Faith, or Tips for the Successful Young Lady

McSweeney's announced the first winner of the Amanda Davis Highwire Fiction Award today. Jessica Anthony "writes about metallurgy, bullfighting, Hungary, love, monkeys, and meat," and the website presents an excerpt from her novel in progress. One of her short stories will also appear in a forthcoming issue.

Amanda Davis was an incredibly gifted young writer who died last March in a small plane crash between stops on the book tour for her first novel, Wonder When You'll Miss Me (coming later this month in trade paper). I met her a few years ago, when she'd just published a collection of short stories, and though we spent barely an hour together, she was incredibly supportive when I moved to New York a year later and ran into her at a reading for a mutual friend. I wouldn't presume to say I knew her well, but she always made me feel welcome in her world, expressing interest in the site and in my other writing efforts, introducing me to the rest of her writer friends, and so on. She is still sorely missed by all.