1st Annual Flash Fiction Contest! Prizes! 99 words of Horror!

Prizes! Fame! Fortune!
99 Words of Horror!

SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED! READ THE ENTRIES HERE!

I love Halloween. I love scary movies. I love dressing up in stupid costumes. I love trick or treating. I love that you can erect a mannequin of a man being disembowelled by a headless, zombie dinosaur in your front yard and little old ladies will come to you and say how cool it is.

But most of all, I love scary stories. Your scary stories.

What: This is an open call to bloggers for micro-length short stories with a Halloween and/or horror theme. The stories, not including the title, have to be 99 words long. Exactly. The stories have to have a beginning, middle, and an end. They have to excite the senses, tickle the imagination, and rock the very world beneath one's feet. Impossible, you say? Then move along, creampuff. We don't want you here.

Entry fee: None! Nothing! Zip! Zilch! Well, maybe your dignity if your story is terrible.

Prizes: There will be a first place winner and three runners-up. Everybody who enters will get a link placed on this blog to their entry.

The runners ups win a bucket o' satisfaction knowing they almost attained greatness. Plus they'll get a nifty runner up badge to put on their blogs if they wish.

The grand prize winner will get the following glorious prizes:

• $15 usd to your paypal account (If you don't have a paypal account, you'll get an Amazon gift certificate for $15. If THAT doesn't work out, I will donate $15 to a charity of your choice in your name.)
• NEW! A one-year subscription to the Absolute Markets Newsletter Premium Edition. Thanks to sponsor Absolute Write for providing the subscription ($15 value)
  
• An e-copy of The Shivered Sky. (Value $8)
  
• A physical, signed copy of Trailer Park Fairy Tales mailed anywhere in the world. (Value $10+postage)
  
• A personal portrait of you hand drawn by a three-year-old named Lili (will be scanned and sent to you via e-mail). (Value $1,000,000)
  
• Your story (if you wish) posted on this very blog on Halloween. (Value $0.12)
  
• A spiffy badge to put on your blog alerting people of your greatness. (Value $0.98)
  
• A warm feeling of accomplishment. (Value $62.98)
  

Deadline: 11:59 pm Pacific time on Wednesday, October 25th. No exceptions!

How it works:

Follow this carefully.

• Write the story.
• Post it on your blog before the end of October 25th.
• In your post make a link back to this post (here's the permalink.)
• Email me at dinniman(at)gmail.com and put "Flash Fiction Entry" in the subject, and let me know where your story is posted. I will respond to your email within 36 hours. If I haven't, email me again or post a comment here.
  
• If you wish you can also reply to this post and let others know you've put a story up.
• Sit back and wait for your money

After that, I will:

• Organize the stories
• Make a post linking to all of them
• Whittle down my personal favorite entries
• Send those entries over to the special guest judges (to be determined)
• After they make their rulings, I will contact the winners
• I will announce the winners on October 30th. I will post the winning entry here on October 31st
  

Official Rules.

These are very important. If you don't read them, you'll probably screw something up:

1) This is a contest for bloggers, so you must post your entry on your blog. I don't care if it's a Blogger, Wordpress, Livejournal, Myspace, whatever. As long as it's publicly readable and it's a blog, then it counts. If you want to make a new blog just for this, that's fine. They are free, after all.

2) It must be Halloween or horror related.

3) It must be new. You have to be the author of it blah blah blah. You will keep all the rights, and if you don't want me to publish it on my blog that's fine. Just let me know when I tell you that you're the winner.

4) It must be exactly 99 words long. Not 100. Not 98 words. 99 actual words, and the title does not count.

5) One entry per blogger. You may enter more than one if you wish, but only the first one you enter will be eligible to win, no matter how good the second one is.

6) You must follow all the steps listed above in the How it Works section. Seriously.

7) The judges' rulings will be final. No whining.

8) If I've ever slept with or been beaten up by you, then you aren't eligible to enter. (Sorry Dallas Cowboys cheerleader squad. Sorry Dame Judi Dench. Sorry Screech.)

9) Any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.