All responses have gone out. I’d promised mid-October and mid-October I delivered … so to speak. Again, I apologize for having to spread it out over the course of a few days. I wish there was a magic button somewhere I could have pressed and sent everyone a response at the same time, but alas, that button does not exist (as far as I know). Plus, if you send out too many e-mails in a short amount of time using Gmail, Google thinks you’re a spammer and suspends your account for an hour or two, so that didn’t help matters either.
Anyway, I’d said this anthology would include between 100 and 150 stories. The magic number falls right between that: 125. Could I have added more stories? Probably. But for me this was a matter of quality over quantity (not that there weren’t a lot of good stories, because there were, but, well, I will explain more about the entire process and my thoughts in the next blog post).
So 125 stories out of more than 2,500 stories submitted (counting both the initial contest and this open reading period). That’s a lot of stories, even if they are 25 words or less.
Note too that four writers have two stories each — which is fascinating, as the stories were read blind. Also, what’s very cool is that this anthology marks the first sale for a handful of writers.
A few of the writers whose stories I’ve accepted have yet to get back to me, so I haven’t included their names, but here are the writers whose work will appear in Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Less (still working title) that is tentatively scheduled to be published by Norton in the fall of 2010:
Jenn Alandy, Nick Arvin, Samuel Baldwin, Max Barry, Kirsten Beachy, L.R. Bonehill, Ryan W. Bradley, Gary A. Braunbeck, William Brazill, Yvonne Brockwell, Jeremy D. Brooks, Randall Brown, Ken Bruen, Stace Budzko, James Burt, Frank Byrns, Jonathan Carroll, John Cashman, Adam-Troy Castro, Douglas Clegg, Danielle Combs, Chris Compson, John Connors, Hannah Craig, Brian Crawford, Blake Crouch, Kirk Curnutt, Tara Deal, Gay Degani, Stephen Dunn, Nicole Duson, Stuart Dybek, David Erlewine, Camille Esses, Merrilee Faber, Nada Faris, Jamie Felton, James Frey, Janet E. Gardner, Roxane Gay, Shanna Germain, Tess Gerritsen, Bill Graffius, Charles Gramlich,Val Gryphin, Jane Hammons, Ann Harleman, Bruce Harris, Donora Hillard, Rachel Lopez Hohenshell, Robin Hollis, Kevin Hosey, Eric Hsu, Gregg Hurwitz, Ben Jahn, Ha Jin, Jason Jordan, David Joseph, Michael Kelly, Jack Ketchum, Jack Kilborn, J.A. Konrath, Christina Kopp, Minter Krotzer, Joe Lansdale, Don Lee, Min Jin Lee, Sarah Lyons, K. J. Maas, Nick Mamatas, Lewis Manalo, Marshall Ryan Maresca, Michael Martone, Natalie McNabb, David Miller, Sarah P. Miller, Ty Miller, John Minichillo, Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz, Christoffer Molnar, Madeline Mora-Summonte, Rose Rappoport Moss, Barry Napier, Joyce Carol Oates, Brendan O’Brien, Daniel A. Olivas, Will Panzo, Edith Pearlman, Benjamin Percy, Sophie Playle, Jason Rice, Katrina Robinson, Jess Row, Robin Rozanski, Kathleen A. Ryan, Marcus Sakey, Joe Schreiber, Jessa Slade, Noel Sloboda, Andrea Slye, Jenn Sober, Kelly Spitzer, Agnieszka Stachura, J. J. Steinfeld, Peter Straub, Jake Thomas, Bob Thurber, Jade Walker, Ben White, Amber Whitley, Sue Williams, F. Paul Wilson, Robley Wilson, Mercedes M. Yardley, Mabel Yu, J. Matthew Zoss
Thanks again to everyone who submitted. There was a lot of great work, and as always this publishing game is subjective. Also, I’m behind on e-mails, so if you e-mailed me in the past couple days and haven’t heard back, I’m not ignoring you and will respond as soon as I can. Until then, I’m off to rest my weary head.
Sweet. That is an impressive list of authors you have there. It’s a 125 piece anthology, but still, wow. It’s going to be epic. Good luck and I can’t wait till next year to get me som reading.
Congrats Robert on so many levels (the idea, the effort, the QUALITY of contributors).
Awesome.
I didn’t contribute, missed your deadline due to medical emergency, but I would give my firstborn on his bad days to be on that list. I’ll be waiting for the preorder announcement! Peace, Linda
Robert, I am honored to be part of this wonderful list. Oddly enough, I will be in two Norton anthologies next year. My head is spinning. But in a good way. Onward!
Very cool. I recognize a lot of names on this list. I have no idea who that Gramlich guy is, though! Congrats to everyone, and thanks to Robert for yeoman’s duty on this.
Congratulations, Robert! This is an amazing list of authors. I am thrilled and proud to be included.
Thanks for the opportunity, Robert, and congrats to all of the contributors!
Also, I would like to thank the Greek thinkers who created the framework by which our current English alphabet is sorted, thus allowing my name to appear on that list before Joyce Carol Oates, Peter Straub, and Jack Ketchum.
What a list! It’s a fair bet that this will open all kinds of opportunities for you in future. How I wish I could have coined Hint Fiction. You should be very proud of yourself Robert.
Will you ever, in a blog post, tell us who and/or what story was on the maybe-maybe pile that didn’t quite make it in?
I am really, really looking forward to getting my hands on this next year.
Some of the maybe-maybe stories may end up in Nanoism. I’ve already accepted one.
In other news, RS is the man.
Ha Jin? Nice!
Psyched, Robert. Psyched.
I’m habitually a wordy girl so this Hint Fiction anthology has renewed my determination to cut every spare “that” that I can.
Er, obviously I still have a long way to go. But I’m learning! Thanks, Robert, for the lesson. (And thanks to J.A. Konrath for posting the submission announcement.)
Congratulations to all the contributors – especially those I know.
Honored to be in such great company. Thanks, Robert, for all your work.
Fantastic. I’m very excited to see this anthology. Thanks!
I’m spreading the wonderful news on my Women of Mystery blog post today: http://bit.ly/1hhDMj. Thank you, Robert, for all of the hard work and energy you have put into this amazing project. Congratulations to the writers whose hint fiction stories were chosen to be included in this anthology. I am honored to be among them and so grateful for this opportunity.
truly humbling to have my name included in this list. can’t wait to hold the book in my hands. my sister in law’s already vowed to carry it in the local university’s bookstore where she’s the buyer.
Another one for my – to be read- list
Congratulations everyone!
Hrm… I still don’t have my rejection email. I’ve been looking for it so I can add it to my rejection folder, but no luck!
Congratulations to all those who got in! I know of some amazing writers who did not get in, so I obviously can’t feel too bad about not making it. I look forward to reading the book when it comes out.