenes with uncontrolled emotions that made little sense, but the terror remained even when I awoke. This was my prompt to recreate my vision in words. Half the fun was working the menacing vision of alien ghosts into a theme I've always wanted to explore, redemption. What will each of us do to assuage guilt? Can there ever be true forgiveness for heart-breaking hurt?

     I'd like to thank the judge, and all those behind the scenes that made this competition possible, for giving unpublished writers such as myself hope to go on.
(SFWoE Note:    The 2001 SFWoE Nominating Committee believed that Mina handled a difficult storyline extremely well. Ninth out of 239 stories should support a whole lot of hope. Hang in there, Mina.)

Tenth Place: Alison Shields.  SFWoE will place her biographical information online as soon as we receive it from Australia.

(SFWoE Note: SFWoE has been unable to make contact with Ms. Shields as of this date.) 

04/06/02   "Behind her lay the garden, a meadow of silver flowers stretching away to the forest, whose leaves ruffled in the wind, and beyond the forest rose the mountains with their silver snows. She was calling to him in a voice like the song of a nightingale, and the mists were gathering and hiding the mountaintops, and the air of the garden was filled with the scent of wild rose." With words such as these from "The Tile Merchant's Garden," Theodora Goss paints everlasting pictures in the minds of her readers.

SFWoE:  Dora, congratulations are in order not only for moving up from second place in our 2000 contest to first place in the 2001 contest, but also for your first published short story "The Rose in Twelve Petals" in the April issue of Realms of Fantasy.

Dora:  Thank you. The SFWoE contest is such a wonderful place for beginning writers to gain confidence, and I'm tremendously grateful to all of the people who run it so well!

SFWoE:  What was your first reaction when you received notice that you won our 2001 contest?

Dora:  I was absolutely thrilled. And then I found out how many other writers had entered. And then I found out what a difficult decision it had been for Ed Bryant. At which point I was tempted to write and ask if you were really sure I had won! Winning the SFWoE contest has been fantastic. Winning second place last year gave me the courage to apply for Clarion, and "Hyacinth," my 2000 contest entry, was one of my submission stories. The other one, of course, was "The Tile Merchant's Garden."

SFWoE:  Have you won any contests besides the SFWoE 2001 Contest?

Dora:  The last contest I won was run by my college literary magazine! I've won absolutely nothing since then, although someone once gave me a lottery ticket for Christmas.

SFWoE:  Tell us, Dora, is writing a fairly recent endeavor for you, or did you get started early in your life?

Dora:  I started writing when I was about twelve. I still have boxes of short stories and poems (lots of poems) in the coat closet. We don't have enough space for coats! I wrote all through high school and managed to publish some poems in the school literary magazine. I even won a few prizes--local essay contests, that sort of thing. I was on the staff of the literary magazine in college. When I went to law school, I sent out some poems and published a few. I also started on a novel. Then I began working as a lawyer and had absolutely no time to write anything other than business contracts! That was a particularly depressing time. Finally I went back to school for a graduate degree in English literature and started sending out short stories. I got lots of polite rejections. Then "Hyacinth," the first short story I wrote at Odyssey, won second place in the 2000 SFWoE contest. And that's when things started happening!

SFWoE:  How did you get started on writing at such an early age?

Dora:  It's hard to say why I started writing, a little bit like trying to tell you why I started breathing. Both seem equally natural to me. I think some people are simply drawn to language. My husband, an artist, is drawn to visual images. Both of us will look at a book, and I will read the words while he will look at the pictures. We will get entirely different things out of it. I could say I started writing because I was a lonely child, living in a world that never seemed to make much sense. But why didn't I paint, or make music? I don't know. Words felt like they belonged to me, or I belonged to them. I love to read the dictionary and find out where words came from, their origins and history. If there were nothing else in the house, I think I would read the backs of cereal boxes. I have, actually.

SFWoE:  So you were born to write, but why fantasy stories?

Dora:  I remember being required to read "realistic" fiction in school. You probably don't remember those horrible S.E. Hinton books? They never made sense to me. I couldn't imagine a life so absolutely boring, so unremittingly ugly. I still remember, as a child, falling asleep to the sound of a train travelling through Europe and waking up in small towns, knowing that we had arrived in yet another country. I remember relatives who talked about having seen tanks rolling down the streets of Budapest, in 1956. I remember seeing Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, crumbing on the walls of a church in Milan. None of these things appeared in "realistic" fiction, and yet they were real. Fantasy was about adventure, and peril, and the search for beauty. That made sense to me.

SFWoE:  You mentioned Odyssey. What other writing schools or workshops have you attended?

Dora:  Besides Odyssey, I've been to the Clarion writing workshop. I recommend both to anyone who wants to become a writer.

SFWoE:  What did you learn or gain from this training?

Dora:  Writing is difficult, and the most difficult part is realizing that if you want to be a professional, you can't write for yourself. You have to write for a reader. The workshops help you step outside yourself and see your stories as others see them. They help you become your own critic. I remember that in one of the first stories I ever wrote (I must have been about fourteen) the main character was myself, as I wanted to be, with hair that curled down to my waist, green eyes, and a name like Aurelia or Aluria. All sorts of things happened to me. I rode around on a unicorn, I had adventures with fairies and talking mirrors and magical jewels, and princes (lots of them, naturally) wanted to marry me. Aside from the actual writing, which was probably wretched, it must have been the most boring story possible. After all, I wasn't going to put myself in any real danger! Workshops beat that sort of self-indulgence out of you. I'm very lucky, now, to belong to a professional workshop with a group of fantastic writers. They beat it out of me on a monthly basis!

SFWoE:  Well, obviously you have put what you have learned in these workshops into the stories you submitted to SFWoE. Who are the writers. . .

Dora:  Let me just mention one more thing that I've found intensely useful as a writer. As part of my graduate program, I've had to teach classes on composition and grammar. Teaching grammar forced me to learn grammar, not in the general way I had known it before, but thoroughly and specifically. I can't think of anything more useful for a writer. If you're going to use language, you have to know how it fits together--whether you're going to obey the rules or break them in a creative way.

SFWoE:  Who are the writers that have influenced your writing?

Dora:  Every good writer I've read has influenced my writing in some way. Which makes it impossible to list specific influences! It will sound distinctly odd to say that I've been deeply influenced by Jane Austen and H.P. Lovecraft, and yet it's true. Most recently, I've been reading Kelly Link, Henry James, T.H. White, Jorge Luis Borges, Patricia McKillip. And, since I'm teaching a poetry class, lots of poetry.

SFWoE:  What books or short stories are your favorites?

Dora:  I think our favorite books are generally the ones we read as children. For me, those were The Wind in the Willows; The Princess and the Goblin and At the Back of the North Wind; The Chronicles of Narnia; all of E. Nesbit's stories about the Bastables (I was in love with Oswald); The Brothers Lionheart; the Oz books, especially after Ozma arrived; The Sword in the Stone; The Hobbit (I was too young for The Lord of the Rings); Little Women; the Earthsea trilogy, and lots and lots of fairy tales.

SFWoE:  What do you plan or hope to accomplish next with your writing ability?

Dora:  That's a difficult question. Of course I would love to publish more short stories, and to eventually publish a novel. I've put the first chapter of a novel I started at Odyssey on my web site. But the most important thing for me, right now, is learning to write in a clearer way, a more intelligent way. Writing isn't like figure skating. You can do it for your entire life, and you can be better at ninety than you were in your thirties. That gives me sixty more years . . .

SFWoE:  Let us hope so . . .

Dora:  I was tremendously excited earlier this year to have my first published short story come out, as you mentioned before, in the April issue of Realms of Fantasy. It's called "The Rose in Twelve Petals," and it's a fairy tale--of sorts. I seem to be drawn to fairy tales, I suppose because they are stories that depend on a standard structure. I mean, as soon as the older sister fails to share her breadcrumbs with the birds, we know she's doomed, right? But because we all know the structure, a writer can change the story, can set it in France or Switzerland or Zimbabwe, and make it original while retaining the fairy tale elements. It's a way of blending realism and magic.

SFWoE:  Dora, what advice would you give to future SFWoE contestants?

Dora:  Take risks. The one complaint I have consistently heard from editors (while eavesdropping on them at conventions) is that too many writers send them the same old stories. The boy who finds out that he isn't really a pigherd but the king of Insert Fantasy Country. The starship captain who goes against official orders, engages the warships of Standard Alien Race (whose members look, by a feat of convergent evolution, exactly like a seven-foot praying mantises), and saves the United Star Systems. The feisty heroine who--well, does whatever feisty heroines always do. One thing that impressed me about Larry Taylor's story "Annie" (2000 SFWoE Contest winner) was the sheer courage involved in writing about Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens, two figures we know very well indeed. Larry gave us a Darwin and Dickens we didn't know, and gargoyles, and grief. I tried to take similar but different risks in "The Tile Merchant's Garden," although each reader will have to decide for himself or herself how well I succeeded.

SFWoE:  Thank you Dora, for this interview. Do you have anything else you would like to say before we close?

Dora:  I just want to add that I would love to hear from readers, who can visit my web site and contact me at tgoss@bu.edu.

(SFWoE Note: SFWoE thanks author Theodora Goss for this interesting and instructive interview. To read Theodora's winning story, click on the SFWoE Swirl below.)      

