The 2021 Sequel Soltice SF&F Story Slinging AKA the Sequel Sisyphus!

[Friendly Frog]

WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR, IT’S THE… ah yes there’s a bit where I’m kinda stuck...

Summer doesn’t really cover it because depending on where you live, it summer is a distant memory. It’s not a Secret because everybody has the same prompts. Nor is it a Story Swap since we are not actually swapping, more like… throwing stories around and imagining they’ll stick somewhere.

At least it’s still around a Soltice, more or less. So there’s that.

So! Welcome to…

THE SEQUEL SOLTICE SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY STORY SLINGING! Also known as the SEQUEL SISYPHUS!



WHAT IS THIS AGAIN?

The Sequel Sisyphus is the younger, smaller, mid-year sibling of that other Sisyphus (the Sekrit Soltice Science Fiction & Fantasy Story Swap).

It roughly works like this:

1. Alle particpants sign up with three prompts.

2. At the end of the submission period, the participants will vote on said prompts.

3.The top three prompts will be revealed and we will write stories.

4. Typical writing fun followed by deadline panic and then guessing mayhem.

5. If a story catches your eye, you can ask the writer if they’re willing to share and everybody wins!



RULEZ

I’m just going to roughly copy Kevin’s rules from last year with a bit of Cobra’s because a) I’m lazy enough not to do more work than needed, b) they have proved it works so why change it now? There are a few new touches, mind, so please read everything and make my life a little easier.

TO BEGIN WITH

1. We know you folks are all Mature Adults (TM), but please play nice. Hatred, flaming, bigotry, and intolerance have no place here. By agreeing to participate in this event, you also agree that actions like bailing without communicating, inflexibility, hostility, or out-right offensive behavior may result in removal from the event.​

​

2. All dealines are UTC+1 (or GMT+1). I realise I’m likely the only one in this timezone but this is the only concession I ask. If I have to wrap my head around other timezones, I WILL mess up. There will be lenience on this.​

​

3. In order to join in the fun, all participants must have a minimum of 50 posts on AW. This ensures everyone meets the requirement for posting in the Share Your Work (SYW) sub-forum where we'll play the Guessing Game.​

​

4. PLEASE COMMUNICATE if something comes up. I realize that life gets busy/crazy/stressful. I am certainly willing to work with you in that case, but please don't make me hunt you down as it will make my life harder. Let’s not.​

​

​

SIGN-UP

5. To sign up, you must post in this thread during the sign-up period with your prompts. You may post up to 3 prompts. If you wish to serve as a beta for this challenge, please include that.​

​

6. You must also message* Friendly Frog with your email and agreement that you have read and agree to follow these rules. Please include ‘Sequel Sisyphus’ in the title. I will use that email only to contact you in light of this event. You will get a reply with my email included (to send the finished story to) and you will be added to the participant list.​

​

7. Please do not submit overly long, specific, or minutely detailed prompts. Different people work differently, so it is courteous to leave wiggle room to allow for differences of genre and style.​

​

8. Signing up with a prompt and messaging me is a commitment to participate. Frogs everywhere WILL judge you for Voting And Then Not Participating. Newts too. Also, see rule 1.​

VOTING

9. You can only vote on a prompt if you are a participant and you may only vote once.​

​

10. To vote, message* Friendly Frog with up to 3 favorite prompts. Please put 'Sequel Sisyphus Vote' in the title and include in the text both the number and an identifying part of the prompt itself to avoid confusion. You may only vote for one of your own prompts.​

​

11. Each participant will have a total of five points to allocate between the three prompts, so that if you have one (or two) prompts you particularly like you can weigh it using additional points.​

​

12. Friendly Frog will tally the votes and announce the three winning votes. If an ex aequo occurs, Friendly Frog gets the deciding vote unless there is more than two prompts involved. In that case a throw of a dice will decide.​

WRITING

13. You can write your story using any combination of the Three Chosen Prompts that you want. If any of the other prompts catches your eye, feel free to include them. There is no limit on prompts as long as one of the Three is included.​

​

14. There is no minimum length. So don’t fret on that. Nor do stories have to be finished.​

​

15. The author of the story owns that story outright. The prompt(s) they use is merely a motivating tool, and does not transfer ownership of the story to the prompt suppliers in any way.​

​

16. You can submit your story by emailing it to me in .RTF, .PDF, .DOC, or .DOCX format, or a Google Docs link.​

​

17. Include in your submission an excerpt of 200-400 words for the Guessing Thread.​

​

18. Also include in your submission content warnings (if applicable) that will be included in the Guessing Thread. They do not have to be extensive but in these trying times, it’s a kind thing to do. This will also make it easier for people to judge if they want to read your story and will likely make more people inclined to request your story.​

​

19. We hope a good time is had by all!​

GUESSING THREAD

That will likely have its own rules, so no need to put them all in here.



