• Marcia Laycock is pleased to report that she has won first place in the Spring Poetry contest at Utmost Christian Writers. Read her poem, "Dying to Live" here. She was also on Shine FM (Edmonton) May 26 on Beth Warden's show (started at 6:00 p.m.) They gave away a copy of Marcia's book, One Smooth Stone.
• NEW! Marcia also did a radio interview with Tony Kay. This is available on his website. Click on "Listen to Past Shows" (upper right corner) then click on the Tony Kay Show. The interviews are listed alphabetically. You can listen by clicking on her name, or if that does not work, right click and save the file your computer. Then double click to open the file.
   
• Mary Haskett's book, Reverend Mother's Daughter, won bronze in the IPPY award  (Independent Publisher Book Awards) in the USA. IPPY had over 3000 entries in various categories from the USA, Canada, & 16 other countries. this book was also shortlisted for The Word Guild award in the Life Stories category (see below). Mary has received notice that her book is ranked 18th out of 50 for books published by small independent publishers. The statistics are taken from Amazon, Barns & Noble and CBD rankings. People have told her how much this book is blessing them. Mary says, “I'm still in awe of all that has transpired and KNOW that all praise belongs
  to God.”  Congratulations, Mary!

2008 ZOETROPE: ALL-STORY SHORT FICTION CONTEST

 Zoetrope: All-Story, the story and art quarterly founded by Francis Ford Coppola and a finalist for the 2008 National Magazine Award for fiction, announces their 2008 Short Fiction Contest. Website  Email

JUDGE: Elizabeth McCracken, National Book Award-finalist and Zoetrope: All-Story contributor, will award the top prizes.

PRIZES: First prize is $1,000; second prize $500; and third prize $250.

LITERARY AGENCIES: The winners and seven finalists will be considered for representation by the William Morris Agency, ICM, Regal Literary, the Elaine Markson Literary Agency, Inkwell Management, Sterling Lord Literistic, and the Georges Borchardt Literary Agency.

DEADLINE: All entries must be postmarked by October 1, 2008. Results will be announced at the website December 1, 2008, and in the Spring 2009 issue of the magazine.

LAST YEAR’S WINNER: Janice Macdonald’s “The Plainness of My Fall” was published as a special online supplement to the Spring 2008 issue.

COMPLETE CONTEST GUIDELINES:
We accept all genres of literary fiction. Entries must be: unpublished; strictly 5,000 words or less; postmarked by October 1, 2008; clearly marked "Short Fiction Contest" on both the story and the outside of the envelope; accompanied by a $15 entry fee per story (make checks payable to AZX Publications). Please include name and address on first page or cover letter only. There are no formatting restrictions; please ensure only that the story is legible.

We welcome multiple entries ($15/story) and entries from outside the U.S.; please send entry fee in U.S. currency or money order. While we cannot return manuscripts, we will forward a list of the winning stories to any entrant who includes an SASE; as well, we will e-mail contest updates to anyone who provides an active e-mail address. Entrants retain all rights to their stories.

• American Booksellers Association
• Barnes & Noble Book Clubs. Barnes & Noble has launched its online book clubs which are free. This fall nearly 30 authors will lead discussions of their books while book club moderators will focus discussions. The site includes message boards, and users will be able to create profiles, share lists of favorite books and authors, sign up for e-mail updates and send messages to other users. "The new Book Clubs are a natural extension of the thousands of book clubs at Barnes & Noble stores nationwide," Marie Toulantis, CEO of B&N said in a statement. "This new online community meets the needs of authors who are eager to reach as broad an audience as possible, and our customers, who want to interact with their favorite authors."
• Bookwire

• The Brussels Journal - blog project set up by European journalists and writers to “restore three values that are so lacking in the so-called 'consensus-culture' of contemporary Europe: Freedom, the quest for Knowledge, and the Truth.” Lots of lively discussion here!

• Christian Booksellers Association - includes link to best-seller lists

• CHRISTIAN FILM NEWS The latest in Christian film making

• The Christian Post - published from USA in International edition

• Christian Writers - has news section

• Gateway Pundit - blog commenting on daily headlines

• Ingram Book Group. Wholesale distributor of books, click insights for news.

• Living Light News - award-winning newspaper produced in Canada

• Maranatha News - Canada's Christian newspaper

• Publishers Weekly. Current happenings in the publishing world including the recent announcement of the Random House acquisition of Christian book publisher Multnomah Publishers, to be integrated into their Inspirational line, Waterbrook Press. The Multnomah name will be retained as a separate imprint and will continue to publish about 100 new titles annually. The purchase doubles the size of WaterBrook's list, adding 600 titles to its existing base of 500. More...

• World Magazine

• Writers Information Network

• Writers News from the UK