* insert drumroll *
Our 2018 contest launches on March 1st, and closes it April 1st.
Take that however you will – an asteroid impacting the earth; the environmental impact of climate change; two paranormal entities crashing into one another in combat; the impact an action by an individual can have as it ripples through society. Heck, even an impacted wisdom tooth can work, as long as you sell it. It’s up to you.
We’ll be accepting stories from across the queer spectrum, and would love to see more entries including lesbian, trans, bi, intersex and ace protagonists, as well as gay men. We also welcome diversity in ability and in race.
We’d also love to see more fantasy and horror stories, though we’re still happy to get sci fi and paranormal too.
Try for something unique – take the road less traveled. We guarantee we’ll get fifty stories this year about meteor impacts, so if you choose to write one, it had better be unique – and damned good.
The stories can also fall anywhere across the spectrum romance-wise – romance is fine, but stories can also be genre driven with no romance at all.
We have four main criteria by which each story will be judged:
Is there at least one queer character and obvious queer content?
How well does the story incorporate speculative fiction (sci fi, fantasy, paranormal or horror) tropes and concepts?
Is the story well-crafted, with a plot, a beginning, a middle, and an end?
How well/cleverly is the theme used in the story?
We’ll announce the first batch of winners – the stories selected for the anthology – after the judging is complete.
Next we’ll announce the judges’ choices – five stories that didn’t quite make the top three, but that each judge thought deserved special mention.
We’ll also tease you with the honorable mention winners for this year’s book.
But the biggest event will be the launch of the book, when the top three winners will be announced.
So break out your writing pencil or laptop or whatever you use, and get ready to write.
Want more details? Check out the rules page here.
You can also pick up the last two books as a great primer on how it’s done:
Flight: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01L0R0JRK/
Renewal: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1975654366/
So how would you interpret “impact”? Let’s give our writers some ideas!