Well, I haven’t seen the official word posted yet today, but I also wasn’t told to refrain from making an announcement. So, I suppose now it can be told…
I received a phone call from Nancy Sakaduski, editor at Cat and Mouse Press, and organizer of the annual Rehoboth Beach Reads Short Story contest. In May, I submitted a story that focused on a WWII veteran, his granddaughter, and the fire control towers built by the US Army along the Delaware Coast during WWII to protect the bay from German incursion.
Nancy called to tell me that my story, “Tower 16”, took SECOND PLACE, which earns me $250 in addition to publication in their 2016 anthology, Beach Nights (see cover below)! Thank you so much, Nancy!
According to the info on the Cat and Mouse Press website, the official list of winners (20+ stories to be published, of which the top three collect cash prizes) have been, or are in the process of being, contacted and I imagine there will be an official announcement on their website and Facebook page soon.
This was wonderful news in and of itself, but for me personally it also provides one more connection to a town that I’ve come to consider my second home. My wife and I were married in Rehoboth Beach, we’ve vacationed there for the past several summers with wonderful friends, and some of my books are on the shelves at Browseabout Books, Rehoboth’s most popular indie bookshop.
Special thanks to writer and editor pal Ramona DeFelice Long for reminding me about the contest at the Write Stuff conference in April. I had wanted to submit something for the past two years, but was always busy. You know what they say, everything happens when it’s supposed to!
Stay tuned for more news on this!
