Competition: Contrasting Futures
Theme: I am seeking stories set in our Earth's future exactly 200 years from now. I will accept stories from two categories. One focusing on the positive aspects of our technology and humanity and the second category pertaining to a worst case scenario )ei.if things get bad: global warming, war etc...
I won't set that many restrictions. I am , however seeking realistic SF. No FTLT, time travel, I will entertain aliens, but here on our planet.
Things to consider: Looking through so much tech that you cannot even see a blue sky, protecting census robots to get an accurate census, biometric technology, K-cal taxation, Being taken over and led by Passive aggressive alien race, methods of population control, reversing greenhouse effect, sepparatist factions and embargo wars, US reverting to a third world country
As authors you will maintain your rights to the story. I will not be publishing it. In fact you can submit it elswhere and get paid again for all I care. I just want to read a great story...well two great stories and see what the best Hatrack has to offer.
Cash prize will be $100 for the first place in each category and $25 for the runner ups in each category.
There is no word limit, but I don't want flash. I find flash entertaining, but I want a great story and it is seldom seen that a flash can tell a great story.
Oh yeah, and get writing the deadline is October 20. Post your first thirteen here in this thread. I will rally up some help with a judging commitee to grade the first thirteens top seventy percent will get through to the final stages of judging. So you will be notified to send me your MS after this is said and done.
Happy writing!
Questions:
-Is colonization of Mars allowed? Or does it have to take place on Earth? I'm not sure if this is something I will write right now, but a near future mars story is something I have been thinking about for a while now...
-Can we submit 2 stories, one for each category? Not that I think I can actually complete 2 in this time frame, but you never know. Even if it would not be possible for the same person to win both categories...
How tight is the "from scratch" guideline? I've got a story I'm currently taking apart and re-doing. It hasn't been critted.
Regards,
Nick
I just wanted to remind you of the leaps and bounds possible in two centuries.
That said, I'm not writing about Mars--I'm not smart enough.
[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited October 06, 2009).]
And Nick T, I will simply leave it with the honor system. I am coughing up some dough to hopefully spark a story or two out of us. I know I have been unmotivated to write lately.
that being said, I recognize the importance of writing to the judge's/editor's tastes and will not write about Mars.
I think either so much progress will be made in the next 200 years that we wouldn't recognize anything from our own time period now, OR some pretty massive catastrophes are going to happen that will take a long time to rebuild from, and in 200 years people could still be at the same technological level (or worse) as we are now...
I won't get any further into my theories, I'll save that for the story I am working on now
Willam and Marnie
Post-apocalyptic SF 3,900 Words
Willam looked out over the little valley. One slim thread of smoke rose up from a cluster of trees to the south. He adjusted his pack and walked down the slope. He hadn't seen another person in two weeks.
He looked down at the self-winding watch he found in the remains of a jewelry story a month ago. Zappers and g-meters were about the only electric things that still worked after the cataclysm, two centuries past, and most of those had lost their power or broken down.
Life was creeping back and the hotspots were fading. A year ago his father convinced him to leave their little community and head east. "Find your own gene pool," his dad said.
[This message has been edited by Owasm (edited October 23, 2009).]
IB, Keep at it and keep an eye on the thread as the deadline approaches.
Hope this contest goes ahead, if only to get an idea how this story stacks up.
*Edit* I've used the extra time to tighten the story a bit.
Nick
Boaters
SF 9,519 Words
quote:
My deepest regret is that the first thing I feel upon seeing a dead body is curiosity. Sadness only comes in dreams and I’ve seen too many to feel horror. Before me was a naked dead man in a chair and all I saw was a puzzle. A gun dangled from his slack fingers. I rolled on a pair of rubber gloves and examined the exit wound. “You want to put money down on murder?” I said to Walsh.
“Can we claim overtime?” I shook my head as my new partner struggled with his gloves. "Hope it’s suicide then.” He took a deep breath and came closer to the body. “How precise can we be with time of brain death without a citizenship implant?”
I shrugged. “Given the livor mortis, some time this morning.”
[This message has been edited by Nick T (edited October 29, 2009).]
