My novel, Cheetah, which many from the Novel group may recall commenting on, has made it into the semi final of a US publishing contest.

This is a pleasant shock for me as I had assumed that the tidal wave of rejections it received in the UK (though some were encouraging) meant it had run its course. In fact, I just left the Novel group and removed Cheetah's postings there having decided to move on to short stories.

However, my wife found this competition a few months back and said I should go for it. Iota Publishing in California is a small outfit but they love suspense, thriller, mystery and sci-fi fiction, and Cheetah is a hard-to-categorise speculative thriller. Maybe they would be more open-minded? I thought.

Anyway the book has made it to the last 10. First prize is $1000 and the publication of the book. Can't believe it will clinch top spot, but it breathes belief during the hours at the keyboard that I'm progressing at least.

By the way, any WWers who've got mystery-thriller-sci fi manuscripts might want to check Iota out. One part of their website www.iotapublishing.com says they're interested in writers from southern California, but their submissions page doesn't mention this, only that they're 'anxious to hear from new authors'. Best of luck.

Many congratulation on getting so far and good luck to take it down.

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(s)

Well done, Jago! And good luck for the next stage.

Dee