We’re pleased to announce that Edward Aubry (Sherman Bierce) has won the TheNextBigWriter’s Strongest Start Novel Competition for his post apocalyptic novel Static Mayhem.
For those of you unfamiliar with the book, Static Mayhem incorporates elements of fairy tales, science fiction, and fantasy to tell the coming-of-age story of late-bloomer Harrison Cody, who grows from a disinterested slacker into a heroic father of two orphaned children. Accompanied by a wise-cracking pixie, Harrison overcomes his own inner obstacles amid baffling future technology, malignant magical entities, and a trip into Faerie, in his quest to find the rest of the human survivors of a strange cataclysmic event which has altered the very fabric of reality.
As the winner of the competition Mr. Aubry will receive a full manuscript critique and edit from the competition sponsor, iUniverse valued at $2,000, $100 in cash, and a free one year membership extension to TheNextBigWriter.
In addition to Static Mayhem, the other winners are:
Second Place:
The Adventures of Kate Darling by Kirk Ort – Condemned to a life of indentured servitude, young Kate Darling is bound for the American colonies aboard a merchant vessel commanded by the brutal and lecherous Nigel Terwilliger. When the ship is captured by pirates, Kate sees her chance to trade years of sorrow and cruelty for a life filled with adventure and romance.
Feed the Meter by Ben Duiverman – Frank Donnelly is a lucky guy—new house, job promotion, a loving fiancée—but the bottom drops out when the city installs parking meters on his street, reviving his long-dead grandfather’s scary stories about one-eyed monsters operating in cahoots with Zeus, god of lightning, and how these creatures now roam the earth disguised as parking meters, hunting down little boys, hell-bent on destroying their souls.
Congratulations to all!
The Strongest Start Novel Competition is the only “work-in-progress” online novel competition that we are aware of. It allows writers to submit books-in-progress and edit their entries as they receive feedback from the community. The Competition’s goal is to provide you, the writer, with the feedback and motivation you need to edit and improve your opening chapters and ultimately finish your book. This year, the submitted entries received over 1,500 reviews from other writers and readers.
For full details, please visit our Blog.
Aury Wallington is the author of the New York Times best-selling novel
Heroes: Saving Charlie. Her novel Pop! was named one of the NY Public Library's "Books for the Teen Age." Her television writing credits
include Sex and the City and Veronica Mars, and she currently has two
pilots in development at USA and ABC Family. 
Diane Gedymin is Vice President and Editorial Director of iUniverse, a leading self-publishing service provider. With over thirty years of experience in traditional publishing, Diane has worked in nearly every area of the business including as a literary agent affiliated with Carlisle & Company; Sr. Vice President and Publisher of HarperSanFrancisco. She is the co-author of Get Published! Professionally, Affordably, Fast."
Paul Bagdon has published 30 novels.Deserter (Dorchester/Leisure) was released in December 2006 and Northern Hearts (Baker Publishing) was released February 1 under the pen name Paige Lee Eliston. He is an instructor at the Writers Digest Online Workshop and his critiques and reviews of manuscripts provided to him by Writers Digest have appeared dozens of times in the last few years. He enjoys working with writers and several of his students have sold novels, short stories, and articles.
Ann Simko is the author of seven completed manuscripts and
the winner of 2007's Strongest Start Novel Competition. Her novel Fallen is being
considered for acceptance by a well-known literary agency. She hopes this
will be the beginning of a professional writing career. Professionally she
has worked as a registered nurse for the last twenty-three years in a level
one trauma hospital in the Adult Intensive Care unit. 
