Parthenon Prize for Fiction

The Parthenon Prize for Fiction is pleased to announce
the inaugural 2007 winner:

Scott Muskin

author of the novel
The Annunciations of Hank Meyerson, Momma’s Boy and Scholar
as chosen by final judge, Tony Earley.

Scheduled Release: October 2008
Published by Hooded Friar Press

(novel excerpt)

Muskin holds an M.F.A from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. from Grinnell College. He has published short stories in the literary journals Beloit Fiction Journal, Clackamas Literary Review, North Dakota Quarterly, and Red Rock Review, and also in the general interest magazine Minnesota Monthly (circ 70,000).

He has attended the artists’ colonies Ucross and the Millay Colony for the Arts, among others, on fellowship, and was a finalist for the 2006 Flannery O’Connor Award for his collection of short stories. He has given numerous readings and talks, has judged several writing competitions, and teaches a monthly creative writing class for individuals struggling with mental illness.

Scott lives in Minneapolis with his wife and their dog. He makes a living as a freelance advertising copywriter and has won several awards for his work. After two years in literary publishing for Milkweed Editions, he earned his MFA, taught English composition and creative writing, then took a job with a catalog company that eventually was purchased by the Target Corporation, where he honed his skills as an editor and writer for both traditional media and the interactive realm.

Praise for Muskin’s work:

Tony Earley, author of Jim the Boy, Here We Are in Paradise, and Somehow Form a Family:

The Annunciations of Hank Meyerson, Momma’s Boy and Scholar is a vibrant, unruly stew of a book. Part slacker comedy and part Cain-and-Abel tragedy, it simmers, and ultimately boils over, with the long list of appropriations — cultural, familial, marital, extra-marital — the title character makes in order to construct a self he can live with. Hank Meyerson is simultaneously insightful and clueless, lovable and despicable, righteous, unrighteous and self-righteous, in the myriad ways only the best drawn characters in fiction are.

Julie Schumacher, author of The Body Is Water and An Explanation for Chaos:

Scott Muskin’s work is rich in character and language and emotion, combining intimate psychological detail with complex family and romantic interactions. Like Jonathan Franzen and Philip Roth, he wields both a magnifying glass and a telescope with equal skill—and with humor, intelligence, sympathy and the rarest insight. Highly recommended.

Valerie Miner, professor and artist-in-residence at Stanford University and award-winning author of 13 books:

Scott Muskin is a young writer to watch out for. His new novel, The Annunciations of Hank Meyerson, Momma’s Boy and Scholar, lives up to the promise of his excellent short stories. The novel is witty, original, provocative and compassionate. Muskin has a finely tuned sense of character and rich, complex appreciation of setting. The Annunciations is sharp, nimble and emotionally nuanced. Muskin wakes readers up and his work keeps our minds buzzing long after we’ve put down the book.

Wayne Christeson, reviewer for Nashville SCENE Magazine

Muskin's novel is the story of a young man coming to terms with himself, his failing marriage and his schizophrenic brother. Meyerson resembles, in part, Ignatius J. Reilly from John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces: funny and flawed but always optimistic.

Questions or inquiries can be made by emailing us at info@parthenonprize.com