AFTERGUESSING-THREAD PARTY

20. Once every story has been guessed, you may request to read other people's stories or share your own. You can share in the formats mentioned above (usually those are easiest for everyone) or a Google Docs link. Sharing a link means that people can download your doc to their Kindle or other e-reader to read offline, which is allowed for ease of reading, especially for those without constant internet access. However, all content belongs to the original writer!

21. Only the author gets to decide with whom or how a story gets shared. If you are not comfortable sharing your story, you absolutely do not have to. All particpants agree they will not share a sequel sisyphus story without express permission of the author.


TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

June 21: Sign-up opens.
July 5: Sign-up closes.
July 6: Prompt list is posted and voting starts.
July 19: Voting deadline. Three chosen prompts get posted and the writing may commence! (this may happen sooner if all votes are in before the deadline.)
July 16: Mayhem Writing begins!

September 21: This date is most certainly open to change, for now just chosen for approximate length and coolnessfactor of equinox. EXTENDED: October 4th. Story deadline followed by Guessination.

*To message in the new software, press on the little enveloppe next to your avatar at the top of this page and click 'start new conversation'.


CHOSEN PROMPTS

• The typo that ruined everything. (A misprint in a contract or treaty? A transposed letter in a spellbook? An error in a curse? You decide...)
• That awkward moment when you have to tell your friend that you really don't want to be turned back into a human...
• The Mary Celeste anywhere BUT the Earth's oceans. (in the desert, underground, in deep space, or in a virtual reality, etc... anywhere.)

PARTICIPANTS:
Kjbartolotta
kinokonoronin
lilyWhite
Brightdreamer
AnnieColleen
shortstorymachinist
Sue77
ajaye
armgrab
Gatteau
Silenia
SciSarahTops
Friendly Frog
eyeblink
InkFinger
Norman Mjadwesch
Coddiwomple
Jaymz Connelly
Albedo
Dread Pirate Rabbits


BETAREADERS

Justobuddies

 

[Kjbartolotta]

Meee! I hereby agree to abide by Froggys many excellent rules (that I copied from Jays rules two years ago) and respect and defer to Froggy’s authority and thank Froggy copiously.

*waves*

Thank you FF

Prompts:
-Weird type of faster than light travel.
-Story set in a ginormous palace of some kind.
-Locked door at the back of a museum. Who’s gonna open it? Where does it lead?

 

[kinokonoronin]

I also agree to the stated rules.

Prompts:
- But, is the moon actually made of cheese, though?
- Food transforms (interpret liberally)
- Sensor fusion gone awry

Thanks, FF.

 

[lilyWhite]

I'll sign up as well!

My prompts:

• That awkward moment when you have to tell your friend that you really don't want to be turned back into a human...
• A relationship between a human and another being in another dimension/galaxy finally moves from remote messages to in-person contact...which might be a bit more complicated than the human expected.
• Making sure the new heroic youth fighting against the new evil empire doesn't make the same mistakes as you once did.

 

[Brightdreamer]

What the hey, I'll take a swipe at it...

Prompts:

• The typo that ruined everything. (A misprint in a contract or treaty? A transposed letter in a spellbook? An error in a curse? You decide...)
• It was a nice place, until the heroes arrived...
• When people get pulled into games, it's usually an RPG-made-real, not this... (Poker? Tetris? Something you wouldn't expect.)
  

 

[Sue77]

Count me in!

Prompts:

1. An unexpected, hobbit free, journey into the unknown.
2. A bad tempered wishing well
3. The witness to a misdemeanour tries to do the right thing, but it all goes horribly wrong.

 

[shortstorymachinist]

I'm in!

My prompts are:

1) A first contact story from the perspective of a being on a planet where humans are landing for the first time. I'm imagining something nice, but it could be horrible if you want.

2) There's this theory (I think long since disproven) that there's a dark planet on the edge of the solar system, and its gravity well catches stellar debris and flings them toward Earth, which is why we get more asteroids etc. than one would expect. In this prompt, not only does that planet exist, but it was put there purposefully and covertly by someone who didn't want life developing on Earth. Humans discover it and stumble onto clandestine galactic politics!

