Congrats to the three co-winners and the writers of all 14 novel excerpts! We can’t wait to see what happens with these novels in progress!
Co-winners:
– Ch. 9/Seven-Out by Veronica Reinhart
Despite being given an excerpt nine chapters into a manuscript, I was immediately pulled into space…and not just space but a ramshackle hodgepodge of a ship in a universe that seemed somewhat reminiscent of Frank Herbert’s Dune, chock-full of nobles, important families, allegiances. And while I didn’t have everything that preceded these chapters, the character dynamics did a lot of heavy lifting in terms of scene work. Everybody had a role, a history, a mission. Small gestures and descriptions like “hands folded at her abdomen like a statue in prayer” were woven throughout and helped build a tapestry of a richly conceived sci-fi reality. It’s clear to me that this writer knows their characters well, and, for me, the richness of a novel that has a lot of worldbuilding always ends with character. ~Sequoia Nagamatsu
– Hooray for Hollywood by Liam Espinoza-Zemlicka
I could not help but conjure LA Confidential, the great pulp and noir films and novels with this manuscript. “Hollywood Forever Cemetery, the place to be . . . buried” . . . I love what I’ll call the light noir writing here, the ambitious reporter on a case who is unfolding a mystery for the reader as they navigate a very particular time/place. The author never really missed a beat with regard to setting scenes and allowing information to be shared in very intentional ways. ~Sequoia Nagamatsu
– Birds Aren’t Real by Rachel Luria
I was instantly struck by the stark/minimalist writing, the clipped sentences, the laser-sharp observation that came to the reader one at a time as if the author were flipping through a Viewmaster. Here, we get a portrait of an isolated character and an off-kilter world that may or may not be doomed by an asteroid. As I read this excerpt, I kept asking myself if the character was crazy or was everybody else? ~Sequoia Nagamatsu
- Excerpt from Seven Out Veronica Reinhart
- The Tower of Victory by David Bradley
- Midnight Mary by Lisa Cook
- Like Rust, Like Blood by Alexa T. Dodd
- Hooray For Hollywood by Liam Espinoza-Zemlicka
- Proto Sum – Chapter 1 by Adam Ipsen
- Conclusionary Shadow by Patrick Lofgren
- Birds Aren’t Real by Rachel Luria
- King of the Buckaroo Boys by Elaine Marsh
- Enemy of My Enemy by Alison McMahan
- Chapter 8: Favourite Child bySaranya Murthi
- Broken Shadows by Ty Phelps
- The Last Days of Forever by Jeremy Tinker
- City of Iron and Ivy – Prologue by Thomas Kent West