03/13/02   At the beginning of Angella Taylor Lofthouse's "Ripped" three usually clearly distinguished spheres are posited:  past, present, and future. By the end, we're not so sure that these are immutable. The big questions are also addressed:  origins, mortality, and God. "When the subject is strong," Jacob Lawrence says, "simplicity is the only way to treat it." Ms. Lofthouse has approached these subjects admirably and with restraint, leaving each reader to contemplate his or her universe.

     Backstory:  Billionaire Sebastian Worthlen finances the Worthlen Starlight Project, including a colony sleeper ship, which he fills with well-paid recruits destined to be colonists on a new world. The ship leaves Earth. Later, he dies on Earth, and apparently, his relatives cancel the project and order the ship home. We open some time after that.

     In the opening, the protagonist, Gary St. John, a "non-technical grunt," wakens in an unfamiliar environment. He's told that he's on Earth again; that the Starlight Project had been canceled and the ship brought home. Gary discovers that he's in the Worthlen Healing Research Institute, and that he'd slept 150 years while on the ship. He's physically rehabilitated, though he remains disoriented and regretful of the past. After a few weeks, Gary is released from the Institute and given a stipend and a small apartment. Before he leaves the facility, he meets Janey Beckett, a Worthlen scientist and the granddaughter of Ellen Beckett, the sweetheart Gary had left behind when he had left Earth.

     Now, this is well-traveled ground, but Ms. Lofthouse shapes her narrative with clean prose and clear images. Its economy is important, since larger issues loom. That's what I ask from an idea story: that the idea is well thought out, properly shaped, developed in a convincing way, and leaves me intrigued but satisfied. Nothing distracts from the ideas in this fine piece. This is not a character story. Although the characters aren't deeply developed, they are precisely-crafted and act from character, rather than serving as plot devices. They do their jobs well; we root for Gary to resolve his dilemma. This is one of the hardest things to do, I think:  to get the reader to finish what the author only starts. This is the essence of a short story.

     Gary leaves the facility and Janey visits him at his new home. An alarm sounds; suddenly he finds himself in another setting and hears that environment's alarm. He is in the colony ship's Hibernation Bay Five, and is being revived by robots. While others in the crew panic, he dons a space suit. Is this an alternate universe? A hallucination? A shared life?

     The two settings continue to alternate, with Gary being the protagonist in both threads. At one crucial point in the ship scene, Gary hears someone say that "we went through entry point... (but) didn't exit where we thought." Someone else says:  "...we came out in a black hole." The first voice says:  "Then we're dead, I guess." This is the explanation for the feasibility of colonization - a hyperspace entry point - and of its risks.

     Ultimately, Gary questions whether Janey or the ship is the hallucination.

     Information from the ship's log, now stored on a computer disk - a disk Janey had copied and taken from the Institute - explains that the ship got to its hyperspace entry point. That's where the ship's log ends. "Something went wrong," Gary says.

     At that point, Gary feels he's in both places at the same time, and knows that the ship encountered a black hole. He returns suddenly to the ship, where his "atoms are ripped to pieces." Time and space have no meaning at the black hole's heart, he discovers. He grasps for thoughts, melds with others' thoughts. Dissolves, reforms, dissolves, and so on. "Did eternity pass or only an instant before the quiescence burst into effulgent light? Thoughts sparked again. Awareness. Rebirth.... He'd gone through the entry point to all imaginable exits." Gary calls up some of his own memories. In recreating for a moment his final time on Earth with Ellen, he yearns to tell her that he loves her, and that he wants to stay.

     He has to decide at this point whether to stay in that life with Ellen and his old, familiar Earth - an act which would take away everything Ellen would have had, including the school and even the existence of Janey - or travel to another, more uncertain place. The moral choice for Gary is now framed.

     Through the scene switches, pain pulls Gary to the ship; human contact sends him back to Earth. He drifts in his mind to the lab. In epiphany, he says:  "He could solve her (Janey's) mystery for her. I brought the ship back myself, or all of the Starlighters did, or whatever benevolent deity lies at the heart of a black hole." He chooses the future and Janey, which has the serendipitous advantage of building a good world for him. His moral choice is a satisfying one for the reader.

     As I said, this story covers familiar ground. Stereotyped stories are narrow, culture-specific experiences, depicted in generalities. Archetypal stories develop a unique, culture-specific milieu and show a universally human experience. I think Ms. Lofthouse has done well, executing complex concepts with clarity and meaning and leaving this reader knowing that we've all wished for the very thing Gary gets:  to change the world.

(SFWoE Note:    SFWoE thanks Larry Taylor, First Place Winner of the 2000 SFWoE Contest, for providing this interesting review of Angella Taylor Lofthouse's 2001 Contest Second Place story "Ripped." If you would like to read Larry's first place story "Annie," click on the SFWoE Swirl below.) 

03/15/02   The desert. Sand sneaking into every crease, heat stifling every movement, the open, harsh beauty of a cruel land:  this is where Donna Beltz puts readers in her third place story "Ancient Gods." It is the story of two women and their destiny among the shifting dunes. The two women are seers of the future, one raised in the open desert and honored among her people, the other a pariah raised among the newer "stone tribes" who no longer believe in the old ways.

     Beltz uses foreign terms to great effect, spicing the story with them, but not too much, just enough to get the flavor of these tribes. Her writing is clean and strong throughout, never losing the thread of her story. Her characters too, are strong and well defined.

     Zuhkka, the old respected "Anasi," or seer, has a vision of her tribe brutally destroyed and knows it will be their future unless she can find a replacement. Meanwhile, Jaida, the young outcast, is being married off to a man she has seen will kill her once a child is born to him. "Ancient Gods" is the story of how these women meet and find the true calling the Gods want for them. Not only does Beltz drop the reader into the desert world of these women, but also into the mindset of those who live there, who must make a future in the hostile but beautiful place. One of the most moving parts of "Ancient Gods" is when Jaida wakes just before the dawn and takes in the soft wonderment of the desert.

     "The sun was just beginning to pink the sand-filled horizon, and she closed her eyes, lifting her face to the small, cool breeze that always stirred just before sunrise. This was her favorite time of day; no one else was awake yet, not even the servants... She laced her hands in the lattice and leaned her head against the rough stone, gazing out across the desert, watching as the light grew, slowly bringing into definition her father's groves beyond the walls, the walls themselves, the animals moving restlessly now in the stable..."

     It is Jaida's favorite time of the day, and Beltz has made it mine as well. This is a perfect example of the strength of Beltz's writing, not only does she portray the desert well, but moves the story forward and relays something about Jaida as well.

     Beltz said this story's origin was "a photograph of an enormous sand storm looming over the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. It's this huge impenetrable cloud of coral and brown sand that blots out the sun..." While the actual storm comes into the story for only a few paragraphs, the whole tale is about storms of one sort or another - the turmoil of finding your place in life, and fighting to be accepted, the constant battle of aging, and the struggle between social and religious classes. These are the themes that are reinforced through each section. There is a strong repetition of phrases, themes, and places in this story. Beltz uses this technique to great effect, subtly changing the wording in places to reveal what has changed and, more importantly, what has been learned. When Jaida sees her favorite time of the day again at the end of the story, what she sees differently is what stands out, what she has learned and accepted.

     "Ancient Gods" is about fate, about finding your niche and making the most of what you have been given. Something Beltz is familiar with, having given up her Ph. D. dissertation to become a Sound Editor for television, working on shows like The X-Files and The Practice and making the most of it by being nominated for two Emmy Awards. Now she has one more trophy to put on her wall.

(SFWoE Note:   SFWoE thanks Keith Demanche for this interesting review of Donna Beltz's 2001 SFWoE Contest Third Place story "Ancient Gods."

     In between working as Lead Designer/contributing writer for HippoPress Manchester, an alternative weekly in New Hampshire, and Administrator for the writing workshop Odyssey, Keith writes short fiction and plays bass in the band Porter. His recent fiction can be found online at FearsMag.com and ChiZine, his nonfiction can be found at hippopress.com and studentadvantage.com among other sites.) 

02/17/00    SFWoE wishes to give our contestants (and anyone else who is interested) a chance to learn a little about the writers they are competing against and especially a chance to get to know the contest winners. We, therefore, asked each of the 2000 Top Ten to send us some biographical information. In their own words, here are the 2000 contest Top Ten.

First Place: Larry Taylor.   I have been writing seriously for three years. I grew up in Texas -- mostly in Houston -- and have been around genre writers for a long time. I guess I learned something from listening to their friendly banter and conversations, and how much they cared about their craft. I was at AggieCon, in College Station, in 1979, when SFWoE was formed.

     My family and I moved to New Jersey in 1997. We live near Princeton, a lovely college town with a long literary tradition itself. I often go to the University with my keyboard and sit and type; it's peaceful but also invigorating. When I eat lunch there -- outside in the spring - I try to sit near the professors and eavesdrop. Professors talk mostly about mundane things, but sometimes the spirit moves them and they reveal the secrets of the universe. Einstein's ghost walks through Princeton; his presence is palpable.

     "Annie" has a short but haunted history, herself. The story, written last spring, was originally called "Dragons at Waterloo" and had Charles Darwin and Lord Nelson as its principals. When I was accepted to Odyssey 2000 in New Hampshire, I brought "Dragons" along to have my story critiqued. When I took the disk to the computer lab to have the story printed out, the computer gobbled it up.

