Greg Bales

Murder City Challenge Winner

Voting for the Murder City Challenge ended a couple of weeks ago; I’ve only just now had a chance to post the results. Before I do, if you haven’t yet read and listened to the entries, please do so now:

• Jennifer Nielsen, “Bowden’s Murder City Choice”
• Jeremy Paden, untitled villanelle
• Nicholas Tozier, “Blood City Blues”
• Mark Dowdy and Felicia Fis, “Ciudad de Asesinatos”

Adapting someone else’s creative work can seem straightforward at first glance, but it quickly becomes complicated by uncertainty and self-doubt as one struggles to remain true to oneself and the source material one is adapting.¹ (Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze said as much too.) I tried it, and I found Charles Bowden’s already fine prose imposing. Loathe to omit words and phrases I loved, I had be ruthless if I was to have any hope at creating something original. The writers who responded to the challenge faced similar choices, and in doing so they each came up with something to be proud of.

So kudos to you all. Thank you for sharing your creativity with me and my blog’s readers; you did us credit.

Alas, the prize only goes to one entry. To that end, congratulations, Jeremy Paden, for your fine villanelle!

I want to extend thanks to Ruth Baldwin at Nation Books for taking an interest in this writing challenge and helping a few gears spin into place to make this a little more than a curiosity on an Internet cul-de-sac; and to Charles Bowden, special thanks for his own interest and especially for the donation of two books for the prize.