2010 Spinetingler Award

When I say this came as a surprise, I'm not being modest. The excellent Paul Brazill shared the news that I'd been nominated for a Spinetingler Award via a wall post on my facebook page. Up until that point, I had no idea I was even in the running. Nonetheless, I'm absolutely thrilled and honored to have been nominated. Spinetingler Magazine is an excellent publication and, again, I can't believe my story was chosen.

The story in question, "Blurred Lines" is one that was published in A Twist of Noir way back in September of 2009. (It's funny how a Chicago winter can make everything before it seem like the distant past.) Anyone who knows me knows that noir is one of my favorite genres, and I'd been dancing around it for some time. "Blurred Lines" was my actual first dive straight into noir (though my forthcoming graphic novel, Terminus, is futuristic noir).

So, the way the Spinetingler Award works is like this: the 10 nominees are selected by an editorial panel (from my count, there had to have been hundreds of stories to choose from, when taking into account The Drowning Machine, Beat to a Pulp, and other noir fiction sites). The winner is chosen by a reader vote. This means that you, dear reader, can help me win this award--if you like my story, that is. The 10 nominees are all of the highest order, and it's a bit intimidating for me to even be in the same running alongside them. There are some published novelists here, and writers who I've been a fan of.

But if you like "Blurred Lines", then by all means, cast your vote later this week. I'll have an update when the polls open.

Sometime I'll get to writing that noir novel...