There was still laundry to do. Mouths to feed. Radioactive bugs to squash with the husband’s shoe. Life went on. For some people, anyway.
Miley checked with her eyes that the lock on the front door was still red. She walked down the vinyl stairs with a laundry basket in one arm, and the baby in the other. The lights didn’t turn on, but she had been down here a hundred times before. The infant whimpered in the darkness. She pressed a button on the machine, which lit the room with a small green light.
She sure was a beautiful baby, not scratched at all. Miley wondered what her name was. She slid the basket against the concrete floor and under the washbasin. The clothes sucked up to the spinner, and the lid slid shut. She kissed the sticky skin
[This message has been edited by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (edited October 20, 2009).]
[This message has been edited by shimiqua (edited October 21, 2009).]
I can either consolidate the three entries I have now and judge the contest that way.
Or extend the contest for another week and hopefully get more turn out, but still I would have to have several entries in each category in order to have two categories. In the event we stiil did not have enough I could combine all the stories into one category and if by chance the winner was among the few who posted on time, they would get extra money from the other category.
What do you all think?
As for the prize money, you da man with da cash, you make da rules.
For example: MC builds a fembot that is a childbot for a customer. He knows he shouldn't have, but he needed the money. In the end, the guy that bought childbot Anne, ends up raping and killing the real child Anne that the robot was based on. The MC didn't know this when he built it, and he wonders if he never built her, if the guy would have ever gone through with the rape. So the message is that we should never make it legal to build childbots.
I already wrote that story, so it wouldn't be the one I use, but I wanted to give an example of the worst case scenario from my POV. I prefer close stories like this rather than global ones.
Thanks. Crosses fingers.
Steve Salvador stepped off the flycar taxi and onto the white walkway, where service bots that looked like naked manikins and where people dressed in business suits walked to their destinations. To his left, flycar traffic steadily hovered above white holographic roads that were almost transparent. To his right, C-class bot 1001 climbed a metal building like Spiderman. It began cleaning a long window. He had a strange feeling that something was off with 1001, but it seemed to be functioning properly. When Steve pressed a button on his wristwatch, which was fused into his wrist, Sandy spoke as if in his mind.
"You really need to stop turning me off like that."
"Sorry, Sandy," he said in his mind. "I need you to check the status of C-class bot ten "O" one. Is it supposed to be
[This message has been edited by Architectus (edited October 29, 2009).]
I personally would like to win over at least twelve people, beating these four doesn't seem like as much of a challenge. (Oh trash talk)
Seriously though, I think there are a lot of people interested in doing this, and it seems like an awesome challenge that nobody (besides Owasm, Nick T, and Architectus) is quite ready for.
Bent Tree I bow to your wisdom and copious amounts of money. Whatever you want to do we will do. I would be cool with waiting.
jm2c.
~Sheena
[This message has been edited by shimiqua (edited October 28, 2009).]
)Snapper mentioned shooting for the Halloween deadline, too.
I am currently focusing on my WOTF story which I felt didn't meet this competitions standards, and currently behind on that too...
I could probably have my story written by the end of November, and would enter it if this comp is still running, but by no means do I expect the deadline to be postponed just for me...
thanks Bent Tree for getting us motivated about a near future story utilizing new tech, I plan on getting a good story written regardless if I make it into the competition or not!
Pipinar Free
SF good side of tech
At the far end of his cramped apartment, Cola Freeze rapped his fingers on the unbreakable window as he stared out at the sky scrapers that punched through the clouds, and at the booster cars that flew at all heights. It was a massive entanglement of traffic. Some of the traffic lanes were thick enough to run on and jump on from lane to lane, something he often imagined doing, like some super hero, some somebody.
And now, just maybe, he had the chance to be a somebody because he was on his way to an important meeting. A sexy sounding lady had contacted Cola through the neuro-net and spoke with him via brain link. The conversation had lasted exactly fifty-nine seconds, a useless piece of information he only knew because of his brain chip. Brain chips were good for useless
Or don't they count because they are flash? I thought it the criteria was three professionally published short stories. I thought that was why I'd heard nothing about you entering WOTF recently.
