The 2008 InnermoonLit Award for Best First Chapter of a Novel
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:: Brian Agincourt Massey ::
:: 2008 Contest Winners ::
First prize: "The Popcorn Girl Meets Darwin Jones" by Melissa Yuan-Innes
Julia Sharpe is just an ordinary girl suffering the requisite embarrassments and indignities of adolescence, with
one exception: she can use popcorn to foretell the future. Yuan-Innes employs a fresh use of language to spin a
storyline that is at once universally familiar and intriguingly original.
Julia Sharpe is just an ordinary girl suffering the requisite embarrassments and indignities of adolescence, with
one exception: she can use popcorn to foretell the future. Yuan-Innes employs a fresh use of language to spin a
storyline that is at once universally familiar and intriguingly original.
Melissa Yuan-Innes would love to meet Darwin Jones, but in the
meantime, this ex-Ottawa/Montreal girl eats popcorn instead of telling
the future with it.
Melissa's publications include short stories in Nature, Weird Tales, and
Open Space. She won McMaster University's "Unearthly Love Affair"
writing contest, received second place the Writers of Future contest,
had two honorable mentions in the Year's Best Science Fiction contest,
and was a runner-up in the CBC Radio Romance-Writing contest.
Check her out at www.melissayuaninnes.net.
meantime, this ex-Ottawa/Montreal girl eats popcorn instead of telling
the future with it.
Melissa's publications include short stories in Nature, Weird Tales, and
Open Space. She won McMaster University's "Unearthly Love Affair"
writing contest, received second place the Writers of Future contest,
had two honorable mentions in the Year's Best Science Fiction contest,
and was a runner-up in the CBC Radio Romance-Writing contest.
Check her out at www.melissayuaninnes.net.
Melissa Yuan-Innes
Second prize: "The Book of Speculation" by Erika Swyler
Swyler's entry presents an intensely lyrical portrait of Simon, a mysterious shore-dwelling man. Simon
practices swimming underwater for ten minutes at a time and is archiving the cryptic letters of his sister who
is coming home, he fears, to die.
Swyler's entry presents an intensely lyrical portrait of Simon, a mysterious shore-dwelling man. Simon
practices swimming underwater for ten minutes at a time and is archiving the cryptic letters of his sister who
is coming home, he fears, to die.
Erika Swyler is a graduate of New York University. Her
fiction has appeared on Anderbo.com and is
forthcoming in Semaphore. She has also received note
from the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award.
Erika collects odd jobs and has narrowly avoided being
cast as a chipmunk at a certain Florida theme park. She
lives and writes in Brooklyn, New York with her husband
and a petulant rabbit.
fiction has appeared on Anderbo.com and is
forthcoming in Semaphore. She has also received note
from the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award.
Erika collects odd jobs and has narrowly avoided being
cast as a chipmunk at a certain Florida theme park. She
lives and writes in Brooklyn, New York with her husband
and a petulant rabbit.
Erika Swyler
Third prize: "Stay in the Room" by Kate Beswick
Stay in the Room is the story of two sets of fantasies and expectations which collide in a relationship. Tony
and Maggie are going to visit his parents when they pick up a hitchhiker. After that, everything changes...
The title is from an expression meaning 'live in the reality of the present moment.' Beswick's prose
seamlessly draws the reader into that moment and leaves us wanting more.
Stay in the Room is the story of two sets of fantasies and expectations which collide in a relationship. Tony
and Maggie are going to visit his parents when they pick up a hitchhiker. After that, everything changes...
The title is from an expression meaning 'live in the reality of the present moment.' Beswick's prose
seamlessly draws the reader into that moment and leaves us wanting more.
Kate Beswick was born in Los Angeles. She has a degree in English
from Smith College and read Russian Language and Literature at
London University School of Slavic and East European Studies. Her
father was a writer, and she started writing as a child because she
assumed that's what everyone did.
However, she got shy about writing and became an actress. She has
appeared on Broadway, in the West End, at the Royal National theatre,
and on many tours. She has also written and directed plays, teaches
voice and drama, and has translated two books from French.
Kate has an MA (distinction) from Middlesex University, where she was
awarded a short story prize. Her novel Stay In the Room won the
Litchfield prize, awarded by dame Beryl Bainbridge. She lives in London
and Country Cork Ireland.
from Smith College and read Russian Language and Literature at
London University School of Slavic and East European Studies. Her
father was a writer, and she started writing as a child because she
assumed that's what everyone did.
However, she got shy about writing and became an actress. She has
appeared on Broadway, in the West End, at the Royal National theatre,
and on many tours. She has also written and directed plays, teaches
voice and drama, and has translated two books from French.
Kate has an MA (distinction) from Middlesex University, where she was
awarded a short story prize. Her novel Stay In the Room won the
Litchfield prize, awarded by dame Beryl Bainbridge. She lives in London
and Country Cork Ireland.
Kate Beswick
