Perigee is pleased to announce the winners of our 2009 Fiction Contest. Fiction Editor Duff Brenna, and our finalist judge James Brown, have selected three winners and two honorable mentions from a selection of 10 finalists.

First Place ($300):  "Auscultating in the Fourth Dimension," by Jacob M. Appel.

Second Place ($200):  "It Happened to River," by Rachel Allyson Stone.

Third Place ($100):  "Camping," by Sarah Lynn Knowles.

Honorable Mentions:  "Lessons in House Hunting," by Cynthia Drew; "Past Buckhorn Reservoir," by Elizabeth Kaufman.

Additional Finalists: "Color Me Normal," by Christine Benedict; "Thirty-Nine Minutes," by Sandra Jensen; "A Two-Chambered Heart," by Priyanka Joseph; "Shotgun Levine," by Hesh Kestin; "Population Me," by Kevin O'Neill.

The winning stories will be published in our 25th issue, due out on July 15th, 2009.

Our congratulations to the finalists and winners, and our sincerest thanks to all who participated. Special thanks also to our guest judge James Brown. His insight and ear for the craft of storytelling helped make a difficult process easier, and we very much appreciate having had the opportunity to work with him. We invite you to read our note of special thanks below.

Special Thanks to James Brown

Perigee would like to extend a special thanks to our 2009 Fiction Contest guest judge James Brown, who was not only a pleasure to work with, but also brought a marvelous insight to our contest and the deliberation process, and a sensitivity to the craft of story telling which speaks to his talents as a writer.

Our Fiction Editor Duff Brenna recently wrote this about James Brown's powerful memoir, Instruction on the Use of Heroin:

James Brown's provocative, beautifully written and gut wrenching memoir illuminates a life rich in those elemental passions that govern our lives—anger, fear, depression, death, and love. Sometimes tender, sometimes manic, but always wise and insightful, Instruction on the Use of Heroin never falters in the muscularity of the writing, all of it filled with riveting details that kept this reader turning the pages as fast as he could read them. Here is a remarkable life, one that is both devastating and inspiring. Any ordinary man experiencing what Brown went through would doubtless have died long ago, but Brown not only survived, he triumphed and in ways no one would have predicted, least of all, perhaps, Brown himself. From a junky/alcoholic to award-winning writer and university professor, Brown has proven once again that there are no oracles when it comes to foretelling the inevitable course of any man's journey. Mesmerizing from beginning to end. Unforgettable.

We hope Perigee's readers will take a moment to visit James Brown's web site and add his book to their summer reading list.

Perigee Sponsors SupportLiterature.com

Perigee has sponsored the development of a new, powerful online resource: Support Literature dot com. This new web site will drive donations directly to Perigee, in support of our non-profit mission. Thanks to an all volunteer staff, 95% of the donation money contributed to SupportLiterature.com goes directly to the cause, a percentage very few charities can match. Donations are also tax-deductible.

You are invited to become part of the team in any of the following ways:
Contribute: Write about the importance of literature, its impact on your life, or the lives of others. If you're a teacher, write about how our schools are sustaining or failing literature, or encourage your students to write a piece from their perspective.

Donate: Donations are tax-deductible, and 95% of your donation money applies. Donations of $25 or more receive a signed book copy.

Comment: Anyone can comment on the many news pieces, op-eds, and blog posts published on SupportLiterature.com daily.

Access & Information: Access publishers, online magazines, print magazines, and writers' web sites with SupportLiterature.com's constantly growing collection of writer's resources. Or encourage SupportLiterature.com to list your web site. SupportLiterature.com will also periodically post calls for submissions from literary publications, contest notices from all over the web, and plenty of literary news.

Visit SupportLiterature.com to learn more, explore this great resource, or put your donation to work right away.

Work From Perigee Selected as Best of The Web

Gordon Weaver's "Stalking John Updike," which appears in our 24th issue, was selected as one of the best articles, essays, and interviews by Web Del Sol.

If you haven't already read this excellent work, you'll want to do so now. Congratulations to Gordon Weaver!

25th Issue Submission Period Closes Soon!

The submission period for Perigee's 25th issue, due out this July 15th, closes on May 31st. If you have writing to submit you'll want to do so soon. You can submit online through our re-designed web site.

The newest member of our editorial staff, multiple award-winning poet Steve Kowit, wants to read your sharpest poems. Novelist Duff Brenna, our fiction editor, is seeking memorable fiction. And our non-fiction editor R.A. Rycraft, is on the look out for carefully crafted memoirs and essays.

By submitting now, you will also receive our fastest response. You'll hear from us in only 7 weeks. Submit online now to be considered for inclusion in our summer issue.

2009 Poetry Contest Now Open!

Perigee's 2009 Poetry Contest opens today! Steve Kowit and finalist judge Suzanne Lummis are seeking your most finely crafted, memorable poems. Here are the important details you'll want to know:

Deadline: August 31st, 2009.
Prizes: $600 in cash ($300/$200/$100 for top three poems).
Reading fee: Times are tough and budgets are tight, so we've reduced our reading fee by 50%, to only $5, but we haven't reduced the prize money one cent.
Results: Winners and honorable mentions (if any) will be announced on October 1st, and published in our October 15th, 2009 issue.

This year's finalist judge is Suzanne Lummis, founder and director of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival, and editor of Speechless the Magazine. Her poems appear in the anthologies California Poetry from the Gold Rush to the Present (Heyday Books), Poems of the American West (Knopf), Poetry Daily (Sourcebooks), Place as Purpose: Poetry of the Western States (Autry/Sun & Moon), Stand Up Poetry and in major literary publications in the US and UK. She has recent or forthcoming poems in Poetry International, The Antioch Review, The Hudson Review, Ploughshares, and Pool. Her last collection, In Danger, was part of The California Poetry Series (Heyday Books/Roundhouse Press). She teaches several levels of poetry through the UCLA Extension Writers' Program including a course she developed "Poetry and the Movies: The Poem Noir." In 2006 she taught "L.A. Stories," fiction and film, at Emerson College in Burbank.

This is our most popular contest, so don't wait long to submit. You'll want to get your poems in right away to get ahead of the pack. We invite you to read complete guidelines and submit your work through our re-designed web site.

Fiction Contest Closes Tonight!

Don't miss the chance to compete for $600 in cash prizes, a Pushcart nomination by the editors, and publication in our special 25th issue. Perigee's fiction contest closes tonight so you'll want to hurry over to our web site, read the guidelines, and submit directly online.

This year's guest judge is author James Brown.

Hurry, the contest closes in the wee hours of the morning, May 1st.