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Million Writers (short story) Award shortlist

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The online journal storySouth has announced its list of the notable short stories of 2007 as part of the leadup to the Million Writers Award (one short story will win). There are so many online journals publishing new work that the short list is 167 stories long. Some of the authors are widely known -- Jeff VanderMeer, Elizabeth Crane, Brian Evenson -- although many are just starting out.

If you’ve ever been tempted to read a short story online but haven’t known where to start, this is certainly a good place. Unusual titles catch my eye, so I clicked through on ‘The Ethical Dilemma of a Sandwich Down the Pants’ from Pindledyboz and was pleased to find it was funny AND Kantian. ‘I Will Unfold You With My Hairy Hands’ (published by Hobart) got kudos from more than one judge. One of storyglossia’s four notable stories, ‘Alex Trebek Never Eats Fried Chicken’ was sweet and a little sad (Trebek is a bit tangential). The stories seem to cut across all genres -- I found narrative fiction and fantasy and detective fiction, and I barely scratched the 167-story surface.

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This big short list will be narrowed to 10 finalists later this month, which will then be put to a public vote to determine the top story of the year.

Carolyn Kellogg

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