I just found out via the ever wonderful and supportive NANO Fiction that “Mars” was selected for the Wigleaf Top 50. From a longlist of 200 short short stories, Wigleaf and a selecting editor sifted out their favorite 50 stories from 2012. “Mars” is on that list.

I started reading Wigleaf back in the winter of 2011. I’d recently moved to Austin, TX, and was interning at American Short Fiction, where Callie Collins and Jill Meyers (now of A Strange Object) introduced me to a thousand great sources of new fiction, including Wigleaf. Wigleaf was my introduction to contemporary microfiction, and it’s what sparked my interest in experimenting with very, very short stories.

I’m pleasantly stunned that my story about Mars and not-Mars is included on this list. Many thanks to Wigleaf, to selecting editor Danielle Evans, and to NANO Fiction for taking a chance on this piece in the first place.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have 49 other great stories to read.