3) Someone discovers an eighth day of the week between Saturday and Sunday! What does that mean? An upheaval of the current calendar? A pocket dimension? I dunno, you tell me!

 

[AnnieColleen]

Yay, story slinging!

Hmm, prompts. How about:
- Treacherous appliances*
- Asynchronous collaboration, aka time travel
- Weird words. How about: eyot, pelmatogram, pedantocracy. Or generate your own: https://randomwordgenerator.com/weird-word.php

*courtesy of my mother: “You don’t want a refrigerator you can’t trust.”

 

[Friendly Frog]

Aaand this is the moment I realise I'm going to need a spreadsheet or two for this.

Sue, SSM, still need a message with an email from you.

Loving those prompts!

 

[ajaye]

Looking forward to this. Thanks for running it, FF!

My prompts:

1. a magical musical instrument has fallen into the wrong hands

2. a celebrity ghost clone goes rogue

3. why my first superheroes anonymous meeting will probably be my last

 

[armgrab]

I had a lot of fun with this last year, and I'm happy to play again.

My prompts:

1. Broomstick to the Stars. Sorcerers exploring the final frontier... space.
2. Armageddon You Some Culture. It's the zombie apocalypse, but why are the zombies sipping tea and quoting Shakespeare?
3. One Power, Hold the Super. A seemingly unhelpful superpower comes in extremely handy!

 

[Jaymz Connelly]

Tempting. Very tempting. But my idea generator is broken. I'll come back if I get it fixed.

 

[kinokonoronin]

my idea generator is broken. I'll come back if I get it fixed.

I hear those can be very expensive to fix. Best of luck!

 

[Kjbartolotta]

Tempting. Very tempting. But my idea generator is broken. I'll come back if I get it fixed.

Yeah...

I sent mine in to be fixed, but instead of producing actual ideas it just keeps making thought bubbles with stupid lightbulbs in them.

 

[ajaye]

Tempting. Very tempting. But my idea generator is broken. I'll come back if I get it fixed.

Give that muse a good talking to. Hope to see you back

 

[Friendly Frog]

You can always re-use old prompts, in case they have no spare parts for your idea generator.

 

[Gatteau]

I'll play! Need something to occupy my mind-space for the next month or so.

Prompt offerings:
1. an Animal Adventure: Wild, domesticated, mythical, even alien... (I was watching Homeward Bound a while ago and had nearly forgotten just how much I love that movie. So this is in that spirit.)
2. a Warehouse of barely used but discarded things: Everything has to go somewhere. Trash? No, never...
3. Why the *%$# is it so hot?!

 

[kinokonoronin]

I have no idea how I am going to choose from all these genius prompts.

 

[Silenia]

Sign me up!

Prompts:

* "I said 'kill him', not 'kiss him'!"

* The Rise of a Light Overlord

* glass figurines (maybe your MC finds one in an unexpected place. Maybe one of your characters is an avid collector. Maybe they're a prize in some game or contest, or maybe they're a metaphor. Who knows? Not me, I'm just dropping off random prompts)

 

[SciSarahTops]

Hi. I agree to the very sensible rules! Going to think of three prompts off the bat:

-Certain prized objects in the house have been duplicated, you can't tell which is the real item or what the other ones are
-A wild intergalactic marriage proposal with a twist, do they say yes or no?
-The food at this banquet is so delicious, too delicious... you. can't. stop. eating...

 

[SciSarahTops]

Meee! I hereby agree to abide by Froggys many excellent rules (that I copied from Jays rules two years ago) and respect and defer to Froggy’s authority and thank Froggy copiously.

*waves*

Thank you FF

Prompts:
-Weird type of ftl
-Story set in a ginormous palace of some kind.
-Locked door at the back of a museum. Who’s gonna open it? Where does it lead?

What is an ftl Kevin?

 

[Jaymz Connelly]

Sarah - ftl is sci-fi for faster than light

I figured I'd answer, since I knew the answer and Kev should be sleeping now.

 

[Friendly Frog]

Great to see many people signing up in just one week!

I have no idea how I am going to choose from all these genius prompts.

I knowww, it's going to be so tough.

 

[Kjbartolotta]

Sarah - ftl is sci-fi for faster than light

I figured I'd answer, since I knew the answer and Kev should be sleeping

l was, for once. Sorry Sarah, gonna edit that to clarify.

These are indeed exciting prompts, working hard not to presume which ones win and plan around them since the voting always produces unexpected results.

 

[AnnieColleen]

working hard not to presume which ones win and plan around them

Aww, what’s the fun in that?