storySouth claims its “most important mission is to showcase the best fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry that writers from the new south have to offer. Special emphasis is given to finding and promoting the works of promising new writers.” To further that goal, they’ve announced their Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2006, which they claim are the “best online short stories published during 2006.”
The current list of nominees, chosen by preliminary judges Jeff Bryant, Jackie Corley, Jeff Crook, Thom Didato, Nick Mamatas, Sean Merrigan, Jessica Schneider, Laurie Seidler, D. Antwan Stewart, Dan Wickett, and the two additional judges who wished to remain anonymous, is available on this page. The top ten stories of the year will be announced on 23 May, with the public vote for the top story also beginning then.
Clarkesworld Magazine shared the Million Writers Award for best new online magazine or journal with Menda City Review. storySouth said of the award: “Both of these magazines started strong in 2006, providing not only professional-level fiction but also quality editing and design work.” They also gave an honorable mention is given to Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly, which “also started the year off well. All of these magazines are places to keep your eyes on in 2007 and beyond.”
Genre publishers on the list of nominated stories include:
Aberrant Dreams: “Dr. Prida’s Dream-Plagued Patient” by Michael Bishop; “Azathoth’s Starship” by Gerald W. Page and Jerry L. Burge; “Mother’s World” by Cat Rambo; and “Aftergame” by Jason D. Whitman.
Abyss & Apex: “In the Season of the Blue Storms” by Jude-Marie Green; “Godspeed Inc.” by Vincent Miskell; and “All the Wonder in the World” by Lavie Tidhar.
Atomjack Magazine: “In the Evening Made” by Robert Laughlin.
ChiZine: Treatments of Light and Shade in Words: “Spectral Evidence” by Gemma Files; “The Virgin Butcher” by Brenna Yovanoff Graham; “Phallex Comes Out” by Brent Hayward; and “Keybones” by Vylar Kaftan.
Clarkesworld Magazine: “A Light in Troy” by Sarah Monette; “304 Adolph Hitler Strasse” by Lavie Tidhar; “Urchins, While Swimming” by Catherynne M. Valente; and “The Moby Clitoris of His Beloved” by Ian Watson and Roberto Quaglia.
The Deepening: “13 Halloweens” by Michael K. White.
Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly: “A Feast of Cousins” by Beth Bernobich; “Put Up Your Hands” by Terry Bisson; “City of Chimeras” by Richard Bowes; “Mahmoud’s Wives” by Janis Ian; and “Tonino and the Incubus” by Peg Robinson.
Jim Baen’s Universe: “Pogo” by John Barnes; “Bow Shock” by Gregory Benford; “All the Things You Are” by Mike Resnick; and “Incident on a Small Colony” by Kristine Smith.
Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show: “In the Eyes of the Empress’s Cat” by Brad Beaulieu; “The Box of Beautiful Things” by Brian Dolton; “Small Magics” by Alethea Kontis; and “Dream Engine” by Tim Pratt.
Spinetingler Magazine: “Haven City” by Beverle Graves Myers.
Southern Gothic Online: “Vertically Divided, Blue-Red-White” by Mark MacNamara.
Strange Horizons: “Spinning Out” by Jamie Barras; “The Town on Blighted Sea” by A.M. Dellamonica; “The Women of Our Occupation” by Kameron Hurley; and “Ignus Fatuss” by Eliani Torres.
An update to this story was published on 28 June 2007.