TRAVELING: An Anthology of Award-Winning Poetry [Paperback]

John Reid (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 6, 2005

An Anthology of Award-Winning Verse from the 2nd International Tom Howard Poetry Contest. Major prize-winners include such outstanding poets as Elaine Winer, Guy Kettelhack, Mary Ann Wehler, Catherine De Laney, Paul Barlin, Tina Richardson, Ross Gillett, Michelle Bitting, Peggy Smith Duke, Julie Lynn Golladay, Adam Wallace, Dennis Maulsby, Sook Moy Yew, John B. Lee, Tom Berman, Annamaria Hemingway, and Fiona Sievers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 151 pages
• Publisher: Lulu.com (February 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1411623428
• ISBN-13: 978-1411623422
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,223,193 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Howard Reid is the creator of Merryll Manning, the Miami-based police sergeant who made his debut in "Merryll Manning: Trapped on Mystery Island". This book was followed by "Merryll Manning: The Health Farm Murders" and "Merryll Manning: Beachfront Holiday". Next up is "Merryll Manning On the Rim of Heaven."

All 12 books in the series were published overseas from 1985 through 2001. All, except "Merryll Manning: Trapped on Mystery Island", were runaway bestsellers and ran through many editions, including hardcover, paperback (both trade and mass market) and Large Print.

All 12 novels except "Merryll Manning: Beyond Vengeance", on which the critics were divided, attracted highly favorable and indeed overwhelmingly enthusiastic reviews. The author was favorably compared with both Agatha Christie and Graham Greene.

Reid's historical novels, especially "In All His Glory" (set in Ancient Egypt), have also won wide acclaim. His short stories and poems have gained many prizes and commendations. Published prose collections include "Mexican Autumn" and "Micaela Morris in Jo's Heaven". Poetry anthologies include "Anyone for Love?", "Escape to Paradise and Other Poetic Fancies" (published under his "Tom Howard" pseudonym) and "A Salute to Spanish Poetry: 100 Masterpieces from Spain and Latin America rendered into English verse."

Reid is also a widely acknowledged expert on Hollywood movies. His latest book in this field is "Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD: A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills".

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sure Way To Enter the Winners' Circle, January 28, 2008

By 

John Howard Reid (Wyong, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: TRAVELING: An Anthology of Award-Winning Poetry (Paperback)

A frequent complaint made to the organizers of all well-established literary contests is that the same people keep winning the major cash prizes year after year after year. This is not entirely true, but like many popular misconceptions, there is a degree of verity in the statement. From experience as a Chief Judge for over fifteen years, I would say that if you examine the top three prize-winners of any prestigious writing contest, you will probably discover that at least two of these winners have won major prizes before--not necessarily in the same contest, but in similar contests.

To put it another way, only one entrant who has never won a major prize before, is usually represented in the top three award-winners. So what causes this imbalance? The reason is quite simple. Consistent prize-winners approach each contest in a professional manner. They don't rely on luck. If they themselves have not won a prize before in a particular contest, they will read up on the stories or poems that have won prizes in that contest in the past.

Sometimes previous winning entries are posted online and sometimes they are made available in anthologies like "Traveling".

If a writing contest offers an extremely rich purse for an extremely low entry fee, obviously the number of entries is going to be extremely high. It seems to me that it is worth while spending a little extra time and/or money studying previous entries favored by the judges. 99% of entrants don't bother to do this. They simply rely on luck. But a literary contest is not a lottery. The judges are always going to select winners that meet their established criteria. And that criteria can usually only be fully ascertained by examining previous winning entries, such as those published in "Traveling".