The Sky Is a Free Country: The Luminaire Award Anthology, Volume I
28 pieces by 23 authors
“Inside are some of the finest contemporary writers plying their trade in the independent scene today.”
—Doug Holder,
author of Last Night at the Wursthaus
author of Last Night at the Wursthaus
The first collected triennial volume of winners and top-five finalists of the Luminaire Awards for Best Prose and Best Poetry for the years 2014 through 2016. Features 13 gut-punching short stories and 15 heart-rending poems by 23 authors, each piece having won out over hundreds of others to be selected as the best work of its respective year through an incognito judging process, conducted by Alternating Current Press editors and external judges. Walk with storytellers through tales of domestic violence, children disappearing on spaceships, a car-parts thief at the scene of an accident, a gravedigger pulling the plug on a childhood nightmare, attending Santa Claus school, telling your secrets to strangers, and a dangerous proposal for fertility. Explore Tennessee, chase bombmakers out of hostage situations, come of age, stand at the Alamo, walk down Birch Street, pick apples, and return to your roots in these stories and poems by some of the independent press’ finest contemporary writers.
Content warnings: coming soon
2nd Place: “Sunrise Special” by John Vicary
3rd Place: “The Spirit of Shackleton” by Gavin Broom
4th Place: “The Elephant in the Bathtub” by J. Lewis Fleming
5th Place: “Stoop” by Alexa Mergen
2nd Place: “Miss Valley City, North Dakota” by Charles P. Ries
3rd Place: “William Barret Question Mark” by CEE
4th Place: “Birch Street” by Charles P. Ries
5th Place: “With apologies to Rose Bonne [The Hall of Ives]” by CEE
2nd Place: “A Hindershot of Calion” by Schuler Benson [audio version]
3rd Place: “Inheritance” by Stephanie Liden
4th Place: “An American Seeker” by Kevin Catalano
5th Place: “The Poor Man's Guide to an Affordable, Painless Suicide” by Schuler Benson
2nd Place: “Reign” by Jared A. Carnie
3rd Place: “Sewing” by Noel King
4th Place: “Cause Célèbre” by Andrei Guruianu
5th Place: “After Abandon” by Michael Cooper
2nd Place: “Kinda Sorta American Dream” by Steve Karas
3rd Place: “What World We Build after All That's Burned Away” by J. L. D. [not in anthology]
4th Place: “Sculpting Sand” by Steve Karas
5th Place: “Tennessee” by Constance Sayers
2nd Place: “Coralee Robbins Mafficks the Fall of Art” by Amy Wright
3rd Place: “vii. (the leviathan)” by Mary Buchinger
4th Place: “we move as dust” by Mike Bernicchi
5th Place: “the thing is, you see” by Normal
Content warnings: coming soon
2014 Luminaire Award Winners for Best Prose
1st Place: “A Slow Dance in the Afternoon” by Mia Eaker2nd Place: “Sunrise Special” by John Vicary
3rd Place: “The Spirit of Shackleton” by Gavin Broom
4th Place: “The Elephant in the Bathtub” by J. Lewis Fleming
5th Place: “Stoop” by Alexa Mergen
2014 Luminaire Award Winners for Best Poetry
1st Place: “Low Tide” by Pete M. Wyer2nd Place: “Miss Valley City, North Dakota” by Charles P. Ries
3rd Place: “William Barret Question Mark” by CEE
4th Place: “Birch Street” by Charles P. Ries
5th Place: “With apologies to Rose Bonne [The Hall of Ives]” by CEE
2015 Luminaire Award Winners for Best Prose
1st Place: “Chindi” by Eric Shonkwiler [not in anthology]2nd Place: “A Hindershot of Calion” by Schuler Benson [audio version]
3rd Place: “Inheritance” by Stephanie Liden
4th Place: “An American Seeker” by Kevin Catalano
5th Place: “The Poor Man's Guide to an Affordable, Painless Suicide” by Schuler Benson
2015 Luminaire Award Winners for Best Poetry
1st Place: “mob of one” by Normal2nd Place: “Reign” by Jared A. Carnie
3rd Place: “Sewing” by Noel King
4th Place: “Cause Célèbre” by Andrei Guruianu
5th Place: “After Abandon” by Michael Cooper
2016 Luminaire Award Winners for Best Prose
1st Place: “For the Man after Me” by Eric Shonkwiler2nd Place: “Kinda Sorta American Dream” by Steve Karas
3rd Place: “What World We Build after All That's Burned Away” by J. L. D. [not in anthology]
4th Place: “Sculpting Sand” by Steve Karas
5th Place: “Tennessee” by Constance Sayers
2016 Luminaire Award Winners for Best Poetry
1st Place: “Baldwin Apples” by Sarah Ann Winn2nd Place: “Coralee Robbins Mafficks the Fall of Art” by Amy Wright
3rd Place: “vii. (the leviathan)” by Mary Buchinger
4th Place: “we move as dust” by Mike Bernicchi
5th Place: “the thing is, you see” by Normal
Perfectbound Trade Paperback $12.99
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About Footnote 2
• Poetry, Fiction
• Published by Alternating Current Press
• 5½” x 8½” Perfectbound Trade Paperback
• Cream Paper, 138 Pages
• Print ISBN-13: 978-1-946580-06-1
• Print ISBN-10: 1-946580-06-6
• First Edition: July 2016
• First Print Edition: February 5, 2019
• Cover Artwork by Loui Jover
• Permalink | Short URL: tinyurl.com/luminaire1
• Request Review Copy
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Authors in The Sky Is a Free Country
• Schuler Benson
• Mike Bernicchi
• Gavin Broom
• Mary Buchinger
• Jared A. Carnie
• Kevin Catalano
• CEE
• Michael Cooper
• Mia Eaker
• J. Lewis Fleming
• Andrei Guruianu
• Steve Karas
• Noel King
• Stephanie Liden
• Alexa Mergen
• Normal
• Charles P. Ries
• Constance Sayers
• Eric Shonkwiler
• John Vicary
• Sarah Ann Winn
• Amy Wright
• Pete M. Wyer
This feature is coming soon.
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