In VOX LIT March 2018 :
IN THE FREE VOXLIT ON-LINE THIS MONTH:
Vox Lit is getting bigger and better. As well as our usual contributors, James, Ted and Zaheera, this month you can enjoy articles, features or reviews by Priscilla McGee, Karen Smith, Maria Doane, Sherry LeClerc, Amanda Whitbeck and Rob Burton. Welcome to all of them.
In the NEWS section we have an article by Amanda on how her life was changed by a writing retreat, Sherry describes her publishing journey, Karen, who writes as Holly Bargo, talks about her creative influences, and  James encourages writers to  rise up against prejudice. There is also a survey of literary competitions for smaller independent publishers; and, for a bit of fun, we have taken Dickens’ Thomas Gradgrind from Hard Times and put him in a modern setting.
The BOOK REVIEWS page has a review from Priscilla as well as reviews from our usual reviewers, Ted and James.
On the FEATURES page, we have another of Zaheera’s great poems, and also one from Rob Burton about US gun control, which Facebook took down from their pages (we wonder why?). And Maria (M.G.D) introduces herself with a fabulous short story about Christmas.
This time, on the WRITERS’ NOTES page, James uses an excerpt from his novel OGG to illustrate how writers can create atmosphere for a scene.
Finally, don’t forget the CONTRIBUTORS page, which has details of all our old and new contributors with links to their web pages, where you can find out more about them.
Hope you enjoy this edition and please use the comments boxes to send us your views.
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ARTICLES on other pages....

Author Holly Bargo describes her creative influences 

Author Sherry LeClerc talks about her experiences with traditional and self publishing

​How writing can change your life. Author Amanda Whitbeck writes about a life-changing writing retreat. 

​SATIRE
FEED THE PEOPLE FACTS


Intro music shrieked and titles scrolled up over the heading video. Then the opening shot faded to reveal the head and shoulders shot of TV presenter Thomas Gradgrind. He leaned forward in close-up as if he was pressing his face against the TV screen from the inside, and made his introduction.
“​Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them.”
He paused for effect, and the producer helped him out by feeding in a short burst of dramatic music. Then he went on.
“Yes, we’re here to get at the truth, and my guest today is the powerful and respected international politician, Theresa Trump. Theresa, welcome to the show.”
“Thank you Thomas, glad to be here.”
Thomas thought to himself that the opposite was probably true, but politicians always found themselves doing unpalatable things in the race to get votes. Isn’t that what democracy is all about?
“If I may begin with the European situation, can I ask where we are with the UK leaving the European Union?”
“Brexit is Brexit.”
“Well, undoubtedly. But our viewers are looking for some facts. Will the UK be better or worse off, will there be a hard border between North and South in Ireland, will there be a customs union?”
“We have always been entirely consistent in this matter. Brexit is, always has been, and always will be Brexit.”
“Could you be more specific, perhaps”.
“No!”
Well, that at least was a fact, Thomas thought. Better to change the subject.
“Let’s move on to the gun situation in America and the attacks on schoolchildren! What are the facts in this situation?”
“Guns don’t kill, people kill.”
“Could you perhaps expand on that? I mean, wouldn’t those gunman have been unable to kill if they hadn’t been able to get their hands on guns.”
The interviewee gave an emphatic shake of the head.
“No, no, no, that’s not the point. The point is that guns don’t kill, people kill.”
“I see. Well, Theresa Trump, thank you for your informative answers.”
As the screen faded to an impenetrable blackness, Thomas Gradgrind reflected on his opening slogan: You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Fact.
It was pretty clear to him why the entire electorate, everywhere in the world, were totally uninformed about anything.

​ Contributed by James Gault

OPINION

SHOULD NOVELISTS TAKE POSITIONS ON SOCIAL ISSUES?

For the first time in my seventy plus years, I have been subjected to verbal racial aggression. It happened in a Facebook group for authors. Apparently my opinions are worthless because I am
  1. WHITE    and
  2. MALE.
It didn’t upset me too much. It has never happened before but I suppose this is because I am
  1. WHITE    and
  2. MALE.
But it got me thinking. How would I feel if I was subject to this day after day, and in all walks of life? I know racism still exists and I know that people like me are pretty well immune from it. All the same, it doesn’t seem to me that responding in kind is going to be helpful. Of course, you can say that’s easy for me to say, because I am
  1. WHITE   and
  2. MALE.
However, again in my opinion, the two most respected leaders of the twentieth century were Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, and they are resected precisely for their refusal to let being the victims of prejudice turn them into the same kind of people as their oppressors.
I believe that authors have the opportunity to spotlight prejudice or any other social issues that concern them. Racial prejudice against fictional characters is still troubling and offensive, but at least there are no real victims whose lives are made a misery. But we will still feel for the characters and learn the lessons.
So, if you are a writer, take up arms against all prejudice against anyone, everywhere.
Of course, I realise you may not agree with me, and you are perfectly entitled not to. Only I plead they you don’t disagree just because I am
  1. WHITE   and
  2. MALE.
 Contributed by James Gault

LATEST RELEASES YOU MAY LIKE...

