Uncategorized | February 09, 2016

For the next few weeks, we will be featuring narrative accounts “from the horse’s mouth,” so to speak—the 2015 winners and runners-up in Prose, Poetry, Audio Documentary, and Humor of our Miller Audio Prize. Today we hear from our runner-up winner in Prose, Robert Morgan Fisher. Here is what he has to say about his experience:

“In 2014 I submitted what I thought were a couple of perfect stories for The Missouri Review’s Miller Audio Fiction Prize. I was, after all, not only a published writer but also a professional voice actor with many years’ experience voicing comedy, commercials and audiobooks. When my pal and fellow Antioch alum Steve De Jarnatt beat me out that year with his wonderful story, ‘Eggtooth’, I vowed to go all out in 2015. I recorded a
half-dozen of my stories, sent them in and wound up winning runner-up in the 2015 Prose Category for my story, ‘Vox Rex’.

“I was particularly proud of ‘Vox Rex’ because it was a story about a voice actor. I’ve since sent the link to various voice actor friends—some of them the biggest voice actors on the planet—and they’ve assured me that I nailed it in the writing and execution (‘A little too close to home,’ one superstar confided—the ultimate praise). Such a good feeling—and it never would have happened were it not for the Miller Audio Prize.

“Audio fiction is obviously an important platform for my fiction. One of my stories (‘Sealed’) appeared in the audio fiction publication Golden Walkman Magazine and will be included in the forthcoming Night Shade/Skyhorse Books Iraq War anthology, Deserts of Fire (July, 2016). This I attribute directly to the Miller Audio Prize; though the story originally appeared in audio form, the fact that my audio fiction had won a prize gave me additional credibility, got me noticed and the story included in this important anthology. Also, as a direct result of my win, I’ve been asked to design and teach an online course for Antioch University’s I2P Program. It’s called: Be Heard! Recording and Uploading Your Writing, which begins February 21. My personal website has always had a FICTION portal, and I find that my readers really love being able to listen to my stories as well as read them.

“You don’t have to be a professional voice actor to vie for the Miller Audio Prize—many writers, including my pal Steve De Jarnatt, use voice actors. What ultimately matters is the story and the production. But as a voice actor and a writer? This was one contest I couldn’t pass up.”

Want to join him as one of our prize winners? You can submit to our Miller Audio Contest here. The deadline is March 15^th. We can’t wait to listen!