Comments on: The children had stones already. And someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles.

The children had stones already. And someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles.

taz — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:58:11 -0800

How to raise money for the Shirley Jackson Awards? Why, a Lottery, natch. The Shirley Jackson Awards, established in 2007 to reward "outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror and the dark fantastic" is holding an online lottery beginning today and continuing through February 23 to raise funds for the program. Participants can buy $1 digital lottery tickets for any of 51 donated prizes from authors, editors, artists, and agents. Which prize will draw the most interest? Perhaps an autographed computer keyboard from Neil Gaiman? Or the chance to be Tuckerized in an upcoming work? [Tuckerization explained] Or ... star in a porn role?

The lottery will be held on February 23rd at midnight. Items are being raffled off individually, and you may purchase as many tickets per item as you would like. For each item, one winner will be chosen using a computerized random number generator, and winning names and prizes will be announced on the website. By the way, the list of Shirley Jackson literary award winners from 2008 is here. A review of the top award winner for best novel, Elizabeth Hand's "Generation Loss" is here. If you've never read Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" (gasp!), you can read it here, hear it here, or even watch it on youtube.

By: 0xdeadc0de

0xdeadc0de — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 05:17:53 -0800

Did you just call me a "natch"?

By: billysumday

billysumday — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 05:19:34 -0800

/Anecdote: When I was in 10th grade, we had to read then write a paper on "The Lottery." A couple of kids chose not to write a paper and instead made a video, in which they went around to various businesses and had employees/customers/random people look into the camera and simply say, "There's always been a lottery." About five minutes of that. An old man with white hair and overalls, a middle-aged woman in a Pizza Hut uniform, some guy shopping at K-mart, a young woman with her two children. All looking calm and bored and staring into the camera, reciting the same thing over and over until it became a crazed mantra of institutionalized, random death. I have no idea if they intended it to be so brilliant, but it was incredibly creepy and profoundly disturbing, high marks for a high school project. Also, thanks for the links. Perhaps I'll throw a dollar into the pot.

By: orange swan

orange swan — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 05:30:50 -0800

Participants can buy $1 digital lottery tickets for any of 51 donated prizes from authors, editors, artists, and agents. It being the Shirley Jackson Awards, of course there had to be a lottery.

By: Iridic

Iridic — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:11:06 -0800

of course there had to be a lottery. Don't take it for granted, Orange Swan. In the north village, they're talking of giving up the lottery. [Draws spotted slip of paper] Aw, crap.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:20:33 -0800

First prize is Neil Gaiman's keyboard, second prize is a bowl of sugar, third prize is a cup with stars. You do not want the 3rd prize.

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:26:49 -0800

Third prize is you're fired.

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:43:09 -0800

I'm only interested in this lottery if I get to throw rocks at someone.

By: terranova

terranova — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:49:09 -0800

I'm sponsoring a "Gift of the Magi" short story contest! To enter, please send wigs and valuable gold watches to me via Metamail.

By: DU

DU — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:55:39 -0800

The Tuckerization Wikipedia link seemed fun and cool until the Niven/Pournelle examples. Ugh, what a bunch of name-dropping douches they come off as. Which does nothing to raise their estimation of their books either (Mote excepted).

By: mykescipark

mykescipark — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:59:03 -0800

billysumday, I want that video.

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:12:25 -0800

I was just thinking that if she were alive today, her Life Among The Savages would be a very funny mommy blog. She had a great gift for writing about the small details which is what made her horror writing so chilling. The attachment to a cup of stars might have been something she observed in one of her own daughters. What haunts me more on a regular basis than anything from her fictional writings is the "refrigerator of death" from her own real experience-- the idea that your appliance might turn on you and kill your whole family is something that pops into my head sometimes when the fridge smells "funny."

By: DU

DU — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:17:02 -0800

the idea that your appliance might turn on you and kill your whole family is something that pops into my head ~~sometimes when the fridge smells "funny."~~ whenever I read a Steven King story

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:23:34 -0800

How thoroughly cleaned will the Gaiman keyboard be? I'm asking for a mad scientist/voodoo practitioner friend.

