July 1, 2010
Upcoming deadline:
	The July Very Short Fiction closes July 31. This category is open to original, unpublished stories of all subjects and themes. We welcome yours! See guidelines.
	Entries should not exceed 3,000 words. (Any shorter lengths are welcome.) First place wins $1,200 and publication in Issue 81 of Glimmer Train Stories. Second- and third-place winners receive $500/$300 (or, if chosen for publication, $700).
	Editors' Take on Very Short Fiction Submissions.

Essays in this bulletin:
	Jenny Zhang: When I listen to myself on those tapes now, I pity my four-year-old self—how I struggled to perform a happiness that I hardly felt, how I pursued details and embellishments that I thought would delight and charm my parents when really what I wanted to say was: Why did you leave me here? (more)
	Nic Brown: I figured if I spent my free time crunching rankings points and following obscure international doubles specialists, I might as well write about them, too. I self diagnosed: If you want the writing to come easily, write about what you're obsessed with. It made the act an indulgence. The result: Doubles, a novel. My first. (more)
	Thomas E. Kennedy: I set off by thumb and bus to see my country, worked my way around the US, trying to learn to write. I spent a couple of nights in jail, slept in fields, on lake banks, by the Big Sur River, narrowly escaped a good many years in prison… (more)
	Justin Kramon: But somehow, after wandering the halls of one particular story, I stumbled on some real feelings. I knew it by the energy of the language, the fact that I wasn’t trying to impress anyone but rather get a hold on something in myself. (more)

Results of the April Family Matters competition:
Winners and finalists have been notified, and the Top-25 list is posted! (note) Our thanks to all of you for letting us read your stories!
	1st place: "We Love You Crispina" by Jenny Zhang
	2nd place: "The Man in the Elevator" by Joy Wood
	3rd place: "When We're Lying" by Linda Legters

Feel free to forward this bulletin to your writer friends. As you know, the bulletin is free and meant to inform and to promote writers. (We never share your info.) People can sign up for bulletins themselves here. Missed a bulletin? They're all archived here.

Looking forward, Sisters and Editors Glimmer Train Stories, represented in recent editions of the Pushcart Prize,O. Henry, New Stories from the South, New Stories from the Midwest, and Best American Short Stories anthologies.