Paul J. Willis

Saints + Sinners 2010: New Fiction from the Festival Paul J. Willis

Saints and Sinners 2010: New Fiction from the Festival contains a mixture of short fiction representing many genres and styles as well as a diverse number of themes and experiences. It was truly a difficult task for the judges to select a winner and two runner-ups from over a 100 entries. The completely-blind, three-tier judging process that was used yield what we think is a wonderful set of stories. The finalists for our first annual short fiction contest were Danny Bracco, Nathan Burgoine, Emily M. Danforth, James Driggers, Jack Fritscher, Wayne Lee Gay, William Holden, James Nolan, Steve Scott and Shawn Syms. There are five stories from the contest included in this volume along with works by established authors. The winning story, "Ondine" by Wayne Lee Gay (Denton, TX), is a musical tale of both longing and awakening. The two runners-ups are as different from each other as, well, as Saints & Sinners. "Dancing Pink Roses" by Danny Bracco (San Francisco, CA) is a sensual story of personal discovery both enlightening and painful. "Jesus is My BFF" by James Driggers (Asheville, NC) weaves a complex story of intolerance, self-destruction and affirmation in an unexpected way. The two remaining finalist included are "Latins on the Loose" by James Nolan (New Orleans, LA), a witty story about the hazards of 'shopping locally', and "The Kid" by Steve Scott (Rancho Mirage, CA), a dark tale of a not-so-right young man. In addition to the finalists from the First Annual Short Fiction Contest, we are honored to include stories from "Festival Favorites" some of the best GLBT authors. We have wonderful new works from Lambda Literary Award winners Rob Byrnes, Greg Herren, and Jeff Mann. The collection also includes original fiction from award-winning authors Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Peter Dube, Aaron Hamburger, and Jess Wells. We are extremely excited to include Jewelle Gomez's "Storyville 1910" which provides readers with a new adventure of the main character from her cult-classic 1991 Gilda Story winner of two Lambda Literary Awards. Saints + Sinners is an annual celebration that takes place in the heart of the French Quarter of New Orleans in the month of May. The Festival includes writing workshops, readings, panel discussions, as well as theater and special events. We also aim to inspire the written word through our short fiction and full-length playwriting contests. In addition to the induction of GLBT literary icons each year into the Saints and Sinners Hall of Fame, we also recognize the winners of the Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize. This cash grant is intended to reward, recognize, and promote GLBT mid-career novelist's extraordinary talent and service to the community.