Nominations for Best of 2009?

January 12, 2010, 03:15:48 PM

Name your favorite stories from 2009, the ones that stood out for the quality of the writing, plot, imagery, characters, or all those elements. The February edition of Aphelion will include my picks for top short stories of 2009 plus some new material (lest the backlog eat my hard drive), and I welcome any [s]bribes [/s] suggestions from the Usual Suspects and even the lurkers (I know you're there -- I can hear you clicking and scrolling).

The other Editors might also welcome suggestions for favorite poems, novellas (or in J. B. Hogan's case, novels), features, and (lest we forget) Editorials, although they will reserve the right to ignore your suggestions. (Our sandbox -- well, Dan's -- our rules.)

RM

Post by **kailhofer** » January 14, 2010, 03:21:08 PM

davjonz wrote:Will there be a Best Of for the flash fiction section?

-- david j.

That's ok, I don't need another place to show off my example stories.

Seriously, I hadn't thought about it. Am I going to have a place to put them? The continued silence at the other end is very reassuring...

January 14, 2010, 05:20:34 PM

kailhofer wrote:
davjonz wrote:Will there be a Best Of for the flash fiction section?

-- david j.
That's ok, I don't need another place to show off my example stories.

Seriously, I hadn't thought about it. Am I going to have a place to put them? The continued silence at the other end is very reassuring...

If we assume the WINNING story from each challenge is automatically the "Best" for that month, it's one thing... but if it's YOUR (Nate's) favorite stories (which it really should be, since other Editors pick THEIR favorites), it's another (especially assuming we don't rule out the example stories as being eligible to be your favorites even though you make consider them ineligible to "win" the challenges).

In the former case, we could have a consolidated list of Flash Challenge winners and maybe provide links into your Flash Index; but in the latter case, someone would have to cut and paste the selected bits into some other directory (I think...you haven't been including the example stories in the Index, have you?). Maybe we should make separate HTML files from each of the selected "Best of" flash stories (Nate's examples or other people's entries, "winners" or not) and provide a folder for them. I can do the FTP'ing if Nate is still privilege-deficient (for which he shouldn't feel bad -- I still use Dan's FTP userid and password!).

RM

Post by **kailhofer** » January 14, 2010, 05:53:05 PM

Robert_Moriyama wrote:If we assume the WINNING story from each challenge is automatically the "Best" for that month, it's one thing... but if it's YOUR (Nate's) favorite stories (which it really should be, since other Editors pick THEIR favorites), it's another.

I would pick my favorites, which were not always the ones that won.

In the former case, we could have a consolidated list of Flash Challenge winners and maybe provide links into your Flash Index; but in the latter case, someone would have to cut and paste the selected bits into some other directory (I think...you haven't been including the example stories in the Index, have you?). Maybe we should make separate HTML files from each of the selected "Best of" flash stories (Nate's examples or other people's entries, "winners" or not) and provide a folder for them. I can do the FTP'ing if Nate is still privilege-deficient (for which he shouldn't feel bad -- I still use Dan's FTP userid and password!).

RM

I think we can just link to the spot they reside in the Flash Index. I mean, there's no point in having to make separate html pages. As long as there's a spot pointing to them on one of the main index pages, it has the same effect without all the extra work. If it's ok with you, I'll just PM you with the titles and link locations. A half dozen or so should suffice, don't you think?

My example stories are in the index, but I don't blow my own horn about them. If you click on the challenge title, it takes you to the example story. I dunno, gang. Do you think one of them deserved a 'best of'? If so, I think that determination ought to come from the challenge participants and not me.

Nate

Post by **kailhofer** » January 15, 2010, 01:52:17 PM

There. Just sent Robert the list & links for my best Flash choices.

Ooo. I feel all editor-ish. Editor-y? Editorial? One of those.

January 20, 2010, 01:48:23 PM

Surely there must be some stories that stood out (in a good way)? Otherwise, we will have to assume that we have achieved either

a) a uniform level of quality (good or bad), so all stories deserve the same level of appreciation (or lack thereof), or
b) a universal level of apathy (MY GOD, someone has rebuilt the Alconost device (see the Nightwatch archives).

Fight apathy! Make a nomination (or two, or twelve) today!

Post by **kailhofer** » January 20, 2010, 06:55:32 PM

rick tornello wrote:Linking to index pages to point to the picks as Nate suggested would be Okay if the index were current.

