| 01/01/98 -- What on Earth is a "SFWoE" and Why Should I Care? | |
| 03/07/04 -- View the 1998, 1997, & 1996 Contest Newsletter Articles (If You Missed Them) | |
| 03/07/04 -- View the 2001, 2000, & 1999 Contest Newsletter Articles (If You Missed Them) | |
| 02/25/06 -- View the 2004, 2003, & 2002 Contest Newsletter Articles (If You Missed Them) | |
| 06/24/04 -- The Dogtown Review: Submit Your Short Story That Does Not Fit Any One Genre | |
| 05/01/04 -- SFWoE's Supereminent Contestant: A Letter from Leo Weber | |
02/10/08  Status of the 2007 SFWoE Short Story Contest |
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| 09/25/99 -- Check the SFWoE Work In Progress Board for a List of New Articles Coming Soon | |
| 09/10/00 -- Paul Blake's First Place Story Receives "Honorable Mention" from Gardner Dozois | |
| 09/11/99 -- A Trip Fantastic (A Day-by-Day Account of WorldCon) by Robert N.Stephenson | |
| 03/14/08 Meet the Winners of the 2007 SFWoE Short Story Contest |
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| 03/10/08 A Review of the 2007 Contest Second Place Story "Encore" |
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| 03/12/08 A Review of the 2007 Contest Third Place Story "One One Thousand" |
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| 02/27/07 -- Meet the Winners of the 2006 SFWoE Short Story Contest | |
| 03/01/07 -- A Review of the 2006 Contest Second Place Story "Hunters" | |
| 03/06/07 -- A Review of the 2006 Contest Third Place Story "The Passion Of The Son Of Man" | |
| 02/27/06 -- Meet the Winners of the 2005 SFWoE Short Story Contest | |
| 03/08/06 -- An Interview with the 2005 SF/F Short Story Contest Winner Aaron Albrecht | |
| 03/28/06 -- A Review of the 2005 Contest Second Place Story "The After-Hero" | |
| 03/11/06 -- A Review of Christyna Ivers' 2005 Contest Third Place Story "A Prayer Song For Asatuu" | |
| 10/21/00 View Science Fiction and Fantasy Artwork by Artist Peter Taschioglou |
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| 02/14/99 -- What Edward Bryant, Contest Judge, Looks for in a Good Story | |
| 02/23/99 -- How the Judge Really Picks the Winners of the Annual SFWoE Contest | |
| 02/22/99 -- Feature Article: Jillian Parks Examines the Boundaries Between Science Fiction and Fantasy | |
| 05/02/98 -- Meet E. Rose Sabin -- "SFWoE Author of the Eighties" | |
| 04/15/97 -- What's Up Down Under -- A Report from SFWoE's Representative in Australia | |
| 03/30/03 -- SFWoE Speaks: An Editorial on Subjects of Interest to Amateur Writers | |
| 06/21/99 -- Words of Wisdom for Wise or Wayward Writers | |
| 06/21/99 -- SFWoE Joke of the Month or Until We Hear a Better Joke | |
| 04/15/97 -- A Spaceman Returns to Earth to Die in "Almost Home" | |
| 07/13/97 -- Use the SFWoE AN/MTPS-193(B) MARK VI Transporter to Visit Locations on Earth |
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Copyright © 2008 by SFWoE. All Rights Reserved. |
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01/01/99 San Francisco Wives of Ethiopians. Hardly. Science Fiction Woe. Not really. Officially SFWoE is an organization dedicated to promoting and improving opportunities for talented science fiction and fantasy writers to become published authors. Now, I'm sure you will agree with me that assisting amateur writers to become published authors is not a small task. And that is why we named the organization "Science Fiction Writers of Earth" (SFWoE). Besides, Science Fiction Writers of Texas was already taken.
SFWoE was first organized at AggieCon in 1979 by a group of amateur writers that met by chance in the lounge. Most of the cons at the time were run or populated by zap-gun fans and party-party fans. We had nothing against these fans. They were just having a good time. The writers, however, were disappointed because AggieCon, like most of the cons, was offering little or nothing for the serious amateur writer. Someone in the group asked: "If cons can hold art contests for SF artists and costume contests for fans, why can't cons hold short story contests for amateur writers?"
Before the con ended, we had formed an organization, SFWoE, to develop a short story contest as a model for the cons in the area. We would do the pre-con contest work with the top ten stories to be judged at the con and a winner selected. One of the writers agreed to write up the bylaws and I was appointed as contest administrator to establish the model contest and sell the idea to the organizers of the SF/F cons being held in Texas and the surrounding states. We planned to use next year's AggieCon to showcase our first contest. We agreed to meet at the 1980 AggieCon to help hold the final contest judging. Thus, SFWoE was born.
 A SFWoE Bit: received a manuscript for entry into our annual contest that was the same story which had won a cash prize the year before. An attached letter explained that it took the author, who had to use a stick held in the mouth to punch the keys of an old style typewriter, months to complete a manuscript. The contestant believed the contest rules did not prevent the same story from being entered again. SFWoE agreed, the story was entered, and it took second place that year. A month later, SFWoE received a letter that read in part: "Thanks to the SFWoE prize money from the two contest years and the little I saved, I was able to buy a used word processor. Now, because I can correct my mistakes instead of starting the page over, I can type a manuscript in weeks instead of months." There was not a dry eye in the room by the time the letter had been read. |
I went back to Fort Worth and worked hard to set up the first contest. However, I could not sell the idea to any of the con organizers. Also, I was not able during the year to communicate with any of the other members. In response to the ads I had placed, contestants were submitting their stories along with their entry fees. During that year there had been a "contest" that had collected the entry fees and disappeared, putting other SF/F contests under suspicion. SFWoE was not going to go that route, for my name was on all the contest paper work. I could not let the contestants down. But SFWoE was dead. I felt so bad about the situation that I did not really want to go back to the 1980 AggieCon. However, I had sold five stories to a new magazine over the year. Most of the authors in the first issue were from the southwest. The publisher, therefore, planned to introduce the magazine at AggieCon. She had scheduled me along with the better-known authors to be at AggieCon to help kick off the magazine and autograph our stories. I went to the con to keep my promise to the publisher. I was not too sure of just how I would react when I met with the other SFWoE members, who had placed me in such an uncomfortable situation. As it turned out, not one of them showed up at the con. (To this day I have never seen or heard from any of them.) This really upset me, and I went to my assigned room early that first night. To my surprise Brian Aldiss, the well-known English author, opened the door. He was my roommate. His first words were, "Can you show me to a pub where a fellow can get a pint and a bite?" Over the largest BLT sandwich (Brian kept ordering more bacon) I have ever witnessed a man eat, Brian encouraged me to "stick it out." He told me that Science Fiction needed a world-wide contest. "Forget the cockeyed contest for cons idea," he shouted. "Instead, establish an international contest to showcase amateur SF/F writers. What else does one do with a contest named Earth Science Fiction Writers?" He pointed out to me that I had already done most of the work by myself anyway -- so why not finish the task. "Forget about the no-show writers. They're not concerned about you." By two O'clock in the morning, Brian had me convinced that I could build SFWoE into an international contest. SFWoE was reborn, but I needed an independent judge to give the contest creditability. Author Edward Bryant, who had been my roommate the year before and was a guest at the con again, came to my rescue. He agreed to help me out and serve as the final judge. With every autograph I gave at the con, the fan got an earful about SFWoE and a contest entry form. By the end of the con, several guest authors were telling me about this great new writer's group. |
Even after three or four beers, Brian Aldiss knew what he was talking about. Now going into our twenty-fifth annual contest, SFWoE receives stories from around the world. We have representatives in several countries. SFWoE is proud of the long list of published writers who will tell you they received their start or a good boost in their writing career after making the SFWoE Top Ten List, which we send out to editors and publishers each year. (I personally believe most of these writers would have done well without our help, but I am sure we did them no harm and maybe speeded things along.) All that aside, the real payoff for the years of struggling to build a contest on a five-dollar entry fee (while another organization with seemingly endless funds offers a free contest) can be found in the many letters received from contestants who write they were about to give up writing until they received notice that their contest entry had done well. Yes, several of these writers have gone on to get a story published. And that is what a "SFWoE" is, and that is why you should care.
(SFWoE Note: Gil Reis is a TechRep for a major aircraft manufacture. This day job allows him to travel to many locations on Earth, providing opportunities to promote SFWoE.) 
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09/11/99 SFWoE is proud to present Robert N. Stephenson's day-by-day account of the 57th World SF Convention (2 - 6 September 1999), which was hosted by AussieCon III in Melbourne, Australia. Robert, who is the Senior Editor and Publisher of Altair - Magazine of Speculative Fiction, takes you the reader on a seven-day trip to WorldCon, allowing you to experience the convention as he experienced it. This ramble account (his words; not ours) in the opinion of the SFWoE Staff is a "Must Read" for any SF/F Fan who missed this year's WorldCon or is planning to attend a WorldCon in the future.
Day 1:
WorldCon here I come! I packed the car with a couple hundred kilos of Altair Magazines and associated books. Jim (James Deed, an editor with Altair Publishing) and I drove for the next eight hours to Melbourne from Adelaide. Arrived tired and narky, so we went to our lodgings, threw our bags on the floor, and then went out for a meal at a restaurant next door.
The place was quaint with a kind of random feralness about it. The decor soon calmed Jim and me down, and I started to look about the place. Lo and behold! Up on a high shelf all by itself was a little cardboard Enterprise with Spock. Already I was in the groove for WorldCon.
Day 2:
This day was "set-up-day" and was not very interesting. It was simply a long day on my feet. The Dealers Room is big and I hope sales will go well. It cost a bit actually just to get here.
Day 3:
I'm in the Melbourne convention center and in the thick of AussieCon III. I feel like a little kid again and the expectations are surprising. Handed out a few Aussie book reviews done by Altair and said hello to some fellow fans. The spirit of the place is high and a gentle electricity is starting to flow through all the attending members. I will spend the best part of this day on the Altair table with other people from the small press contingent. I should meet some interesting people. Robert J. Sawyer dropped by to say gidday and shouted Altair's praises to the Dealers Room (literally). What a fun man. Spoke with Joe Haldeman and David Hartwell, but didn't see much else. Maybe tomorrow I'll break away from the tables and catch a few panels. Well, I'm now off to a big party for the pro's. Might write something before bed.
What a night! I met some of the biggies in the SF world and all were very nice and fun to be around. I suppose my feelings of idol worship have well and truly slipped away. It was a late night. James van Pelt, Jerry Oltion and his wife, and I shared a cab back into the city. If you ever meet them at a con, say "gidday" from me. They are the nicest people I have met in many a year.
Day 4:
The sun is up and I contemplate today's convention fun during a train trip into the city of Melbourne. I'm staying at Jim's sisters house just a few minutes from the con site, and it is good to completely escape. Today is a "lesser timer" for me on the tables. I checked in and found I still had a lot of Altair Magazines to sell. Pity, I had hoped a rich book store would buy them all and leave me to have more fun.