     The second version -- which retained Charles Darwin and the character who became Mrs. Shufflewick, but dropped Lord Nelson and introduced Charles Dickens into the story (my family visited London the summer before; one of the highlights was spending an afternoon at Dickens' home) -- was consumed electronically as well. The third version only got to page one before it disappeared into the maw.

     I changed tactics. I talked nice to the computer; it let me type. That version was flawed but interesting. The opening came from an image I'd recalled -- something in John Fowle's The French Lieutenant's Woman. A woman standing on a quay and looking out to sea. My stories start with an image or a character; I'm blessed if I have both.

     On the bus ride home from Odyssey, I read Darwin's autobiography. I read in more detail about his health problems, about his beloved daughter's death, about his fight with the Church over his theory of evolution. I knew then what this story should be about, and why Charles Dickens belonged. Oliver Twist, like most of Dickens' stories, is about a child looking for his father. It just had resonance.

     I'm currently working on a near-future novella about the end of the world -- as viewed by the Mayas. By their count, the world ends on 12 December 2012. For literary purposes, I've had to move that date back a bit. Also, I'm diligently working on a heroic fantasy novel; it's been described as evoking Robert Howard's works -- something I find very flattering -- but I'm merely trying to tell a tale.

     And lastly, I'm exploring a long fantasy novel about the circus. I'm a big fan, big enough to have spent a year of my misspent youth with Ringling Brothers, and am writing about another real person, Terrell Jacobs. Terrell was called the Lion King; he headlined Ringling Brothers in 1939, and he was my great-uncle. The story jumps from 1971 back to 1936, where I'm trying to recreate a golden era of the circus.

     My wife works in Princeton and my son is graduating high school this summer. They've been very supportive of my writing.

     I'm a 1998 graduate of Clarion; that was my first writing experience and they put my feet on the right path. I also want to thank SFWoE's Administrator, Gil Reis, for his extensive and heartfelt support, and the contest judge, Edward Bryant, for his kind words and his thoughtful and incisive review. The annual SFWoE contest is a wonderful and important program. I'm honored to participate.
(SFWoE Note:   Thank you Larry Taylor for providing our readers with some insight to the writing of your winning story "Annie." Our target date to place "Annie" online with an introduction by author Edward Bryant is 15 March. This date allows time for Peter Taschioglou, our artist, to read the story and prepare his artwork.)

Second Place: Theodora Goss.   I live in Boston, Massachusetts, with a husband who stifles his laughter when he corrects the science in my stories and three cats that add a post-modern element to my writing by walking across the keyboard. I spend most of my time desperately trying to balance writing with completing my Ph.D. in English Literature. (Guess which one takes priority?) Somehow, I've managed to turn my dissertation into a theory of nineteenth-century Gothic, and I taught a class last semester in which every novel contained a monster. (I can't believe they let me get away with this stuff.) I'm happy to announce that poems of mine were recently accepted by Dreams of Decadence and Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet.

     "Hyacinth" began at the Odyssey Writing Workshop. It was around midnight, just the time when ghosts appear. In three days, I had to turn in my first story for a group critique. I had been scribbling aimlessly for hours and sinking into a sort of panic. Suddenly there she was, thin and pale, dressed in white and standing in a garden surrounded by a stone wall. And then she told me her story. The hardest thing about writing it down was creating a narrator who is terribly confident about his own abilities and intentions, but who continually misinterprets the situation until his stupidity causes a tragic death. My first instinct was to call the story "Frankenstein Meets Rappaccini's Daughter," but Hyacinth rapped my knuckles and insisted that her name was the only proper title.

     I have to thank Larry Taylor, my Odyssey classmate and literary double, who was one of the story's first readers, and my whole Odyssey class, who in their kindly way showed me exactly how much rewriting I needed to do after that first draft. And of course Jeanne Cavelos and Dan Simmons, extraordinary teachers and mentors, who will probably have me beheaded for thanking them in a sentence fragment. Many thanks are also due to Edward Bryant, whose writing I have admired from afar, and to Gil Reis, who makes this contest possible. But the greatest thanks goes to everyone who entered. How wonderful to be part of such as dedicated group!
(SFWoE Note:   Our judge in his report wrote that Theodora Goss' second place tale was "eerily resonant" with Larry Taylor's first place story. And now we learn just how perceptive Edward Bryant has become. If you would like to learn more about Theodora Goss, she invites you to visit her web site.)

Third Place: Nathan Burrage.   When I read other authors' bios, I always want to know three things -- what's their background, how long have they been writing, and how did the story crystallize for them. Hopefully this is what you'd like to know too, so here goes...

     I was born in 1971 in a small country town not far from Melbourne, and as an only child until the age of ten, became a frequent traveler to the imaginary worlds inside my head. Despite my daydreaming, I am successfully married, live in Sydney and work as a Business Consultant by day. (Writing provides the most welcome of escapes.)

     I have been writing and submitting short stories for 18 months now, and entered the SFWoE competition for the first time in 1999. "Snowstorm" is my first literary success, and was accepted for publication by Aurealis Magazine in Australia about a month after the SFWoE competition closed. (Sorry, can't resist -- Issue 27, out in June.)

     The crux of "Snowstorm" emerged from a particularly vivid dream -- I was standing in the middle of a boxing ring on my own, with snow falling so densely that I could barely see the edge of the ring. (A particularly odd image, given it doesn't even snow in Sydney.) The first question was why, then how, and before I knew it, "Snowstorm" was written. My editing team (you know who you are) barely changed a word. If only they all came so easy.

     Finally, I'd like to convey my sincerest thanks and regards to all involved in organizing the SFWoE competition, and to all who participated. I will be ineligible to enter again, but I wish you all success in your writing endeavors.
(SFWoE Note:   SFWoE is most pleased to learn that Nathan Burrage's "Snown Storm" will be published in Aurealis. After all, that is what this contest is all about. You may read a review of "Snowstorm" by robparnell here.

First Honor: Jillian Staik.   Drawing upon my experiences of visiting Cass County when I was younger and living in Missouri, "Cerealology" was first incarnated as a 500 word story-telling project in creative writing class in college that I had written up the afternoon it was due. Just the same, as variations of Angel Morgan have been part of my character stockade since I was eleven. Eventually, I finally found her a home in "Heartwellville Postcards", an anthology of stories I've been writing (longhand) about the residents and visitors to Cass County. This incarnation explores the two characters of Angel and Dr. Matthew Kane as victims of aliens when they were children.

     My husband Jack (whom I married last September in a Medieval-fantasy ceremony, complete with internet friends from Boston to Australia, and his grandmother dancing to reggae with my girlfriends) and I share the writing vice -- I'm pushing him to enter this year - and we are currently working on a series of sci-fi/fantasy novels that will be connected to our anime fan fiction page "Otakuniichuan:  Spring of Drowned Fanfic Writers."

     I unfortunately live in the tenth level of hell -- Florida -- with my delightful husband and my white cat Pixel, now getting on in years, but can still walk through walls. Life is good when my husband and I work together, so hopefully we can open up that bookstore we always wanted in another few years.

     Thanks to Gil and the staff of SFWoE, and especially to Mr. Bryant for giving me this honor.
(SFWoE Note:   Mrs. Jillian Staik is the author of SFWoE's Feature Article, which she wrote under Jillian Parks, her maiden name. After her marriage, writing as Jillian Staik, she authored the review of Angella Taylor Lofthouse's "Blessing Stone" for SFWoE. To read the Feature Article, click here. To check out the review Jillian wrote, click here.)

Second Honor: Michael Penncavage.   The idea behind my 2000 SFWoE Contest entry, "The Corn Bear," came from "RAGBRAI."

     RAGBRAI is an annual bicycle ride that the state of Iowa runs in which roughly 10,000 riders from around the world partake. Extending from the Missouri River to the Mississippi River, the 500-mile ride lasts several days. Needless to say, since most of the state is farmland, it is very common to drive or cycle for miles with nothing on either side of the road except corn.

     It is common for riders, when nature calls, to make use of the cornfield (it is fertilizer, after all). Passing cyclists, on seeing their fellow cylists disappear into the tall corn, would jokingly yell to them to watch out for the Corn Bears that lurk within the fields.

     Like other myths, such as the "Jersey Devil," many people are aware of Corn Bears, though the actual description of a Corn Bear varies depending on whom you ask.

     During seasons of unusually good weather, with a lot of rain, the corn stalks can grow extremely high. Through planted in rows, the corn grows thick so that if you venture too far in and loose your sense of direction, it is slightly possible to become lost. Hence my idea for "The Corn Bear."
(SFWoE Note:   Edward Bryant, in his Judge's Report, wrote "Mr. Penncavage is able to weave real fear into an otherwise quiet, gentle story.")

Sixth Place: Leonard Varasano.   I have entered the SFWoE contest now for several years running. Despite the annual encouragement offered by the SFWoE Administrator (and it was appreciated, Gil), none of my stories made the final cut, until now. I'm glad that it was my story "Yukon Jack" that finally broke the ice. This tale of the supernatural from the deep, northern woods was perhaps my favorite short story to write, at least from the perspective that if I had to assume the identity of any the protagonists I've ever created, the ones in this story I could relate to the most.

