Royal Palm Literary Awards 2022 – Gold

I am honored to have won the Gold award for Best Unpublished Short Story in the 2022 Royal Palm Literary Awards of the Florida Writers Association. The story is part of the Tales of Verdant anthology.

“Fishing Hands” tells of Marta Bloom’s struggle to be accepted as captain of her father’s fishing boat in the Islands of Winter. She fights both a skeptical mate and the huge, dangerous tsifta fish, one of which took her father’s foot.

After this story came close to winning last year, I worked extensively with international award-winning author Mark Newhouse to revise it. I thank him for his most excellent assistance.