I attended a panel on researching SF for writers and was thoroughly entertained by Terry Pratchet, Stanley Schmidt, G. David Nordley, Elizabeth Moon, and Jody Lynn Nye. It was a lot of fun and I learnt a heap about snapping up reference books on any subject for SF research. So when I get back to Adelaide it is off to the second hand book stores for those small gems of knowledge. As Stanley Schmidt says, "You can never know too much." I wish Terry Pratchet was part of my writing routine. He is one of the most enlightening and the funniest man I have met. If he's at a con near you, go see him. What a hoot!
Checked out a panel on space exploration and went to a few book signings. Busy, busy, busy. I managed to remember to eat lunch and at least go to the toilet once or twice. The con is so busy it is easy to completely lose track of time. I already have and have missed a few things I wanted to see.
(ADVICE: Take a big watch with you to a con and make sure it has an hour alarm. You will need it.)
While walking through the main lobby, sipping a coke, I caught the airy sounds of an organ playing the 2001 theme. Filthy Pierre, who must live for cons, was fingering up a storm and gave the whole place a festive atmosphere. Saw a few stray costumes (not bad really) and the many forms of SF T-shirts there can be at such places.
I decided to take a rest behind the tables in the Dealers Room and check on how Altair was selling. No sooner had I arrived, when a Japanese fellow showed up and wanted to interview me for a webzine in Japan. That was fun, and I hope I didn't say anything too outrageous.
I finished the day tired and at a book launch. Later I sat in the bar with some nice people from Tasmania. I survived another day. Sleep called and I didn't argue.
Day 5:
It's another morning and I'm already exhausted. I went home last night and spent two hours doing accounts (no rest for the salesman). There are a few costumes about this morning and one, which I think is Klingon, looks especially good. People's faces all look a little weary today, some of the late night shenanigans are definitely catching up.
David Hartwell complimented me on Altair, saying it definitely had some of the best covers in the industry. I stayed on the table a bit today so others could catch up on a few interesting things about the place, but at 3 p.m. I took off to be on a panel dealing with SF and poetry.
Got back from the panel a little concerned. I'd almost started an argument in the audience and told one of the panel members that Shakespeare bored me shitless -- way to go Rob. Oh well, Joe Haldeman read a poem that was really good. And I read a couple that were well received.
On my way back from the panel, I found Robert Silverberg holding up a wall. He was tired, but took some time out for me to get a photo and a signature on Far Horizons edited by him. Also, got Gregory Benford to scribble his name in the book as well. Oh what a fan I am being here. It's a lot of fun and I still can't get the big smile off my face.
The Hugo awards were great, well organized and a lot of fun. Nalo Hopkinson won the Campbell award (I was routing for James van Pelt) and a very funny David Langford won best fan writer. It was so good to see the late, great Ian Gunn receive an award. His wife shed tears during the acceptance and wished Ian was able to collect the award himself. A touching moment indeed.
After the awards, I climbed into a cab and headed home. What a day and there is still more to come. Will I survive my first WorldCon?
Day 6:
The 6th day of my trip and I can't stop yawning. At this stage I am missing my wife and kids and a decent night's sleep. Altair sales have been okay and I might just break even. Need a few more subscribers actually (hint).
I ran about the place taking pictures this morning, had some words with Gordon van Gelder (an editor whose skills I aspire to), and met the very big and very happy Paul Brazier from Interzone. I learnt a lot about editing and publishing that a book could never tell me.
The whole day ended with a blur. I spent it running from panel to panel, talking with people, and taking photographs. Jim found me and made me eat something around the middle of the day. I wish my eyes were video cameras, there is just so much to see and do -- and I still haven't bought myself a watch! The Dealers Room is a constant for me, and I'm spending just about as much as I am making. Got some bloody good books though and had them signed. Now that alone is worth coming to WorldCon.
Had a late dinner with James van Pelt. I introduced him to kangaroo and crocodile meat. Called it a day around 10 p.m. and crawled into bed about 12 a.m. after doing the daily accounts.
Day 7:
Ahh, the coffee's ready. I'm very slow this morning and I'm considering going back to bed. Today is the last day and in one way I am glad but in another I am saddened. I have met a lot of really nice people and if I never managed to get to another WorldCon I will never see them again. Now that is sad. Thank goodness for email, telephones, and the good old letter. The whole time has been one big, busy merry-go-ride and my head is still spinning. As a writer, the con has been a real inspiration. I have met with some of my idols and found them to be just like me. I have met with struggling writers and found comfort in their own trials and tribulations. Over all it has been fun.
I'm packing up the table now and saying some farewells to others around me. It's been a bit like a big family get together. I've had a good con, except for one day when I lost the "plot" and needed extra prozac. My mind is filled with faces, names, panels, and books, so much so that I am having a hard time remembering my own name. Joe and Gay Haldeman just passed by and wished me and Altair well as I piled boxes onto a cart. This last day of the con is a real blur. I did some stuff, but my mind is so muddled I can't remember what it was.
So this has been my account of my first WorldCon. Not too detailed, as that would probably take twenty times more space, but I hope interesting enough for you to consider going to a SF WorldCon. Chicago is looming -- so get in early, get a membership cheap, and prepare yourself for a real fun time. In 8 hours I'll be home with my wife and children and some sleep.
Thanks for putting up with this ramble. ---Robert N. Stephenson.
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03/14/08 SFWoE wishes to give our contestants (and anyone else who is interested) a chance to learn a little about the writers they are competing against and especially a chance to get to know the contest winners. We, therefore, asked each of the 2007 Top Ten to send us some biographical information. In their own words, here are the 2007 contest Top Ten.
First Place: Jonna Laster. Thank you for the honor of recognizing "Keys"! I'm about to fly from my hometown in Alaska to a writer's conference in Washington State and now I feel I don't even need a plane ticket!
The short story "Keys" originated during a tantrum I had after losing my keys for the hundredth time! Forgetfulness pays off, if you can only remember... Alaska and it's wintery blasts often find a way into my stories. Thank you for including me in your ranks.
SFWoE Note: Jonna, we have all lost our keys at one time or another, after reading your story we hope we never lose them again!
Second Place: Susan M. Boyce. "Encore."
SFWoE Note: SFWoE has not yet received Susan's comments.
Third Place: William Wood. My thanks to Gil Reis, Ed Bryant, and the nominating committee. I am honored. "One One Thousand" started as a challenge to write a horror piece with a science fiction twist and ended up the other way around, I think. In the story is distilled a couple of bad dreams, an intense dislike of creepy crawlies, and the belief that there are not nearly enough time travel tragedies. The toughest part, as always, was watching all of the beloved but unnecessary words fade away under the delete key.
Congratulations to the others and again, my sincerest thanks.
SFWoE Note: Your story my have gotten twisted around, but it came right. It's the kind of story we like to receive.
First Honor: Graham Parks. It is indeed and honour to have my name up there on the SFWoE website with writers such as Paul Blake, Dick Bellamy and Lars Backstrom. I'd include Christyna Ivers or Jane Ott, but then, I'm not a girl and can't compare myself to them. Women have a different slant on things and I actually have to work at it like a native porter because I'm untrained. Nothing is easy.
I have enjoyed writing for the competition and have found the by-play between writers refreshingly honest. Way too many people take themselves seriously and miss the fun of merely competing. If I finally write... No, that should read, When I finally write, a story that is irresistible to our Judge Bryant, and I cap the crown we all seek, I shall have conflicting emotions. I shall be glad that my writing is considered worthy, but I will be sad that I can no longer stand shoulder to shoulder with the best writers and wait with torn finger nails, for the results.
I have read many stories on abduction and found it amazing that alien species are so negative and spiteful. It occurred to me that with great intelligence comes great wisdom, knowledge, responsibility and understanding, but not necessarily human morals. So why would abductions be the subject of injuries and pain? Anyone who can travel to our world from afar - I am yet to be convinced they have but see no reason why they haven't - would have the technology to conduct research without the physical mutilation that seems connected with most stories. And I doubt that such beings travel the back roads looking for people of low intelligence, who have drinking problems and prison records, notwithstanding any of you fine, upstanding writers who may have been abducted.
I noted that with the advent of mobile phones with camera, or cell phones as some call them, the number of alleged abductions have dropped off.
And I wondered aloud why these beings would come back, time and again, unless it was for comparative reasons. What protocols were they adhering to? So I thought about what I'd want to know if I were an alien visiting another planet. Would I be measuring the rate of advancement, the ability to overcome world crisis or merely to add to a burgeoning list of biological data? The rate of advancement caught my eye, and thus was born Grandpa.
I had no one to model him on, so I modelled him on myself, as I would be if my daughter actually gave me a grandchild. At 60, I'm an extremely good grandfather going to waste. By the time Number One daughter has kids, I'll be old and cranky and want them to go home. But I wondered how you would feel if you were a genuine abductee and no one believed you, what would happen to you, how people would treat you? Having thought of all this, I embarked upon writing the story and forgot it all, allowing the words to simply flow.
But my real test is in producing a story with humour because everyone tells me it's so hard, yet I am a huge fan of Red Dwarf, Futurama, Lexx and even Farscape, all of which have some exceptionally fine humour. So I have returned to that particular field for this year and am developing a story that includes Robert the Bruce, the Stone of Scone and a couple of pompous aristocrats. Even if it isn't the winning entry, but some of you like it, then I will have achieved one of our prime aims - a storyteller of merit.
I hope to see you all back on Mr. Bryant's desk later this year. Write well folks, and write often.
SFWoE Note: Stories that make you think are the stories that readers remember.
Second Honor: Tom Huphrey. "The Exospatial Theory Of Hellenic Origin."
SFWoE Note: SFWoE has not yet received Tom's comments.
Sixth Place: Courtney Crawford. I have always been interested in the French Revolution and Marie-Antoinette. I have thought often about what would have happened to her had she escaped Paris, or if she hadn't gone to France at all. I see her as a quiet heroine, she is put into very difficult circumstances but has the strength to carry on. She never got the chance to discover who she really is, so in this story, I put her in a position to find herself. It had to be a place far removed from the European social and economic structure, one where she could just be ordinary. That's how I chose Cuba. This story is about a Queen who learned how to be ordinary, but it's also about the King or Queen in all of us.
SFWoE Note: Courtney, it really is a story fit for a King or a Queen.
Seventh Place: Eric Pearson. "Edmund And The Dragon."
SFWoE Note: SFWoE has not yet received Eric's comments.
Eighth Place: Fran B. Giuffre. Oh--My--God, I am so thrilled! Thank you so much. Every year I read the winner and think, yeah, I am competing with some fine writers. This is totally awesome.
First, I want to thank the Academy: "Enceladus Mine" began as a submission to a workshop taught by Jeffrey Carver and Craig Shaw Gardner. We had a terrific group who critiqued a second version which was an improvement, but still needed work. I rewrote it until the characters and the setting meshed better. I wasn't sure if it was there yet. I'm so pleased you all enjoyed it.
BTW, Boskone was great with science lectures and the usual discussions about the future of sci-fi. Long live the SFWoE contest!
SFWoE Note: Thanks Fran for spreading the word about SFWoE at Boskone.
Nineth Place: Keith Garsee. I'd like to thank Gil Reis for this wonderful contest and the legendary Ed Bryant for reading my work and ranking it. This is the first time I have entered, and I am ecstatic that my story "Forty Five Cents Will Buy You Fifty Four Minutes" has placed ninth in the competition.
