A little over two weeks ago I shared that Blood Wing had been longlisted for the ProWritingAid Novel Beginnings contest. One of 183 entries out of 14,570.
This morning the field narrowed again.
Blood Wing is now on the shortlist. One of ten finalists. Out of nearly fifteen thousand.
I’ve read that sentence a few times and still can’t quite take it in. Ten writers, after a third full read of every longlisted entry. The opening of Blood Wing was still standing.
Whatever happens from here, the shortlist already answered the question I most wanted answered: the work holds up. Not just to me, not just to the readers who’ve been generous with this series, but to professional judges reading blind against thousands of other beginnings. The voice landed. Jack Morrison landed. Long Beach in the winter of 1951 landed.
Final scoring happens over the next two weeks, and I’ll know more at the end of the month. Until then I’m not going to rush past this. A finalist spot in a field this size is rare, and it deserves a few days of standing still.
To everyone who has read Blood Tide, who has followed this series, who has sent a kind word along the way: thank you. You’re part of this.
If you haven’t met Jack Morrison yet, Blood Tide is on Amazon and at all major booksellers. It’s where the series starts, and where Morrison’s old beat, the San Pedro harbor, gives way to the colder ground of Blood Wing.
More news at the end of the month.
— Daniel P. Douglas
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