     What would you do if you were in the cold, dark forests, and found out you were not at the top of the food chain? Found out, that you're not even in second place, and it appears likely that there will not be a change in that particular order while you are alive.

     A few years back, I was fortunate to have written a novel that placed in a contest where the storyline was subsequently optioned; though never turned into a film. Since then, I have a pile of rejection slips and not much else to show for my attempts at creativity. Of course, I don't write just for the contests. I write because it allows me the opportunity to conjure my own worlds, with their own set of rules, to visit places where possibilities are boundless. That's why we all write fantasy and science fiction, or just plain old fiction, right?

     When I was a kid, I read R. E. Howard's The Hour Of The Dragon and I was hooked forever on adventure fantasy stories. Then I discovered the world of Lovecraft, where the real horror remains mostly unseen, though often detected by other senses. I wouldn't write seriously until many years later, but my writing influences were firmly cast. Since then, I've been a police officer, where I began to write mostly as a catharsis in response to harrowing events I'd experienced or witnessed. Then I made a career change and became a securities trader for a large Wall Street firm. I now manage my own portfolio, which allows me to spend more time with my eight-year-old daughter, Sasha, with time to spare for the creation of new worlds.

     Thank you author/judge Edward Bryant and SFWoE Administrator Gil Reis.
(SFWoE Note:   Leonard Varasano is one of several long-time SFWoE contestants who have just missed making the top ten list year after year. It truly is a thrill to the SFWoE Staff when we receive the list from our judge and find that one of these writers has written their way into the top ten. Therefore, thank you Leonard Varasano.)

Seventh Place: Donna Beltz.   I live in Topanga, CA, USA, the last unsullied coastal canyon in L.A., with my husband and companion of 24 years, Roman Kolkowicz, who is a Professor Emeritus at UCLA. I am gainfully employed as a Sound Editor, having left behind my unfinished Ph.D. dissertation and the unrewarding battles of academia in favor of Hollywood and an excellent compensation package! Roman and I both love to write, and hope to retire very early and very soon, so that we can finish a couple of joint writing projects we've been dabbling at for years.

     My story "Maeve" actually started with the location. I lull myself to sleep at night by writing stories in my head, and this particular story began with a huge stone fortress in a snow-locked valley, in that dead of winter silence that descends in very cold climates. Initially, the story began at night, but then I wanted to see the deciduous trees with their skeletal branches and the big evergreens weighed down under mounds of snow. So it was light on the verge of darkness, that moment when the sun is just about to drop below the horizon, and then the deep silence is broken by the solitary clop-clop of a horse. Who is coming over the hill and why? And the answer was "Maeve." The ending of the story was a problem for me, and probably the weakest point, as I originally conceived this as a prologue to a larger story; and, in fact, I'm now writing the "sequel" which maybe I'll enter in the 2001 contest!

     I frequently read the bios and acknowledgments of other writers and all the people they thank for reading the manuscript, etc. My biggest problem is precisely that I have no one to read my stories. None of my friends enjoys Science Fiction or Fantasy; Roman is a brilliant writer, but has no interest in the genre; and so Edward Bryant, in effect, provided the first feedback I'd gotten on this story. I had entered SFWoE once before and received a very encouraging note from Gil Reis, and have received similar encouragements from other submittals.

     So thanks for the encouragement and I hope to hear more from you in the future!
(SFWoE Note:   The 2000 SFWoE Contest Nominating Committee also had some "encouragement" for Donna Beltz. They reported, "Donna's story keeps the reader on the edge of their seat -- waiting for the next surprising twist.")

Eighth Place: Angella Taylor Lofthouse.   The main theme of my story, "Fidelity," would be:  to thine own self be true. I'm fascinated with the whole nature verses nurture issue, and I wonder how much our genes can really control our fates. I guess the conclusion I came to in "Fidelity," is that, in the end, we each have the power to choose our own path.

     About me:  I am a twenty-nine year old full time mom. I live in beautiful Springville, UT with my husband of nine years and four fabulous and very energetic sons. I like writing, reading, kids, and music among other things. In my spare time, I sing in my church choir, volunteer at the elementary school, and try to find the time to write.

     I would like to thank Gil the SFWoE Administrator and the whole SFWoE staff for their continuing encouragement of my writing endeavors. I think my association with this contest has taken my writing to a new level. Thanks, everyone!
(SFWoE Note:   This is Angella's third straight appearance on SFWoE's Top Ten List. If you would like to read a review of her 1998 story and/or her 1999 story just click on the dates.)

Ninth Place: DeAnn DeFord.)  I was born and raised in California until six years ago when I moved to Idaho with my family; my husband of 18 years, Greg, my daughter, Jacque (17), and son, Nathan (13).

     In addition to writing, and I have reams of it around, I recently finished school for Web Page Design, and began my first job designing a web site for a local construction company.

     I wrote "Just the Thought," about a shy woman who lives out a fantasy ideal life on an astral plane instead of living her real life, because I've always had an interest in things paranormal. How many of us would like to create a place where everything is just right, and all of your thoughts become reality? Or, how many of us would conclude, as did the main character, Gail, that there's nothing like the real world; the good and the bad? I had fun exploring these questions as I wrote. I've heard Astral travel is possible. Every author of every book I read on the subject claimed to have the ability. It sure would be fun if it were true!

     I have been entering the Science Fiction Writers of Earth contest for the past several years and consider it an honor to have placed ninth on the prestigious Top Ten List.
(SFWoE Note:   If DeAnn DeFord is able to develop web sites as well as she develops her stories, the Internet is going to be a much more interesting place to surf.)

Tenth Place: James McDonnell.   Originally from San Francisco, I have lived in six countries and seven states of the U.S. At present, I live in the Philippines.

     Besides writing science fiction, I write articles on marketing, essays on religion & science, and Catholic apologetics. I am a director of AsiaLit, a foundation for the development of new Asian literature in the English language.

     My wife and I currently own a window fashion business in Manila. Formerly for ten years in the Philippines, I worked as an advertising copywriter and art director and as a media and marketing consultant.
(SFWoE Note:   James McDonnell's story, "Lousy Gods," presents an interesting tale of a future time when manufactured androids look upon humans as gods, and try their best to improve the attitude of their lousy gods toward their creation.) 

03/16/01   "The city of Brighton at his back, London's bustle far away, the Beagle but a dull memory, Charles stood at the farthest point of the windswept promontory and stared at the white moon, and then into the dark Atlantic sea. He held a walking stick in one hand, a slim blue volume and a child's white thimble in the other." With these two sentences, Larry Taylor sinks the "narrative hook" into his reader, for who among us is not enticed by these words to find out the reason for the "child's white thimble in the other (hand)."

SFWoE:  Larry, congratulations for placing first in our 2000 SF/F short story contest with your well-written story "Annie."

Taylor:  Thank you for this opportunity. My thanks to Edward Bryant, Gil Reis, and all the staff members of SFWoE. And to all the other hungry writers who participated in this competition:  it's an honor for me to be a part of this good company.

SFWoE:  Tell us, Larry, how "Annie" came about.

Taylor:  Though I had small pieces of the puzzle already in my head, "Annie" was really shaped last summer at the Odyssey 2000 Writing Workshop and later heavily revised.

     I'd never attempted anything remotely like horror (nor would I suggest that anything in this story is remotely scary). Jeanne Cavelos, director of Odyssey, and Mike Samerdyke, my workshop roommate, taught me things about horror and pacing that I would never have picked up on my own. I made one terrible mistake, trying to make Dickens a menacing character, and I had to change him back. As well as it had worked, I had stepped across an unpardonable line: I'd taken a familiar and loved character and made him unpleasant and strange. The critiques pointed this out. In this context, it didn't work.

     Jeanne also explained to me (while reading an early draft and laughing uproariously) that many people like gargoyles, who are guardians; monsters must be horrible. I had to reverse myself and make the gargoyles a credible menace. She also gave our class an example to ponder, a scene in which one of Stephen King's characters spends three powerfully evocative pages simply walking up the stairs. I think Darwin's stair scene (also an inversion of Rhett Butler's stair scene) germinated from Jeanne's exercise.

     About six weeks after I left Odyssey, I went to the Chicago Worldcon, where eight of my Clarion friends and I huddled in a con hotel room and critiqued each others stories for five hours. I received useful but muted comments for "Annie" (then called "Whispers, Shadows, Cries") and much encouraging support. Clarionites aren't mushmouthed; good or bad, they say what they feel, and with authority. I knew then that I was getting closer to my vision.

SFWoE:  You said the story was heavily revised. Did you make any major revisions after the Chicago Worldcon?

Taylor:  Yes. After I went home, I continued to research and revise, on and off, for six more weeks (other writing projects were sapping me.) I wrote the spiritualist's scene, that was new. I had to cut some of Emma's actions, the story was too long. I finished just in time to mail the story to SFWoE on the deadline. Sometimes you really have to let go.

SFWoE:  SFWoE is sure pleased that you made our 30 October deadline.

Taylor:  It sounds like an ordeal, but only three months transpired from first draft to submission, and the writing was a pure pleasure.

     I do thank all of those who helped with this manuscript. My most heartfelt thanks go to my Odyssey classmate and friend, Theodora Goss.

