What We Carry Home Contents
Purchase at the Ascent Bookstore


Becky Alexander
Trader

Merle Amodeo
After You Go

Beverly Barksdale-Bruner
Making Colors

John Barta
Mouth the Surreptitious One
Brushing Her Teeth

Paul Beckman
The American Dream

Sharron Bertchilde
After All

J V Birch
The Absent Consult

Marina Blokker
Describing Suncrest Subdivsion(circa. 1950’s - mid 1980’s) To a Twenty Year Old

Holly Bruns
Hangman

April Bulmer
Moment

Jay Chollick
Hospitality To a Germ

Linda Crosfield
Exonerated – Second Prize Poetry

Linda Diver
The Jacket – Third Prize Fiction

Wendy Donawa
On Your Surviving an Accident in a Far Province the Night of the Tsunami

Vicki Drybrough
Beer Cans – Second Place Fiction
Get Thee Gone, Romeo

Priscilla Dunning
Sign of the Times

Alvin Ens
Reattach the Umbilici

Jennifer Footman
Amsterdam Zoo

Lorraine Gane
This is How we Love the World

Kim Goldberg
Objective Case

Greg Gregory
Rising

Andreas Gripp
Simon & Garfunkel

Sterling Haynes
Fulani Woman

Debbie Okun Hill
Legally Licensed

Joy Huebert
Magic Night

Marion Iberg
In Awe And Wonder

Keith Inman
Hawk

Harvey Jenkins
French Talk

Tom Joseph
The Cypriot Boy

Lavinia Kumar
New Portrait of a Raven

Ronald Kurt
Dreams of a Soulmate

George Kusyj
Fiction – Honourable Mention Fiction

John B. Lee
Watching Two Cormorants Floating on Ice in the Lake in Late January
The Final Image

Rena Lee
Matchmaking

Barbara Lefcourt
Dis-Connect

Bernice Lever
Strapping

Ellaraine Lockie
What I Carry Home to the Grandsons

Dan Lundine
No Contest
Throwaway

Keith McIvor
Picking up Flotsam Down at the Marina

Susan McCaslin
Heights

Beth McClelland
Remembering Larry Sweeney – First Place Fiction

Judy Millar
The Ring - Honourable Mention Fiction

Steve Newton
Two Hangings

Diane Attwell Palfrey
Omagimaakos (The Ugly One)

Derek Peach
Aluvion at Yungay – Honourable Mention Poetry
Prisoners
Kerry Rawlinson
When the Rhodesians Came

Mary Sander
The Dance

Frank Sikora
A Life Apart
Loose Ends - Honourable Mention Fiction

Beth Skala
At The Shrine

K.V. Skene
Less a Stillness, More a Lover of Flight

Pat Smekal
This Morning the Clouds Are Lying Low – Third Prize Poetry
Heffley Creek Revisited

Betsy Symons
Tattoo

Lynn Tait
Old Dog Tales – Honourable Mention Poetry

The Poet Spiel
Childplay – First Prize Poetry
Lamb – Honourable Mention Poetry

Meg Tuite
The Trench
Better Than Bingo

Caroline Tuohey
Burning Rage

Wendy Visser
The Height of Fashion

Robert Walton
Promise of Silver

Vernon Waring
The People Upstairs

S. J. White
Used Parts
What to Do if You Should Find Me Dead

Jan Wood
Repeat Performance

Kim Drew Wright
How My Day Went

THEME

Our theme is open, however there are word limits. Poetry is to be no more than 30 lines including the spaces between stanzas, so that the poem printed in 11 pt. font Times Roman will fit on one page. Flash Fiction prose is to be no more than 600 words, so that the prose printed in 11 pt. font Times Roman will fit on two pages.

To clarify our criteria for this anthology, hone your words, and be a minimalist. Create narratives with concrete detail, without abstractions. Prune your adverbs and adjectives and be sparse with your articles, especially in the poetry. We are looking for stories in both the poems and the flash fiction pieces, but we want you to show us your narrative, rather an tell us directly. Leave your readers in suspense and have them work to fill in the gaps. Maybe take us in one direction and then surprise us in the end. You can write about personal and global issues, conflicting opposites, and unusual relationships. Consider yourself a witness. The content is wide open.

Here are some poets we admire, who do this. Dorianne Laux, Sharon Olds, Patrick Lane, Lorna Crozier, Jack Gilbert, Susan Musgrave, and Tom Wayman. Here are some prose writers we admire, who do this. John Gould, Raymond Carver, Michael Winter, Ivan Coyote.

The anthology (ISBN) will be judged and compiled for the early summer of 2013.
Email

The publication will be a perfect-bound book (ISBN rather than ISSN) with a colour art designed cover.

First Prize for Poetry - $100 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology
First Prize for Flash Fiction - $100 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology
Second Prize for Poetry - $50 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology
Second Prize for Flash Fiction - $50 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology
Third Prize for Poetry - $25 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology
Third Prize for Flash Fiction - $25 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology

Plus 6 - $10 (CND) honourable mention awards with 1 copy of the anthology
Plus all additional contributors in the collection will receive one copy of the anthology.

The goal is for the contest to generate the costs for publishing the anthology. If the entry fees and sales of the anthology exceed the costs, then the additional money will be used to fund future print anthologies with prize money being more widely distributed among all the authors who appear in the anthology.

Rules & Guidelines

The anthology will contain poetry and flash fiction.  

Poems and flash fiction can be published elsewhere as long as the author holds the copyright, or be unpublished and not sent elsewhere. Submit your poem(s)/flash fiction with a brief bio, by e-mail to ascentaspirations@shaw.ca
In the subject heading say Summer 2013 Narrative Anthology.

By mail with your contest fee include a cover page with the poem(s)/flash fiction title(s) and the first line beside each title, your name, address, phone number and e-mail. IN ADDITION ALSO INCLUDE EACH POEM/FLASH FICTION ON A SEPARATE PAGE WITHOUT YOUR NAME. We will be using the printed copies of your poems for judging and the electronic copies sent by email for the designing of the book pages should you be included in the anthology.

Maximum length of each poem is 30 lines and spaces between the stanzas count as lines. The maximum length for flash fiction is 600 words.

Contest Fee: $5 for one poem or 3 poems for $10. $10 for each piece of flash fiction. You can send as many poems/flash fiction pieces as you wish.

Send your entry information, and POEMS/FLASH FICTION with payment to:
either David Fraser, or Ascent Aspirations Publishing
1560 Arbutus Drive
Nanoose Bay, BC
V9P 9C8

Please do not send a SASE as in the past, as we will be publishing the winners' list on the web and will notify everyone.

All submissions will remain the copyright of the author.
*Additional copies of the perfect-bound anthology will be available at time of publication.
Retail Prices without shipping costs $19.95 CND/19.95 US
 The prices of additional copies including shipping and handling are as follows:

In Canada and USA ($20.00 CND and 23.00 US)
To Other International Destinations ($25.00 US)
Advanced Ordering of the Summer 2013 Issue can be done by email.
Poetry/Flash Fiction
Orders are being accepted in advance. email: ascentaspirations@shaw.ca