Final Week of Voting for the Million Writers Award

We now have one week left in the public vote for the 2011 storySouth Million Writers Award. With just over 800 votes tallied, the leading stories have continued to change positions. "The Green Book" is once again number one while "Arvies," "The Incorrupt Body of Carlo Busso," and "Most of Them Would Follow Wandering Fires" are close behind.

Before I go into this week's voting details, I should note I've seen a large number of attempts to vote using fake names and email addresses. These attempts were all deleted. The supporters of one author in particular seems to be waging a campaign to stuff the ballot on this author's behalf. If this continues I will name the author and list all the IP addresses and fake names and email accounts used on this author's behalf. Doing this would likely enable some cybersleuth to easily figure out who is doing this. All I can say is you've been warned.

Anyway, here are the current vote percentages, ranked from highest to lowest.

1. "The Green Book" by Amal El-Mohtar (Apex Magazine) – 16%
2. "Arvies" by Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed Magazine) – 15%
3. "The Incorrupt Body of Carlo Busso" by Eric Maroney (Eclectica) – 14%
4. "Most of Them Would Follow Wandering Fires" by Amber Sparks (Barrelhouse) – 13%
5. "Do You Have a Place for Me" by Roxane Gay (Spork Press) – 12%
6. "Cancer Party" by Nicola Mason (Blackbird) – 9%
7. "Hell Dogs" by Daphne Buter (FRiGG: A Magazine of Fiction and Poetry)  – 8%
8. "Arthur Arellano" by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Narrative Magazine) – 7%
9. "Here is David, the Greatest of Descendants" by Spencer Kealamakia (Anderbo) – 4%
10. "Elegy for a Young Elk" by Hannu Rajaniemi (Subterranean Magazine) – 2%

Remember, the public vote is open through July 6, 2011. Readers and writers may vote one time for their favorite by clicking here.

The prizes for this year's award are:

• First place: $600 plus the $100 gift certificate from ThinkGeek
• Runner-up: $200
• Honorable mention/third place: $100

Comments

[Robert Laughlin]

The bastard has already had warning enough. Go ahead and release all the juicy data re the author and his designated ballot box stuffer. (Mightn't they be one and the same person?)

[Rick Rofihe]

Why just "his" stuffer? Couldn't it be "her" stuffer? Or even the act of a well-oiled GROUP (known or not-known to the author?)

If this ballot was taking place in England, where people legally wager real money on just about ANYTHING, a vote on stories such as this might not ordinarily surface on the public radar, but betting on just who the guilty "he"/"she"/"they" turns out to be probably would have many willing to give odds on the matter -- and many willing to reach for their wallets/purses and take those odds.

In any case, 4 days to go....

[Jason Sanford]

I don't believe I revealed whether the author at question was male or female. And as of now, I can't say anything more. We'll see how this plays out.