The 2024 First Page Cage Quarterfinalists

Kudos to the Quarterfinalists!

Ever sit through the nerve-wracking experience of a live-action slush? Ever wonder what those editors were thinking? Like, seriously, why are they all so judgy like that?

Well, the first page of a story is a little window into the entire piece. And we peek through many (many — like, thousands!) of panes per year. So we decided to bring you the First Page Cage Match to recreate the experience of a live-action slush reading, and to shed some light on just how challenging it can be to have a story (even a really, really great one) find a home.

With limited page space, publications do need to get a little, shall we say, particular. And, as you’ll see, sometimes the decisions are subjective. We don’t always go with our head — the heart and the gut get votes, too.

And rest assured: to be certain that all is fair in literary love and writerly war, we read all of the entries with the names of the authors removed.

Here’s what’s happened so far:

To generate the longlist for the First Page Cage Match all three of our judges read each 500 word submission. We marked them based on whether we found a red flag that made us want to stop on the first page (0 marks) or the second page (1 mark). For submissions on which we reached the end, we gave 2 marks to ones that didn’t leave us wanting to read more, and 3 marks to those that had us hooked.

The longlist comprised all the submissions that got full marks from at least one editor.

What made us stop reading

Of the pages that didn’t make the cut, several had author names on the document or exceeded the allowable word count. Authors, make sure you read the contest guidelines carefully!

Technical details aside, a common reason were that, despite some beautiful writing, we weren’t given a reason to care about the protagonist. A first page should give the reader a sense of setting, genre, tone, and a hint of the central conflict.  If you’d like to see where exactly your manuscript fell through the cracks, you can still order editor feedback on the contest page.

The Quarter-finalists

From the longlist of fifteen, we had to pare out seven excellent starts to crown our quarter-finalists.  Most of these had at least two editors hooked, and none had red flags.

Now, here are our eight contenders, along with a peek into the minds of three editors.

Salvager by Mark Silcox

All the editors agree this one has a great start. Mel loved it right through, Jen’s interest waned a bit on the second page, and Sierra found it more interesting as it went along. (See how different three opinions can be?) 8/9

The Borrowed Woman by Rachael Warecki

Sierra was not overly connected to the main character in this, but Mel and Jen loved it from the great first line. Mel suggested that there could be a more overt hint of genre up front. 8/9

All the Pretty Colours by Julie Wise

Mel found this a bit overwritten, but thought the setting, tone, genre, and conflict were all delivered very nicely. Sierra liked the writing and pacing. Jen was all in until the last line of the section, which threw her due to the child’s very young age, but  she still wants to read more. 9/9

Going North by Catherine Mackie

Sierra found the time jumps and interior monologue disorienting and both she and Mel felt the story should start later than it does. Jen, however, loved the first line, and was hooked by the end of the second page. This excerpt was only half the allowed length, and still did its job admirably. 7/9

The Change by William Kaufmann

This was another one where Sierra’s interest waxed by the second page, while Jen’s interested waned. Jen wanted to know more about Anteaters, but Sierra was distracted by the thought of the actual animal. Jen raised her flag at the word ‘female’ in the last paragraph. Mel felt it was a good start, but needed a soft break after ‘unlucky survivors’ to give the reader time to take it in. 7/9

The Unwicked Witch by Sylvia Leong

Jen loved the first line and was utterly hooked by the last line. Mel liked the light touch of the author, and Sierra liked the intrigue of both the ghost and the shop-owner in the set-up. 9/9

Find more of Sylvia Leong’s writing in the Winter 2021 and Spring 2023 issues of Pulp Literature.

The Decline of the Human Race, Volume 01100 by Michael Donoghue

In general, the trope of having a character wake up at the beginning of a novel is overused and would normally be a red flag. But in this case it works. Sierra was felt the ideas and commentary were interesting, but she wasn’t drawn in enough to want to read more. Jen and Mel felt the sci-fi was new and original and want to keep reading. 8/9

The Broken Batch by Michael Donoghue

This author needs to get out of the habit of opening with waking up. That said, all three editors wanted to read more. Despite some spelling and grammar irritations, Jen is looking forward to more pages. Sierra thought the setting and problem were nicely established and she liked the touch of humour. For Mel, this was one of her favourites, with a good voice and hint of the central conflict. 9/9

Michael Donoghue won the 2019 Raven Short Story contest. You can read his winning story ‘Life4Sale’ in Pulp Literature issue 26, Spring 2020.

Stay tuned to the blog to discover which of these advance to the semifinals!

Thank you to all who entered! And a deep bow to these eight brave souls, who joined the sometimes scary, occasionally surprising, and (*fingers-crossed*) often insightful live-action slush!

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