STUPEFYING STORIES finally has a set of official submission guidelines! • Visit the website...
Henry Vogel still loves the girl in the window, and he has a very good reason for slowing down his columns over the next few months. • Join the discussion...
Bruce Bethke knows where ideas come from... the good, the bad, and the ugly. Vidad just wants to see bacteria. (Hey, that just gave me the idea for a protozoa-punk western!) • Join the discussion...
Kersley Fitzgerald sends an encouraging rejection letter. • Join the discussion...
xdpaul wins our Local Newsworthy challenge, and passes the “Editor Hat” to our own gnumerical gunman, Arvid Macenion. • Join the discussion...
All this and more, as Henry and M present a unified resistance to “No Beard Day”, and the inmates discuss the view from their respective places in the asylum.
Zero (point?)
As of
- “0111001101110100011011110111001001111001” by J.M. Perkins
(ASCII translation of J.M. Perkins' entry by xdpaul) - “No One's Story” by RoyO (a.k.a. "qwertyname11")
- “Moinomi” by Jack Calverley
- “Carnival Day” by WaterBoy
- “Joblog” by Arisia
- “LiteraryExcellence” by miko
- “No Point” by miko
- “Document not found” by Yahoo (a metatextual SNAFU)
An enthusiastic “Huzzah” to all who have entered! The judges are considering your submissions, and a winner will be declared by the evening of Sunday, 23 October 2011.
The Third Annual (whaaaaaat??!) Halloween Story Challenge
And now it is time for this week's Friday Challenge, courtesy of Arvid Macenion:
I think it’s about time for...
*Drumroll*
The Third Annual Halloween Story Challenge!
It's been two years nearly to the week since we’ve been able to hold our usual Halloween Story Challenge, thanks to the intervention of RL™ concerns. So I think its time to make up the difference.
No Word Limits. No Restrictions. No Lead-In Stories. Just you and the frightful events of the season. Any genre is available, even sabermetricpunk and zipstream if you can tie Halloween in.
So give me your best Halloween story. It can be anywhere from funny to disheartening to terrifying and anything in between.
Annnndddd.... Go!
Given the challenge, and the known proclivities of the individual who proposed it, we'll allow anyone to participate. (That means if Arvid elects to submit an entry, we'll find a few additional judges to take his place.)
Everyone is asked to vote, and to say a few words about what they liked, and why. Or to say a few words about what they disliked, as the case may be; by submitting an entry, you implicitly agree to accept criticism, because there will probably be some handed out, and no one is immune. When voting, please rank a work as either “0” (not so good), “1” (not as bad), “2” (could have been better) or “3” (pretty good stuff!). If you give either a “0” or “3” vote, feel free to argue in support of your reasoning.
Don't like the negativity? Feel free to think of the levels as “0” (Not bad for a first attempt), “1” (Right on!), “2” (Holy cow, I wanna buy this now...) or “3” (Sweet mother of God, how did you write something this awesome?!!). The point is to clearly differentiate, and rank according to your own preference.
As of now, we are playing by the loosely enforced and slightly modified rules of The Friday Challenge. All entries are due by 6 AM Eastern time on the morning of Friday, 28 October 2011. A winner will be declared by the evening of Sunday, 30 October 2011.
Oh, there is one more thing... but it is the most important! Have fun. Always have fun.
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