Issue 10 Contest Winner… : /

The winner of Issue 10’s Identity Contest for poetry is…

“Master of Tears” by James Garrett!

And the winner of Issue 10’s Identity Contest for fiction is…

…

…

… no one.

Let me explain.

So for a while now, we’ve done a themed contest for both poetry and fiction in each issue, awarding a prestigious title to both along with $20 to each of the authors.

Unfortunately, out of the hundred or so stories we received this past submission period, only one was deemed great enough for Bop Dead City, and Nathan’s story didn’t match the theme. (But it’s really, really good. Worth the three bucks on its own.)

I tossed around a few ideas about what to do: go pick through the rejection pile and sheepishly beg for a story back? Give two poetry prizes away? Give it to the only story in the issue? Instead, I decided to chalk it up as a sign of our high standard for publishing the best stories and poems we can find (unlike me, BDC is both fast and good), and just award all of the prize money to the poetry winner, James. I hope there’s no hurt feelings (I don’t imagine there will be, but you never know).

So Jim, you lucky bastard, you’re getting 40 bucks. Tomorrow we’ll have one of our last Issue 9 interviews with Zach VandeZande, who actually won that issue’s fiction contest.