I grew up reading Ellery Queen and Omni, and when I'd put those magazines down I'd pick up the remote control and watch The Twilight Zone or Outer Limits. One common thing that always struck me about the stories told in each was their titles, such as "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" or "Don't Open 'Til Doomsday." I've always thought a great story starts with a great title. The origin of my story's title was finding myself in a coveted Los Angeles parking spot without enough coins to feed the hour meter. I was surprised when forty five cents bought me fifty four minutes and immediately began to imagine a parallel universe filled with hope and redemption.
I was born in Orange, Texas in 1972 and have lived in Los Angeles since 1998. I audition for and sometimes act in television commercials and have been involved in the creative process on two feature length screenplays. The full text of my story can be found at: www.myspace.com/keithgarsee.
SFWoE Note: A well written story and the story of your life reads well.
Tenth Place: David "Rudy" Grossman. "Rights Of Passage: At The Edge Of The Universe."
Submitting "Rites of Passage: At the Edge of the Universe" into the SFWoE contest was the first time I've publicly shared any of my writings. I am extremely honored to be placed within the top 10, and am very encouraged to continue writing and sharing these stories.
The short story is about three children living on one of the last inhabitable planets in the universe. It focuses on their coming of age as they learn to deal with their own abilities and the harsh reality surrounding them. Some of the main characters in the short story are secondary characters in a series of much longer stories that I am currently flushing out. The story was a brief exploration into that world for both myself and the reader. I hope to continue exploring this developing universe and sharing more adventures with anybody who would enjoy reading them.
SFWoE Note: Thanks for sharing this planet with the SFWoE team.
SFWoE thanks all of the 2007 Top Ten contestants who sent in biographical information for their cooperation.
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03/10/08 "There aren't a lot of places left for a decent suicide these days." The opening line of Susan M. Boyce's 2nd place story, "ENCORE," had me immediately intrigued. Boyce spins a tale of a future in which the government encourages people to apply for a suicide permit, paying them a substantial sum to end their lives so that they don't have to pay a lifetime of meager living allowances. Our unnamed narrator, at the ripe old age of 23, has received his suicide permit and a six-month easement and is looking for a dramatic exit, something with beautiful scenery and an orchestra playing. As he (or she?) puts it: "I'd avoided the street vendors because there's no glamour to suicide in an anonymous, sterile room. I wanted more out of my great exit. I wanted a suicide that would be talked about for months in all the upper circles. Hell, I wanted the notoriety of a suicide that people would try to imitate for decades."
The only problem is that he can't find anything like that. While spending his Bonus Easement on private tables and cognac at Jimbo's bar, he meets Larry Lizard, a shifty, not-quite human character that can ". . . smell a permit in someone's pocket at five hundred yards." Larry offers him the suicide of his dreams - for a price. And when the price turns out to be a chance to commit suicide over and over well, for someone who had ". . . been raised to believe suicide was an ultimate - something to strive for, something that brought honour to myself and my family. The thought of repeat performances was as intoxicating as the cognac." It seems that Larry and his type, wherever they come from, have a weakness for gambling, and betting on the timing of a suicide's leap is big business.
Boyce has created a unique view of the future, and with a great narrative voice she has made a subject as morbid as government - encouraged suicide seem fresh and lively. She has in a short space created a believable future culture, without imposing our own current views of suicide onto it. The story is great fun to read and the conclusion is satisfying. My congratulations to Ms. Boyce on this well - written story.
SFWoE Note: Thank you Angie for providing this interesting review of the 2007 SFWoE Contest Second Place Story.
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03/12/08 William Wood's third place story, "One One Thousand," begins and ends in "Absolute darkness." In between he takes us on a chilling trip to the "static past," an unusual twist on the average time-travel tale. Wood tells the story of two men, Brad and Aaron, trying to save the world after a time travel experiment plunges the world into madness and causes all the stars to wink out of existence. Cities are burning, people are dying, and Brad and Aaron, shielded from the effects of the insanity by sheer luck, think they can use the time machine to stop the experiment before it happens. Brad runs the equipment and Aaron does the time traveling, only to find the past in a frozen state. "The static past. It doesn't want to be changed." Moving through this static past with great difficulty, Aaron tries to reach Dr. Heller, who ran the experiment. But Aaron sees something else in the static past. Something not visible in normal time. Aaron discovers that what at first appear to be black smudges actually contain some sort of creatures. He describes it:
"Inside the cloud-like blur were dozens of tiny jet- black points clustered near the top of a thin twisting form about two feet tall. I moved closer to it, crouching down to get a better look. It was bristly all over, covered with a short, coarse-looking pelt. Something oily coated the legs that joined together at the top without a real body. Only clusters of black beads, eyes."
To his horror, just as he places a note for Dr. Heller, begging her not to start her experiment, he notices that the creatures are not frozen like the rest of the static past. They can move, and they are coming after him.
Wood does a nice job of creating a strange and frightening atmosphere in this story. His vision of time travel to an unchanging past is unique. He leaves much to the reader's imagination, leaving us to puzzle over the situation just as his characters do. The more I have thought about it, though, the more poignant the story's ending has become to me. Kudos to Mr. Wood for this finely crafted, imaginative piece.
SFWoE Note: Thank you Angie for providing this interesting review of the 2007 SFWoE Contest Third Place Story. Now bring us up to date and tell us what you have been doing.
Since my five year run in the SFWoE top ten, I have published nine short stories, including all five top ten finishers. My fiction has appeared in NFG, Irreantum, Alienskin, Amazing Journeys, Dragons, Knights and Angels, The Sword Review, and the anthology Unparalleled Journeys. I am also an editor at Mindflights (www.mindflights.com) - a new magzine created by combining The Sword Review and Dragons, Knights and Angels. I am still writing and submitting. Thanks for giving me the chance to do these reviews.
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02/27/06 SFWoE wishes to give our contestants (and anyone else who is interested) a chance to learn a little about the writers they are competing against and especially a chance to get to know the contest winners. We, therefore, asked each of the 2006 Top Ten to send us some biographical information. In their own words, here are the 2006 contest Top Ten.
First Place: Dick Bellamy. Thank you so very much! I'm "seven stories high" to quote a song from My Fair Lady. It took me a while for the true importance of what has happened to crash home. Strange to say, earlier on the same day that I learned I had placed first in the 2006 SFWoE Contest, I had a Chinese horoscope reading for this year. It said I would be a winner and have a great year all round for any endeavor. It also said I was a tiger! Well at least it got one thing right! I'm still trying to encompass this incredible change of fortune.
"Willa And The Alien" was an experiment to see if I could successfully tell a story backwards. As the thing developed in the first draft, the characters came out with rude but funny lines. It became the most swear word peppered tale I'd ever written. I put it away to rid myself of any thoughts I may have harbored about it when I was writing. (It takes me about two years to forget all the gory details of my love affair with my own words.)
Funny science fiction is hard to write, and the successful ones still suffer from the "what is hilarious to me is totally offensive to you" syndrome. I'm waiting a tad anxiously for reactions concerning that. However, I shall be acutely interested in what the judge thought of this bit of fluff pretending to be a really good story.
SFWoE Note: Dick, the SFWoE Staff knows that our Judge thought enough about your story to place it in first place out of 112 entries from nine countries. So your "bit of fluff" did very well.
Second Place: Jane Ott. "Hunters" was written for a short story writing.course taught by Mary Rosenblum (Horizons, Water Rites, and many more). She said it was publishable. I don't know where the idea came from. Do we ever?
Thank you for holding the contest, and please thank Mr. Bryant for me.
SFWoE Note: Thank you Jane for "Hunters." We always send Ed Bryant a notice when we place "Meet the Winners" online.
Third Place: Lars G. E. Backstrom. Well, I got the inspiration for "The Passion Of The Son Of Man" from a Dark Wisdom magazine caption competition. It shows a Lovecraftian Deep One being tied to some menhirs. What really inspired me was how similar the picture was to a crucifixion. I worked on it for several months, but never got to submit it. I later submitted it to the online critters.org workshop. With the feedback from critters.org I reworked the story a bit and then, somewhat nervously, submitted it to the SFWoE 2006 competition.
I am happily married, a geophysicist by training, and work as a data quality control engineer at the Alaska Satellite Facility at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
SFWoE Note: Thanks Lars for submitting this story to SFWoE. It's the kind of story we like to receive. A story that keeps one reading right up to the last word.
First Honor: Evan Inboden. I am thrilled to have placed in this year's competition! I want to thank my wife for urging me into writing and giving me the support I needed to try. I've been writing for a couple of years now and the rejection letters were getting depressing. Coming from James Jones hometown, there's a certain standard to live up to. However, I've tried to stay true to what I believe is good science fiction - a story that makes you think.
In "The Probability Mirror" I wanted to explore prescience. The main theme is that knowledge, in and of itself, isn't the grand prize that so many people acquire and then stop at, contented. Rather, it's the interpretation and use of what we know that is the key to understanding. The device invented by one character is a vehicle that lets the reader explore what they would do with a crystal ball. I, for one, felt danger. I guess I should have looked a bit deeper, saw this honor you've awarded me, and felt elation.
Thank you so much for your competition and a chance to express my voice.
SFWoE Note: Stories that make you think are the stories that readers remember.
Second Honor: Darren Moore. Woohoo! My heartiest congrats go out to all the winners (but watch out, I got my eye on the top 3 for 2007.
The idea behind "Drums To Herald The Dead" came from some research on African tribal magic.
SFWoE Note: Darren, send us your best stories for the 2007 contest and we will see if your boastful statement comes true.
Sixth Place: Darren Moore. My favorite type of story is redemption, and so "Freeman's Toll" is a story where a world-weary man becomes the hero that is hidden within us all.
I'm now working in Manhattan, and expect to find more time to write this year.
I appreciated the tireless efforts of Gil Reis, Edward Bryant, and team, to bring us this contest every year. Bravo!
SFWoE Note: Thanks, Darren, for the kind words. And thank you for your support over the years.
Seventh Place: Christine Matthews. This is the second time I've had a story placed in the SFWoE contest, the first being in 2004, and in fact "Scorn Not The Gifts Of Faery" was originally written with the intention of submitting it for the 2005 competition. However work and other trivialities of life intervened, so I dusted it off and sent it in a year later.
I live in Toowoomba on the top of the Great Dividing Range, inland from Queensland's capital city of Brisbane, with one cat, one dog and a fluctuating number of pond fish and frogs. I am the Program Administrator for a vacation art school at the local university, a job which although very busy at certain times of the year allows me the luxury of flexible hours. In theory this allows me one day per week to do nothing but write, but in practice it hasn't been working too well of late. Hopefully that will change this year, especially after this good news.
Over the past ten years ago I have done a semester long Creative Writing course at the local TAFE College, and several one day or weekend workshops at the Queensland Writer's Centre in Brisbane with the likes of Sean Williams, Isobelle Carmody, Jack Dann, Cory Daniells, and Kate Forsyth.
