Perhaps I will blog the Caine this year

I feel inspired to join the Caine Blogging Carnival this year. I might share a few comments here and there. I have already interviewed one of the authors, Chinelo Okparanta, and if I can track all of them down, I may request interviews with the others. I really want to talk to Pede Hollist pronto! Just enjoyed his story today; that one spoke to me with a certain urgency. I tend to like the stories taking us to America, for obvious reasons, but I have already crossed  out "Miracle", which I found charming, but deeply shallow (maybe that's why it was chosen).

The shortlisted stories for the 2013 Caine Prize are [links to pdfs]:
The top 3 for me are these:

  • “Foreign Aid,” by Pede Hollist
  • “The Whispering Tree,” by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
  • “America,” by Chinelo Okparanta

    • "Whispering Tree" doesn't need the three to five pages immediately after page one, but it picks up one the saint girlfriend is out of his life, when the mysterious sets in, when he has the special vision...it's one of those stories that finally sneak on you, but you are still aware that the first few pages almost wasted your time...temporarily...

    The top two contenders are:

    “America,” by Chinelo Okparanta

    “Foreign Aid,” by Pede Hollist

    What I am really getting to enjoy lately is hunting down other works by these writers, and I own books by my best two here. I will not attempt to predict who the winner is going to be; it's now my award...but I appreciate the opportunity to be exposed to more lit...

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