In the sporting spirit, A Word with You Press offers you an update on our Ain’t That Quaint? contest.  The top 10 entries were posted on Sunday, Aug. 1, and now it is up to you to pick the winner.  Please be sure to read through all 10 finalists before casting your vote so you can give everyone who made it this far a fair shake of your eyeballs.  Leave lots of comments; we’re chomping at the bit to know what you think of our choices – mainly since it was such a hand-wringing, nail-biting, brow-wrinkling choice to make.  But when you have selected your winner, we the judges plead with you on bended knee to make it absolutely, vividly, unequivocally, crystal-shatteringly clear which story gets your winning vote. Use impossible-to-misunderstand words, such as “first place” or “winner” or “this story is the best story I’ve ever read in my entire life, and it gets my vote, and I’m deeply grateful to A Word with You Press for introducing me to the work of this literary genius.”  Voting ends at the stroke of midnight on Friday, Aug. 6, and the winners will be announced this Saturday, Aug. 7.

We’d like to thank everyone who has left comments, especially first-time commenters who enjoyed a particular story so much they felt compelled to say so.  You’ll find that we’re a community that loves conversation – and I myself have already found several new things to like about our top 10 contenders that I never considered during my first couple of readings.  I loved being illuminated.  Illuminate me some more!

And now to the business at hand . . .

Earlier this afternoon, I painstakingly tallied what appeared to be votes – or as near as I can tell – and came up with these stats (which include the judges’ points/votes):

1.  Simon Says by Sean Labrador y Manzano:  7 votes, along with some other fuzzy comments that might be votes, or might just be compliments

2.  Dandelion Season by Liam O’Brien:  6 votes

3.  The Story of Sharp Eyes by Diana Diehl:  3 votes

4.  Was Earl by Julie Ann Weinstein:  3 votes, possibly more – the comments are unclear.

5.  1929 Funniness by Julie Ann Weinstein:  2 or 3 votes, depending on whether one of the comments is or isn’t a vote.

6.  The Stand Off by Suzanne Morse:  2 votes

7.  A Matter of Principal by Diane Broyles:  2 votes

8.  The Midget by Gabe Gurbal:  2 votes

9.  Coolies Work for Six Cents a Day by Russ Shor:  2 votes

10.  Lobsterman’s Fancy by Liam O’Brien:  1 vote

If more votes have been cast since these were tallied, forgive me.  If you are one of the unclear commenters, I forgive you – but only if you go back and revise your comment so that it can be understood by even a mind so puny as my own.  If you are the author of one of these stories, congratulations to you once again; you have earned our respect and admiration.  We know how hard it is to write a truly good short story, because we’ve all attempted it ourselves, and we have a lot of crumpled up pieces of paper to show for it – or at least several broken windows through which we’ve thrown our computers in a fit of mad exasperation.

In the meantime, exercise your democratic free will.  Read all 10 stories, cast your vote, and we can’t wait to see who emerges as the undisputed quaintest of the bunch.

Gratefully,
Monika Spykerman
Your Friendly Local Content Editor