[This message has been edited by skadder (edited October 29, 2009).]
quote:
Three days and counting... Whats up? I though cash rules?
The number of submissions that pro-level magazines get is pretty intimidating, but it's important to remember that they're drawing from a very wide pool. I don't think there's that many people at Hatrack who (a) feel like they're ready to expose themselves to competition and (b) write hard science fiction.
Although no one will probably be keen for this idea, I could arrange for an Australia SWFA member author to do $100s worth of critique (or general career advice) on the winning story? With small numbers, this might, ultimately, be a more productive prize for the winner (if Bent Tree's up for the logistical hassles).
Nick
quote:
I thought you had already disqualified yourself, as you've had three stories published on flash fiction on line.
Or don't they count because they are flash?I thought it the criteria was three professionally published short stories. I thought that was why I'd heard nothing about you entering WOTF recently.
Yeah, it the same criteria for SFWA--flash doesn't count until it reaches $250 in sales. 3 = $150.
You haven't seen me around WotF circles:
1) Because I've opened a new business.
2) Because I suck.
3) Because I wrote a historical novel, which is still waiting for draft #2.
4) Because I'm outlining another Fantasy novel.
Plus, no one else has bought my fiction, yet. (I guess they haven't gotten that desperate.)
Still in some ways it's good your not if it still makes you WOTF eligible.
Ted Williams opened his eyes and saw spots. He was lying on his back and at complete loss of where he was and how he got there. Did I get beaned?
He didn’t recall taking a pitch to the head. He blinked a few times. A bright light shown through the spots. Two silhouetted figures stared at him. The light dimmed and definition began to return to his vision. One of the two figures said something in a language he couldn’t understand but recognized. Korean.
Was he captured? No. He was never shot down and the Korean War was long ago. But how long? He dug deep in hopes of an answer.
He remembered a slow decline in health then pain and paralysis followed by a mind locked in a fog. A massive, sharp pain in his chest ended the fog and brought on darkness. “Where am I?”
Owasm
William and Marnie
Nick T
Boaters
Shimiqua
After
Architectus
Glitche Me Too
&
Pinipar Free
Inarticulate Babbler
Title witheld(due to Wotf Contest rules)
Snapper
Redsock Turned Inside Out
Please send me your manuscripts as soon as possible via email if you have not already. I will begin reading now and should have the results in the next few days.
Since there only eight entries, most of which are Post-apocolyptic/ worst case scenario stories, I have decided to combine all the stories into one category, but I will be offering three cash prizes. Also if the winning entry was one of the few that posted on time before the original deadline they will recieve an added cash incentive. I can't wait to get reading so away I go. Good luck to all who entered.
The verdict is in. I have read and thought about all of your stories. The top four were so very close that I slept on it an extra day and waited to see which story had more resonance.
I also have a disappointing announcement. Snapper's submission was disqualified to an obviously blatant violation of the rules. I asked that stories be set exactly 200 years into the future and his was set in 2210. 201 years in the future. So I took the liberty of submitting his entry to Postcard From... so it can recieve the funeral it deserves by being consigned to the lake of fire. No, just kidding.
Thank you everyone. I enjoyed all of your stories although one actually made me mad
Here are the results.
Grand prize winner
Nick T.
Boaters
A very intense and complex tale of murder and technology. I loved it all the way through and with a little polish I could see this in a pro-rate magazine.
In addition to the $100 first prize, I am adding another $25 since his entry was on time and we consolidated the competition into one category. For a grand prize total of....
$125
Here is where it got very tricky for me. As sole judge of the contest, I was in a dire stater of inner turm oil. Balancing which stories I enjoyed reading the most versus which stories were better or more professionally written. Which felt like rough drafts in need of a harsh edit versus the more refined. Those that stayed closer to the theme I had in mind and wondering if I conveyed it fairly enough. So I feel the need to explain myself on these decisions and it will serve as my praise and critique contributions for what they are worth, because there are publishable stories in all of these entries.
First runner up...
IB
title witheld
This was a great and well written story about a bleak future, human spirit. Expertly plotted, it provoked emotions ranging the gambit from utter dispare to absolute faith in the future. Nice work.