SFWoE:  Theodora Goss, who took second place with a story entitled "Hyacinth."

Taylor:  That's correct. Dora read my first, stumbling drafts, fixed my awkward grammar, and gently corrected my misconceptions about Victorian ways. She was unfailingly supportive and enthusiastic about my goals, all the way through to the final draft. I enjoyed seeing her story, "Hyacinth," evolve at Odyssey, and look forward to seeing Dora's fine work in print.

SFWoE:  Is writing a fairly recent endeavor for you, or did you get started early in your life?

Taylor:  I've been writing seriously about three years. For many years, I wanted to find time to write.

SFWoE:  What changed in you life that freed up the time to allow you to start writing seriously?

Taylor:  In the summer of 1997, while living in Texas, I had major surgery and needed recovery time. Around then, my wife was offered an attractive position in New Jersey. My wife, son, and I all agreed that this was a good move for our family, so I sold my business, and we moved to the Princeton area in New Jersey. The next spring, I wrote two dreadful application stories for Clarion and applied. I was accepted and attended the 1998 workshop in East Lansing. It was a life-changing experience.

SFWoE:  Why did you select the SF/F genre?

Taylor:  I began reading newspapers when I was about two. As I got older, I read omnivorously. One day when I was about ten, I picked up someone's copy of Ted Sturgeon's More Than Human. After reading that, I knew something new had entered into the equation.

SFWoE:  Larry, you mentioned attending Clarion and Odyssey. Our judge, Ed Bryant, credits Clarion for getting his writing career started, and he's gone back several times as an instructor. What other writing schools or classes have you attended?

Taylor:  After attending Clarion East in 1998, in the fall of 1999 I went to Viable Paradise, a one-week SF/F writing workshop held annually on Martha's Vineyard. And, in the summer of 2000, the Odyssey Writing Workshop in New Hampshire.

     Since 1998, I have participated in one-day writer's workshops at Wiscon, Readercon, Boskone, and the New Jersey Writer's Conference. I've taken writer-oriented seminars and classes at area colleges. I also participate in Odfellows, the critique group run by Odyssey graduates, and occasionally exchange manuscripts through the mail with trusted writer friends. I'm currently a member of Critters - the best online critique group around.

SFWoE:  Rob Riel, SFWoE's representative in Australia, also speaks highly of Critters. Most of the writers on the SFWoE Staff stay pretty close to home and depend on authors' books on writing to improve their (limited) skills.

Taylor:  That's understandable. In the past three years, I've also read about twenty writing books and skimmed a hundred more, done about two hundred and eighty critiques, and written over three hundred thousand words, trying to grasp the fundamentals and a few subtleties.

SFWoE:  That's a lot of learning, Larry. What do you feel are the most important lessons you learned from all this training?

Taylor:  Clarion is strictly a SF/F short story workshop, and brings in a new writer/instructor each week to run the sessions. I learned a lot there, but the best lesson I learned at Clarion was discipline. I found my writing center and now write five hundred words (or more) a day. Every day. That can take thirty minutes or four hours, but you must make the time.

     Viable Paradise was like week seven of Clarion, and I got the opportunity to work on specific things I'd had time to think about. My most valuable lesson at VP? Jim Macdonald taught me to plot. As a bonus, I got to work again with Maureen McHugh, one of my former Clarion instructors. She's a magnificant writer and a fine teacher of writing.

     At the end of two years, my apprenticeship had faltered. I applied to editor-run Odyssey and was accepted. Director Jeanne Cavelos, who has editing credits from here to Ganymede, taught the class. Jeanne, a fine writer and former NASA scientist, also brought in writers like Barry Longyear and Charles Grant for one-day lectures. My best lesson from Odyssey? Jeanne taught me to not be so self-indulgent, even promiscuous with my writing, to stay focused. In 2000, Dan Simmons was Odyssey's weeklong writer-in-residence. I learned other good things from Dan - a superb teacher - that continue to bear fruit for me.

SFWoE:  All good lessons that surely helped you to win our annual competition.

Taylor:  Since 1998, I've been privileged to interact with great editors. First, at Clarion with Alice Turner, for thirty years fiction editor at Playboy; then, in 1999, at Viable Paradise with TOR editors Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden; finally, in 2000, at Odyssey with Ellen Datlow, the visiting editor that year. The greatest lesson I took from all that? Editors and publishers want you. They're not dreading your stories and manuscripts; they want something they can publish. They root for you to be good.

SFWoE:  That is very interesting to hear, because all of us at SFWoE, especially our nominating committee, feel the same way. When we get a story that looks promising, everybody is rooting that the contestant carried the story to a strong ending. Changing the subject - who are the writers that have influenced your writing?

Taylor:  As I mention earlier, I started reading at an early age so my list is long. I would have to include Homer, Shakespeare, and the chroniclers of the Bible. Borges and Faulkner are seminal writers; their influence is everywhere. Dickens, Austen, Conrad, Swift, Henry Green, Tolstoy, Lawrence, Wells, Carroll, Woolf, and Hemingway for sure.

     Gabriel Garcia Marquez, John Fowles, Kurt Vonnegut, Richard Brautigan, Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald, and Jack Kerouac are on my list. I owe something to Ian Fleming. His Bond books, which start and end in Limbo, are still great reading. I also have to list H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Michael Moorcock, Ray Bradbury, and Fritz Leiber. Gene Wolfe, Philip Dick, Robert Heinlein, Clifford Simak, Edgar Pangborn, Ted Sturgeon, Avram Davidson, Alice Sheldon, Howard Waldrop, Karen Joy Fowler, and James Patrick Kelly are definitely on my list.

     Nalo Hopkinson is an exciting new writer. I've recently discovered Don DeLillo; Underworld is fascinating stuff. Nonfiction writers like Shelby Foote and Bruce Catton keep me reading.

SFWoE:  That's quite a list. What are your favorite books?

Taylor:  Novels? CATCH-22 is one of my touchstones. Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn dazzles. Faulkner's Light In August is essential reading. Nabokov's Lolita. Edgar Pangborn's Davy is a treasure; all of his short fiction is worth taking the time to read. Every few years, I reread Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years Of Solitude; every Halloween, I reread Kafka's Metamorphosis. I really liked Dean Koontz's Soft Come The Dragons. Gurney Norman's Divine Right's Trip, a counterculture folktale serialized in The Last Whole Earth Catalogue, is a treasure, too.

     Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely and The Big Sleep. Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and The Pump House Gang. Brautigan's Trout Fishing In America and Willard's Bowling Trophies, which are, to my mind, chapters in the Great American Novel.

     My "must reads" are:  Dune, Atlas Shrugged, The Left Hand Of Darkness, Jane Eyre, China Mountain Zhang, Women In Love, Moby-Dick, The Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love, and Merchant of Venice.

SFWoE:  What about short stories? What are your favorites?

Taylor:  In short fiction, I have a hard time picking from Alice Sheldon's works:  "The Man Who Walked Home" and "The Strange Flight of Dr. Ain." Her Tales Of The Quintana Roo collection are all favorites. Pat Murphy's "Rachel in Love" is perfect. I think Joyce's "The Dead" is one of the most masterfully crafted short stories ever written. D. H. Lawrence is, to my mind, the finest short story writer of all. Borges' "The Other Death" leaves me gasping. Kelly Link's "Travels With the Snow Queen" is moving. John Kessel's "The Pure Product" is scathing and unforgettable. Everything Lucius Shepard writes is gold. I think the first Dangerous Visions might be the best original anthology ever produced.

SFWoE:  Many of our contestants will find their favorites on your lists. With all the reading and writing you do is there time for any other interest?

Taylor:  I'm also a big comics fan. I admire Carl Barks' work both as a writer and an artist. His sense of design and story structure in his issues of "Uncle Scrooge" and other stories is flawless. Alan Moore is a compelling writer (see Watchmen), as are Los Bros Hernandez, with their Love & Rockets books. Neil Gaiman's Sandman is a favorite. I loved the "Batmans" by Jerry Robinson and Dick Sprang and Shelly Moldoff. Gil Kane's "Green Lantern" (often scripted by John Broome) was one of my true influences. I loved the Lantern's science fiction backgrounds and images. The extent of Green Lantern's superpowers were limited only by his imagination; that truly appealed to me.

SFWoE:  Have you won any writing competitions besides the 2000 SFWoE contest?

Taylor:  The SFWoE competition was my first contest win. When "Annie" is placed on the SFWoE Website it will be my first fiction publication. I've had one poem accepted and one rejected (but mournfully), and I own a handful of SF/F rejections, four from F & SF, two each from Analog and Asimov's, one each from Weird Tales and the Missouri Review. Those stories weren't ready to be bought; I just wanted to remind myself that selling is a part of the process, too.

SFWoE:  What was your first reaction when you received notice that you won our contest?

Taylor:  Shock. Gil's call was the sort of phone call you always dream about, but I had never imagined that I was even in the running. It was a surreal moment. Gil graciously walked me through the process.

SFWoE:  What do you plan or hope to accomplish next with your writing ability?

Taylor:  We all have issues. I've discovered that I write over and over again about the wild places of Earth. I have been lost in jungles and walked through deserts and descended into caves, never knowing what I'd find, only that they were places of spirit and not to be despoiled. I fear that, as a race, we're destroying our own identities.

