The News from Gridleyville

A new story of mine, “The Genuine Article,” has appeared in Hawai‘i Review as the winner of the 2016 Ian MacMillan Award for Fiction.

I haven’t yet read the work in its published form. During this political season I’m preserving deniability. So if something’s wrong with the piece, please blame that guy with the flowing orange hair.

I want to thank quite a few people:

• Paul Lyons, the contest judge, for selecting the story
• Ian MacMillan himself, for creating the literary legacy that inspired the magazine to honor him in this way
• Rebecca Pyle, whose artwork—much handsomer than the story—appears as an illustration (of which you can see just a slice in the image here)
• All the members of the Working Writers Group in Philadelphia, whose comments helped mightily to improve the piece
• Chris Carter, the semi-legendary compiler of home runs and strikeouts who has nothing to do with the story but nevertheless is mentioned in passing

Sorry, Donald and Hillary, I’m not thanking you, but if America still exists after November, I will indeed be grateful to those who helped preserve our contentious union.

To read the story online, click on the image above or right here.