It's always fascinating to see what's going on in the minds of Florida writers each year, when the fiction contest entries start pouring into our offices. This year we received 236 entries lovingly set in Florida locales from the beaches to the swamps and scrublands and featuring characters from snowbirds and Rastas to crackers and mobsters. Crime and mystery stories seemed particularly popular this year, and we did receive a very moving story inspired by the Sept. 11 attacks.
The protagonist of our first place winner, "Stray Dogs" by Thomas Cooper, is something of a stray dog himself: an undisciplined and territorial cur attracted to a kindhearted woman with a soft spot for strays. "I liked the way tension is constructed in the story," wrote Judge Dennis Johnson, "in that it uses an unreliable and generally unappealing protagonist and yet engenders some sympathy, or at least empathy." In that regard, Johnson felt, the story took some risks and demonstrated technical know-how. "I think it illustrates a state of mind many have perhaps found themselves in and that may add to the sensation that this is a mature piece of work, although about some awfully immature behavior. … I found this the most affecting story of the bunch, especially in the overall way it eschews sentimentality to get at some truth about human behavior."
The second-place winner, "Numb" by Frank Drouzas, centers on a boxer who can't bear the tender touch of his lover after a bout in the ring. Judge Peter Meinke said the story had "good, clean writing" and called it a "strong story, directly told, that picks up the pace as it moves to its dramatic ending." Judge Johnson wrote, "the mature consideration of character at the heart of it made it quietly touching, and I was rooting for this guy — a nice feeling to have in a story, and a rare one these days."
Like the protagonist of the first-place story, the title character of "Stan, Stan, Stan the Man," our third-place winner by Aracelis Gonzalez Asendorf, has something in common with an animal. In this story, Stan and the alligator in the shrinking lake behind his house are both suffering from a drought in the landscape and in their love lives. Peter Meinke called it a "well-told, quiet story with an interesting character and a strong conclusion."
Our thanks to all the writers who entered the contest this year, making it a spirited competition and reminding us why we love this heinous and gorgeous state and the weird assortment of characters who call it home.
—Susan Edwards
This article appears in Dec 20-26, 2002.