Introduction | Winners | Honorable Mentions | Titillating Titles | Final Judges

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Seven Samurai

In seven years of judgingThe Austin Chronicle Short Story Contest, it has never come to blows. But I'll be damned if this wasn't the most combative year yet: I was afraid that heated "over my dead body"s and "you've got to be kidding, man"s might, at any second, escalate into a knock-down, drag-out fight. The debate started out in camps – the mystery writers against the academics – team A, fortified by contest veterans Jesse Sublett and Neal Barrett Jr., who, though mortally opposed every year prior, came together in a surprise coup for a story whose merits were invisible to the rest of us. Team B was made up of the rookie judges; I stood alone as far as I could tell. Everyone held firm through one round of drinks and the chips and salsa, but by the time the main course was served, the camps disbanded and it became every man for himself, each championing a story that without additional support couldn't make it to the top.

We fought about whether the stories should be weighed against themselves or the entire world of literature, what constitutes a character, and how an ending that sneaks up on you too fast can shatter a short story's atmosphere faster than you can say "dilettante." When we've come to a standstill in the past, it's usually time to start swaying your neighbor to vote with you; techniques include everything from the sad-eye look to perfectly timed watch-gazing in order to hurry on his collapse. I'd like to tell you that some of us began to give in. I'd like to say that my usual manipulative bullying was met with something besides a brick wall. I'd like to say we did more drinking than arguing. I'd like to say we're all still friends.

Each year, I'm reminded of the strong subjectivity of personal taste; choosing the winners is a difficult task at the end of a long process. We received over 500 submissions again this year, and each of these was read twice by two initial judges (thanks to Tommi Ferguson, Gus Gonzales, Manuel Gonzales, Lindsey Simon, Deborah Wilson, Kim Mellen, and Scott Blackwood for discerning reads of the bulk of the entries). The stories with the highest grades went on to the finals. I personally read through all of them to make sure nothing deserving got left behind. The stories with a strong sense of place, or complex character, are the ones that get passed on. A perfect short story would meet both these criteria, and this year there were very few of these. Still, the finalists each have something evocative to offer: the loss of innocence, hard-boiled humor, an unforgettable phrase, a moment frozen in time. If I could make a suggestion as to the best way to digest this year's offerings, it would be to read them carefully. Read them twice.

Special thanks to Chronicle marketing director Tommi Ferguson, who did a first-rate job of executing the contest, and also to our co-sponsors, who make it all possible: Book People, 101.7 KGSR, Lumatec, Hill Country Brewing, and Wheatsville Coop. Be sure to come by and hear the winners read their own stories aloud on Sunday, August 9, 2pm, at Book People.-- Jen Scoville

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Winners

FIRST PLACE | Brooke Daniel | "The Fishing Trip"

Brooke Daniel received a philosophy degree from Wellesley College, and a masters in social work from the University of Texas. She received true education waiting tables at Coco's and expediting at Texadelphia. She has been a bookseller at Barnes and Noble for the past three years, where she also runs the Women's Book Group. This is the first piece of writing she has submitted.

SECOND PLACE | Frances Schenkkan | "Something for the Kids"

Frances Schenkkan will begin the master's program in creative writing at the University of Texas in the fall. She's been a newspaper reporter and editor, and in the 1980s she served on the Austin Planning Commission and the board of the Austin Child Guidance Center. She is a recipient of the Adele Steiner Burleson prize in poetry at the university. She and husband Pieter have three sons, Ben, Nate, and Zack.

THIRD PLACE | Kerry Dunn | "Supper Club Soul"

Kerry Dunn is the only computer tech in Austin that despises Star Trek and all things related to it. He is not fond of mayonnaise and is generally a cranky individual. Be honest, you're not really interested in where he was born. You just want to get to the movie listings.

FOURTH PLACE | Sandi Heimsath | "Amulet"

Sandi Heimsath is a graduate of Smith College and as a Filipino-American writer has drawn deeply upon her international experience. Sandi has lived in a historic bungalow in Hyde Park for 11 years with her husband, Ben, and three busy, busy children. She also has an excellent fountain pen collection and is often covered in ink. Sandi's work has been awarded the 1996 Rice University Writer's Conference award in the Short Story Category. Her work was also selected and published in the Smith College Alumnae Quarterly during the First Annual 1997 Short Story Contest for Alumnae.