By: emmling

emmling — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:34:18 -0800

I, um, kinda want to bid on this one.

By: plexi

plexi — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:47:06 -0800

I bought my girlfriend a comb, but she had cut her hair.

By: etc.

etc. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:19:20 -0800

I teach that story every year and do a "lottery" in my class to introduce it. Last year, in one class, the girl who "won" happened to have the last name Hutchinson. We were all a little creeped out by that.

By: QIbHom

QIbHom — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:24:27 -0800

I just can't bring myself to buy a ticket for either of the black spots.

By: penguinliz

penguinliz — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:44:47 -0800

I paid a fiver in a charity auction to help win a Tuckerization. This is why a villain named Plokta now exists in the Marvel universe, so I think it was five pounds well spent.

By: Ber

Ber — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:59:35 -0800

One of the prizes should be a chance to throw rocks at Dan Brown or Stephenie Meyer.

By: Amanojaku

Amanojaku — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:04:14 -0800

There are waaay too many awards for various genres and sub-genres of nerd fiction.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:07:24 -0800

Wait - so first prize is getting stoned with Neil Gaiman? That bloody rocks!

By: empath

empath — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:40:27 -0800

The Lottery is one of the few stories that everyone has to read in school that everyone agrees is fucking awesome. The other one I can think of off the top of my head is Harrison Bergeron.

By: DU

DU — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:56:56 -0800

The Lottery is one of the few stories that everyone has to read in school that everyone agrees is fucking awesome. I read one that was really weird once. Like, Twilight Zoney. Some kids wake up (?) in a school (?) that's deserted and have to find their way out. That's not nearly enough to ID the story--I was hoping that starting to type a description would trigger more memories.

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:37:33 -0800

The other one I can think of off the top of my head is Harrison Bergeron. Really? I fucking loathed that one. It's a nasty little reactionary straw-man argument dressed up as a short story. (I did love The Lottery, though.)

By: Spatch

Spatch — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:45:13 -0800

I sure hope Shirley Jackson didn't drop any Tuckerizations into The Lottery. While it may be cathartic, it sure as hell would've been creepy.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:10:22 -0800

Really? I fucking loathed that one. It's a nasty little reactionary straw-man argument dressed up as a short story. You can read it like that was as an adult, but I still read it as I did when I was 13, as fucking hilarious. I still get chills about Nell in The Haunting Of Hill house. It's such a dead-on portrayal of going sir-crazy and having a paranoid breakdown

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:22:39 -0800

I am Sir Crazy! Of the trapezohedral table natch! I prithee, make with the genuflections forthwith!

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:24:10 -0800

And yes, The Lottery was a real watershed story for me too. The eerie quiet of it, the slowly building dread, the simplicity, all make for a wonderful llittle tale.

By: not that girl

not that girl — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:47:48 -0800

I read one that was really weird once. Like, Twilight Zoney. Some kids wake up (?) in a school (?) that's deserted and have to find their way out. That's not nearly enough to ID the story--I was hoping that starting to type a description would trigger more memories. Not House of Stairs, was it?

By: doctorschlock

doctorschlock — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:50:08 -0800

Tis strange...in the past 4 weeks Ms. Jackson's Lottery has come up on a daily basis. There is some deep meaning into all this. A stick..a stone...something peculiar. I dare not say it. I can hear it in the wind. It is something dark and moist but it aint chocolate. Like a laughing dog who stops laughing when you enter the room or that scarey doll with the fixed stare who blinks whenever Kathie Lee Gifford is on. I shall play this game. I shall play it well. If I win, will I see you all in Hell.

By: DU

DU — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:37:11 -0800

It's hilarious you would think of that, not that girl. I got a MeMail from merelyglib with the same guess. And an AskMe from just a few weeks ago!!! I've got it on hold at the library. Can't wait to check the guesses.

By: DU

DU — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:02:34 -0800

(It wasn't my book. FYI.)