LITERARY AWARDS for the LITTLE GUYS

Last month, we published a survey of the main literary awards available to authors from the large established publishing houses. But how can new independent authors get artistic recognition for their work? The good news is that there is a wide range of competitions open to books from small independent publishers, including self-publishers. There is of course bad news: there is an entry fee for just about all of them, the prizes are small, and they don’t benefit from the wide publicity given to the likes of the Man Booker prize or the Nobel Prize for Literature.
 
Vox Lit wants to publicise these less well-known events. Not just because we love to champion the Davids against the Goliaths, or because we firmly believe that good quality innovative writing exists outside the closed world of the big names. We really want readers to know about these awards, and hopefully seek out the winners and short-listed authors and at least consider buying and reading their books. If we can encourage readers everywhere to expand their horizons, we’ll have done a good job in keeping the written word alive, flourishing and developing.  
 
Most of the competitions are run by US organisations, and we’ve only found one currently active in the UK. The Rubery Book Award claims to be ‘the self-publishers' and independent publishers' answer to the MAN Booker Prize and the Costa Prize’. It offers awards in five categories (Non Fiction, Young Adult, Short Story, Fiction and Children's) and the entrance fee is £36. You can find more on this competition at   http://www.ruberybookaward.com
 
In 2017, Amazon UK ran its Kindle Storyteller Award (more at the link below.) This was open to all previous unpublished books published on KDP, and unusually it had a significant prize (£20,000). Unfortunately, there is no sign so far of it being repeated in 2018.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=12061299031&tag=telegraph-digidip-21 )
 
That about wraps it up for the UK, but if any of our readers know of other UK competitions please use the comments box to let us know.
 
While there seems to a paucity of UK awards, authors who live in the US are spoiled for choice, and we have included only a small selection here. And ,even if you are based in another country, these competitions tend to be open to all English speaking authors who have their work on sale in the USA. 
 
The Benjamin Franklin Awards, run by the Independent Book Publishers Association, offers a comprehensive publicity package to winners but no cash prize. Authors don’t have to be a member of the Association to enter, but it will cost them a whopping $225 as opposed to the $95 entry fee for members. The link is http://ibpabenjaminfranklinawards.com/ .
 
The IPPY awards ( http://www.ippyawards.com/  ) is another competition where the winners benefit only from publicity, with no direct injection  of cash into their pockets.
 
Eric Hoffer Award (http://www.hofferaward.com/ ) does offer a cash prize for the winner, $2000, and the entry fee is a more reasonable $55 (chapbooks $40). There is also the publicity benefit, as the award is covered by the US Review of Books.
 
The Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group organise the Next Generation Indie Book Awards (http://www.indiebookawards.com/ ) with cash prizes of up to $1500 in many categories. Authors pay from $75 to enter this one.
 
Shelf Unbound book review magazine runs a competition with a prize of $500 and an entrance fee of $50 per title. Over 100 of the best entries will receive publicity in the magazine. The link is http://www.shelfmediagroup.com/pages/competition.html .
 
For a $50 fee, writers can enter the Best Indie Book (BIB) Awards ( https://bestindiebookaward.com/ ) where the prize is a package of publicity goodies rather than hard cash. The goody bag includes a rather smart digital winner’s medal that authors can put on their web pages and book covers.
 
Finally, in this far from comprehensive list, we’d like to mention the The Kindle Book Awards from the Kindle Book Review website. This offers winners in eight genre classes a publicity package similar to BIB and the added benefit of cash prizes up to $750, for an entrance fee of $29. https://www.thekindlebookreview.net/2018-kindle-book-awards/
 
Our survey talks about only some of what is available, but for writers and readers wanting to know of more competitions, there is a fuller list published by the Alliance of Independent Authors at      https://selfpublishingadvice.org/allis-self-publishing-service-directory/award-and-contest-ratings-reviews/ . This survey not only lists awards, but it rates them as well, so a big thanks to the authors of this page.
 
So there it is: a list of some literary awards you may never have heard of. Let us encourage you, as a reader or writer, to follow up on these competitions and widen your knowledge. It’s the best way to  participate in the fascinating and engrossing book world of the twenty-first century.
   
Acknowledgements: Thank you to Erica Verrillo  from  ‘Curiosity Never Killed the Writer’ (web site  https://curiosityneverkilledthewriter.com/) for her useful article on US awards.
 
Contributed by James Gault
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