Winners of the November 2013 Fiction Contest
Hopefully you've worked through your turkey hangover by now, because we need you coherent for this announcement. We've decided the winners of the November issue, and we wouldn't want meat sweats to ruin your elation or displeasure (depending) with the results.
The stories this month seemed to have a recurring theme of people making bad decisions. This wasn't intentional on our part, though it may have been subconscious based on our history of bad decisions, such as playing with lions, snorting crushed Altoids, and attending any kind of political rally. Fortunately, bad decisions make for good stories, and we have quite a selection of great stories to choose from this month. Here are our favorites:
The First Place award goes to The Weather Forecast, by Jackie Bee. Who knew that the end of the world could be so fascinating? The melancholy part, we get, but fascinating? Didn't see that coming. Jackie did an excellent job of creating a character with an incredible burden, but also a believable journey. The end should be clear from the beginning, but the ride is still completely worth it.
Second Place goes to The Traditional Taste, by Jon Arthur Kitson. Not only did we never expect to see a story about robots and coffee, we never anticipated such a story to be so emotionally resonant. There's the pressure of progress, of history, of pride, of legacy, and of friendship all rolled up into one little tale. Jon created a protagonist who only hurts himself, but we completely understand his reasons. And we're suckers for robotic innocence.
Third Place goes to Open the Doors, and See All the People, by Sarah Ennals. Normally, we're not that interested in Rapture stories, but this one grabbed our attention from the very beginning. Not only is it fun to see the mundanity of life post-Rapture, but Sarah managed to turn it into a science fiction mystery. She keeps us bouncing between worlds with skill, and we loved every minute of it.
Congratulations to our winners, and thanks to all our authors!
You can pick up an ebook copy of the November issue at Amazon and Smashwords (for all non-Kindle ebook formats). And stay tuned for the Reader's Choice Poll, which goes live tomorrow. You can vote for your favorite story, and results will be announced in early December.