After considerable thought (much of it frustrating) on what it means for a story to be "literary," I nominated three stories from the 2004 issues of Lone Star Stories for the Speculative Literature Foundation's Fountain Award. They are:

1. "The Ninth Arrest" by Barth Anderson, which appeared in Issue No. 5;

2. "The Artists Pentaptych" by Jason Erik Lundberg, which is now in Issue No. 6; and

3. "Giant" by Stephanie Burgis, which is now in Issue No. 6.

There were several other strong contenders, but in my mind, these three have the best chance of winning this particular award. I wish them the best of luck.