By: Taboo Jive Editors

I would like to first thank everyone who submitted work to the first month of our 2012 Taboo Jive Fiction Writing Contest. It was an amazing turnout, especially since we didn’t offer a huge prize. But, as many of you have probably tried to publish in other magazines or publications, much of the time it isn’t about winning any sort of monetary prize, but rather establishing recognition and getting your name out there.

Still, we here at Taboo Jive wanted to at least muster up whatever small prize we could to recognize the work that went into creating your story. And there were some pretty amazing stories. When Taboo Jive finds itself in a better financial position, our intention is to give out more prizes to recognize more of the writers. But unfortunately we were tasked with a hard decision to choose only one story out of a pool of some great stories. I would just like to convey that our editors had a tough decision, and did not make it lightly.

Of course for those that didn’t win, there is always next month. We are hosting this writing contest all throughout this year. And depending on how successful it is, perhaps even further. So please, I implore you all to keep writing and sending in your work—though we would prefer that you submit a different piece each month.  We will recognize a few of the runner up stories by publishing them throughout the month of February.

So now, we would like to recognize and congratulate The Pen Prostitute, (pseudonym, obviously) as our first winner of the Taboo Jive writing contest. The Pen Prostitute’s “Saving Spaces” is an interesting perspective on a common problem throughout this modern age, one often overlooked on a daily basis: mental illness.

“Saving Spaces” is told in first person narrative through the lens of a woman experiencing hallucinations common to schizophrenia. Without giving it away, since it is worth a read, “Saving Spaces” is intriguing for the depth it plunges into the fragility of the human psyche. But perhaps what pushed “Saving Spaces” slightly over the edge was its plunge into the subtext of internal conflict, an often glossed over literary device for spectacle and awe.

Again, we appreciate all of your stories and are looking forward to reading even more next month. Thank you all, and congratulations to The Pen Prostitute.

– Editors at Taboo Jive