Sometimes, publishers look for seasonal stories. They know that there will be holiday issues and they need suitable content to fill it. As writers, we need to be able to mold our skills to the needs of those who would pay us, so it makes sense to practice doing exactly that. This month, I challenge you to create your very best holiday story.
REQUIREMENTS: (1) Your piece must be a holiday tale with a speculative fiction element. This holiday may be real or invented, religious or not. The religion may be invented as well; (2) Include a wig; (3) The ending must be a happy one, or at least uplifting to some degree; (4) 1,000 words or less; (5) This is a Rated 'G' for All Audiences challenge; and (6) The characters and setting must be new, or not previously published in Aphelion. (7) Give your story a title and include a byline for when I post the list of authors. Do not bother sending me a bio. I won't use it.
If, in my judgment, any requirement is missed, I won't post the story for voting. Sorry, but rules are for everyone.
HOW TO ENTER: Stories should be submitted to me by PRIVATE MESSAGE, and NOT posted into the thread. If you've never sent a PM, all you have to do is log into this forum and click the 'PM' button at the bottom of this post. That will take you to a special message board, a kind of Aphelion-only email, where you paste your story into the body of the message and then send it to me. You are responsible for doing your own formatting, and for the sake of uniformity, leave an extra line between paragraphs, just like when you see them in the 'zine. I'm allowing different colors for now, but I'm not going to allow changed fonts or sizes, artwork, or any other embedded or external links. I want all the stories to display the same on everyone's computer. DO NOT send a regular email to me--I don't want to risk a spam filter blocking someone's hard work.
NOTE: ONLY REGISTERED MEMBERS who have posted at least one message may submit a story. Without that one post, the system will not let you send a PM. So if you wish to join the challenge, post a hello or introduction, or just put your two cents worth in on any of the discussions going on anywhere in the Forum. We'll be glad to meet you.
DEADLINE: Stories should be in by 10 p.m. Central Standard Time, December 23, 2007. The stories will then be posted for voting. Voting will close at 10 p.m. C.S.T. on December 30.
VOTING: Stories will be posted "blind"--without the author's name on them. This is to make things as fair as they can be, without favorites to be played, and allows for anyone to enter, from newbies to editors. Names won't be on the poll for voting, and all the story titles are literally tossed into a hat and chosen at in random order. When I close the poll after the voting week, I'll post a list of the stories and who wrote them.
If you feel a second story deserves a vote, you may legally vote again as a guest, but you'd need to do it from a separate network, say from a library or your workplace. Votes are tracked by IP address only, so a guest vote from your same network will change your previous vote to the newer one. Voting for yourself a second time is just tacky, so don't do it.
WHAT YOU WIN: Pride and the knowledge that your story was voted the best against strong competition--there are some outstanding stories each time. Writers get improved short fiction skills, increasing their chances in the marketplace, without the lengthy investment in time a longer story would take.
This is new territory for everyone, but the editors have stated they were willing to publish the monthly winners in the annual "Best Of" issue, currently slated for February. Many thanks to them for that.
GUEST ACCESS: Guest votes will be allowed again, so feel free to tell friends and neighbors about the contest and encourage them to read all the stories.
Trying to reach a bigger audience, I've made an audio version of the example story and stored it in two locations that shouldn't eat any of Aphelion's bandwidth as I understand it: YouTube and my own GeoCities account, which had tighter restrictions than I would have liked. I made it using only shareware audio tools and a built-in microphone, and then the software that came with my mac to turn it into a movie for YouTube. It's not flashy or anything, but if nothing else, my kids gave it their seal of approval.
The text of it follows.
Code: Select all
<object><param></param><embed></embed></object>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfGjtgSZn8A
Audio only:
http://www.geocities.com/kailhofer/unde ... elease.mp3
A GeoCities page with that link at the bottom (maybe that will work):
http://www.geocities.com/kailhofer/NJ_Kailhofer.html
[right]1000 Words[/right]
[center]Under the Mistletoe
By:
N.J. Kailhofer[/center]
The giant leaned against the cliff wall at the mouth of the canyon. Over her head was a bough of mistletoe bigger than I was. She acted like she didn't know it was up there, but she held it with her own arm.
She sighed.
Meager the sprite muttered under his breath. "Here comes the sighin'. It'll be like last year, mark my words."
I leaned back on the branch. "You don't know that for sure."
