Flight - It's Out and Queer!

Queer Sci Fi's Flash Fiction Contest has wrapped up it's third year - the Flight anthology is the result. When Scott and I first started the contest as just a fun thing on the Queer Sci Fi Facebook group, it was just that. Something for our members to have fun with, win a little prize, share their flash creations. The rules were few and simple: write a queer story to the contest's theme in 300 words or less.

That first year, the theme was "Endings" and we received about fifteen entries. Scott and I judged that year and found out two things. One, our tastes in stories were almost diametrically opposed, so a lot of our votes canceled each other out. Two, our QSF folks had wild imaginations. One entry was even sent in binary code. We shared the winners. Our members' virtual ears perked up. We didn't know that we'd started something...

The second year's theme was "Discovery" and since there was more interest, we thought it would be fun to publish the entries as an anthology. I'm not going to go into the nitty-gritty, but can you say learning curve? Yes. If graphed, it would look like a ski jump. At least we'd learned that we needed more judges, so the winners from the previous year joined us. Good thing, too. The number of entries jumped from fifteen to 115 and picking winners was tough since there were so many good entries.

This third year, we picked the theme "Flight" and let our members decide what that word would mean to the story - actual winged flight, tech assisted flight, metaphorical flight, "flight" as in fleeing from some threat and so on. The idea this time was to pick the best hundred or so stories for the anthology, in the hope that in making acceptance itself a competition, the entries would increase. We were perhaps unprepared for the response. 170 entries later, we gathered six judges together and tried to pick out the best. Some great stories, unfortunately, get disqualified along the way for not presenting the theme clearly or not presenting queer content clearly. This still left us with a lot of stories. The judges scored each and every one...and then we met. And wrangled. And discussed. And tried not to get to caught up in our favorites.

It was the passion of our judges that drove us to institute Judge's Picks this year as well, to highlight those stories that weren't chosen as winners by consensus but that one of our judges championed, sometimes fiercely.

Many of the stories were so vivid, we also thought it would be great to have some illustrations. Mila May and her amazingly vivid imagination was the obvious choice for us. Her interpretations are just stunning.

And now, Mischief Corner Books presents the release of FLIGHT: Queer Sci Fi's Third Annual Flash Fiction Contest. Happy reading!

Flight: Queer Sci Fi's Third Annual Flash Fiction Contest
Publisher: Mischief Corner Books
Author: 110 Queer Sci Fi Members
Cover & Illustrations Artist: Mila May
Length: 33.6 K
Format: ebook, print
Release Date: 9/21/16
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Blurb:
 
A 300-word story should be easy, right? Many of our entrants say it’s the hardest thing they’ve ever written.
 
Queer Sci Fi's Annual Flash Fiction Contest challenges authors to write a complete LGBTQ speculative fiction micro-story on a specific theme. "Flight" leaves much for the authors to interpret—winged creatures, flight and space vehicles, or fleeing from dire circumstances.
 
Some astonishing stories were submitted—from horrific, bloodcurdling pieces to sweet, contemplative ones—and all LGBTQ speculative fiction. The stories in this anthology include AI’s and angels, winged lions and wayward aliens. Smart, snappy slice of life pieces written for entertainment or for social commentary. Join us for brief and often surprising trips into 110 speculative fiction authors’ minds.
 

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