To say I'm humbled would be an understatement. I'm excited, shocked, happy, relieved...it's definitely a mixed bag of emotions I find difficult to describe. The worst part is, I've known since 2 July and haven't been able to say anything! You may not think ~6 days is very long, but it's been an ETERNITY (especially over a long holiday weekend). Today, though, the announcement is out and I can finally TALK! For those of you who asked if I'd heard anything, I promise I wasn't ignoring you!
This is how it went:
On 2 July, I came home from work, plopped down in my comfy recliner, fired up my laptop & checked my email...nada, zip, zippo. According to the contest rules, I knew Amazon would contact the finalists "on or about July 2nd". So, with no email or phone call during the day, I figured The Mengele Effect's run in this year's contest was over. Like I've said before, I was extremely honored to have my silly story make it into the top 5 entries in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror category, and if it didn't make the Finals cut, I would still be happy. Then, I remembered the email I received form Amazon prior to the Semi-Finals announcement, informing me my silly story was a potential semi-finalist due to the judging scores it received. I dug through my inbox, found it, and noticed it'd come in at about 5:50 PM (Amazon is HQ'ed in Seattle, two hours behind Central time). I looked up at the clock...and it was ~5:10 PM. "Well," I thought, "I guess I still have forty minutes or so until--"
Ding. Email notification.
And there it was, an email from Ms. Sarah Funk, Senior Product Manager for Amazon Publishing. I read the first line, and almost fell out of said comfy recliner: "We're excited to let you know that The Mengele Effect is our Semifinalist judges' pick for the ABNA Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror title for 2014!"
This was the face I made:
So, what does this mean? The Mengele Effect is now #1 out of 2,000 Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror entries, and stands with the other Finalists as one of the top 5 entries out of 10,000 for this year's contest. Along with the Finalist selection is a $15K royalty advance and a publishing contract with Amazon Publishing. Amazon's Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror imprint, 47North, will publish The Mengele Effect in early 2015. The handy-dandy graphics below describes the ABNA contest & the stages each of the finalists progressed through:
It's been quite a surreal day since the announcement. Seeing my name in the Wall Street Journal was waaaaaay weird! My wife Vanessa said the same thing...my name was in a major newspaper, and I didn't even do anything illegal! HAH!
From now until 11:59:59 Pacific time on 18 Jul, Amazon customers will vote to decide the Grand Prize Winner ($50K advance vice $15K). To see all the finalists and vote for your favorite, click this LINK; there's a voting block right below the excerpts. I encourage everyone to read ALL the excerpts and vote for the one that tickles your fancy. Only caveat is, if you don't vote for The Mengele Effect, I'll kill you off in a horrible manner in my next novel. Nah...only REAL caveat is, you have to have an Amazon account in order to vote!
So what are you waiting for! Click on over and vote for your favorite!
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