"Scorn Not The Gifts Of Faery" arose from a lifelong fascination with fairytales. Sleeping Beauty's castle goes to sleep with her, but what happens to the rest of the kingdom? I decided someone had to stay behind to look after it, and this story was the result.
My sincere thanks go to Gil Reis, Rob Riel, and of course Edward Bryant, for choosing my stories out of the hundreds of entries received. It means a lot to receive this kind of encouragement.
SFWoE Note: The gang at SFWoE is pleased that your story informed us of what happens to the rest of the kingdom when Sleeping Beauty's castle goes to sleep. We could never figure that out.
Eighth Place: Marya Moryevna Wolfman. The idea for "JudgeGate" came about when I met a real-life judge for a Federal agency who conducts court entirely by videoconferencing, without in-person contact with the lawyers, plaintiffs or defendants he serves. This seemed to me like SF had arrived in the present day. It was only a step of the imagination to suppose that such a system would be transferred to digital format before long and that a court session would take on the appearance of playing a video game on networked computers. By the same token, it seemed inevitable that the justice system would be privatized, so that people would be able to choose their judge and the speed of the trial according to how much money they could afford to pay.
After that, it seemed only natural to add a litigant to the system, throw in some white collar crime, and do a little tricky dicky with the ending. I'm pleased with the results.
For something a little more serious, please take a look at my free online illustrated novel Fifth World: A Vision Quest To Heal Mother Earth. Inspired by a Native American creation myth, the novel allows the reader to progress straight through the story in a linear manner or click randomly through hypertext as interest inspires. As global warming threatens to destroy the world, ecologist Meredith Markey sets out on a vision quest through Anasazi ruins seeking ancient wisdom to heal Mother Earth's painful wounds and shield her from Father Sun's burning rays. Artist Elizabeth Shan's beautiful hand-drawn illustrations give a delightful twist to every page.
About myself: I prefer to think of myself as ageless, so I won't reveal my background, except to say that I'm a mother to myself and others, and I'm still being born every day.
SFWoE Note: You can find Marya's online novel at www.wolfclan.com.
Nineth Place: Alvin G. Chua. I immigrated to the United States (from the Philippines) in 1993. For the last 13 years I wrote fiction intermittently, with a rate of return of about one per cent (non-paying markets that is).
Few of the markets critique rejected manuscripts but those that do, whether they realize it or not, become beacons of hope.
Which leads me to Science Fiction Writers of Earth. Though this has been the third time I became a finalist (10th, 10th, and 9th place respectively), in the years I didn't make the cut, I received comments from the contest administrator on how my entries fared. Encouraged, I continued sending them in.
And so, may I thank for the umpteenth time the administrator, Gil Reis, the SFWoE volunteer staff, and author Ed Bryant for their dedication to this non-profit enterprise that seeks to steward amateur writers like me. Wish you folks the best! Also, good luck to all past and future entrants to the contest - keep the competition a great challenge!
SFWoE Note: Thanks Alvin for the kind words. We do look forward to reading your stories each year. Be sure to send us your best for the 2007 contest.
Tenth Place: Leonard Varasano. This is the second time I've been fortunate to crack the Top 10 of the annual SFWoE contest, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Gil Reis for his kind words of encouragement through the years.
I've written and read stories featuring heroic protagonists, even mediocre beings able to rise above their shortcomings to save the day to the accolades of the adoring masses.
I attempted a different premise with "The Vision Of Sara Lyle," a macabre tale set in Victorian England.
What would happen when one of the weakest and most vulnerable suddenly acquired the ability to siphon images through the air, images of horror perpetrated by man upon his fellow man? An unsolicited gift which permitted not only visualization of ghastly deeds of brutal violence from remote location, but allowed the child, through a spontaneous, highly developed sketching talent, to record details of murder that only an eyewitness would know, swiftly developing the telling scenes as images of charcoal upon paper while her eyes roll white and stare off into space.
Imagine the impact upon an innocent, young girl during a chance encounter with a serial killer and the ghosts of his victims on All Hallows Eve, the one day of the year when the veil separating the living and the dead recedes to allow a fleeting collaboration of the two worlds.
In the ceaseless battle between good and evil, what would be expected from a child with such gifts?
SFWoE Note: Leonard, we enjoyed reading your story and "seeing" it unfold from the mind of a young girl. Well Done!
SFWoE thanks all of the 2006 Top Ten contestants who sent in biographical information for their cooperation.
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03/01/07 Jane Ott's second place story, "Hunters" tells the story of Kitty Davis, who discovers she can shape-shift into a leopard after her instinctive reaction to a dangerous situation leaves four would-be attackers wounded and terrified. At first, Kitty is herself incredulous, convinced that it must be a dream or her imagination, but soon she comes to accept and enjoy her leopard body and her nightly rambles through the woods and around her small town. She even begins to plot revenge against her attackers. But just as she is beginning to get used to being a leopard at night, a local man and his dog are accused of hurting the four boys who attacked Kitty. To get him out of trouble, she allows herself to be seen in leopard form. This does get poor Mr. Chewny and his big, black dog off the hook, but forces Kitty to remain in human form for days as the town goes crazy hunting for the "rare black puma" and the $5,000 reward money. Kitty isn't sure if a shape-shifter can be hurt with conventional weapons, but she isn't going to take the chance to find out.
Into this frenzy comes the Great White Hunter, a wildlife photographer from Africa who also hunts down man-eating predators. The Hunter tells the town to cancel the reward and get all of the other hunters out of the woods. Kitty realizes right away that she has met her match. The Hunter discovers (with Kitty's help) that the black puma is actually a leopard and not native to America. He announces that someone must be harboring the animal in their home, and that he will leave the next day for Africa. No need to hunt for a beast that someone is trying to keep as a pet. Feeling safe, Kitty slips into her leopard form again, only to discover that The Hunter does not intend to spend his last night holed up in his motel room.
The story ends as both of these hunters stalk and close in on their prey, though not in the way you might expect. Ms. Ott ends the story with a satisfying resolution to a difficult, even dangerous, situation.
This is a well-written and engaging tale. The story is written in the first person, and Kitty's voice is so clear and authentic that I felt like I got to know her well. The Hunter is also a well-drawn character. Ms. Ott does a fine job of character development in a short space. There were moments in the story that made me smile, like Kitty's list of things not to do while in leopard form, and The Hunter telling Kitty she is the clumsiest leopard who ever stalked him. There were other moments that touched me, such as the humanity that Kitty retains even when in leopard form. I was impressed with the quality of writing in this year's second place winner. Congratulations to Ms. Ott for this well-told tale.
SFWoE Note: Thank you Angie for providing this interesting review of the 2006 SFWoE Contest Second Place Story. Now bring us up to date and tell us what you have been doing.
Since my five year run in the SFWoE top ten, I have published nine short stories, including all five top ten finishers. My fiction has appeared in NFG, Irreantum, Alienskin, Amazing Journeys, Dragons, Knights and Angels, The Sword Review, and the anthology Unparalleled Journeys. I am also an editor at The Sword Review (www.theswordreview.com). I am still writing and submitting. Thanks for giving me the chance to do these reviews.
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03/01/07 In "The Passion of the Son of Man," Lars G.E. Backstrom creates a short, but intense Lovecraftian horror story. In the redeveloped town of Innsmouth, all seems well, but, "In the dank crypts under Devil Reef and old Innsmouth, nothing had been forgotten, and the ancient rites had continued uninterrupted." Soon, a strange young man leaves the town and returns with a wife from the outside world. Plagued by nightmares of, "'shadowy halls, green with slime and 'obscene whispers from lips that were not meant to talk,'" she gives birth to a son, and in a short time learns that her husband is not what he appears to be. In horror, she flees with her son. Years pass, and this son gains a group of devout followers, who come to exchange their traditional religious beliefs for his unholy rites as he grows to become like his father before him. He leads his followers back to Innsmouth for a final, glorious sacrifice, but things do not go as they had planned.
In a short space, Backstrom has created a chilling tale. He provides vivid details to keep you reading, but leaves more to the imagination. And with my imagination, at least, the story sent a shivers down my spine, as any good horror story should. I particularly liked this description of the night sky: "It looks alive - like an ocean covered in oil, and the stars looking like trapped multicolored snowflakes, slowly moving up and down with the swell. There are other movements as well up there in what used to be stillness: rivers of pitch seem to struggle in the gluey blackness between the stars." This and other passages effectively set the tone for the story. Though I have not read any of Lovecraft's work (I had to look that up on the internet), that did not lessen the story's impact for me. Kudos to Backstrom for his well-crafted third place story.
SFWoE Note: Thank you Angie for providing this interesting review of the 2006 SFWoE Contest Third Place Story. For the readers who have not yet read Angie's 2006 review of the SFWoE Contest Second Place Story, below Angie brings you up to date and tells you what she has been doing.
Since my five year run in the SFWoE top ten, I have published nine short stories, including all five top ten finishers. My fiction has appeared in NFG, Irreantum, Alienskin, Amazing Journeys, Dragons, Knights and Angels, The Sword Review, and the anthology Unparalleled Journeys. I am also an editor at The Sword Review (www.theswordreview.com). I am still writing and submitting. Thanks for giving me the chance to do these reviews.
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02/27/06 SFWoE wishes to give our contestants (and anyone else who is interested) a chance to learn a little about the writers they are competing against and especially a chance to get to know the contest winners. We, therefore, asked each of the 2005 Top Ten to send us some biographical information. In their own words, here are the 2005 contest Top Ten.
First Place: Aaron Albrecht. I was absolutely thrilled to win this contest. I have been working for the Lutheran mission here in Tokyo for twelve years. Just calculated the other day and that's more than a fifth of my life. My wife, Lynette, and two little girls, Cassidy and Jessica, keep me going. I started writing fiction way back in grade school but really went through two periods when I wrote and took the leap of submitting work to editors. Once, after grad school, I had a fair accumulation of rejection notices. I started writing again about seven years ago and now have an even more impressive collection of letters and some advice from editors. Every bit of positive criticism was helpful. That includes notes of encouragement from this contest when I didn't win in the past. Message there is: keep trying.
I love movies and am also interested in art and photography and I can trace the beginning of "The Night And Its Shadow" to an image in my mind's eye of a notorious criminal hanging in a tiger cage. From there on in I asked the same question my characters did, "Now what?" The title came from a re-translation of Psalm 91 that I read in India. As a writer, I found Stephen King's book On Writing to be very helpful. Also, some of the things mentioned in Cameron's book The Artist's Way are good for encouraging creativity of all kinds. Being way off here in the exotic Orient I don't belong to a writer's circle but I am a member of The Ghost Story Society and I thank Barbara Roden for that wonderful group, dedicated to the fiction of M. R. James and other writers of classic ghostly tales. It is true that you should write what you know. I think you also need to write what you love. I grew up with a love for monsters in fiction and films, and this story is about a monster.
I am still charged up from the news that my story won. I hope it's a good read for all of you.
SFWoE Note: Aaron, you came close in past contest years. The message here is that you kept trying. That is what it takes for a writer to become an author.
