The deadline for this year's Hint Fiction contest has come and gone. I wasn't at my computer at midnight to close comments and take away the alternative submission form (though two writers did try to sneak through an hour or two after the deadline but which have since been deleted). Instead my wife and I went went down to Philadelphia tonight to visit Sarah Rose Etter and Ben Loory (Ben was visiting from the west coast). Fun was had by all. In fact, it's almost five a.m. right now and I'm in need of some serious sleep but just wanted to let you know that it will be a few weeks before the winners are announced. First I have to go through the 500-plus stories that were submitted (this is a rough estimate, of course, but I'm pretty confident this is near the mark) and narrow those down to about 50, and from there narrow those 50 stories down even more until I come up with a top 10-15 stories, and those will be forwarded on to our guest judge. So I'm thinking at least two weeks, if not three, though it could be less. In the meantime, May is apparently Short Story Month, so go and read some short stories, why dontcha?