     My other main issue seems to be about inner space. Why do people behave the way they do? Why are some good and others bad? What about the grays? Do these words mean anything? Like most writers, I write to understand, and then to share what I've learned. Having said all that, I love reading Howard and Burroughs and Kipling and Sabatini. I love a good pirate's tale.

SFWoE:  Larry, from this interview, it is obvious you are taking your writing very seriously; therefore, what advice would you give to aspiring writers and future SFWoE contestants?

Taylor:  We are tribal, so value your connection to others in the craft. The image of the lonely artist sitting in a threadbare garret, suffering but creating great art, is a false image, I think. The writer who most epitomizes loneliness in fiction, D. H. Lawrence, wrote in crowded rooms and at parties and in raucous bars, composing agonized, heartfelt and penetratingly true prose even as he sat. Others worked obsessively alone and suffered, I know, and made great art. But I think they deprived the world of some great art, too.

     I do know the value of solitude. After the first few drafts, I may turn to a trusted reader to find out if I've pushed the right buttons and rang the right bells. Or I may just sit and think. I travel a lot, and write at the drop of a hat, in whatever company. When I'm home, I choose to work alone in a quiet room. My reference books are in another room; I don't want distractions. No email, no Internet, no interruptions at all. I want to have what Raymond Chandler suggests:  "Not necessarily write, but show up and attempt to write, with nothing else between you and the alphabet."

     So, write. Finish your word count for the day. Then take a walk.

SFWoE:  Good sound advice. One more item, your friend, Theodora Goss, informed SFWoE that after winning our competition you received a pleasant surprise while attending the Boskone Con.

Taylor:  Yes, I had a great time at Boskone. Saturday night, my friends - aspiring writers and spouses I'd met at workshops and continued our friendships, and James Patrick Kelly and Filthy Pierre - in honor of my winning the SFWoE competition, gave me a surprise at dinner. Madeleine Reardon Dimond and Marjorie Farrell, Clarion '98 classmates, organized this, bringing funny hats and noisemakers and giving me a lovely journal filled with notes, photos, artwork and other keepsakes. Dora was also with me at dinner, as gracious as always. A good time was had by all. During the con, David A. Smith (who runs the writing workshops at Boskone and Readercon), several published writers, and even a senior editor from TOR congratulated me on the win; the SFWoE contest really has a fine reputation.

(SFWoE Note:    SFWoE thanks Larry Taylor for taking the time to do this interview. One of the first contestants to read his interview was Theodora Goss, who Larry mentioned several times during his interview. After reading the interview, Theodora sent SFWoE a message, saying that she had read Larry's interview and really enjoyed it. She went on to say that it might have been easier to ask Larry what he hadn't read!

     If any of our contestants (or others) are interested in learning more about the writing courses that Larry mentioned in this interview, they may visit Clarion and Viable Paradise with these links. Odyssey may be contacted by using the link provided in the "SFWoE Note" at the end of the review that follows this interview.

     To read Larry Taylor's winning story, click on the SFWoE Swirl below.) 

03/06/01   From the opening paragraph, Theodora Goss' "Hyacinth" is a story told in the wonderful manner of eighteenth century fiction. It develops, it percolates, it gains your trust and lures you into the slow pace of early 1900's North Carolina. As the story opens, Ms. Goss introduces Trelawny, the protagonist. He is an old man reflecting to a young listener on what his life has brought him. The writing is beautiful -- flawlessly pulling the reader in and setting up what will come. Goss' style is striking because it is noticeable; it is present, unlike most of today's short fiction, which tends toward lean, dry prose. It is her style that makes this story special.

     By the time the framed opening leads into the main story, the reader is hooked and has to know what becomes of young Trelawny; the object of his affection, Hyacinth; and his young Latin student, Jim. Goss' writing is clear but not lacking. She takes the time to let the words have space, to open up Trelawny's world through images and language. The slow pace of the time period and the narrator's frame of mind fit the author's style perfectly. Everything works together to make a unified whole.

     When Trelawny begins teaching Jim the The Metamorphoses as a Latin lesson, I knew it was foreshadowing what was to come. I asked Ms. Goss if she started with Hyacinth's story and added The Metamorphoses as spice, or if she used The Metamorphoses as a foundation to build on. She said that "Hyacinth" started as the simple image of the woman. And while Ovid must have been in the back of her mind while writing, The Metamorphoses didn't occur to her until she was rewriting. "I thought, what would Trelawny and Jim be reading after they finished Cicero? And then I thought, of course! What else but Ovid? It was as though something that was there subconsciously all along suddenly came to the surface," Goss said.

     As Ms. Goss reveals details about Hyacinth, we see that our main character is blinded by his feelings and his limited knowledge. When he approaches Hyacinth for her hand in marriage, we, as educated readers, know there is more to this woman, and none of it any good to him. But that makes us wish all the more that he can win her love and live happily ever after. We hope, while knowing it won't happen, for the best. There is delicious double meaning in Trelawny's words as the climax nears and Hyacinth agrees to marriage. This scene is another example of the great writing in this story. The reader sees there is much more going on. But the author takes her time revealing the real story, letting the events play out, making the reader anticipate what will come.

     Ms. Goss doesn't open up a dialogue on what happens next -- it is a mystery of nature, like flowers blooming while you look away -- and that makes it all the more wondrous. Goss then gives the reader this clear and beautifully poignant statement as Trelawny tries to understand what has gone wrong:  "The only sign that she had been there was a single flower, already dying on the seat, which must have fallen from her wedding bouquet -- a white hyacinth, strangely out of season." Trelawny must comprehend for himself what he has lost, and spends the rest of his life trying.

     This is a story about loss, about not seeing how precious someone is, and about human nature, to not see what is right before us. If Trelawny had not been preoccupied with making Hyacinth be what he wanted, things could have been different. It is also about the fleeting nature of life. In the elderly Trelawny, we find someone who still lives through the joy of his brief time in love, though it pains him. When his young guest asks him if the memories of his time in North Carolina were pleasant, he responds, "In part, yes." Later when describing the first time he saw Hyacinth, Trelawny remembers:

"Then I stopped and simply looked, enchanted. Within that garden stood the most glorious girl I have ever seen. She was slender, and as pale as the white lawn of her gown, with the grace of a porcelain figurine."

     Then, at the end of this framed story, we hear Trelawny reflect on his loss. His simple words are all the more powerful for the complex sentences of the rest of the story. They hit home and point once again to Goss' theme. Trelawny and Hyacinth shared something special, and it is made no less so by its lack of permanency. The two shared love and that can never change, though the consequences were terrible.

     The wonderful thing about this story is that we can experience these deep, thoughtful ideas within the context of a fantasy story. Using true human emotions to provoke thoughts within the context of an interesting story is what a lot of modern fantasy, and modern fiction in general, is missing.

     Throughout "Hyacinth," Theodora Goss walks the fine line between leisurely and too slow, between crafted language and over the top verbiage. Never once does she slip up. While she is always moving the story forward, she still gives the language time to soak in. This perfect symbiosis of language and story is what makes the story an award winner.

(SFWoE Note:   Theodora Goss is a published poet and has poems as well as fiction, essays, and her full biography on her web site.

     SFWoE thanks Keith Demanche for providing this study of Theodora Goss' winning entry to the 2000 SFWoE Annual Contest. Keith is a writer, a musician, and a passionate student of life. After pursuing a musical career for almost ten years, recording three albums along the way, he focused on writing and graduated from the Odyssey Writing Workshop in 1997. Since then, he has published stories and poems in several journals including the Northern New England Review. He has a spoken word CD and a chapbook, Not Forgotten, available through Haunted Milk Press. His second chapbook, Sky for Sparrows, will be released in spring, 2001. His fiction can be found online at FearsMag.com and ChiZine. He works as administrator of Odyssey and is a contributing writer/photographer for HippoPress Manchester, a weekly arts and entertainment newspaper.) 

02/17/01   You don't get to see much snow in Australia, which makes it all the more remarkable that Sydneyite Nathan Burrage evokes it so well in his short story "Snowstorm." In this fast-paced science fiction tale, it's the snow that's the star. It's menacing, all pervading and -- here's the twist -- sentient.

     The story opens in familiar SF territory. Three space troopers are surveying an encampment, trying to establish how contact was lost with the colony that lives inside a biosphere. Wisely, the author chooses not to provide too much background information. Besides, we know the conventions. We assume this is the not-too-distant future, that this is a human outpost on another planet, there is evidence of alien intervention and the protagonist and his associates are here to investigate. It is with admirable economy that Nathan gets this scenario across, without having to revert to the dreaded info-dump.

     The characters, too, are drawn with equal thrift. For instance, we have little idea what Vern, the hero, looks like. His age and demeanor are unspecified, his personality uncluttered by affectation or history. But does this matter? Not a bit. From the start the reader is swept along by tight, smooth prose. In less than six hundred words, Vern has made his first mistake. He's confronted the alien -- in the form of a cutely named Frostie -- and is instantly overwhelmed and captured.

     Vern wakes up in a ladies shower room -- an amusing touch -- inside the biosphere, where he learns more about the snowy threat from a survivor of the assault. Here we begin to sense what Nathan is doing in this story. He's narrowing our field of vision, taking us ever deeper in to the heart of the monster, which may be deadly, but perhaps the real confrontation will be with ourselves.

