Don't Judge a Box by Its Cover

Recently, I received a box in the mail.



It is a small box, easily opened to reveal



The Binnacle
Seventh Annual
Ultra-Short Competition

University of Maine at Machias
2010



but wait, you can open it...to reveal



The Binnacle
Seventh Annual
Ultra-Short Competition

Emily Jiang
Wedding Song
Top Prose Prize

Toni Giarnese
Dancing
Top Poetry Prize

Bunny Richards
Lions in Winter
Top UMM Student Prize

Honorees
(listed in ABC order by first name)




This is cool, but wait, it opens up again to reveal...



a card with my name and my bio!



The card is really nice stock, with nice background design in gray and white.

But wait! If you turn the card over...



there's my story, the entire ultra-short, printed on the back,



which is about the size of a business card. How clever!

In fact, there are 60 ultra-shorts, each printed on its own card (yes, I counted). At the bottom is a card with the magazine's contact information and 10 extra cards of your own story or poem. Yes, they publish poems, too! For example, here is "Dancing" by Toni Giarnese.

I was expecting a traditionally bound journal, and it is a delight to shuffle the cards and read. I still marvel at the fact that one can fit a piece of flash fiction on such a small space. Such creative packaging reminds me of something that McSweeney's would dream up.

Many thanks to Binnacle Editor Gerald P. NeCastro and his staff for this special gift of a publication! A complete list of honorees can be found here.