Sheryl Monks

My story "Justice Boys," published last summer in Fried Chicken and Coffee, has been named a Notable Story of 2009 by the judges of the storySouth Million Writers Award. Sweet!

Woke up this morning to find a sight for sore eyes: an email from Rusty Barnes, editor of the blogozine Fried Chicken and Coffee, saying that he is nominating my story "Justice Boys" for a Million Writers Award.

How 'bout that?

I'm proud to be nominated with fellow FCAC contributors Jim Parks, for his amazing story "Blind Lemon," and Sheldon Lee Compton, for his brilliant story "Bent Country."

Read all three nominated stories here.

Million Writers Award

I'm very pleased to have stories appearing recently in the new issue of Surreal South, edited by Laura and Pinckney Benedict, and Fried Chicken and Coffee, a blogazine of rural and Appalachian literature maintained by Rusty Barnes. I'm also happy to announce that another story will appear in an upcoming issue of Night Train, which currently features two superb stories by Vanessa Gebbie and Eric Bosse.

Surreal South '09 features work by a slew of brilliant writers, including Pinckney and Laura Benedict themselves, along with Alexander Lumans, Becky Hagenston, Dan Mueller, Heather Fowler, J.T. Ellison, Jedidiah Ayres, Jessica Glass, John McManus, Josh McCall, Josh Woods, Kurt Rheinheimer, Kyle Minor, Lee K. Abbott, Melanie DeCarolis, Michael Garriga, Michael P. Kardos, Okla Elliott & Raul Clement, Oscar Hokeah, Steve Patten, and Tantra Bensko. I'm thrilled to be included with such fine company.

If you haven't yet discovered Fried Chicken and Coffee, now's a good time. After you read Jim Nichols' new story "The Chickens," check out mine ("Justice Boys") in the archives for July 2009.