     To emphasize this aspect, the rest of the narrative has a surreal dreamlike quality. At certain points the reader can't help but feel closed in by the constantly swirling snow, and increasingly more certain that this journey is as much mental as it is literal.

     Vern is eventually summoned to the biosphere's sport's hall, which the snow creatures have seemingly converted in to a bizarre arena for their amusement. At first Vern believes he is a bystander at some kind of alien boxing match until he realizes the figure in the ring is a replica of himself.

     From this point on, the pace of the writing is sharp and unrelenting, the action gripping. The descriptions of the snow's attempts to take over Vern's body as well as its ability to create images in the air is particularly well handled. And the notion that this is a symbolic journey into madness is never too far away as the story moves toward its climax.

     Against the backdrop of ever intensifying flurries, surrounded by the alien entity, and disabled by the effects of the capsule he's swallowed, Vern is effectively snow-blind (pun intended). From here he must literally step in to the ring, fight off the enemy, and make contact with his own icy replica. With heavy symbolism, he plunges his hand in to his own mind, where he finds morbid insanity and, of course, the key to defeating the foe.

     "Snowstorm" may, in some senses, follow a classic formula, but its strength lies partly in the conjuring of vivid visual images. And, if the point of SF is to direct our attention toward outer space as a way of understanding our inner workings, Nathan Burrage has shown that he is more than capable of the task, as well as adding a notable "chiller" to the genre.

(SFWoE Note:   SFWoE thanks Australia's "robparnell" for providing our readers this fine review of Nathan Burrage's third place story. "Snowstorm" is scheduled for publication in June of 2001 by AUREALIS Magazine, Issue 27.

Our review writer, robparnell, is a member of the Blackwood Writers, an Australian literary group dedicated to achieving excellence in speculative fiction. He has had short stories, plays, and articles published in the US, Britain, and Australia. Currently robparnell is working on his second novel, The Guttering Flame, an epic dark fantasy. Every night, he says, he prays for an agent. You may view his website, and get in touch with him, at:  Species of the Dead.) 

02/10/00    SFWoE wishes to give our contestants (and anyone else who is interested) a chance to learn a little about the writers they are competing against and especially a chance to get to know the contest winners. We, therefore, asked each of the 1999 Top Ten to send us some biographical information. In their own words, here are the 1999 contest Top Ten.

First Place: John McCabe.   I live and work in Salt Lake City, Utah, where my family and friends (and dogs) encourage me to pursue my writing dreams.

     I am a veteran of the SFWoE contest, and have experienced both the excitement of placing a story in the top ten and the disappointment of finishing out of the running. My thanks to everyone involved in the process -- Gil, Ed, the SFWoE crew, and all writers, past and present, who have participated in the contest, for serving as inspiration and incentive. To my mind, this is competition in the best sense of the word -- people striving to do their best, enjoying the process and rooting for, rather than against, their competitors.

     "The Enemy God" came about as a result of three unrelated concepts. First, I appropriated the title from an Emerson, Lake and Palmer song -- the harsh, menacing tone of the title and music appealed to me. Second, I was interested in exploring the idea of theocracy, which is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as:  "government by a god regarded as the ruling power or by priests or officials claiming divine sanction." Lastly, I wanted to write a story involving the plot element of planetary colonization.

     How or why I put these three concepts together, I can't say exactly. I can say that I rewrote "The Enemy God" several times, mindful of the fact that Dilip Agarwal's "Iron Omdurman" and Paul Blake's "Watching the Angels" (winners of the 1997 and 1998 SFWoE contests, respectively) were extremely well-written and entertaining stories. I did not expect to win, simply because of the sheer volume of entries and the odds against any single story emerging on top, but I resolved to submit my best effort.

     I'm happy to say that I've recently had several stories accepted for publication in 2000, including acceptance by the online e-zines Jackhammer and Infinite Distance. I hope to continue improving as a writer, and to see more of my writing published in the future.
(SFWoE Note:   When John McCabe refers to himself as "a veteran of the SFWoE contest" he is not exaggerating. Last year he finished in seventh place. However, the two previous years he held down third place. And in the 1995 contest John was our first-place contestant!)

Second Place: Terence Moll.   When I was tiny, I loved the strange characters and weird worlds depicted in fairy tales, and discovering Edith Nesbit and C.S. Lewis entrenched this fascination. Science fiction in primary school was the next -- and fatal -- step. Thirty years later, I still enjoy novels about plausible and conflict-ridden societies that are different from ours, peopled by characters one can relate to and learn from.

     "The Face of the Pilgrim" goes back to my roots in fantasy. It's set in a world where a few individuals struggle to acquire and maintain their limited extra-sensory powers, often at great cost to themselves. Training the mind, after all, is at least as tough as training the body, and rather more painful. Moreover, all power comes at a cost, as depicted by authors like Tolkien and Dan Simmons; most mass-market fantasists ignore this lesson, making their efforts rather empty and bloodless.

     I am South African, living in Prague with my Czech wife and daughter (who delights in my yarns about princesses, dragons, and brave deeds), and working as a financial economist. One day, I want to develop some of the science fiction and thriller manuscripts I've begun over the years -- and had to file away, due to time pressures. Until then, I'll write short stories and read, read, read.
(SFWoE Note:   Terence Moll's second place story almost never made it to our contest. When we informed him that SFWoE had not received his manuscript and that it appeared to be lost in the mail, he mailed a second copy. A couple weeks later we received both copies. For the record, having received two entry fees had no bearing on Terence taking second place -- honest.)

Third Place: Angella Taylor Lofthouse.   The idea for "Blessing Stone" first came to me in a dream. I saw an old man with his hands in a river, and I thought, he's looking for the blessing stones. When I woke up, I thought, What the heck are blessing stones? and the story was born.

     I've been writing fiction for over five years now. When I left home to go to college, I fully intended to graduate in nuclear physics. After one semester of calculus, I changed my major to English and never looked back. I still love science, though, so science fiction was a perfect fit for my writing ambitions.

     I graduated from Brigham Young University in 1992, and I am now a very happy stay-home mom with three wonderful sons, Ryan(6), Rusty(4), and Sam(1). My husband, Tracy, is very supportive of my writing efforts, plus he handles all my computer woes for me. I also have two cats, and a house full of plants that I love just as much as the cats, if not more.

     Besides writing, I also love to read science fiction, classics, and just about anything else. Music is another great love of mine, especially singing. I also play the piano and the guitar. I enjoy "Star Trek" and Star Wars (I've seen Episode I ten times. No joke.), but my life really revolves around children. In addition to raising my own kids, I also teach seven and eight-year olds at church on Sunday, and volunteer at my son's elementary school as a "music mom" to help with the music classes.
(SFWoE Note:   The SFWoE Staff is not quite sure when Angella, with three little boys, finds time to write. But write she does, and well enough to capture third place for the second time in two years.)

First Honor: Moira Anderson Allen.   I've been writing nonfiction professionally for twenty years -- and struggling to produce viable fiction since about sixth grade. There is, of course, the obligatory novel-that-will-never-see-the-light-of-day stashed in my closet (well, on disk, actually). My incredibly patient husband, after struggling to stay awake through revision number 47 ("I thought this character died in the last chapter." "No, that was in the last version; I changed it, remember?"), wholeheartedly supported my decision to put novels aside until I could produce a "successful" short story. Or better yet, more than one.

     Anyone seeking the "secret" of my inspiration will find the answer simple but probably disappointing:  Insomnia. "Truthseeker," like several other recent story ideas, seemed to spring full-blown from a night of restless tossing. By day, it would probably never have occurred to me to write about werewolves, but at 3 a.m., it seemed like an excellent idea. All that remained was to work out the kinks (no small task in itself).

     When not restlessly plotisizing about werewolves and other normalcy-impaired denizens of "Truthseeker's" world, I lead a relatively mundane (?) life as a freelance writer and editor. Among other projects, I write a column for Entrepreneur, regular features for several other magazines, and serve as associate editor for Inklings and editor of Inkspot's Global Writers' Ink newsletter. (For more info, drop by http://www.tipsforwriters.com.) My book, Writing.com:  Creative Internet Strategies to Advance Your Writing Career, was published by Allworth Press in August 1999 (plug, plug!).

     Vital statistics:  husband, one; cats, three; computers, four (if you count hubby's office laptop). Currently, we call Silicon Valley "home," but hope to relocate to Virginia in the spring. For kicks, hubby and I like to download the latest issue of British Archaeology off the net and fight over who gets to read it first (if we can excavate the pages from under the nearest cat). We subscribe to three different archaeology magazines, and hope to go on a dig this summer. That ought to lead to some further interesting "mysteries" for Truthseeker to investigate!
(SFWoE Note:   In his judge's report, Edward Bryant said that Moira's fourth place story was a dark fantasy that blends shapeshifting and crime into something of a werewolf murder mystery. That's funny -- the female members of the 1999 contest nominating committee thought it was a love story.)

Second Honor: David Taub.   What can I say in a few words that can give you a picture of my life? Though I was born and raised in America, my Swedish wife lured me across the Atlantic to become an expatriate living in a small city in Sweden. But that is where I am, not who I am.