Second Place: Daniel Akselrod & Lenny Royter. Since there's two of us, this autobiographical sketch will have to be written in a strange mix of third person and first persons, with a little second thrown in just for spice. First we might as well comment on our biographical similarities. Both of us were born in 1980. Both of us are immigrants: Lenny from what is now Ukraine and Danny from the current Belarus. Of course when we were still there it was all still the USSR. True to the stereotype created by past generations of Italian, Irish, Jewish, and other immigrants of the past, our families settled down in Brooklyn, NY. We struck up a friendship in high school, and are keeping it going for close to 11 years now. We started writing together just about 4 years ago. We're still not sure how it all happened but it did and now here we are, winning two places in the SFWoE Contest. Needless to say, we are very excited.
The origin of "The After-Hero" can be traced back to Hollywood gimmicks and the standard, trite tropes that we see in ninety percent of the movies. You know those movies when the villain/monster/antagonist is defeated and the hero wobbles away (they always wobble away) in to the sunset? And then, right before the credits, the camera focuses on the tons of rubble that the villain was buried under, and the next thing you see is his fist popping up and clenching? Or maybe the camera fading back to show a dragon's/space monster's/mutated reptile's eggs in the corner, insinuating that they will eventually hatch? Yeah. Well, we always rolled our eyes and groaned when that happened. It was just too much, we got frustrated. The heroes never, ever made sure that the job was finished. That's when we decided to fix it and the After-Hero was born. Basically, his job is to come in after The End and finish off the bad guys, while the hero gets all the accolades and babes and medals. We imagined it would be a dirty/disgusting/unfulfilling job. To all that, we added a slight hero-worship complex and a yearning for recognition. We're glad Ed Bryant and the SFWoE staff found this story amusing enough to honor us by including it in this very distinguished list of 2005 winners.
SFWoE Note: Daniel Akselrod & Lenny Royter's "The After-Hero" had the SFWoE Staff rolling on the floor in laughter. Really a clever story.
Third Place: Christyna Ivers. I live on the beach in Hawaii with three gorgeous Bengal leopard cats, a beautiful child, and hunky husband. Not Really. But I am trying. I am better known as Christy and I do live on Oahu. My husband Simon and I work hard to escape and build a home and chocolate farm in Kona, on Hawaii. We hope to adopt a baby, preferably just a tiny, science fictional one, or a Vulcan. I have worked thirty years on my writing career, submitting at least one story per year to all the usual polite rejection letter writers. I am a geek and a rabid environmentalist. I am also a licensed psychotherapist and mental health specialist, but I have discarded that career for a more rewarding one. The training of small children and animals. Working as a therapist, I found people sit there yammering on about all their problems, who knew? I find that toddlers, cats, and dogs are much more receptive to therapy, and far more appreciate when it involves chasing a saliva soaked ball. The world of Psychology has not evolved to the point where adults realize the incredible benefits of trying the therapeutic benefit of this innovation.
At forty something, I have lived in Washington State, Alaska, Colorado, California, and Hawaii, having a different life and persona in each location. I do know Author Ed Bryant, but adding veracity to an alleged anonymous nature of judged entries, he considered my work anyway. I attended Clarion West in 1998. "A Prayer Song for Asatuu" was a work of intense plastic surgery on a Clarion West story. I have always been interested in the lost tribe of Boskop. When I saw South African warrior masks with enormous foreheads in a Canadian museum, it just came to me that they could be telepathic, just as those butthead guys in the pilot episode of Star Trek. I learned there, from the multi talented Connie Willis, the foremost important rule of literary fiction: Go see a Harrison Ford movie at all costs.
SFWoE Note: Knowing our judge, Ed Bryant, is no problem. Anyone who knows Ed knows that for a fact. Hey, last year the contest winner was J. E. Bryant.
First Honor: Dick Bellamy. The two stories of mine that made it into the top ten this year both have a checkered past. I'm delighted! Both required extensive rewrites in order to appear as they do today. Unusual for me.
I obtained the title for "Rescuing Sharon" from a sentence overheard in the super market, as some lady told her friend she'd better go and rescue Sharon from whatever. It occurred to me I could construct a light little joke around the phrase, and the first rendering of the story was a straight-ahead go-get-em by the four drunken recruits. I hated it. So I put it away awhile, five years I think...and suddenly one day I saw something else in the bit of fluff. So I rewrote it in the bar with the writer asking questions. Somehow that didn't quite work either, so away it went again. I make a point of reading my older stories at least once a decade, and on re-reading this one I realized the final bits that beefed the story up without adding too many words. Thus was born the idea of the old spacer trying to tell his joke and the writer trying to get information about the creatures in the lake where they had been rowing drunkenly towards the place where they could rescue Sharon.
There is a particular joy in writing dialogue which is at cross purposes to both participants. But I got just as much enjoyment out of the book I published last year. It has pictures of street scenes of England in the summer of 1963. Other than a one word caption telling you which city, the images have to speak to you directly, which is a whole other bag.
SFWoE Note: Dick Bellamy, besides being a writer of good stories, which have made our top ten list several times, is an excellent photographer. The book he published Summer of '63 is a collection of street photos from that time. The SFWoE administrator and another member of the SFWoE Staff were working in London that same summer. When Dick sent SFWoE a copy of his photograph book, we were stun at how his photos of London street scenes taken in the summer of 1963 brought back memories of our stay in England. SFWoE plans, in the near future, to place more information on the SFWoE Website about Dick's photograph book and how you can get a copy.
Second Honor: Daniel Akselrod & Lenny Royter. We'll pick up where we left off on top (2nd Place Story) and continue with a little more of our bios. Danny is a graduate of Brandeis University as well as Brooklyn Law School. He has recently taken and passed his NY bar and can now officially add that useless "Esq." thing after his name. Currently he spends most of his time being jittery about his wedding that's coming up in April of this year (Lenny is the best man, but will probably be mediocre, at best). Danny is also a '05 graduate of the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop - which he highly recommends to everyone and everything. Lenny had attended Pace University for Marketing and Finance and is currently serving in the armed forces - which forces our writing into a hiatus. Now, if Gil and the SFWoE staff will allow it, it's time for a shameless plug- since receiving the SFWoE notifications we have sold one of our stories, "The Anti-Antichrist", to Son & Foe magazines, while another one of our stories, "Unforgiven", was an honorable mention at Writer's Digest Contest of 2005/2006. We've also written a fantasy novel together called The War of Regrets that - we regret to say - is still collecting virtual dust in the nether regions of a hard drive.
"Defeated Victory" was sort of spontaneous. There is no clear, traceable point of genesis. One minute we're playing NHL 2005 on a playstation - this is what we call our creative process - and then Lenny says something about a women and Danny replies something about Goddesses, and then - four hours later - victory! This story is sparkling in all its divine glory.
In one way, we thought that this was a nice commentary on the relationship between men and women, and how the people are usually attracted to one another if they are spurned and rejected. Simultaneously, the story is a mix of standard medieval fantasy and a Greek myth. Gods and Goddesses are notorious for using irony as their favorite tool of punishment. And in this story we imagined a lowly prince of a rundown kingdom using that knowledge to his advantage. To make a short story even shorter - he spurns the Goddess of Victory by proclaiming that he doesn't want her to grant him victory on the battlefield. To punish him, the Goddess forces him to defeat every enemy that the prince faces. As if out of human vanity, the prince does not ask for forgiveness, and out of righteous, divine wrath the Goddess forces more and more victories on him. And of course, that is all he ever wanted. Wow, now that we summarized it, it really doesn't sound that impressive at all. We guess you've got to imagine more pretty words describing all of this, there is also a sex scene, and a little bit of humor.
Before we go, we'd like to thank the great staff of SFWoE and Gil for organizing this contest and keeping it going for so many years. It is sorely needed for us aspiring writers. We'd also like to thank Ed Bryant for judging and liking our stories. And most of all, we'd like to show our gratitude to the other great, great writers that have entered this contest and set the bar so high.
SFWoE Note: SFWoE is pleased to read of your sucess with your stories, but we are going to miss both of you in our contest.
Sixth Place: E. R. Alexander. Though acquainted with reality (in passing), I much prefer the wondrous worlds within my head. I grew up in Middle Earth, have lived in Narnia, Discworld, Earthsea, with a recent but all too brief sojourn in Westeros.
I now live in the Deep South with Mischief, Mayhem, Catastrophe, and the Spousal-unit.
SFWoE Note: This contestant, no matter what name he writes under, appears to have a solid lock on Sixth Place. We feel that he will be moving up in the Top Ten, as he writes well and spins interesting tales.
Seventh Place: Jaime Lumsden. I like to talk - a lot - but I don't like to talk about myself, really. I never really look all that good to myself when I boil myself down to a few words - loud, argumentative, opinionated, cynical. I hear "interesting..." a lot. I guess I shouldn't lecture people about the fact that the "dragon" in the Harry Potter movies is actually a wyvern. It really does get you off on the wrong foot when meeting new people.
There are other words my friends have just told me they use to describe me (yes, I just asked them), the biggest one being imaginative (or weird, depending on who said it, but it means the same thing!), also honest and loyal. Of course, they were nice enough not to say "honest to a fault."
The more boring stuff about me is that I'm 24, and I live in Sydney, Australia, and always have. Hopefully I always won't. I've been writing stories since I was 11, and reading adult sci-fi/fantasy since I was 9. I own ALL the major series worth reading, and many other interesting titles, and I have a serious shortage of bookshelf space, despite having two 6-foot bookcases. I have books squeezed on top of books. I need a library all of my own. I admit to a love of country music, and being a Buffy fanatic. Even more boring, I work as a lawyer by day. Most of my writing happens in my lunch break these days.
My story, "The Price of a Soul", is a modified version of a chapter from my current manuscript, which I've only been working on since 1997. I've always been fascinated by the anti-hero, so my main character is a bit of that, a mercenary with a bloody reputation, haunted by his past, and more than slightly mad. There's something not quite right with him, and his grin. This particular tale tells about his rescue of a small boy against the odds, and against all logic - for no other reason that that it is right to do so.
The short-story is written from the point of view of someone else, so you get her insights into what he is like without having to deal with the mess that he calls his mind. It is actually a turning point in the novel, when she realizes that there is more to this mercenary she has hired than his vicious reputation, and that he is in fact a very lonely and sad man - and also startlingly noble. There is something in his past that he has sold his soul for (something more important than just mere gold) and he seems to be in the process of trying to buy it back, one defiant, noble act at a time.
In general, I find that short stories are not my forte, so getting 7th place was that much more amazing for me. It sure made my day!
SFWoE Note: Jaime, when SFWoE received your story, you made our day. The SFWoE Nominating Committe really enjoyed your story. Thanks for a great read!
Eighth Place: Dick Bellamy. "The Game Lords" just happened. I began with the idea of a man driving towards a dangerous place and let him tell the story from there on. I had no idea what the ending would be, but then I have always let the characters create their own lines, and was not surprised when he added a vicious rainstorm and a failing bridge. As for the spell in my story, even he didn't really know what it could do, and in a way I hoped it would vanish from the reader's mind to be a surprise at the end.
The vanishing lady in the story just turned up in the hero's car to set in place the idea of a competition held under strict rules (not necessarily nice rules, just effective) across the Alternates (millions and millions of versions of planet Earth, and for that matter, the whole Universe). In such a setting, anything is possible - even magic as they used it.
