Skyline 2019: An Anthology of Prose and Poetry by Central Virginia Writers

Skyline 2019, the sixth in a series of annual publisher's anthologies produced by Cyberworld Publishing, showcases the prose and poetry talents of writers who live or work in Central Virginia or otherwise have writing connections to the region. The title of the anthology is taken from the Skyline Drive, the parkway skipping along the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia and providing centering for the region to which the authors showcased here are connected. The first four editions followed the seasons in cover image and Skyline contest themes. The theme for the fifth edition and 2017's annual Skyline writing contest, was "nighttime on the mountain." This edition's contest theme is "winter holidays."Other than the 2019 Skyline contest theme, there is no set theme for the other short stories, poems, and essays in this anthology, the content of which also includes pieces by the judges, editors, and publisher of Skyline, and selected award-winning pieces in regional contests in 2018 and 2019. Each of these works can be discovered and appreciated on its own context and merits. As with earlier Skyline editions, eclecticism is the hallmark word for this collection. A third of the works found here won or placed in various Virginia regional and statewide writing contests in 2018 and 2019. The foundation for the juried contest selections combine the 2019 Skyline writing contest and selected placers in the 2018 and 2019 contest of the Blue Ridge Writers (BWR) club. Selected contest-placing works from the 2019 poetry awards of the Poetry Society of Virginia; a second-placed poem in the 2019 Writer's Eye contest, sponsored by the Fralin Museum of the University of Virginia; and a 2018 Jefferson Madison Regional Library/WriterHouse prize-winning poem are published here as well.The anthology is made up of thirty-six works by twelve authors, presented in three sections: fiction (ten short stories), poetry (nineteen poems), and nonfiction (seven essays). Half of the authors here are represented by more than one work and, most of them, in varied media to showcase their writing skills.