A brilliant, unforgettable piece of fiction, “Searching for Bilohorivka,” explores the ambiguous intersection between modern technological warfare and an invisible global network of online computer civilians able to “view” and share details of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Ukrainian resistance. We are introduced to the world of Open Source Intelligence or OSINT, by Stacey, a young, maritime insurance underwriter living in an American city named Springfield. Through her sophisticated computer skills, Stacey connects to a world of like-minded “tech-voyeurs,” or war “hobbyists,”  neither passive nor participating, but “something in between.” Like Stacy, they live secondary, obsessive online lives. Afforded the opportunity, they can decide whether or not to relay information they’ve gathered, potentially influencing small outcomes in the war. For Stacey, watching distant, violent deaths online becomes an exercise in ethical anesthesia – at what point might she go from passively viewing wartime atrocities to being a participant, acting from the safety of a computer screen in Springfield?

This is one of the best, most important stories about war and individual moral responsibility that I have ever read. “Searching for Bilohorivka” explores in precise, complex detail the morally numbing gray zone of modern technological warfare. The story’s perfect ending offers a humane grace note, a fragment of hope, both for Stacy and ourselves.

James Kimbrell, judge of the Rumi Prize for Poetry, on Will Dowd’s four poems, “Binge-worthy,” “The Senator’s Widow,” “Exit Interview,” and, “That One Childhood I Lived in a Haunted House”

 

Anjali Enjeti, judge of the Susan Afetat Prize for Creative Nonfiction, on Bea Chang’s “Requiem for a Bubble Tea”