I'm big on the "back story" as the film makers call it, meaning the universe or place setting in which the story can happen. Several of my novels have taken the idea of multiple versions of the Earth (indeed the Universe) and run with it. So somewhere in the files on this story are a few scribbled notes setting out the basic premise of the worlds where the Game Lords play their lethal games.
The idea for this story owes a little to an elderly film called The Tenth Victim where people were randomly paired in a shoot-em up game and took turns being the hunter or the hunted. The survivor won a prize. (The scene I remember best is when the voluptuous leading lady dances over to a man at a table and fires two shots from her brassiere.) And a little to Roger Zelazney's series of books where there is only one true Earth, all the rest are Shadows. (Remember also the suits of playing cards you could phone your relatives with?)
SFWoE Note: Thank you Dick. The SFWoE Staff enjoyed this story. It is a story that forms many pictures in the reader's mind. Come to think about it - it's the type of story one would expect from a photographer.
Nineth Place: Graham Parks. The arrival of a SFWoE email in my Inbox early in the year carries mixed blessings. It means that I have been successful with one of my stories, which is cause for celebration; after all it means I have held my own with the best unpublished scif and fantasy writers in the world. Conversely, if I am a winner, then I can no longer enjoy the company of the best unpublished scif and fantasy writers of the world.
I guess that says a lot more about me than I could write. I take my writing seriously but I seldom, if ever take myself seriously. At 50 + years of age, I have done all the things I wanted to do, been to most of the places I ever thought might be interesting and now have begun to write. I write because it is a challenge, a challenge to build an image in the mind of the reader and convey the same image that is in my mind through choice of words. In 2005, there were eight other writers who were better able to string words together than me. But I am learning.
"The Abduction" is a soft, fuzzy story that treats the subject of alien abductions in a discreet manner. Yet the story is essentially true and uncomplicated. All too often we rush through life paying lip-service to the stories of old men as the ramblings of demented beings. Yet a short stay, a sympathetic ear, and an open mind can often find a gem of truth. Amid the stories of poking and dissection, there are stories that are far more interesting than the usual rantings of the majority of abductees.
I take it as gospel that as a writer I have an open, enquiring mind, one conditioned by years of military service to consider everything and discard nothing. I have the fortune to be an invited member of Skribblerz, a writers group with extraordinary members. I am privileged to consort with fine writers in all genres from around the globe and thus learn a little from everyone, a truly diverse university of life. So I have learnt that a story that differs in context is a story in itself.
A vote of thanks is necessary. Thanks firstly to Gil and the essential SFWoE trolls for providing the venue and a comfort zone for me to advance my writing skills. Secondly, thanks to my writing tutor (Yes, faithful readers, I have returned to school to learn to write to a higher standard) who worked long and hard in 2005 to improve my writing. Her lessons have been practical and logical and I am now on a journey of continuous improvement. I believe she has been eminently successful. This year will tell. And I thank my friends at Skibblerz for their time, patience and advice. Mostly I thank the eight winners above my ranking for providing the impetus for 2006.
Now I must away and restart the editing of my Great Australian Novel ms. It is the curse of the dedicated author that nothing stays him or her from his or her appointed round. I shall send you all invitations to me book launch.
Write well. Write often.
SFWoE Note: Write well and write often is good advice. And SFWoE is very pleased that you do so. We have enjoyed every story you have submitted to our contest.
Tenth Place: Alvin G. Chua. It was in the 2002 competition when I first made the cut (10th place also), and I do remember that in the contest year previous to that, I got an encouraging note from SFWoE administrator Gil Reis on how my forlorn entries fared. It was a good sign. I joined again. And again...
And so, first off, many thanks to mister Reis, the nominating committee, and to author Edward Bryant for their dedication to stewarding competitions for amateur speculative fiction writers like me. I'm relatively new to this genre and had been in the country for only 12 years. I emigrated from the Philippines in 1993, just a few months shy of my 32nd birthday. Time flies, and now, at 44, I look back and realized that all that time, I only published 3 stories in non-paying science fiction and literary zines (along with a pile of rejection letters an order of magnitude larger than the score). It's a long road ahead and I'm always on the lookout for beacons of hope in the horizon line. Here's one I shouldn't miss.
I'm also on the lookout for story ideas and, incidentally, I once came across an intriguing science article on deep space probes with PR-oriented cargo: Compressed, digitized photos of earthlings, complete with bio data--transparent gestures of goodwill to potential extraterrestrial civilizations in the universe. That starfaring scheme inspired my story "The Cube." I've always looked at "outreach" ideas like these with optimism and delight. Godspeed SETI, the Pioneer and Voyager probes. But I guess, as I grew older, my perception of putative intelligent alien species elsewhere became more anthropomorphic. Then came pessimism. A cautionary voice in my head told me that telegraphing ETs what we are and where we are might not be a good idea. What if they're like us-er, I mean, what if they're like the worst of us (say power hungry greedheads)? What if they have the power to zip in and out of our realm and took the liberties of taking without asking?
Once again, best wishes to Edward Bryant and Gil Reis, their volunteer staff as well as all the present and future entrants to the competition.
SFWoE Note: SFWoE does not want to see another one of your stories again! In tenth place that is. By the way, the seperation between first place and tenth place this year was not very large.
SFWoE thanks all of the 2005 Top Ten contestants who sent in biographical information for their cooperation.
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03/08/06 "They have put the Ripper in a tiger cage supended three meters off the ground in the yard of Newgate prison."
With these carefully crafted words, Aaron Albrecht skillfully leads the readers of "The Night And Its Shadow" into an intriguing story of future crime fighters.
SFWoE: Congratulations Aaron for winning the 2005 SFWoE Short Story Contest.
Aaron: Thank you very much. It was a thrill to win.
SFWoE: What was your first reaction when you received notice that you won our 2005 contest?
Aaron: Somehow the e-mail announcing that I'd won got lost in the haunted corridors of cyberspace. So I saw the words appear like magic on the SFWoE home page one evening when I'd had a pretty lousy day. I called my wife with the immortal words, "Hey, I won!" That lifted me way up, let me tell you, and I haven't come down yet.
SFWoE: Aaron, tell our readers how you came to write "The Night And Its Shadow" and a little about the story.
Aaron: I think most people who are interested in fantasy and horror fiction have a Jack the Ripper story they'd like to write. Actually, I was going through old notebooks and found part of another one I'd worked on. But how can you top Robert Bloch's Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper and other classics like that? Being a visual sort of guy (part of the generation that grew up with TV) I started with the image of the Ripper caught and hanging in a cage. The story was pretty much plot driven at that point. However, I remembered something Stephen King once said, "Let your characters talk." So from a plot centered story it shifted to the relationship between the two main characters.
SFWoE: Have you won any contests besides the SFWoE 2005 Contest?
Aaron: Well, not for writing. I did get an honorable mention for a photograph of a classic airplane I took some years ago. Oh, and I won a newspaper photography contest many years ago for a photo I took of a pagoda in Kyoto rising from behind apartment buildings with laundry drying on the balconies. Like I said, I'm pretty visually oriented.
SFWoE: Tell us, Aaron, is writing a fairly recent endeavor for you, or did you get started early in your life?
Aaron: When I was back in grade school I wrote a story about how a turkey became a hero and saved his neck from the Thanksgiving dinner menu. Later in the Lutheran school I attended, I was told, "No weird stories." Advice that I ignored to the extent that two teachers had me read my fiction to the class. They decided I could do some pretty decent writing if they gave me some slack. Then later, I think in my grad school days, I submitted some stories to editors. Most recently, around seven years ago, I started writing again. So it has come in stops and starts, but I've been working at it pretty steady this last time around.
SFWoE: Who are the writers that have influenced your writing?
Aaron: Well, my good friend Tom, here in Tokyo, has made a career change to writing. He wrote a hilarious book entitled Japanese Made Funny about mistakes westerners make when speaking Japanese. Got to say I admire him as a writer and a teacher. Other than that I hesitate to use the word influence, because my work doesn't touch the people who I admire. I would say I was inspired by Stephen King. There's so much I like about his writing that I don't want to get started, but the fact that he put great horror and fantasy conventions like haunted houses, vampires, and end-of-the-world scenarios in a modern American setting just blew me away. Also, his characters live and breathe. I find there's lots of inspiring writing out there: Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey and Maturin novels, John's Gospel, The Psalms, Shakespeare, the poetry of Gerard Manly Hopkins. I majored in 16th century English Literature in college. But I also grew up on comic books: Sergeant Rock, The Enemy Ace, Turok, Son of Stone, and all the classic Warren horror comics with those knock-your-eyes-loose Frazetta covers. My folks used to give me more allowance if I went for a week without buying comic books. They thought they'd warp my fragile young mind. Sometimes I took the money, but if there was a chance to have one of those great Star Spangled War Stories with G. I.s slugging it out with dinosaurs, I went for it. Well, here I am, a missionary in Japan, with a love for reading and writing. Maybe we should rethink the influence of comics on kids.
SFWoE: Rethink the influence of comics on kids. I think SFWoE will stay out of that one, thank you. What books or short stories are your favorites?
Aaron: For short stories the ghost stories of M. R. James are hard to beat. I love Harlan Ellison and Terry Lamsley and scan the table of contents in fantasy/horror collections for their names. I mentioned Patrick O'Brien's novels and I also like George McDonald Fraser's Flashman books. Then there's T. H. White's The Once and Future King, Thomas Berger's Little Big Man, all of William Gibson's work. I read a lot here 'cause there's not much on TV.
SFWoE: What do you plan or hope to accomplish next with your writing ability?
Aaron: Like most writers I have a novel in the dusty vaults of my computer's memory. I've worked on it a little bit recently. Also, I have bits and pieces of a teleplay for a haunted house story I haven't looked at and should. Right now I have one story I'm plugging away at and several more on the back burner that I'll return to sometime. It would be great to write a film screenplay. I often see movies where I think, "I could've done better than that." Also, I have a comic book scenario or two in mind. I'd really like to write a fantasy that was inspiring and hopeful. Something up there with White's The Once and Future King, or Stephen King's The Green Mile. Some of the stories I read today are so bleak. Too bleak for my taste really.
SFWoE: Success with any one of those tasks would be great Aaron, what advice would you give to future SFWoE contestants?
Aaron: Well, "The Night And Its Shadow" was a bit different than other things I have written. It's the only story I've ever written in present tense. So don't be afraid to experiment a bit. Keep working away at it. I think it helps to put a story aside for awhile and then go back and edit and continue. Let it simmer awhile. Also, if you're lucky enough to be able to take a writing workshop or be in a writer's circle that's great. If an editor takes the time to give you some constructive criticism that is also very helpful.
SFWoE: That's good advice. Every author that I have known has told me that they always lay a story aside for awhile before they submit it for publication.
Aaron: Yes, let it simmer awhile before you submit.
SFWoE: Thank you Aaron for this interview. Do you have anything else you would like to say before we close?
