Here are the five finalist stories in the reader poll for The Best of BCS Year Four, alphabetical by author, from the first-round voting last week on the BCS Website.

“The Ivy-Smothered Palisade,” by Mike Allen

“One Ear Back,” by Tina Connolly

“Held Close in Syllables of Light,” Rose Lemberg

“Fox Bones. Many Uses.,” by Alex Dally MacFarlane

“Serkers and Sleep,” by Kenneth Schneyer

Which of these five stories from the fourth year of BCS is your favorite?

The final vote between these five finalist stories is in a poll question at the bottom of this post. The winning story will be included in The Best of BCS Year Four.

The poll vote closes Fri. Aug. 2. Get your vote in soon, and look for The Best of BCS Year Four out this fall.

[yop_poll id=”3″]