Out Of The Slush Pile
The award-winning team blog, Novel Journey held a year-long contest they called Out of the Slush Pile. They featured a different genre throughout the year and named a monthly winner. Then in January 2011 they’ll put all the winners into the mix and choose a grand prize winning entry.
The month of November was Round II for Speculative Fiction. I’m happy to announce that Sally Apokedak, soon to be a guest blogger here at Speculative Faith, was the winner. You can read the first chapter (ignore the pictures) of her completed fairy tale stand-alone The Button Girl, then leave Sally a comment here, at Novel Journey, or at her own blog.
To whet your appetite, here’s the opening:
The Button Girl
by Sally ApokedakSorrow crouches quietly
at the heart’s door,
awaiting the perfect moment to spring.
– Lawful Atwood III, in the first year of the captivityChapter 1
Repentance Atwater sat still as a rock, clenching her hands in her lap to keep them from trembling. Staring at herself in the reflecting wall before her, she attempted a happy expression, but only accomplished the terrified look of a rabbit caught in torchlight.
Her mother stood behind her, gently raking her fingers through Repentance’s freshly washed hair. She hummed a lively buttoning tune, obviously unaware of the pain that would come with the night.
A weeping and a wailing.
There would come a weeping and a wailing. Repentance had been to plenty of failed button ceremonies. She knew what it felt like to stand helpless before the overlords as they loaded up the slave carts.
Mercy Atwater began to plait Repentance’s hair. All the button girls wore braids to keep their hair from frizzing in the humid air.
Repentance closed her eyes, trying to focus on the tune her mother hummed, but she could not shut out the sound of the steady drip from the fog-drenched trees. Even sitting in the back of the cave, through thick stone walls and two leather curtains drawn down, she could hear the incessant drip, drip, drip.
A weeping and a wailing.
She didn’t want to be the cause of it. But what could she do? Inside she’d been weeping and wailing all her life.
Hey, I liked those pictures.
🙂
Thanks for the shout out.
OK, then, other readers don’t need to ignore the pictures. Mostly they didn’t fit with the images in my head. But I did think it was remarkable that they had pictures so closely aligned with the story.
I hope lots of people take time to read your chapter. I know it’s a hard thing to ask since they know they aren’t going to be reading the whole story. That’s why I thought I’d post a bit of a teaser here.
Again, Sally, congratulations on the win. And wouldn’t it be terrific if a speculative would win the grand prize. 😀
Becky
Congrats Sally!
The pictures don’t fit the images in my head, either, but I love that someone took the time to find pictures to illustrate something I’ve written. I like that someone is interacting with my story to even form mental images.
And yes it would be cool if a speculative story would win. It would be even cooler if it was my speculative. heh heh I’m kidding. It’s a cool contest and whoever wins will be worthy, I’m sure, and that’s what we want, right? More good fiction written from a Christian worldview to find its way to agents and editors and to eventually find a place on the bookstore shelf. If that happens, we all win.