SSC 99 - Closing comments

The archive for the 1999 SSC is ready for public viewing. Click onto:

http://www.infonex.com/~dacroyle/adult/

and you'll find approximately 400 stories for your reading pleasure, along with the comments written by members of our SSC panel.

Like the readers, throughout the summer I was continually impressed by the variety and quality of stories submitted. Once again the SSC has proven to be a showcase for the writing talents of many Asssville citizens. In particular I was pleased to hear some new voices- authors who'd never posted stories in S.S.S. before. Please don't be shy about posting your work to the newsgroup on a regular basis.

One last minute change to SSC 1999: originally I'd planned that once the SSC ended, the newsgroup would vote on the best stories in each category. However, given the number of stories submitted, and the length of time the SSC ran, it seemed to me that this would be a difficult process, one unlikely to work well. So I've made an SSC dictator decision and dropped the voting phase.

A heartfelt thank you to the reading panel. It takes a lot of commitment to the newgroup and a love of the short story genre to spend much of the summer reading and commenting on upwards of 40 stories each. The comments themselves are often funny, occasionally startling, sometimes flirty, and always fresh and positive. You'll find that the readers were often able to pinpoint the element or quality in a story that makes it unique and worthwhile reading. Frequently I'd read a comment and be so intrigued by what the reader had to say that I'd track down the story, weeks after it had been submitted.

Don Croyle is one of the unsung heros of this newgroup. Okay, his praises are sung now and then, and most lately by Mija, but I don't know if folks realize how much time and energy he commits to s.s.s.- from being the technical support for the Charter committee and contributing actively to it, to providing so much assistance to the SSC, both technical and organizational. Throughout the summer I was amazed (and humbled) by how much work Don did to make the SSC come together. All this, and he commented on stories, too. Thankfully he also showed the patience of a saint dealing with technically challenged me over the summer <g>. So, many thanks and much gratitude to Don.

My biggest thanks are reserved for the writers who contributed to the 1999 SSC. I know it's trite, but without you there'd have been no SSC. To me, this annual showcase of our group's writing talents is an unqualified Good Thing, a newsgroup tradition that I hope carries on for many, many years.

Michele

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