TheNextBigWriter Novel Award Winner
After more than 50,000 reviews and ratings, the TheNextBigWriter novel competition closed on June 7, 2006. Congratulations to the winner IveyBanks and to everyone who participated.
$5,000 Award Winner
Out of The Dark - Armageddon Lost I by IveyBanks
Summary:
Out of the Dark tells the stories of teen Thorn MacDonnell and the five quirky teachers who open up their world to him.
Every day brings Thorn new reminders of all that he has going for him – looks, intelligence, and talent – but every moment, he lives with the reality that he’s also got HIV and leukemia. Foregoing the luxuries of being a kid, Thorn strives to become a man before it’s too late. Socially awkward among peers, he sets himself on a satellite course around a close-knit group of teachers who play in a bar band on weekends. He manages to get a little closer to them with every orbit. The teachers, cognizant of their responsibility to avoid favoritism, aren’t sure how to handle Thorn’s overtures. Their professional ethics meet head-to-head with their unwillingness to abandon a child in need.
Thorn is especially drawn to twenty-one-year-old math teacher and drummer Shane Fetters, who becomes not only Thorn’s closest friend, but his first love. Shane struggles with issues of his own, waging a sometimes desperate war against his feelings for Thorn, all the while keeping the secrets of Shiloh, a woman who never was.
Out of the Dark is a multiple-perspective novel that reveals the shared physical journey of characters on solitary psychological and emotional odysseys toward honesty, both with themselves and with each other. Along the way, the teachers get a lesson of their own: good people can do all sorts of bad things, if the reasons seem right.
1st Runner-Up
Nancy Boy by Lesley C Weston
Summary:
In 1964, fourteen-year-old Tom Taylor is committed to a mental institution by his loving parents. Nancy Boy is Tom’s story. His parents, Jack and Louise, lost their oldest son, Jackie, in an apparent accident. They will do anything to save Tom from his “disease.” They hire Dr. Kluge and agree to long-term hospitalization, unaware that behind the doctor’s controlled demeanor hides a deeply unstable man whose treatments have already killed two patients.
2nd Runner-Up
The Journey of Addie Boyd by Kirk Ort
Summary:
The Journey of Addie Boyd is set in the American West during the 19th century (1866-1916). It is the story of a woman making her own way and living on her own terms. The prologue is narrated by a woman named Fiona Kelly and sets the stage for events that come later in the book. The rest of the story is told in third person except for some exerpts from Fiona's diary. Addie and Fiona meet in a Texas brothel and soon become fast friends and lifelong companions. They travel about the western states and territories and are witness to many historical events, though neither ever plays an active part in these incidents.
