23rd Annual Fiction Contest

by Patrick Rapa

We weren't sure what we'd get when we announced the rules for City Paper's 23rd Annual Fiction Contest. Mostly because we didn't have a lot of rules. Be from the area. Tell us a story. Make it 3,000 words or less. That's about it. No genre requirements, no need to set the thing in Philly, no "you must make at least one character a sentient soft pretzel," no nothin'.

What we got were 125 very different stories. Well, there were a lot of torture scenes and quite a few murders, but even those were nuanced and distinctive. You did us proud, creative writers of Philadelphia. The decision was difficult. We printed everything out. We took batches home and read them with cups of tea. We passed them around, scribbling notes and making piles.

In the end there can be only one, and "Ironical" won us over with its unique voice, inventive ideas, swift pace and overall awesomeness. It's tight and neat with a smart conclusion, like an old Twilight Zone episode. An old-fashioned O. Henry yarn tangled up in an otherworldly bureaucracy, "Ironical" pulled us in and stood up to multiple reads. Props to you, Ryan Starr.

There were two other stories right there at the top, too: "Demolition Woman" by Anthony Rosato and "The Oldest Profession" by Shannon Frost Greenstein. 

(pat@citypaper.net)