He spat. "First it's the sighin', then the blubberin', then next you know, she's on a rampage. Tearin' out our trees by the roots, and then there'll be killin'. You know there will."
I scratched my ear. "Yeah, but we can't do anything about it. Nobody can kiss her. She's too big."
Meager stopped. "A ranger like you could, Davie."
"What?"
Meager whistled. "Hey, lads. Davie here is goin' to kiss the giant, so she don't kill us all!"
The clan came, shouting, "Hurray for Davie!"
"I'm not kissing that! You're crazy!"
"Davie, you’re bigger than the rest of us by far. It's gotta be you."
"No!" I shook my head. "I'm not going near her!"
Meager smiled. "You could if she thinks you're one of them. Wear your Halloween costume."
Meager's wife, Moxie, stole some fabric. To the giant, it was just scraps, but for me, it made a coat with tails, and a top hat. When I added a white fluff wig, Moxie said I looked like a right fancy gentleman. They made me King of the Halloween Ball.
"I don't come up past her ankle. She'll squash me dead!"
Moxie smiled at me from the crowd. "Nonsense, Davie. All you need is a little makeup. We can do that, can't we girls?"
The womenfolk in the crowd rushed forward and grabbed me from all sides. They pulled me over to Meager & Moxie's, where they puffed me with powder and brushed me with combs, despite my protests. In no time flat I was dandified, whether I liked it or not.
I stood at the edge of the forest in my coat, wig, and top hat, covered in more powder than you'd put on a dozen babies, and smeared with more makeup than Meager's oldest daughter when she wanted a date. I was miserable. Those feet were going to stomp the life out of me. She'd been killing us ever since she moved here, and we were all afraid to move about unless it was dark.
There wasn't much cover. There was our forest, a table plateau in the middle, and then some ledges on the far cliff wall. You could squeeze into caves, but nowhere she couldn't find you. The only escape was past the opening where she was.
I looked at her. She was a killing machine: Enormous feet for stomping stuck out below her clothes, which were probably stuffed with implements of death. Her arms were twice as thick as my whole body, and they ended with those hideous hands. One of them held a huge, open cask of wine, probably to wash us down. Above that was her mouth, with those gigantic teeth. The thought of those chewing me up made me shake. Her nose was long and sharp, most likely to sniff us out. I knew her hearing wasn't as good as ours, but her eyes...
Her eyes were sad.
Small tears welled at the corners of them, and they were red.
"Merciful heavens," I said, "she's been crying. She really is lonely."
Maybe she did just want someone to kiss her.
She sighed again, louder.
I thought fast. If I could get to those ledges on the far canyon wall, I could get up close to her head. She couldn't stomp me then, and if she could hear me before she saw me... I might just be able to do it.
She glanced away, and I ran for the plateau in the center of the canyon. It felt like it took forever, but I made it. In no time, I was to the far cliff. Climbing is easy for a ranger, and I was up to the ledge fast. Skirting the odd-shaped boulders up there, I got up close to her head, and hid behind a tall, thin column.
Her breathing was ragged. Tears were stronger now, so I stuck my head out around the back of the stone.
"Kiss!" I was so nervous it came out like a squeak.
"What?" She stood up straight, looking around.
"Don't squish me!" I yelled. "I've come to kiss you!"
Without warning, the brightly-colored column behind me disappeared, sent tumbling across the valley. My exposed back was to her.
My knees knocked together, but I looked.
She peered at me. "Are you talking to me?"
I turned and tipped my hat like a gentleman. "I'm Davie. You're standing under the mistletoe. I've come to kiss you so you don't kill us."
She blinked. "Us?"
"Yeah, me and all the sprites who live in the forest over there. Last year, no one kissed you and you ripped out most of the trees."
Her mouth flopped open, surprised. She thought about it for a long time, then leaned her head close to me. Her eyes were suspicious, but she offered her cheek.
I smooched her as loud as I could, with every hope for life I had. Across the valley, I heard cheering. Meager and his whole clan stood at the edge of the forest, screaming with joy.
The giant looked at them oddly.
I asked, "You aren't going to kill us, are you?"
She looked back at me. Eventually, she said, "No, I don't think so."
"Thanks," I said, and tipped my hat again. "Merry Christmas."
[center]#[/center]
As she watched the group disappear into their forest, she began to make plans to move. Christmas didn't seem lonely anymore, but roaches and a talking rat living in her apartment window box creeped her out.
No one would believe it, anyway.
[center]The End[/center]
