Earlier this year, I published a story in Zencore!—only no one except for me and the editor/publisher knows yet exactly which story that was. Des Lewis wanted readers to encounter the stories inside with no preconceived ideas based on the reputations of the writers, and so he presented the 17 short stories with no bylines attached. A list of authors appeared on the back cover only, in random order, with no clue as to who wrote what.

An announcement will be made marrying the stories to their authors in just a few weeks, but Jetse de Vries decided not to wait, and took a stab at each story’s authorship.

Here’s how he began:

“I divided the writers into three groups: English male, American male, and female (no need to subdivide the female group as there are only three). Then I tried to figure out which stories were written by an English author (spelling, atmosphere and location being the giveaways), or an American. Similarly I tried to guess which stories were written by a male or a female (choice of protagonist and sensibility being the main factors).

Having ended up with five stories with supposedly American male sensibilities, he then attempted to match them with the five American male writers included in the volume. Here’s what he had to say about my possible authorship:

Of these writers, I know Scott Edelman best. Since Scott has a tendency to write metafictional stories—such as “This Is Where the Title Goes” in the Journal of Pulse-Pounding Narratives, vol. 2 and “The Scariest Story I Know” in, indeed, Nemonymous 5—I am guessing that he wrote the metafictional piece of Zencore!

Scott Edelman wrote “Word Doctor.”

Did Jetse successfully out me, along with the other masked creators? My lips will remain sealed as long as the game is still afoot, which is until approximately December 8, when Des Lewis intends to pull back the curtain. But until then, I look forward to hearing from other readers of this book whether they think they’ve pierced the veil.