     Writing is my life, and getting published my Holy Grail. I went to Caltech for my undergraduate work where I received a B.S. in Molecular Biology, pretending for a few years that I was going to be a scientist. But writing called. My current compromise is work as a Technical Writer for a software company. Not really the writing I want to do.

     I've written several children's stories (mostly fantasy), but found the slush pile readers an insurmountable obstacle. I'm sure all you writers out there know the story. I've just finished my first full length adult horror novel, and hope for better luck this time in breaking through that first story barrier that is always so difficult.

     Writing "The Missionary" for the contest was fun. I've had the idea for quite a while, and then realized it would be perfect for the SFWoE contest. Most of the first contact stories out there are always so grandiose, either "I come in peace and will save the world" or "Die Earth scum!". I thought, what if the first contact was something a bit unexpected, say a missionary on a religious quest, out to convert the barbaric natives?
(SFWoE Note:   The SFWoE Staff is not sure about the "barbaric natives," but we do know that the members of the 1999 contest nominating committee were converted, as David's tale was the first story selected to be forwarded to the final judge.)

Sixth Place: Jillian Parks.   Born and raised the first ten years of my life in Kansas City, Missouri, I didn't feel the need to write until I moved to Florida. Much to my surprise, a very simplistic detective story I wrote in the fifth grade won the school-wide literary fair, and then I believed I could write. My supportive family encouraged it, and I commonly had to be grounded out of my room as punishment when I did the typical wrong doing of preteen years.

     From reading the works of Heinlein, Robinson, and reading children's fantasy stories, I developed my own style of "personal" narration and breathing characters that you'd expect to find sitting next to you on the bus. This developed all through high school and survived the attacks of a non-genre creative writing instructor in community college.

     My filing cabinets actually have some non-stinkers in them, and I hope to expand upon these stories whenever I get around to them (especially ones in a folder with a bumper sticker that reads "I was abducted by aliens").

     I now live a few miles south of Cape Kennedy and am able to feel the ground rumble when the shuttle lifts off. I was recently promoted from "customer service" to bakery associate at the grocery store where I work, which gives me enough energy to write sci-fi/fantasy rather than just fan fiction for my own website with my fiancé Jack (and the story of how we met has some bizarre fantasy elements, too). Jack and I plan to marry this September, so a lot of my spare time is devoted in planning our Medieval-theme wedding. I have a cat named Pixel, who really can walk through walls.

     "The Jewel of Freya" is the result of watching too many "Dirty Pair" movies, resurrecting and expanding a short-changed character from Luc Besson's 5th Element and delightment in old-fashioned mindless escapism. My study of Norse mythology influenced the tale greatly; perhaps pointing out that culture follows a person throughout their life, even in the farthest reaches of the galaxy, a la The High Crusade by Poul Anderson.

     This is the first time I placed in the Top Ten and I am honored to be among these fine writers in science fiction and fantasy. Domo arigato, Bryant-san.
(SFWoE Note:   Edward Bryant said that he got a kick out of Jillian's story, and so did the nominating committee. Jillian told SFWoE her aim was to create a story that provided the reader "mindless escapism" -- and she did! When you read her story you don't get a lecture, symbolism, or a set of morals. You just get something called "enjoyment.")

Seventh Place: Stephen Paul Turner.   This is my first time in SFWoE and I was quite surprised (read shocked) to learn I placed so high. While I have no difficulty in writing stories (my main difficulty seems to be in keeping my stories of a reasonable length) bios and letters fill me with dread.

     Though born in the United Kingdom just before my parents emigrated, I am an Australian. I actually learned to walk onboard ship.

     I was raised on Enid Blyton and Beatrix Potter and graduated to Tolkien. Other beloved authors include Terry Pratchett, David Gemmell, and R. E. Howard. I am a big fan of "Dr. Who," "Blake's 7," "Deep Space Nine," "Babylon 5," and "Ultraviolet."

     "Dancing With The Mirror's Shadow" began with me wondering what actually lies on the other side of the mirror. It grew into a half dozen pages of notes, most of which came into being at 3 a.m. when I was trying to sleep. The first drafts all lacked a certain "something" until I realized I had only written the last half of the story. So, I wrote backwards. A friend (Chris Donald -- thanks mate) showed me the SFWoE entry form and pushed me to submit something.

     I take a notebook and half-a-dozen pens with me where ever I go, as I find it the best way to catch and keep ideas when they crawl out into the light of day.

     At present I am undertaking a course in writing and editing in Ballarat, Victoria.

     My family tends to attract eccentric dogs.
(SFWoE Note:   Turner's family may attract "eccentric" dogs, but his contest story sure didn't. Our judge found it to be an "elegant" story.)

Eighth Place: Brenda Whitehurst Rollins   There are no restrictions on one's imagination in science fiction. That's what drew me to the realm both as writer and reader.

     Though I studied and worked in the field of graphics and interior design for years, and though I later attained a masters in literary fiction and now teach English at a college here in Knoxville, Tennessee, it has been learning to write SF that has been and is my most fulfilling challenge.

     Recently, I've been concentrating on stories about the inhabitants of other planets. Such a story is "Beholder," my 1999 submission to SFWoE. It tells of a pair of musically talented twins who become more than chummy with an alien virtuoso. I had great fun writing their story; it was much more fun than writing my literary novel on spousal abuse that a New York agent had for a time. (As the agent wanted to sell the novel to the YA market, it's in a drawer and will likely stay there.)
(SFWoE Note:   Brenda, as many of our long-time contestants have done (and are doing), has been climbing toward the top ten list for several years. She just missed the 1998 selection. Now, in a field of 222 stories, she breaks into the top ten. As Brenda states above, it's a most fulfilling challenge.)

Ninth Place: Colin Falconer.   "You should enter it in the Science Fiction Writers of Earth competition."

     "You're kidding." I had just read my short story "Paydirt" to the guys, gals, and creatures who make up the Blackwood Writers Group (BWG).

     Oh! The "creatures" comment. Well, you see, there are a couple of members who, I'm convinced, come from somewhere "out there." You tell me; how many people do you know who only appear as thermionic emissions from central heating ducts? Hmmm!

     Anyway, Kain Massin (his pen name) was telling me how he had entered the SFWoE competition the previous year and won second place. Though suitably impressed, I seem to recall saying something like, "But I don't write Science Fiction."

     I'd better explain that last statement:  I'd joined BWG a year earlier after writing what I thought would be a best selling adventure novel. I must point out, this novel didn't have one iota of SF in it. Week after week I would read a chapter, and the members of BWG would then:  praise, condemn, rubbish, enthuse, or all-but rewrite the story. Depending on whom I listened to, I was either a genius or the worst case of a frontal lobotomy gone wrong.

     Anyway, enough of that. On a whim, I decided to join the fray and write a short SF story. Even after the aforementioned prompting to submit "Paydirt" in the SFWoE competition, I wasn't convinced. It took Kain Massin and Rob "El Presidente" Stephenson to push me into competing. In fact, they organized the application form, supplied the envelope, the stamps, and even traded five US dollars for a bargain price of 10,000 Australian dollars. Boy, am I lucky to have two friends like that?

     Well, you know the rest. I was fortunate enough to place ninth in the 1999 competition (the truth is I'm tickled pink at making the SFWoE top ten list). And I should mention that Kain Massin placed tenth. Not bad for a small writers group tucked away in the backwaters of Adelaide, South Australia.

     Rob and Kain are trying to convince me to enter this year. They've even promised to exchange 20,000 Australian dollars for the 5 US dollar entry fee. They tell me the rate of exchange has changed dramatically since the slump in our country's dingo exports.

     I suppose I'd better tell you a bit about myself. Other than being gullible about foreign currency exchange, I've done just about everything from studio musician to managing director; canoe/bushwalk leader to aspiring artist; archer to "would-be" writer. I decided to retire from the business world seven years ago. Since then, I've done a bit of writing, painting, and made some pocket money writing e-commerce sites for small business. I live in the hills above sunny Adelaide, I have a grown up daughter, Louise, and I'm still on a quest for the right woman in my life.

     Oh! By the way, I've started writing a full-length Science Fiction novel. I suppose that if you can't beat them you might as well join them.

     Thank you for judging my story worthy of a place on your top ten list.

     P.S. The "alien" members of BWG send a friendly hiss to their extraterrestrial friends.
(SFWoE Note:   Colin Falconer's story "Paydirt," as far as SF stories go, is "conservative." Colin's bio info, as far as bios go, is "far out.")

Tenth Place: Kain Massin.   Given my unsuccessful writing background over the past ten years, this year has been a very pleasant ride. I managed to take second place in the 1998 SFWoE contest with "Unconfirmed sighting". A small Australian magazine bought it after I entered the 1999 SFWoE competition, and purchased another story as well. The second story, "Escape From Stalingrad" made the Horror shortlist for the 1999 Aurealis Awards.

     I continue to be a member of the Blackwood Writers Group. We're putting together an anthology of our works, which should be published by mid-year. We're also grinning widely:  one of our members is the Colin Falconer who finished in ninth place with his first SF story.

     This is my last appearance in SFWoE as a contestant, but I won't forget the help that Ed, Gil, and the committee have given me. I wouldn't have achieved any of this if it weren't for the impetus I received from the 1998 contest.