ABNA Finals...2 July 2014 might be THE DAY

One week from tomorrow, I'll probably have a good idea whether or not THE MENGELE EFFECT is going to be selected as one of the five lucky finalists in the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) contest.  Right now, it's one of five Semi-Finalist entries in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror category, along with twenty other Semi-Finalists in the Romance, Young Adult, Mystery/Thriller and General Fiction categories.  On 8 Jul, Amazon will announce the five Finalists, each representing the #1 of 2,000 initial entries in each category.  Along with that comes a publishing contract with one of Amazon's imprints, which will make me do this \oo/  \oo/ with both of my hands (and maybe listen to Rob Zombie's "Superbeast" and "Demon Speeding", each of which I seemed to have listened to a lot while writing the book)!  After that, Amazon readers will vote to select the Grand Prize Winner, but that's not on the radar right now.

Is THE MENGELE EFFECT good enough to make the Finals cut?  I don't know...but, I sure hope so.  I'm humbled the judges thought enough of it to take it forward in the contest, now sitting as one of the top 25 out of 10,000 initial contest entries.  I'm not so caught up in the moment to NOT realize that surely some better novels than mine have been eliminated over the last ~four months.  Being lucky enough to have my entry land in front of a set of reviewers who happened to like it is...well, lucky!  I know that.  I am grateful, though, the judges liked it, and I appreciate all of you who've taken the time to read the novel or the ABNA excerpt and pen such amazing ratings.  You know who you are, and I thank you.

So, why is 2 Jul an important date?  Amazon will start contacting potential finalists on or about 2 Jul.  If I get a phone call or email on that date, then I'll know my entry is in the running.  If not, well...I'll wish my fellow competitors the best of luck with their entries, and start working on finishing one of the other novels I have in my goofy mental hopper.  I'm glad it made it to the semi-finals, and if it ends there, that's okay!

Like I said, THE MENGELE EFFECT is in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Semi-Finals bucket with four other stories:

LOWER POWER by Michele W. Miller

PANDO by Nat Buchbinder

THE BOUND GODS by Rachel Dunne

THE VOICES AT CERN by Franklin Clermont

Amazon has the 5,000-word excerpts for each story posted HERE.  I've read each of the four other excerpts, and I have to say...well, I'm NOT going to say.  I'm interested in what YOU have to say!

If you have the time, take a look at 'em.  Do you think THE MENGELE EFFECT will make the cut???

Come 8 Jul (or maybe 2 Jul), we'll know for sure!