We’re thrilled to have completed the judging and story selection rounds for the Queer Sci Fi 2021 Flash Fiction Contest and Anthology. This was the most stiff cometition yet, with 384 stories covering the gamut of spec fic and the LGBTQ+ community. Before we get to the stories we’re including in the antho, a few stats:
Stories by Genre
Each year, the theme helps steer the kind of stories we receive in this case, “Ink”, chosen by Ryane, seemed to skew more toward fantasy than anything else (some stories crossed multiple genres, so the numbers below won’t add up to exactly 384):
- Fantasy: 158
- Sci Fi: 113
- Paranormal: 67
- Horror: 64
Stories By Identity
When we first started this contest eight years ago, the vast majority of stories portrayed gay male characters. We’ve been thrilled to watch this evolve, and for the second year in a row, gay identites were in second place. Don’t get me wrong. We love our cisgender gay guys. Hey, I’m one of them. But it’s great to see other identities coming into their own:
- Lesbian: 130
- Gay: 125
- Trans/Fluid/NB: 115
- Bi/Pan/Poly: 48
- Ace/Aro/Demi: 27
- Intersex: 9
The Anthology Stories
Ok, on to the anthology winners. These stories will be included in the Ink anthology, with a planned release date of August 10th. If your story is not on this list, don’t feel too badly about it. As we said, competition was fierce this year, with more than three stories vying for every slot. if it is on the list, you may still be named as an honorable mention, judge’s pick, or one of our three winners. We’ll be rolling these out over the coming weeks.
Now, on to the winners, listed Alphabetically by last name:
- Amarilys Acosta – Heart Ink
- Emilia Agrafojo – Mixology
- Addison Albright – Cave Drawing
- Tam Ames – The Autograph
- RE Andeen – The Skinchanger’s Art
- Laura Antoniou – A Most Rewarding Quest
- Blaine D. Arden – Mending
- R.H. Argent – Impending Affair
- K. Aten – Power
- Ryley Banks – Right Place, Right Time
- Jorane G. Barton – Alternate Endings
- Joe Baumann – Babbler
- Brooke K. Bell – Temporary/Permanent
- David Berger – Indelible
- Gordon Bonnet – Nexus
- Die Booth – Faith and the Thorncutters
- Charlie Boynton – He Bleeds Ink
- Ryan Breadinc – The Ink Reader
- A.M. Burns – The Final Line
- Meghan Byers – Unmoored
- Aron Caer – Writer’s Blood
- Elsa M. Carruthers – I Am Happy to Be Here Today
- Foster Bridget Cassidy – Unfamiliar Waters
- Minerva Cerridwen – Not Alone
- Amanda Cherry – Signed
- Gwen Coholan – Ballpoint
- Rory Ni Coileain – All Myths Are True (but some are truer than others)
- J. Comer – Her Very Comfy Couch
- Georgia Cook – Butterfly
- Elliot Cooper – The Collection
- Bryan Crystal-Thursdton – Fluid
- Monique Cuillerier – The Present
- Claire Davon – Squid on the Beach
- Nicole Dennis – Hidden Spell
- Toshi Drake – Indelible Ink
- James Dunham – Lydia’s Back
- Allen Dyen-Shapiro – To Share the Sky
- K. Eason – On the Conjoined Practice of Demonology and Scribal Longhand
- J. P. Egry – Confessions of an Inkaholic
- J.B. Eyre – A Prisoner and a Captain
- Kim Fielding – Devil and Advocates
- Sheila Finch – Love is Blind
- Steve Fuson – Blank as the Page
- Jasie Gale – Pandora’s Row
- Magaly Garcia – rough draft #9/grocery list
- Isobel Granby – The Date Book
- Jacqui Greaves – A Dish Served Hot
- Sacchi Green – S/He Who Remembers
- M.D. Grimm – Companions
- Kaje Harper – The Pen is Mightier
- Brenna Harvey – EduTron 6000 + Principal Vertner 4Ever
- Kelly Haworth – Off Spectrum
- Sheryl R. Hayes – Panagram
- Chisto Healy – The Fine Print
- S. A. Hunt – Untitled
- S R Jones – So Let it Be Written, So Let It Be Done
- W. Dale Jordan – The Summoning
- Kim Katil – Heart Bound in Ink
- April Kelley – How to Create a Monster
- Ava Kelly – Soulink
- Laura J. Kelly – Rougarous Inc.
- M. X. Kelly – To Have and to Hold and to Hold and to Hold
- Adrik Kemp – Meet Cute
- Jessica M. Kormos – The Tattooist
- Barbara Krasnoff – The Inker, The Cat and The Parrot
- Jamie Lackey – Inksticks and Paper Swans
- Benoit Lafortune – Dragon Blood
- Tris Lawrence – Soul Afire
- Anja Hendrikse Liu – Stranger Stories
- Ainslie Lloyd – Off the Wall
- Nathan Alling Long – It’s What’s Inside That Counts
- Lily Luchesi – The Angel With Demon Blood
- M.K. Mads – The Dragon’s Price
- C.L. McCartney – Risotto Nero
- Paula McGrath – Free Hugs
- Helen M. Merrick – The Rose Tattoo
- Lynn Michaels – Battleground
- A.R. Moler – Ink is Memory
- Fiona Moore – The Muse’s Gift
- E. W. Murks – Just a Nudge
- K.S. Murphy – Love’s Portrait
- RJ Mustafa – Shadowbird
- Mary Newman – Graven Images
- Thea Nishimori – Glossaderma
- K.L. Noone – Openings
- Raine Norman – The Morning After
- Orion O’Connell – The Midnight Librarian
- Bradley Robert Parks – Guilty Pleasure Reading
- Dale Parnell – Belonging
- Terry Poole – Sign on the Dotted Line
- Brooke Prado – Cursebreaker
- Taylor Ramage – Inkshader
- Robin Reed – Printed Love
- L.S. Reinholt – Colours of Union
- Jen Rivers – The Aerium
- Jeff Ronan – Inked
- Herminia Root – Aedan
- Taylor Roth – For Death Doesn’t Part
- Jamie Sands – Toby’s Tattoo
- Rodello Santos – Told
- E. F. Schraeder – Spider Legs
- Ziggy Schutz – Renaming
- RJ Scott – Blood
- Alex Silver – Summoned
- Alex Sobel – Tense
- Ada Maria Soto – The Marks of a Knight
- Anna Stacy – Livename
- Susan Stradiotto – Moon Child
- Lou Sylvre – The Flight of the Telorites
- Nathaniel Taff – For Posterity’s Sake
- Naomi Tajedler – Oddities
- Sara Testarossa – Subversion
- Lauren Triola – The Unmarked
- Geneva Vand – The Colors of Fate
- K.M. Walker – The Hurt Patch
- Dean Wells – A Flacon of Ink
- P.T. Wyant – Future Perfect
- Rina Youngblood – Proof in the Telling
- Aubrey Zahn – Jumper
- Rainie Zenith – Blind Date
Congrats to all!