RT

I'm glad Robert posted something in this thread because I'd forgotten this comment.

I'm not sure what you mean, Rick. What's not current? Robert has a short story index page for every issue, just like the ones for Poetry, Serials, or Features. We add the flash Best Ofs to his index page, then point the links to the posted versions of the stories from the Flash Index thread.

The Flash Index (the index part, not the thread itself) looks like it's up to date and was since before New Years.

Nate

Post by **kailhofer** » January 20, 2010, 09:26:15 PM

When you click on the short stories button on the left, it takes you to an index page, where Robert lists the stories for that issue.

It has nothing to do with the archives.

Post by **kailhofer** » January 21, 2010, 01:14:14 AM

Vila wrote:Figure an average 12 short stories per issue,
+ an average of 3 novellas/serial chapters per issue,
+ an average of 10 poems per issue,
= 25 items to add to the Archives for every issue of Aphelion.
x 30 to 60 minutes to update & upload an existing writer's page,
+ 45 to 75 minutes to create & upload a page for a new writer,
+ 15 minutes *for each new writer listed* to update the main index page for the Archives itself,
= a *minimum* of 12 hours work just to update the Archives with all the stories & poetry for a single issue! A bare minimum of 144 hours of work to do a year's worth of updates, at least.

Then factor in that everyone has to fit doing Aphelion stuff into their otherwise free time from their offline lives... Without being paid? The real mystery is why we're not further behind than we are!

Dan

I've mentioned this before, but since I do not understand the mechanics I'll ask again. Can't the stories be coded, (say with their meta tags) to show the author, issue, etc., then whenever the archives are accessed the computer compiles a list of whatever is currently in there by those tags? That way, no one has to do it all by hand & it could always be current.

Again, I have no concept of what that takes, but doing everything by hand seems highly inefficient, from my complete layman's perspective.

January 21, 2010, 01:39:03 PM

rick tornello wrote:yes, that i know. I get current stuff but I can't get the older work.

I will see if I can use the latest "back issue" file as a template and add a few more months to the list... if Rob doesn't beat me to it.

You mean there weren't any standout stories in February, March, April, or May of 2009? Or you don't want to pick favorites until you get to review June through December?

RM

January 21, 2010, 03:57:04 PM

rick tornello wrote:Yeah I'd like to review all if I must, maybe.
However,
I liked it better when the editors picked.

RT

Ya lazy good-fer-nuttin'... don'tcha wanna help the poor frazzled editors? It's not like we ain't gonna ignore your suggestions if we don't like 'em anyway (oops, did I type that, or just think it?).

Seriously, we CAN pick our own favorites, but we'd like to know if the readers agree at least some of the time. And any story that gets multiple mentions from readers probably deserves inclusion even if it ISN'T on our personal Top Ten (or whatever) list.

January 22, 2010, 12:46:18 AM

I just finished pasting together and uploading the consolidated editorial / index pages for issues 133 - 139 inclusive. You should now be able to access all 2009 material.

RM

January 22, 2010, 02:31:05 PM

January 26, 2010, 11:34:21 AM

Bill Wolfe says "anything by Lee Gimenez". If you can't pick a story, maybe you can pick an author or authors whose work you always enjoy...

February 02, 2010, 03:12:53 PM

I plan to have the Short Stories section ready by this weekend, including the Best of 2009 links and five or more new stories. McCamy has at least one new entry for the Serials / Novellas section -- don't know about her Best of list.

If you have anything in mind (especially anything not on my "short list" of one or two stories from each month, posted earlier in this thread), better say so soon!

February 08, 2010, 11:58:57 PM

McCamy came up with a list of her four favorites...

February 09, 2010, 12:25:16 PM

I will be building the Serials and Short Stories index files tonight, including the "Best of 2009" lists for those sections...

Remember, when nominating your own work, that the pseudonym / fake e-mail address you use shouldn't be TOO obvious. I ain't strainin' my eyelid and neck givin' a wink and a nod to nominations from I. M. T. Author or Ima Vought-Formee.

Aphelion

Nominations for Best of 2009?

Nominations for Best of 2009?

Hmmm...

Re: Hmmm...

Bests

What? No favorites?

Re: index pages

Re: button on lrft

Re: pick me a winner

BACK ISSUE INDEX UPDATED!

My Best Short Stories 'short list'

Still waiting for suggestions...

The clock is ticking...

All things come to him who waits

LAST CHANCE TO NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITES!