My short story "This Year's Winner of the Starbuck's Prize" was a semi-finalist in Ruminate Magazine's William Van Dyke Short Story Prize. Congratulations to the winner. Out of 350 entries, "Starbucks" found its mooring among nineteen others, so I'm happy. For all you "Moby Dick' fans, "Starbucks" isn't exactly about Herman Melville's classic novel. It concerns a university professor who confronts the Dreamer crisis when a favorite student disappears.. Many thanks to Ruminate. #thisyearswinnerofthestarbucksprize

I'm honored that my short story "The Porous Texture of Snow" has been long-listed in the Fish Short Story Prize for 2019. This is a big international competition, so I'm pleased. And congratulations to the winners. #poroustextureofsnow #fishshortstoryprize

Happy Halloween. My story "Already She Was Root" is live on the Eclectica site. The whole issue is great; many thanks to Tom Dooley and congratulations on 20 years. #AlanBray #AlreadySheWasRoot #Eclectica

My story "Refrain" has won Honorable Mention in Glimmertrain's Fiction Open Contest. I'm very happy, Glimmertrain is one of the top literary mags and competition is fierce. "Refrain" remains unpublished though—I'm working on it. Glimmertrain #AlanBray #Refrain #Glimmertrain

I'm delighted to say that Eclectica, an on-line journal, will publish my story "Already She Was Root" on October 31st—Halloween. Over the past year, I've been working on several stories—"Root" being one—and didn't want to publish them till they were ready. Ready as defined by me, in my stubborn, obsessive way. I'm really happy that Eclectica has accepted it, I've admired them for years. "Root" is about a troubled marriage set in a parallel time period where America is divided into Red and Blue States after civil war. When the story goes live, I'll post the link. #AlanBray #AlreadySheWasRoot #Eclectica

Stephanie Hopkins and IndieBrag have just posted a short piece of mine on the Layered Pages site. It concerns how I think about writing characters in an early nineteenth-century setting. Many thanks, Stephanie. It's always a pleasure and I appreciate it. #BRAGMedallion #LayeredPages #ALANBRAY