2010 Fiction Contest Guest Judge: Susan Straight!

We're proud to announce Susan Straight as our 2010 Fiction Contest guest judge. Straight is a novelist and National Book Award finalist whose numerous essays and articles have appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Nation, and Harper's Magazine. She is a frequent contributor to NPR and Salon.com. Straight's story "Mines," first published in Zoetrope: All Story, was included in Best American Short Stories 2003, and she's been awarded a Lannan Literary Award (2007) and an Edgar Allan Poe Award (2008). She is a professor at the University of California, Riverside.

Perigee's 2010 Fiction Contest begins January 15th, with the release of our 27th issue. $800 in cash prizes is up for grabs, with publication in our popular summer issue (July 15, 2010). The winning entry will receive $400, with $250 being awarded to the 1st runner-up and $150 to the 2nd runner-up.

To read our contest guidelines, visit www.perigee-art.com/contest/. Beginning January 15th, you can submit your stories directly through our redesigned web site. Don't miss the chance to have your work appear alongside Pushcart- and award-winning writers, in a literary publication recently named one of the world's top 50. All contest entries will also be considered for regular publication.

The contest deadline is May 15, 2010, and winners will be announced on June 15th. Want something to whet your appetite and stir the muse? Read the winners of the 2009 Fiction Contest, as judged by novelist James Brown, by accessing our archived 23rd issue. Or simply read our current issue—chock full of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, all at no charge whatsoever.

2009 Fiction Contest Winners

Perigee is pleased to announce the winners of our 2009 Fiction Contest. Fiction Editor Duff Brenna, and our finalist judge James Brown, have selected three winners and two honorable mentions from a selection of 10 finalists.

First Place ($300):  "Auscultating in the Fourth Dimension," by Jacob M. Appel.

Second Place ($200):  "It Happened to River," by Rachel Allyson Stone.

Third Place ($100):  "Camping," by Sarah Lynn Knowles.

Honorable Mentions:  "Lessons in House Hunting," by Cynthia Drew; "Past Buckhorn Reservoir," by Elizabeth Kaufman.

Additional Finalists: "Color Me Normal," by Christine Benedict; "Thirty-Nine Minutes," by Sandra Jensen; "A Two-Chambered Heart," by Priyanka Joseph; "Shotgun Levine," by Hesh Kestin; "Population Me," by Kevin O'Neill.

The winning stories will be published in our 25th issue, due out on July 15th, 2009.

Our congratulations to the finalists and winners, and our sincerest thanks to all who participated. Special thanks also to our guest judge James Brown. His insight and ear for the craft of storytelling helped make a difficult process easier, and we very much appreciate having had the opportunity to work with him. We invite you to read our note of special thanks below.

Special Thanks to James Brown

Perigee would like to extend a special thanks to our 2009 Fiction Contest guest judge James Brown, who was not only a pleasure to work with, but also brought a marvelous insight to our contest and the deliberation process, and a sensitivity to the craft of story telling which speaks to his talents as a writer.

Our Fiction Editor Duff Brenna recently wrote this about James Brown's powerful memoir, Instruction on the Use of Heroin:

James Brown's provocative, beautifully written and gut wrenching memoir illuminates a life rich in those elemental passions that govern our lives—anger, fear, depression, death, and love. Sometimes tender, sometimes manic, but always wise and insightful, Instruction on the Use of Heroin never falters in the muscularity of the writing, all of it filled with riveting details that kept this reader turning the pages as fast as he could read them. Here is a remarkable life, one that is both devastating and inspiring. Any ordinary man experiencing what Brown went through would doubtless have died long ago, but Brown not only survived, he triumphed and in ways no one would have predicted, least of all, perhaps, Brown himself. From a junky/alcoholic to award-winning writer and university professor, Brown has proven once again that there are no oracles when it comes to foretelling the inevitable course of any man's journey. Mesmerizing from beginning to end. Unforgettable.

We hope Perigee's readers will take a moment to visit James Brown's web site and add his book to their summer reading list.

Fiction Contest Closes Tonight!

