Instead of waiting until tomorrow, I decided to go ahead and release my picks for the Million Writers Award top ten stories of 2009. Here they are:
- "Secondhand Objects" by Renee Simms (from 42opus)
- "I Am My Rooster" by Taylur Thu Hien Ngo (from Blackbird)
- "The Library" by Jolie Braun (from BluePrintReview)
- "Non-Zero Probabilities" by N. K. Jemisin (from Clarkesworld Magazine)
- "A Song to Greet the Sun" by Alaya Dawn Johnson (from Fantasy Magazine)
- "The Moose Head Haus" by Tom Burkett (from Storyglossia)
- "Ditch" by Eric Beetner (PDF download, from Thuglit)
- "Eros, Philia, Agape" by Rachel Swirsky (from Tor.com)
- "This Program Contains Actual Surgical Procedures" by Roxane Gay (from Twelve Stories)
- "Hospitality" by Summer Block (from Wheelhouse Magazine)
I selected these stories from the 190 notable stories of 2009, which were picked by the Million Writers Award preliminary judges. Obviously there were many great works on that list, despite my complaint the other day about depressing stories. In a few days I'll name some of the other stories from the notable list which caught my eye but didn't quite make the top ten.
The public vote for the overall winners--meaning people will vote for their favorite story from the ten listed above--will begin on Sunday and run through the end of this month. Thanks to our generous donors, this year the prizes break down as follows:
- First place: $400, plus the $100 ThinkGeek gift certificate and a one-year Greatest Uncommon Denominator subscription;
- Runner-up: $200, plus PDFs of GUD magazine;
- Honorable mention (third place): $50, plus PDFs of GUD magazine.
For more information on the award, please see the main Million Writers Award page.
UPDATE: I'm having difficulty with the vote system I was going to use, so I have to switch to a backup one. I'll try to have the vote up and running by the evening of May 17. My apologies for this delay.