Several years ago after re-uniting with my lifetimes’ long-fated pal author Tj Fisher, she implored me towards the annual New Orleans’ Pirates Alley Faulkner Society’s fiction writing contest (Faulkner-Wisdom Competition) saying, “You must enter—you’ll do well.”

Conceived as serially delivered saga, at that time ELEGY was still undivided, extraordinarily long and vastly incomplete—but no worry, as they offered categories in short-story, novella, and Novel-in-progress. Readied by a few years encouragement from several extraordinarily literate show-biz savvy cohorts, and desiring to test the big time’s major literary waters, by entering all three I sought the widest reading by as many judges as possible.

The inestimably witchy Ms. Fisher (no stranger to prestigious writer’s awards herself) was absolutely correct, as all did surprisingly well.

FINALIST in “Novella”
THE MIGHTY COOK LAFITTE
A mystery caper featuring heroine Liza Lafitte

SEMI-FINALIST (finalist short list) “Novel-in-Progress”
AN ELEGY FOR THE LOST CITY
The first fifty pages

SEMI-FINALIST “Short-Story”
THE DAY LOUIS ARMSTRONG DIED