Aaron: Well, last year I had the great experience of meeting Frank Frazetta in person. It was hard for me to imagine any experience that would top that. Winning this contest looks like it will be the high point for 2006. I want to thank everybody who worked at putting this contest together. All the folks at SFWoE, you made the hard work worth it. Glad you were able to screen out all those shape-shifting Venusian writers who routinely try to sneak in looking like us Earthers. The work that went into that alone boggles the mind. Seriously, when I saw that this contest was based in Ft. Worth, Texas, and thought of what the hurricanes had done to that part of the world...well, it is amazing that you were able to continue with the contest. My hat is off to you all.
SFWoE: Well, thank you Aaron. Do you have a final word for our readers?
Aaron: Yes, when I saw artist Keith Demache's comments on the story I knew I'd succeeded in making the story about the characters, rather than just clever plotting. Mr. Demanche got what I was driving at. I hope other readers will also enjoy this tale. Thank you all very, very much.
SFWoE Note: SFWoE thanks Aaron Albrecht for this interesting and instructive interview. To read Aaron's winning story, click on the SFWoE Swirl below.)
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03/28/06 "What did the hero forget?"
This is what plagues the After-Hero in this year's second place story "The After-Hero" by Daniel Akselrod and Lenny Royter. We follow as the After-Hero cleans up the messes left by bigger than life heroes across the universe. From cops with a heart of gold to intergalactic marines, the good guys never quite finish the job. And if no one wiped up, evil would win in the end.
But this is a thankless job, since there are no cameras rolling, no scribes inking parchment, and the After-Hero does it all just for the sake of justice. Well, sort of. Well, maybe he's got a little "hero complex." Okay he's a screw-up. But he still does the job, even if he enjoys his own sarcasm a little too much.
Writing humorous stories is so much harder than it seems. There must be story, plot, there must be characters you can relate to, and then all of it has to come together and make us laugh. The sarcasm of the After-Hero is funny, but it is the underlying knowledge of genre cannon, and poking it with red hot lasers, that really makes this story work. Akselrod and Royter clearly know their source material, and make no bones about shredding it.
When our After-Hero finds a dragon slayer emerging from a now defunct lair to the cheers of the villagers, he is not happy, he is not relieved as the rest are. He is angry. He knows something has been forgot, no matter how tall the Hero stands. "He's leaning on his sexually ambiguous squire/princess in disguise. There's a wicked slash across his thigh that has absolutely no chance of turning into tetanus/sepsis/gangrene.
'Thank you, thank you!' I out-scream the crowd but the sarcasm is lost in the din. The villagers are very happy/pleasantly surprised/sexually aroused that the dragon is finally defeated. Back in the village there's a feast brewing for the hero, they killed a huge ox for him. I haven't eaten in weeks. Afterwards he'll be pleasantly/unpleasantly surprised that his squire is really a maiden, either way he'll bed something. I haven't been with a woman in so long... so long." But the After-Hero proceeds to go into the foul cave and tidy up the unnoticed problems left lurking.
And so the life of our After-Hero goes, from cleanup in aisle three to clean up in aisle five. But beneath it all there is more he wants, more he knows he deserves. And Akselrod and Royter make us feel for him, show us how in some way, we are all After-Heroes, even if it is just sorting all of our bosses paperwork or making the bed after our spouse rushes out the door. We connect to his plight in some way. We know how it feels to do the work without the recognition.
Can all this "above the call of duty" language make the story's (after) hero seem smug and dislikable? There are a few moments when the line is crossed but overall, the humor is what shines through. Akselrod and Royter point their fingers at the genre and make us laugh with them. That is what makes this story a 2005 prize winner.
(SFWoE Note: SFWoE thanks Keith Demanche for providing this interesting review of the 2005 SFWoE Contest Second Place story "The After-Hero" by Daniel Akselrod and Lenny Royter.
Keith Demanche is co-owner of Haunted Milk, a design and marketing firm located just north of Boston. Check out his Portfolio Page for some of his images. His past work includes five years in the trenches of weekly newspaper design and layout, releasing albums with his band Porter, and being an administrator for Odyssey the fantasy writing workshop which he graduated from in 1997.
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03/11/06 This year's third place winner, "A Prayer Song for Asatuu" by Christyna Ivers paints a haunting portrait of the end of a people and their way of life. The story centers on the Boskop tribe, a people with amazing telepathic capabilities. They speak to each other mind to mind, reserving vocalization only for very sacred, special occasions. The Boskop are threatened by the savage, noisy Harray, who hunt and kill the Boskop or carry them off to nightmarish captivity.
Asatuu is a young Boskop just coming into her womanhood. Her older sister has been captured by the Harray, so now it is doubly important for Asatuu to marry and have children to build up a dwindling population. To her great joy, Asatuu is chosen by the chief of her village to be his wife. It is a great honor. But one night Asatuu's sister, Cebatata returns and begs for her help. Begs Asatuu to come away with her. The horrors that Cebatata has faced at the hands of the Harray have scarred her, and Asatuu feels she has no choice but to help her sister.
With Cebatata's first mate, Tuwa a brash youth, possibly half Harray himself, Asatuu leaves behind the life she has known and begins a life of toil and pain. Without the guidance of their elders and the Skygods, each day becomes a struggle for survival. Asatuu's dreams and her whole way of life are left behind and she must decide alone what her future will be.
Ivers' vivid and lyrical prose creates a rich portrait of a world on the brink of change. The harmonious and deeply sacred life of the Boskop tribe is contrasted with the harsh struggle of the young people, emotionally wounded by the savagery of the Harray, with heart-wrenching effectiveness. Written in the present tense, the story has a wonderful sense of intimacy and warmth. Asatuu's predicament is heartbreaking, and yet along with a sense of sadness and loss comes a feeling of determination and hope as Asatuu makes the decision to take charge of her own future. Ms. Ivers' story impressed me with its strong characterizations and rich, almost poetic language. Well-written and thought provoking, "A Prayer Song of Asatuu" is certainly deserving of its third place honor. I am glad I got the chance to read it.
(SFWoE Note: SFWoE thanks Angie Lofthouse for this interesting review of Christyna Ivers' 2005 SFWoE Contest Third Place story "A Prayer Song For Asatuu."
Angie entered our contest each year from 1998 to 2002. She never won the SFWoE Contest; however, her stories were all ranked near the top of the SFWoE Top Ten List. Listed below is the success she has had with her SFWoE entries.
(1998) "Casualties of War" appeared in the April/May 2005 edition of AlienSkin (an online mag).
(1999) "Blessing Stone" appeared in NFG Magazine.
(2000) "Fidelity" is in the anthology Unparalleled Journeys: Tales from the writers of
Amazing Journeys.
(2001) "Ripped" was published in Amazing Journeys.
(2002) "Among the Silent Stars" also appeared in Amazing Journeys, and was nominated for the
2004 Fountain Award from the Speculative Literature Foundation.
And that, contestants, is what SFWoE is all about! (You can learn more about Angie by visiting her website.)
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09/10/00 Gardner Dozois' Seventeenth Annual Year's Best Science Fiction anthology cites Paul Blake's 1998 SFWoE Contest winning story Watching The Angels, published in Altair (1999), as an "Honorable Mention."
SFWoE congratulates author Paul Blake for an outstanding achievement with his first published short story.
On receiving the good news about Paul's story, SFWoE contacted Paul in London, England:
SFWoE would like to place in the SFWoE online Newsletter a short article/interview where you could express your feelings about receiving this honor, and provide a platform for you, if you so desire, to express your appreciation to those who you feel have influenced your writing and have encouraged your writing career. We are sure our present, past, and future contestants would find such an article of interest and encouraging. It will also help to keep your name visible to the SF/F community.
SFWoE received the following reply from Paul:
At the moment my reaction is mainly confined to "Wow!" which is perhaps a little terse for a whole article. I had ordered Gardner Dozois' Seventeenth Annual Year's Best Science Fiction anthology and it came from Amazon yesterday. I must admit it hadn't even occurred to me to look for my name. I will think on what I might say further and get back to you, but obviously we don't want to deal again with the topics that Susan Boyce dealt with so well in her interview article with me in 1999. I'm off for a celebratory glass of wine now (any excuse!).
And below is what Paul had to say about receiving an "Honorable Mention" for the Year's Best Science Fiction published in 1999:
And I'd like to thank my parents, Dinah and Tony, our cats Cleo and Kya, my sister, my teachers, the guy in the stationery shop who sold me my first pen . . . no, maybe not. Too Hollywood. Besides, I never could cry to order. Seriously, I'm really happy about this honor. But remember that British stiff upper lip.
So it's all jolly nice.
To be honest, when SFWoE Administrator Gil Reis informed me by e-mail that my SFWoE First Place short story had received "Honorable Mention," I had to go and check the back pages of my copy of Gardner Dozois' Seventeenth Annual Year's Best Science Fiction anthology just to see if it was true. It had arrived from Amazon only the day before and I was planning on saving the book for a rainy day, curled up with a pot of good coffee and a batch of croissants fresh out of the oven. It had never even occurred to me that I might get a mention. I always read the Year's Best anthology, starting with Gardner Dozois' excellent review of the year, which is always worth reading in full, and then working my way through the stories like a greedy kid with a box of chocolates. So getting an honorable mention there was great, just great. But I'm a would-be writer, so I'm vain enough to want more. Someday, I plan for the whole of one of my stories to be in there, not just a mention of my name. And if the SFWoE contest goes on the way it's going, it can only be a matter of time before a future contest winner finds their first story also appearing in one of those anthologies.
Winning the SFWoE contest was a great boost to my confidence as well as an encouragement to carry on sending out those sheets of paper, despite the seemingly inevitable return complete with rejection slip (this is probably not the place for a rant about just how long it takes some of them to come back). It made me think that maybe somebody other than me did want to read the strange outpourings of my twisted mind. Getting that "Honorable Mention" makes me think so even more. Now, if I can only find an editor who agrees . . .
Of course, having one story published is just circumstantial evidence that you might be a writer. That first story is the hardest. But so is the second. (I haven't quite cracked that one yet, though I'm trying.) I imagine the third is just as bad. In fact, it seems that it never gets much easier. I suspect that most of us don't write for cash -- there are easier ways. Like bank robbery. Or selling a vital organ. We don't even write for kudos (I mean just how much kudos is there in a publication that pays you with a dozen copies of the edition your story appears in and, thereby, doubles its circulation?). No we write because we're hopeless slavering addicts in the grip of our compulsion. Despite every trick we can think of to avoid writing (and believe me, we're talking about a creative group of people here), we write because we have to. And maybe, sometimes, because we feel we have something to say -- something important.
Art, all art, including the arts of the word, shows us the world and ourselves anew. Science Fiction and Fantasy has the words to talk about big important questions that other kinds of art can hardly address, as well as, at its best, addressing the kinds of human questions that all literature can deal with. What will the end of the world be like? What does it mean to be human, and where do the borders of humanity lie? How do time, space, culture, language shape our understandings? The kind of writing that can deal with these questions does not, to my mind, have to apologize for its existence to blinkered critics unable to see beyond the flashing hazard warnings of the word "genre."
And yes, some of it (well, most of it if I'm honest) isn't great literature. Neither is most mainstream stuff, but least most of the SF&F is entertaining. The storyteller is one of the oldest and most honorable figures in human culture. If what a writer wants to say is only "When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday" or "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel," while the eyes grow big and the breathing grows still as the audience is caught up in the tale, then they have every reason to be proud.
