A review by apostrophen
Saints + Sinners: New Fiction from the Festival 2016 by Carol Rosenfeld, Lee Lynch, Paul J. Willis, Bryan Collins, Sally Bellerose, Aaron Hamburger, Vince Sgambati, Amie M. Evans, Rich Barnett, 'Nathan Burgoine, Darrow Farr, R. Dale Smith, Andrew Willett, N.S. Beranek, Thomas Westerfield, Jerry Rabushka
5.0
Edit: Price-drop, until September 17th, 2017, on the Bold Strokes Books web-store, in e- and paper- formats, 15% off.
Anyone who knows me knows how much I owe to the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival. If it wasn't for the festival and the people I met there, I would not have a writing career, period. It was people I met there that gave me my first short at a publication in a short story anthology ("Heart," in [b:Fool For Love: New Gay Fiction|5153509|Fool For Love New Gay Fiction|Timothy J. Lambert|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328748325s/5153509.jpg|5220513]), and every year since I've gone back to New Orleans to enjoy the sense of community and to recharge my creative batteries in a surrounding where being a gay writer isn't odd.
Every year, there's a short fiction competition, judged blind and with a guest judge, and this year the judge was [a:Ellen Hart|173246|Ellen Hart|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1251327232p2/173246.jpg]! Despite being very overwhelmed by the idea of submitting a story to her, I took comfort in the "blind" part, and wrote a story and sent it in, and I was a runner up and that had me over-the-moon.
Since then, I've had the opportunity to read the rest of the stories (and meet quite a few of the authors, as many came to this year's Saints & Sinners Literary Festival). There's no way I can be unbiased here, but I hope I'm being as honest as possible when I say the collections just seem to get better and better every year.
Also, the broadness is wonderful. Most anthologies have a theme that binds the tales together, but the loose interpretation of the contest—quite literally, 'saints' and/or 'sinners'—gives such freedom to the writing that while there's a thread of connectivity throughout, the vocal and tonal range of the stories is fantastic.
For example, [a:Rich Barnett|3938956|Rich Barnett|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s witty "The Most Unusual Sweet Potato Competition" had me giggling like mad, while [a:Sally Bellerose|4858432|Sally Bellerose|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png]'s "Discretion, 1957" had a kind of fragile balance of hope and fear to it. [a:Carol Rosenfeld|4022004|Carol Rosenfeld|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1434467366p2/4022004.jpg]'s sly "Fallen Angel" rubs elbows with a poignant "Mr. Sissy in Sin City" by [a:Thomas Westerfield|15047246|Thomas Westerfield|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. The winning story, [a:Jerry Rabushka|6574488|Jerry Rabushka|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png]'s "Trumpet in D," was as much a love affair of music and voice as it was a story of a potential romance, and [a:Vince Sgambati|7033195|Vince Sgambati|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s brilliant "Emma's" (the other runner up) was a character study done to perfection. Frankly, I could talk about every story (and will likely do so in my Sunday Shorts series at some point). I so often find myself learning as much as I am reading when I go through these collections, and this was no exception. Queer and allied authors with genuine talent fill this book and there's so much to glean from the pages.
Anyone who knows me knows how much I owe to the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival. If it wasn't for the festival and the people I met there, I would not have a writing career, period. It was people I met there that gave me my first short at a publication in a short story anthology ("Heart," in [b:Fool For Love: New Gay Fiction|5153509|Fool For Love New Gay Fiction|Timothy J. Lambert|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328748325s/5153509.jpg|5220513]), and every year since I've gone back to New Orleans to enjoy the sense of community and to recharge my creative batteries in a surrounding where being a gay writer isn't odd.
Every year, there's a short fiction competition, judged blind and with a guest judge, and this year the judge was [a:Ellen Hart|173246|Ellen Hart|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1251327232p2/173246.jpg]! Despite being very overwhelmed by the idea of submitting a story to her, I took comfort in the "blind" part, and wrote a story and sent it in, and I was a runner up and that had me over-the-moon.
Since then, I've had the opportunity to read the rest of the stories (and meet quite a few of the authors, as many came to this year's Saints & Sinners Literary Festival). There's no way I can be unbiased here, but I hope I'm being as honest as possible when I say the collections just seem to get better and better every year.
Also, the broadness is wonderful. Most anthologies have a theme that binds the tales together, but the loose interpretation of the contest—quite literally, 'saints' and/or 'sinners'—gives such freedom to the writing that while there's a thread of connectivity throughout, the vocal and tonal range of the stories is fantastic.
For example, [a:Rich Barnett|3938956|Rich Barnett|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s witty "The Most Unusual Sweet Potato Competition" had me giggling like mad, while [a:Sally Bellerose|4858432|Sally Bellerose|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png]'s "Discretion, 1957" had a kind of fragile balance of hope and fear to it. [a:Carol Rosenfeld|4022004|Carol Rosenfeld|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1434467366p2/4022004.jpg]'s sly "Fallen Angel" rubs elbows with a poignant "Mr. Sissy in Sin City" by [a:Thomas Westerfield|15047246|Thomas Westerfield|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. The winning story, [a:Jerry Rabushka|6574488|Jerry Rabushka|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png]'s "Trumpet in D," was as much a love affair of music and voice as it was a story of a potential romance, and [a:Vince Sgambati|7033195|Vince Sgambati|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s brilliant "Emma's" (the other runner up) was a character study done to perfection. Frankly, I could talk about every story (and will likely do so in my Sunday Shorts series at some point). I so often find myself learning as much as I am reading when I go through these collections, and this was no exception. Queer and allied authors with genuine talent fill this book and there's so much to glean from the pages.