For anyone who has read this blog for a bit, you’ll notice my participation in the Clarity of Night short-short fiction contest (taking an honorable mention in the last round) which comes around every so often. I find flash fiction a great challenge, plus it’s way faster than writing a novel, so the sense of accomplishment isn’t as much of a time investment.
Anyways, now there’s another flash fiction contest that’s been announced lately, geared towards science fiction. Hilobrow magazine wants submissions that are no longer than 250 words and center on a troubled superhuman. Below are the guidelines and details as found on their website.
CONTEST: Hilobrow.com readers are INVITED TO SUBMIT a short-short (250 words maximum) story about a troubled/troubling superman or -woman.
JUDGES: The stories will be judged by Hilobrow.com editors Matthew Battles, author of several SF stories published on this website, and Joshua Glenn, who writes about pre-Golden Age SF for io9.com; and Hilobrow.com contributor Matthew De Abaitua, whose 2009 novel The Red Men was short-listed for the Arthur C. Clarke award.
PRIZES: The author of the winning story will receive a Hilobrow t-shirt, and his or her story will be recorded as part of our podcast (see below) and also published on this site. A few honorable mentions will be awarded; those stories will also be published.
PODCAST: Next month, Hilobrow.com will record the 2nd episode of our pre-Golden Age science fiction podcast, “Parallel Universe: Pazzo.” (Click here to listen to excerpts from the 1st episode; theme: ROBOTS.) The 2nd episode will be devoted to fiction about SUPERMEN, from Olaf Stapledon’s Odd John to Hugo Gernsback’s Ralph 124C41+ to Philip Wylie’s Gladiator.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR STORY: Publish it to the comments section of this post, no later than 5 pm EST on Monday, February 15th. Don’t include any personal info besides your name (i.e., no phone number, mailing address, website, etc). You must enter your actual email address when posting, but only the editors of this website will be able to see it. The author retains all rights to his or her story; but Hilobrow.com retains the right to publish/record the story as described above.
WHO’S ELIGIBLE: anyone, including Hilobrow.com contributors and friends.
GUIDELINES: No more than 250 words, and only one story per author. NB: The superman or -woman should not be a caped crusader type. Many of the first fictional supermen were portrayed by their creators as homo superior, an evolved human whose superiority was mental, physical, or both. Stapledon, Wylie, and many other authors of the time agreed the superman — whose values and worldview the rest of us can’t share, or even comprehend — would seem cold, inhuman, alien, or worse. Even, or especially when, he or she is trying to help us. However, a few authors took a rosier view of the superman; Gernsback’s Ralph 124C41+, for example, is a scientist whose inventions help ordinary mortals. Read more about troubled & troubling superhumans here.
For more information on Hugo Gernsback check out a new biography available on Amazon.
The document was found by me when we closed down Gernsback Publications in 2003. It was an old ms that I edited and produced as a book.
Follow the link and you can go to the book and thanks to Amazon’s “look inside” feature, you can even get an idea of what it covers.
http://www.amazon.com/Hugo-Gernsback-Well-Ahead-Time/dp/1419658573/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264627577&sr=1-3
Hope you find it interesting.
The book is also available as an E-book for the Kindle or your PC or Mac at Amazon. Here is the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Hugo-Gernsback-Well-Ahead-ebook/dp/B0032AMDL4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1264627427&sr=8-1
For more information feel free to contact me, Larry Steckler, at PoptronixInc@aol.com