First, before you begin reading I want to take a minute of your time.
The Hounding After Hours Cafe opened in May of 2009 here in the Horror Section of AW. We're celebrating being a horror hound, even if you are new to AW or a regular. We have to put as much of ourselves into our genre as we do our words. We're horror writers and this is our little spot on AW. So let's write.
Well, you guys will. I won't.
I get to torture you...
Old town legends have been around since fire was discovered. So you know... I think it is time we build some of our own.
One thing that always puzzled me is that horror songs are rare. Not Hope diamond rare, but rare. The only horrific song I can remember actually giving me the creeps was this one.
Link to youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP49QY2dNto&feature=related
As you can see, the song is about a town Legend (now how did that happen, I wonder) and how it goes wrong for disbelievers. Listen to this song carefully before you continue reading on. It's a horror story set to music. It's a legend.
Now... about this contest.
"Build your own town legend".
The entire town must be fictional and populated beyond the protagonist.
There can be creatures, ghosts, phantoms, specters, whatever in the legend... but it must be original beyond that - no werewolves or vampires or zombies.
Ghosts and such are so easy to make personally different that they're okay.
The legend has to be age old (dating back a good few decades at least) and the protag must encounter it. Everything else is up to the writers.
And guess what, Houndies? It's a novella contest! Aren't you excited? I am.
Word Count Requirement: 15,000 up to 30,000 words
You have two months to write and polish your manuscript starting March 1, 2011.
Submissions open May 1, 2011 and close on June 1, 2011.
Formats accepted: .doc, .rtf, .txt
NO DOCX or PDF
Send submissions to evil.chihuey@gmail(dot)com, the (dot), obviously being replaced with, you know, a real dot. Period. Full stop.
Please put in subject line: Horror Hounds AW Contest Entry - Last Name
Please also be sure to include your AW username with your contact info
Emails received before May 1st or after May 7th will be deleted.
Each submission will be confirmed as received, stripped of author identifiers and passed on to the judges after submissions close. Only Haggis and I will know the author names and their correlating stories and we aren't judging. The judges are basically getting a title and a story.
Kinda the same way we did it last year guys but this time... no reading and voting. Because of the length of the stories, we thought it would be unfair to ask you guys to read all those stories. And plus, it'll help you learn patience. Good practice.
The judges will review each submission and make notes on it. Amongst them they will discuss and decide on our finalists. The finalists stories will be passed on to Alice, who will decide our winner and runners up.
Winners will be announced in Mid to Late June, depending on the volume of submissions. This may change if a large or small number of writers participate.
Each author will receive the notes on their stories, so everyone gets something, even if it's just free feedback.
What are you waiting for? Go start writing a legend.
Before we get to our prizes, let's meet our judges.
slcboston
arkadia
a mystery judge
And judging the finals will be callalily61 (Alice Loweecey)
(Prizes are subject to growth.)
Prizes:
Winner:
1st Runner Up:
2nd Runner Up:
The Hounding After Hours Cafe opened in May of 2009 here in the Horror Section of AW. We're celebrating being a horror hound, even if you are new to AW or a regular. We have to put as much of ourselves into our genre as we do our words. We're horror writers and this is our little spot on AW. So let's write.
Well, you guys will. I won't.
I get to torture you...Old town legends have been around since fire was discovered. So you know... I think it is time we build some of our own.
One thing that always puzzled me is that horror songs are rare. Not Hope diamond rare, but rare. The only horrific song I can remember actually giving me the creeps was this one.
Link to youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP49QY2dNto&feature=related
As you can see, the song is about a town Legend (now how did that happen, I wonder) and how it goes wrong for disbelievers. Listen to this song carefully before you continue reading on. It's a horror story set to music. It's a legend.
Now... about this contest.
"Build your own town legend".
The entire town must be fictional and populated beyond the protagonist.
There can be creatures, ghosts, phantoms, specters, whatever in the legend... but it must be original beyond that - no werewolves or vampires or zombies.
Ghosts and such are so easy to make personally different that they're okay.
The legend has to be age old (dating back a good few decades at least) and the protag must encounter it. Everything else is up to the writers.
And guess what, Houndies? It's a novella contest! Aren't you excited? I am.
Word Count Requirement: 15,000 up to 30,000 words
You have two months to write and polish your manuscript starting March 1, 2011.
Submissions open May 1, 2011 and close on June 1, 2011.
Formats accepted: .doc, .rtf, .txt
NO DOCX or PDF
Send submissions to evil.chihuey@gmail(dot)com, the (dot), obviously being replaced with, you know, a real dot. Period. Full stop.
Please put in subject line: Horror Hounds AW Contest Entry - Last Name
Please also be sure to include your AW username with your contact info
Emails received before May 1st or after May 7th will be deleted.
Each submission will be confirmed as received, stripped of author identifiers and passed on to the judges after submissions close. Only Haggis and I will know the author names and their correlating stories and we aren't judging. The judges are basically getting a title and a story.
Kinda the same way we did it last year guys but this time... no reading and voting. Because of the length of the stories, we thought it would be unfair to ask you guys to read all those stories. And plus, it'll help you learn patience. Good practice.
The judges will review each submission and make notes on it. Amongst them they will discuss and decide on our finalists. The finalists stories will be passed on to Alice, who will decide our winner and runners up.
Winners will be announced in Mid to Late June, depending on the volume of submissions. This may change if a large or small number of writers participate.
Each author will receive the notes on their stories, so everyone gets something, even if it's just free feedback.
What are you waiting for? Go start writing a legend.
Before we get to our prizes, let's meet our judges.
slcboston
arkadia
a mystery judge
And judging the finals will be callalily61 (Alice Loweecey)
(Prizes are subject to growth.)
Prizes:
Winner:
- A Publishing Contract with Black Label Books (authors must agree to allow edits)
- Choice of New Release from Black Label Books (pdf copy)
- Signed Copy of Force of Habit by Alice Loweecey
- $30.00 cash
- Crash Boom Girl a book of poetry by DL Hegel
1st Runner Up:
- A Reaper's Tale ebook by Adam Slade
- The Complete set of SNM Horror's Bonded by Blood Anthologies
- $20.00 Cash
- The Awakening by Donna Boyd
- Crash Boom Girl a book of poetry by DL Hegel
2nd Runner Up:
- A Reaper's Tale ebook by Adam Slade
- On Writing Horror A Handbook by the HWA
- More of Me Disappears - A Book of Poetry by John Amen
- $10.00 Cash
- Crash Boom Girl a book of poetry by DL Hegel
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