Which Are Your Favorites?

by Don Webb

An e-mail about the results of Contest 2 says, “Some of the stories I voted for didn’t win. And I was surprised by a few that did.” Understood: I feel the same way, and I’m sure everybody else does, too.

The article accompanying the results says something that must have already struck serious readers as fairly obvious: we had a lot of good stories. Little wonder, then, that the vote was spread all over the place and that we had a large number of ties.

We would have liked to be able to tally more votes. We received a total of 33 ballots in each division; however, you can’t calculate anything from that: not everyone voted in both divisions, and not all the ballots were complete. One might wish, especially, that more of the authors had voted; but in the end would a much larger sample have resolved anything? I suspect a bigger turnout would have pretty much magnified what actually took place.

Now that Contest 2 is over, the authors, editors, and especially the readers can freely name names in talking about the stories. Not every title I voted for placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd; and one or two winners surprised me. Did anybody vote exclusively for winners? I could check, but I don’t see the point. Anyway, that’s water under the dam, if I may mix a metaphor.

Rather, let’s look at what we have: what stories would you like to see appear in the prestigious print magazines? Slawomir Rapala’s “Dreams of Babylon” will be snapped up by Asimov’s magazine, if they know what’s good. And I think other stories — not necessarily the official winners — should be sent to Analog or the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

Write and tell us which your favorite Contest entries are and what magazines they should be submitted to. And, most importantly, tell us why.