Oh, and how I want to be part of it all. So do you, the SFWoE audience, or you wouldn't be here, reading this. In fact what are you doing, reading this, when you should be slaving away at your word processors, typewriters, quills, and twigs dipped in your own blood? Writers!
(SFWoE Note: Our readers may want to read a review by author Dilip Agarwal of Paul Blake's 1998 first place story, which was published in the August 1999 issue of Altair - Magazine of Speculative Fiction. The reader may also read an interview with Paul Blake by Susan M. Boyce. Both articles are located in the 1998 Contest Newsletter Articles.
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02/14/99 My pleasure continues unabated at seeing SFWoE contestants increasingly incorporating elements common to all types of good fiction in their contest stories. I try to look at your manuscripts as an informed reader, a professional writer, a teacher, and as an editor. I'm always attracted to interesting treatments of fresh ideas that compel me to turn the page. A few typos or misplaced commas do not cause me to set aside your entry. But, good ideas supported by intriguing characters that come across as real people with affecting relationships are helpful in carrying the basis of your story and to keep me turning the pages with interest. I desire stories with soundly constructed plots that start my imagination to live your tale. Yes, I care about style, the writer's voice, your grasp of structure and diction. These are all important aspects of any story. When you add passion and ambition to your story-telling that transports me to your creative realm, then you suggest to me that perhaps you harbor genuine story-telling skills. It's rare even with professional writing to find all of these elements neatly woven together. Although I do not require SFWoE contestants to exhibit highly-polished writing skills, I do hope to find among these writers story-tellers with the courage to write in human dimensions that make fiction live and touch not only the mind but the heart as well.
Don't worry about submitting a story that falls in line with the popular movement of the day. Have the guts to strike out to the limits of your imagination, then wrap it with the basic elements of good fiction. The science fiction and fantasy genres afford you far reaching bounties. I challenge you to explore this vastness. Even if you don't win a cash prize you will know that you created. Sadly this places you in a rare group, for few aspiring writers are able to achieve what you will have accomplished. I encourage you all to submit your best work. Whether you make the finals or get loss in the preliminary shuffle, the fact that you took the time and effort to write a story and then put it in an envelope and send it to the SFWoE contest already places you ahead of a vast number of amateur writers. Go ahead and surprise me. I'll be looking for your story.
(SFWoE Note: Author Edward Bryant is a two-time recipient of the Nebula Award in the short story category. He has published more than a dozen books and a few hundred short stories and articles or columns. Our judge credits his writing career getting started to the Clarion Workshop to which he has returned several times to instruct amateur SF/F writers who desire to improve their writing skills.)
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02/23/99 So you have read what the judge claims to be his criteria for judging the SFWoE Short Story Contest and you feel that he is quite fair. You just know after you toiled for months, struggled with every sentence, and sweated blood to come up with the best story you have ever produced that the judge will give you a fair evaluation. Well, let me tell you what SFWoE doesn't want you to know about their judge.
The following is quoted from a judge's report of a few years ago when in a weak moment, or perhaps the burden of guilt became over bearing, the judge revealed his true method of judging your contest story:
"Is it all by completely random chance? Do I cast knuckle bones at midnight? Are the winners all folks who have included cash bribes with their manuscripts? Actually... no. Nothing so arcane. I try to look at these stories as an informed reader, a professional writer, a teacher, and as editor. I do pay some attention to style; I do care about the writer's voice and his/her grasp of structure, diction, and exactly how well the story is told. But, all things being considered, I don't let typos and misplaced commas act as a death sentence. I look for good ideas and freshness of treatment. I give points to real people and affecting relationships as the basis for story. And I allow points for passion and ambition. I keep track of all that -- then I throw the knuckle bones...."
So there you have it. The true method of how the judge picks the winners in his own words. Now how do you feel after struggling to create your master piece? It's all just random luck. Your hard-earned writing skills do not enter into the judging at all. Now I know that SFWoE will deny what I have revealed; for they have discriminated against me for years. They refuse to help me get my alternate Earth accounts published. They fear the truth, as I have some claims to their organization that they also deny. They probably will not publish this article. But, I will not fade away. You will hear from me again!
(SFWoE Note: Mr. Lig claims to have come from an alternate Earth that spins in the opposite direction, causing some things to be reversed. He is presently the administrator of a non-fiction writing group known as "Enlighten Observers Writing for Science" (EOWFS). Sier Lig's opinions and comments are his own.
In defense of Ed Bryant, SFWoE received the following from Kain Massin, who placed second this past year and aspires to capture first place in our 1999 contest.)
An open letter to Mr. Sier Lig for his heinous accusations pertaining to the judging process used by Ed Bryant:Sir, I'll not have one word cast in aspersion against Ed Bryant. I hold Ed in the highest regard (just one step short of being the very highest) and will never condone such scurrilous rumors being spread about his methods. I have no doubt that his means are righteous and beyond reproach (and I hope he reads this letter before making his judgment this year).
I may have sent him some knuckle bones at the end of 1998, but, I assure you, they were only for making soup!
Yours, without prejudice (you weasel),
Kain Massin
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02/22/99 Over the years, SFWoE has received polite but strongly-worded letters and e-mail expressing the contestant's displeasure that our annual short story contest had been won by a fantasy story. SFWoE has also received a few letters expressing displeasure that a science fiction story had won our contest. This is a recent example:
"This may sound like sour grapes, but when I enter a science fiction writing contest I don't expect the winning entry to be a fantasy story about angels. I won't be entering next year."
SFWoE knew this contestant's statement was not "sour grapes." There are a lot of writers in the science fiction genre who have strong feelings about keeping the fantasy element out of the genre. The SFWoE Administrator wrote to this contestant to explain our position (quoted in part):
"I understand that your point of view is not 'sour grapes.' A lot of writers in the field have strong opinions on SF and F. Let me tell you our position.We also enclosed a draft of Jillian's article in the message. We received the following reply from the contestant (quoted in part):"Several years ago we looked at the SFWoE SF/F Short Story Contest to see if we could split the contest and run a Science Fiction Contest and a Fantasy Contest (more prizes). We looked at the stories we received the year before and found that in over 30% of the stories we could not determine if they were SF or F. That would lead to big problems, unless we had three contests. We could see the arguments coming on which story is to go in which contest. We dropped the idea.
"This (past) year probably 8 stories in the top ten were SF (mostly hard core stuff). The winning story is in my opinion a fantasy. Author Ed Bryant was not sure, as he stated in his judge's report: 'For top honors in 1998, I've chosen "Watching the Angels" by Paul Blake. It's probably classifiable as a fantasy, though one could reasonably argue at the end that the fantastic element is within the purview of science fiction. But who cares? The point is that Mr. Blake has fashioned a fluid and affecting story of young boys in a post-Soviet eastern block nation caught in the economic and intellectual shambles between old, new, and even newer philosophical systems.'"
"Thanks for taking the time to reply in depth to my concerns about SF/Fantasy. Though I still think fantasy is a separate genre and should be treated as such, I'll rethink my knee-jerk reaction about not entering (your) contest next year."
SFWoE thanked this contestant for their support this past year and for sharing their opinion with us. That got us thinking. Perhaps other contestants would appreciate the chance to voice their opinion on this subject.
To read Jillian Park's article, in which she explains and supports her opinion on the boundaries between the science fiction genre and the fantasy genre, click on the SFWoE Swirl below. You will be given the opportunity to voice your opinion if you care to do so.
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02/21/08 The 2007 SFWoE SF/F Short Story Contest received 132 entries submitted by 83 contestants. Contest entries were submitted from eight countries. Sixty USA writers submitted a total of 91 stories. Thirteen contestants in Australia entered 17 stories. Four Canadians sent in a total of 11 stories. Two stories were received from a writer in England. A contestant from France submitted 2 stories. Two contestants from Germany entered 5 stories. A wtiter in Italy sent in 2 stories and a contestant in Swizerland also sent in 2 stories.
All of the 132 manuscripts entered were distributed to the members of the SFWoE 2007 Contest Nominating Committee. The committee selected the best stories from the entries. The chairperson of the committee on 30 November 2007 forwarded those manuscripts to the final judge, author Edward Bryant.
Our judge read the stories, ranked the top ten stories, and prepared his report. The SFWoE Staff in Fort Worth received the judge's report on 26 February 2008, and immediately notified the Top Ten Contestants by e-mail. Then they started to prepare the contest mailout. The results were mailed to the contestants on 28 February 2008.
Contestants may check the 2007 Entry List to ensure their listing is correct. If you should note an error, please e-mail the SFWoE Administrator from the "Home Page" and provide the corrected information. Thank you.
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05/02/98 In the year of 1990, SFWoE operated two contests: our regular annual contest (1990 SFWoE Short Story Contest) and a special contest (The SFWoE Open -- A Shoot-Out in Fort Worth). The SFWoE Open was held to provide a membership free contest for all of the writers who supported SFWoE in the eighties. (It was our way of saying, "Thanks partner.") The open contest was free for all of our eighties contestants (published and unpublished); thus, allowing those contestants that felt shutout from our contest, because they had sold one story to a small press magazine, a chance to participate again. It was a survivor take all shoot-out. SFWoE promised that when the gun smoke cleared the survivor would be awarded $100.00 and a trophy plaque, naming the contestant "SFWoE Author of the Eighties"
We sent out flyers to all of the contestants, who had entered our contest prior to 1990, informing them that:
"We're calling you out, hombres. We want to see the top guns in a wide-open shoot-out the likes of which Fort Worth has never seen (and Fort Worth has seen some real hot gunslingers in the past). So load up and send us your best shot. We want to see the best from our past winners -- and we would love to see one of our past members, who never made our top ten list, take aim and shoot the top guns out of the saddle. We'll tie up the sheriff and clear the streets of Fort Worth. If you're up to it, come in blazing. We'll count the dead, bandage the wounded, and drink with the survivor!"
And in they rode, a blood thirsty, rowdy crowd of writers ready to take their best shot. To name a few, author K. D. "Kwik Draw" Wentworth crossed the Red River from Oklahoma with guns blazing. Outlaw writers Leo "Lone Wolf" Weber and James "Hang'em High" Hanrahan slipped into Cowtown late on the eve of the shoot-out. Sloca and Sabin stood with six-shooters ready. Conda Douglas loaded her double-barreled shotgun with two hot entries. Crafty Kathleen Woodbury sent a corral of sharpshooters from the SF&FW ranch. When the gun fire died down and the smoke cleared, Judge "Blind Bart" Bryant, identified E. Rose Sabin (aka Six-gun Sabin) as the winning survivor of the Shoot-Out in Fort Worth and the "SFWoE Author of the Eighties."
SFWoE thought that our contestants of the nineties might like to meet E. Rose Sabin and find out what she is writing in the nineties. Therefore, SFWoE asked our author of the eighties to provides us with an update on her writing activities since winning The SFWoE Open contest. The following is the unedited update report that she provided for our readers:
In 1987 I took early retirement from teaching Spanish in middle school to devote much more time to writing. I had taught 30 years, and it was enough! I had hoped, not to support myself with my writing -- I'm not th