$25
this should defray the postage to send it off to WOTF where it is sure to do well.
Second Runner- UPs
Owasm
William and Marnie
AND
Snapper
Red Sock Turned Inside Out
"William and Marnie" was actually my favorite story of the lot, but there were others better written. I really feel that this was a great story, but I felt that it was missing one dynamic. While the story is a complete tale, I thought there could be a sub theme interwoven into it that could raise it to a exeptional level. I will be glad to send you a full crit if you are interested. I felt this story had the most potential.
"Red Sock Inside out"Was, I think the best written story. The plot line is incredibly on point and the prose and flow of the reading was probably the best in the lot. I found the theme was in line with the theme of the contest, but the delivery was a little too light hearted for the theme. It has an incredible "slap-stick" comedy about it. I just expected a worst case scenario story to have a darker tone. I must say that you weave humour into your stories with the best of them... Mel Brookes Funny.
I decided to throw in a ten dollar prize for the two runner ups.
So for those of you winners send me your adress or pen pal numbers and I will distribute you winnings to you.
I also found "Pinipar Free" a very entertaining story. I just think it needed a good editing and it could be highly publishable. "Glitch Me Too" had a little too much of an "I, Robot" feel. " "After" was a great story, written with a very impressive theme weaved into it, but although it wasn't flash it was very short and had the punch feel of a flash story, but also I found it very disturbing. Perhaps a little too dark for me. After I had children, my murdering children tolerance threshold dissapated.
Well, Thanks again everyone. I enjoyed the game and I plan on making it an annual event. So let's do it again next year, and we can see hpw right I was on my judging predictions.
[This message has been edited by Bent Tree (edited November 04, 2009).]
by accepting the prize money you must accept the terms that I recieve one autographed copy of the publication in which it first apears 
Edited to add:
Thanks for sparing me from that lake of fire. I've burned enough in that place already.
[This message has been edited by snapper (edited November 05, 2009).]
(I'm considering going for a deeper penetration: 1st person. What do you think?)
[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited November 05, 2009).]
First person may intensify this story a great deal. Let me know if you have a sampl;e or if you plan to write one. I would be glad to look at it for you and let you know what I think, as if that has any merit.
Well done, Nick T, IB, Snapper and Owasm.
Adam
I'm fully aware how subjective competitions are and it's flattering to think that this particular story had the luck to meet Bent Tree's tastes. I'm sure the other stories in the competition may actually have a better chance than mine of meeting a different editor's taste when it comes time to launch them into the wider world.
Running the competition was an incredibly generous act and I can only hope Bent Tree's generosity will be repaid by well-deserved literary success.
Finally, I'd love to see some of these stories in the "Ready for Market Challenge" for November. We only have two entrants this month and I'd like to read some of the other stories based on Bent Tree's comments.
IB, if you need another pair of eyes, feel free to send it to me.
Regards,
Nick
Sorry Bent Tree, my story did turn out a little bit creepy. That wasn't the origional intention.
I posted my story in the november Ready for Market challenge, if any of you want to swap for a critique, I second Nick's motion and suggest we move to that location.
~Sheena
It clearly needs a bit of work and I'm not sure there is a market for it. Slapstick sci/fi about a baseball icon set in a dark far future is tough to sell.
...this failed to capture my interest...
...but I am stubborn enough to try anyway. Okay, you convinced me.
Anyone willing to swap scripts? Mine is long and needs changes but perhaps a new perspective will point me in a new direction.
[This message has been edited by snapper (edited November 07, 2009).]
quote:
Thank you for the offer of placing mine in the Ready for Market thread but a) it is not ready for market and b) it is 13500 words long.
How about I change the challenge to: "Ready to be critted the second time challenge"?
It's been difficult to get anyone apart from Merlion-Emrys to enter the challenge every month. I can't remember how it came to be my challenge in the first place, but I'm doing a terrible job of making it a success.
Nick
Things might change soon - see Dilemma in Grist for the Mill.
Here's hoping you can stay away from hospitals for years now.