FIFTH PLACE | Margaret Thompson | "Moments in the History of Danny and Dewitt"

Margaret Thompson grew up in Michigan and moved to Austin in 1992. Her writing has appeared in the American Book Review, the Austin American-Statesman, Historic Traveler, and Texas Highways. In 1997, the editors of Grand Tour featured one of her pieces in a special issue devoted to emerging essayists.

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Honorable Mentions

"Secrets of My Prison-House" by Mason West
"The Complicated Fanny" by Ernest Gamble
"The Evolution of the Comma" by Marlys West
"Reading Retta" by Amy Goodwin
"Frida's Visits" by Dia VanGunten
"Saviors" by James E. Dutton
"Through the Broken Window" by Celeste Hollister
"The Coral Fish" by Anthony Spaeth
"The Rushing of Wings" by Arun John
"Small" by Joshua Lanthier-Welch
"I Need Ty Cobb" by Jo Kellum

Don't forget to join us for a reading with the winners on Sunday, August 9, 2pm at Book People.

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Titillating Titles

The following is a list of stories whose titles tickled our fancy. They were especially useful in providing some comic relief during a particularly stressful portion of the final judging dinner. Granted, most of these were chosen for their effect on the funny bone, but some made it merely for the intrigue they conjure up.

"God Is an Avocado"
"Marshmallow Boy"
"Fat and Stinky"
"Slut and Bigger Slut"
"Fook Fook, the Elf"
"We Floated Billy"
"Please Pass the Pork or, Beware: the Pig Mummy"
"A Day in the Van"
"How to Neutralize a Toxic Employee"
"1979 Okay"
"Kiss-of-Death Corner Deli"

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Final Judges

(l-r) Jim Burr, REYoung, Tom Doyal, Jen Scoville, Jesse Sublett, Neal Barret, Jr., Mary Willis Walker photograph by John Anderson

Jim Burr received his B.A. in classics from Michigan State University and his M.A. in classics from UT Austin. After four years of work toward a Ph.D., he happily abandoned grad school to become an editorial fellow at the University of Texas Press. As humanities editor, he acquires and manages manuscripts in the fields of classics and the ancient world, film and media studies, Middle Eastern studies, and architecture. He also has the largest collection of toys in the press.

Mary Willis Walker is the author of four novels: All the Dead Lie Down, Under the Beetle's Cellar (Hammett, Macavity and Anthoun awards for best novel of 1996), The Red Scream (Edgar and Macavity awards for best novel of 1994), and Zero at the Bone (Agatha and Macavity for best first novel of 1991). She is currently trying to write a new book (still in the honeymoon stage) while trying to train a new dog (still in the puppy stage).

REYoung, born in 1950 in Iron City, Penn., holds a B.A. and an M.A. in English lit from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Penn State University respectively. He spent three years in the U.S. Army as a Russian linguist, and from there went on to a lifetime of dead-end, low-paying jobs. Cluttered mind, uncluttered life — iron, stone, plants, words.

Neal Barrett Jr. has nearly 50 novels to his credit, plus numerous short stories and novelettes, spanning the field from science fiction to off-the-wall mainstream fiction. His mystery/suspense novels include Dead Dog Blues, Skinny Annie Blues, Bad Eye Blues, and Pink Vodka Blues, purchased by Paramount Pictures. He has just completed a new novel, Interstate Dreams.

Tom Doyal is a graduate of UT Austin with degrees in communications and law. His fiction has been published by The Austin Chronicle, New Texas, @Austin, SMU Press, and has been performed at the Dallas Museum of Art, the Alley theatre in Houston, TCU, Lamar University, and other places. Tom writes and practices law in Austin, where he also serves as a board member of the Austin Writer's League.

Jesse Sublett is best known to Austinites as the fearless leader of legendary rock & roll band the Skunks and author of three music-themed, hard-boiled crime novels set in Austin and published by Viking. Jesse Sublett also writes for film, TV, The Austin Chronicle, and Texas Monthly's online magazine, The Ranch. Current projects include a new rock band, finishing his fourth novel, writing new episodes of the documentary TV series The Great Ships, and The Storm of the Century, a film based on the catastrophic natural events in the bestselling book The Perfect Storm for the History Channel.

Jen Scoville, lover of fiction and melted cheese, thinks The Austin Chronicle Short Story Contest, which she helped conceive and execute seven years ago, is an all-you-can-eat queso buffet (metaphorically speaking, of course). She is the new media editor at Texas Monthly magazine.