Dear Fiction lovers, I am thrilled to announce that the winner of the Solstice 2018 Fiction Contest is Thomas Benz for his story “Retrieval.” The final judge Ann Hood said, “The depiction of place and the nostalgic mood, combined with deft movement between past and present make this story a powerful one. I was impressed too by the gorgeous language and sophisticated use of metaphor and imagery.”
The runner-up is Jendi Reiter’s “House of Correction.” As Ann Hood wrote, this piece “uses POV expertly to create a complex story . . . But it’s the believable and well-placed plot twists that make this story such a fine one.” And the finalist is Dominic Lim’s “Theme and Variations.” Hood states, “The writer uses shifts in chronology to weave an important, compelling story. The metaphor and details of music give the story a deep resonance that adds to its poignancy . . .”
We, the Solstice Fiction Editors, also chose certain stories among the entries that we wished to publish for their excellence, diversity of styles, class, nationalities and race. Please read the following exceptional stories: Estela Gonzalez’s “Agua de beber”; Gail Wallace Bozzano’s “Tsunami”; and Mia Caruso’s “Middle-Aged Woman Rethinks her Sexual Orientation while in a Café.”
Also, each summer issue we present Featured Authors. This year, I was entranced by the excerpt from the novel-in-progress Between Light and Earth by Anjali Mitter Duva, author of the previously published, historical novel Faint Promise of Rain. In this excerpt, you will enter a world previously unknown to you.
And we wish to feature a formerly published, emerging voice, A.N. Block, and his fine story “Kiss Me Hard.” Block has a seemingly effortless flow of language and presents a complicated female character who overwhelms the mystified male protagonist.
So congratulations to these fine writers and kudos to all the fine writers who submitted to our contest, more than in past years. We welcome your support and wish we could support you all!
Lee Hope, Fiction Editor
Brenda Prescott, Assistant Fiction Editor
Lee Hope, is the author of the novel Horsefever, a finalist in the Midwest Book Awards. She is a recipient of a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship, and a Maine Arts Commission Fellowship for Fiction. She has published stories in numerous literary journals such as Witness and The North American Review. She founded and directed a low-residency MFA program and has taught at various universities. She also teaches for Changing Lives Through Literature, which serves people on probation and parole.
