And now... the short list for the 2024 Kenneth Patchen Award for the Innovative Novel!
I can only identify these by number at this point. The names of the authors are separated from the entries until after the judging has been completed. But the shortlisted authors should recognize their submission numbers. The names will be released when the winner is announced.
The shortlisted entries are
0001
0417
0425
0815
1986
4842
6565
We were impressed by the number of excellent submissions this year. I wish we could publish more than the winner, but budgetary and time constraints make that an impossibility for now.
Thanks to all the fine authors who submitted their work to the contest. I wish you success with your manuscripts. If enough people begin to recognize that the big five presses have no interest in literary fiction unless it touches on their pet social issues, then perhaps they may begin to seek out better work from small, independent presses like JEF Books, Black Scat Books, Orbis Tertius, Post-Asemic Press, Invisible Starfall Books, and many other fine small presses. If you want bland vanilla fiction, go to the big five, but if you want work that is significant for the originality of vision and voice that innovative authors give to the world, dig deeper. The rewards will be richer.