Summer Solstice contest

Details

The summer solstice is the point in time when the Earth's axis is most tilted towards the Sun. It's also the longest day of the year, and has long been associated with rituals, supernatural happenings, and miraculous events. Here at Scribophile, we have a tradition of sacrificing errant apostrophes to Hermes, the patron deity of literature and poetry.

Back in the distant past, people used to think that evil spirits were free to go where they would on Midsummer's Day and Midsummer's Eve. To get everybody into the spirit of things (har har), we're holding a more open ritual this year in the form of our monthly writing contest, themed around Slipstream.

If you haven't heard of Slipstream before, it's a genre (or effect) that mixes together mainstream fiction and sci-fi/fantasy (or "speculative") fiction. Slipstream is the kind of fiction where everything seems normal at first, but as you read there's something that's just a little off—and you can't always put your finger on what it is, either. Bruce Sterling, who coined the term, described it as "writing which has set its face against consensus reality ... [it] makes you feel very strange." Sci-fi critic Rich Horton is a bit clearer: "Slipstream tries to make the familiar strange– by taking a familiar context and disturbing it with Science-fictional/ fantastical intrusions."

If you're still not sure entirely what's going on, check out the work of Margaret Atwood or Jonathan Lethem, two critically-acclaimed authors who often work in this style.

The best examples (Atwood and Lethem certainly qualify) can make you look at your surroundings in an entirely different way that neither "pure" genre or "pure" mainstream fiction can accomplish. What better way to celebrate Midsummer this year?

So gear up in June and submit your fictional works of 2500 words or fewer which fall into the slipstream category.

(Photo by Alan McKenzie, re-used under a CC Share-Alike license)

(Sterling and Horton quotes fromOn the Net: Slipstream by James Patrick Kelly)

Winning entries

Winners have been announced! Log in to see them.

Prizes

Rules

• Your entry must be a piece of fiction totaling 2500 words or fewer as counted by Scribophile.

• Entries must be received before midnight on June 30, 2012 (UTC time), and winners will be announced within two weeks of that date.

• Entries will be judged by the Scribophile staff. Decisions are final.

• Only one entry is allowed per member. Multiple entries will all be disqualified.

• Work must have Public visibility on Scribophile until winners are announced.

• Winners must have a valid Paypal account, or we won't be able to send the prize money!

Submission guidelines

• To enter the contest, post your work on Scribophile and check the box that says "Enter this work into the Summer Solstice Contest". Your work will automatically be considered. The checkbox will be visible until the contest deadline, which is in UTC time.

• Entry is free, but you'll need karma points to post your work. You can earn karma points by writing critiques of work by other members.