Henry Vogel gets excruciatingly serious and brings a long-running real-life drama to a very unhappy close. How on Earth do you help someone who just plain doesn't want to be helped? Join the discussion...
Kersley Fitzgerald returns after three weeks' hiatus with much happier news: The Creature has discovered books! What sort of books make good summer reading for a nine-year-old? Join the discussion...
Guy Stewart checks in with a column in response to a challenge: how do you begin with a serious science-related nonfiction book and end up with one hundred possible ideas for a short story? Check out his first twenty-five, and see whether any of them might work for you. Join the discussion...
Arisia reports from The Gathering, which is both an annual celebration of the works of Ted Dekker and a sort of a writing workshop. Do you seek something more? Do you wonder how to work serious and honest spirituality into your fiction? Join the discussion...
Bruce Bethke tries to answer what at first seems like a simple question: is THE FRIDAY CHALLENGE a science fiction writer's site? And just where exactly is that firm and clearly visible line that divides the world of science fiction from the rest of the universe of literature, anyway? Join the discussion...
Ultimate Geek Fu makes a startling discovery: there is a critically important character in the original Star Wars movie that is completely missing from the more recent prequels, and that absence leaves a huge vacuum. Care to guess the identity? Join the discussion...
Also, Fitz of Distraction explores the subject of the best day-job for an aspiring writer, Miko takes the win in the 6/4/10 Friday Challenge, "A Truly Fantastic Book Review," and the inmates discuss the view from their respective locations in the asylum. All this and more, this week in THE FRIDAY CHALLENGE.
"The Western Pitch"
Turning now to the 6/11/10 Friday Challenge, "The Western Pitch," as of the deadline we have received the following entries:
Avery, "The Gunsmith"
Tom, untitled
WaterBoy, "Cody Wyatt, Star Marshall"
Arvid Macenion, "The Elevator Pitch"
M, "Amish Vampire Cowboys"
If we've missed any entries, or if anyone has snowdogged in an entry after the deadline, please let us know so we can fix this list. As always, even if you haven't posted an entry this week—even if you never enter in any week—you are invited to read, comment on, and vote for your favorites. Don't be shy about leaving feedback on the writer's sites, either. Writers thrive on knowing that somewhere out there, someone is actually reading the words that they have written. The winner will be announced Sunday evening.
And now for this week's challenge, we turn the microphone over to Kersley Fitzgerald.
Meet My Strange Family
Giant robot pants on stilts
Nice day for a walk
My brother is an artist. My sister and I text each other in haiku. That caption, if you didn't recognize it, is an acceptable haiku.
This week's challenge is to write a short-short story about the above illustration, which was drawn by my brother, John Tank. Bonus points if your entry is in the form of a particularly clever haiku or limerick, although I'll be impressed by any kind of poem.
As always, we're playing by the loosely enforced and rarely updated Official Rules of THE FRIDAY CHALLENGE, and playing for whatever is behind Door #3. The deadline for this one is midnight Central time, Thursday, June 24.
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