Don't miss the chance to compete for $600 in cash prizes, a Pushcart nomination by the editors, and publication in our special 25th issue. Perigee's fiction contest closes tonight so you'll want to hurry over to our web site, read the guidelines, and submit directly online.

This year's guest judge is author James Brown.

Hurry, the contest closes in the wee hours of the morning, May 1st.

Now Accepting Submissions to Perigee's 25th Issue

On March 2nd, Perigee began accepting submissions to our 25th issue. We are reading general submissions in poetry, short fiction, and non-fiction (query for book reviews and interviews, please).

Click here to read guidelines and submit through our web site.

Writers are also invited to participate in Perigee's 2009 Fiction Contest, which closes on April 30. This year's guest judge is James Brown, author of The Los Angeles Diaries: A Memoir (HarperCollins), which was chosen for Best Books of the Year 2004 by the San Francisco Chronicle, Publishers Weekly, and The Independent in the UK. His work has appeared in GQ, The New York Times Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. Brown has written several novels including Lucky Town and Final Performance.

Perigee's 23rd Issue is Now Available!

Perigee's 23rd issue went live last night, at 10:00 Central Time (US). There has been a flurry of activity since then and it's easy to see why. The new issue contains nine short stories by Pushcart winners and nominees, contest champions, and skilled wordsmiths. We're also presenting an interview with poet Jack Marshall, two book reviews, five memoirs, and six meticulously crafted and carefully chosen poems.

On top of all this, we are featuring the watercolors of Derek McCrea.

Of course, our 2009 Fiction Contest is now open as well, and you'll want to hurry to get your very best stories in early so our guest judge James Brown and the editors have plenty of time to mull your work over.

All of this and more is available in our 23rd issue. Six years in the making and it shows. Click here to visit our current issue, read, subscribe to our e-mail notification or our new RSS feed, and even submit work.

Perigee's 2009 Fiction Contest is Now Open!

We are excited to announce that our 2009 Fiction Contest is now accepting submissions. $600 in cash prizes is up for grabs, along with a Pushcart nomination by the editors, and publication in our highly anticipated, commemorative 25th issue.

This year we're proud to have James Brown serve as our guest judge. Brown is the author of The Los Angeles Diaries: A Memoir (HarperCollins), which was chosen for Best Books of the Year 2004 from the San Francisco Chronicle, Publishers Weekly, and The Independent in the U.K. His work has appeared in GQ, The New York Times Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. Brown has written several novels including Lucky Town and Final Performance.

Click here to read our contest guidelines. You can also submit your stories quickly and easily using our redesigned online submission process. Don't miss the chance to have your work appear along Pushcart nominees and award winning writers, in what has long been one of the most innovative literary publications on the web.

The contest deadline is April 30, 2009, and winners will be announced on June 15th. Want something to whet your appetite and stir the muse? Read the winners of the 2008 Fiction Contest, as judged by Thomas E Kennedy, by visiting our archived 21st issue online here.

Our thanks in advance to all those who choose to participate in what is sure to be another excellent competition.

Warmest Wishes for the New Year,

2009 Fiction Contest Opens Soon!

Perigee's 2009 Fiction Contest will soon be accepting submissions. This is our most prestigious contest, with a Pushcart nomination going to the first place entry, publication in our 6th year anniversary issue, and $600 in cash prizes for the winners. Call it a stimulus package, if you like, or consider it a just reward for the best crafted, top three stories.

This year we are very pleased to announce that James Brown has agreed to serve as Perigee's guest judge. He will make the final determination of winners. James Brown is the author of The Los Angeles Diaries: A Memoir (HarperCollins), which was chosen for Best Books of the Year 2004 by the San Francisco Chronicle, Publishers Weekly, and the UK's The Independent. His work has appeared in GQ, The New York Times Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. Brown has written several novels including Lucky Town and Final Performance. He has received the Nelson Algren Award for Short Fiction, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in fiction writing and a Chesterfield Film Writing Fellowship from Universal/Amblin Entertainment.

We are so pleased he has agreed to serve as guest judge and invite you to submit your best short fiction to our contest, when it opens on January 1st, 2009.