Welcome, you’re welcome—
you are, of course, most welcome, here—
yes, welcome, you are so very, very welcome to the
2024 !Short Story Contest!
only on Defenestrationism.net
What a rip-roarer of a contest we have here— this very Summer— only on Defenestrationism.net .
Though the other main event of this Fall may well decide the fate of empires, we have— here, this very Summer— tales to match the drama of any election.
Surprisingly enough, not a single finalist goes for the throat with political commentary. No, instead, in this Summer’s contest, vengeance will be wrought on historical Imperial enterprises, colonialist explorers will finally find home, and the party will end abruptly.
Yes, through snowflake-love and frozen lust, love and lovers will burn, bosses will kowtow, and murders will be tied in knots of yarn.
So grit your teeth and grip your chair, prepare for the ride of a lifetime (and a please-don’t-ride, or it’s death time), where jobs and deaths— not only human ones— hang by an animal hair.
And be sure to join us every Sunday— Sunday, Sunday, Sunday— throughout the Summer— this very Summer— for weekly postings of the 2024 !Short Story Contest! only on Defenestrationism.net .
Publication Schedule:
Sunday, June 23rd
Leopardus
by Alexandra L. Burris
Sunday, June 30th
60 S 150 W
by Nick Young
Sunday, July 7th
In Hot Water
by Kristina Totten
Sunday, July 14th
The Burn
by Casey Lawrence
Sunday, July 21st
Frozen Asset
by Ahmed A. Khan
Sunday, July 28th
Feng’s Way
by Pamela Christie
Sunday, August 4th
Seeing Grey Horses
by Eli V. Washington
Sunday, August 11th
My Dog Dies Today
by Eros Nocturne
FAN VOTING
August 18th- September 1st
Contest Guidelines
How we Judge our Contests
Meet the Finalists
including our Defenestrationism.net tradition of an image of our authors’ favorite chair!
Alexandra L. Burris began her writing career at the age of ten, when she won a statewide essay contest for an essay about the Lewis and Clark expedition, which she wrote from the point of view of Lewis’ dog. More recently, her work has appeared on CulturedVultures.com, and anonymously on TheDoe, and she also regularly posts articles on Medium.com. She earned her postbac in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Kent State University in 2023.
Nick Young is a retired award-winning CBS News Correspondent. His writing has appeared in more than thirty publications, including the Stygian Lepus, Dark Horses Magazine, Little Death Lit, The Chamber, Sein und Werden and the Tales of the Strange anthology. His first novel “Deadline” was published in October. He lives outside Chicago.
X: @NickYou87166031
Instagram: @zenblues
Threads: @zenblues
Kristina Totten
Kristina Totten is a former middle school English teacher gone rogue. She got fed up with life as she knew it and quit her job to become a freelance writer and artist. She (mostly) doesn’t regret this decision.
Casey Lawrence has a PhD from Trinity College Dublin in English literature. After taking a five-year hiatus from creative writing to pursue her doctorate, Casey published her third Young Adult novel with JMS Books in 2023. An avid consumer of all things science fiction and fantasy, she writes the stories she wishes she had growing up. She is from Ontario, Canada, and currently lives in Sweden with her partner, Rhys. Her poetry and short fiction have recently appeared in Polar Borealis: Magazine of Canadian Speculative Fiction, Bi Women Quarterly, and Stone Quarterly, and she has pieces forthcoming in THEMA and Broken Antler Magazine.
Ahmed A. Khan is a Canadian writer, originally from India. His works have appeared in a variety of places – Interzone, Anotherealm, Strange Horizons, Boston Review, Murderous Intent, and a few more. His stories have also been translated and published in Croatian, Finnish, German and Greek languages. He also writes poetry in Urdu.
He is on FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/ahmed.a.khan.140
empty space. This is low enough to serve as a second elbow rest, despite running
parallel to the wall behind it, and not at right angles, like the proper arm.
The artist declares that his masterpiece is too good for people and he cuts down the legs to a length of eight inches. Henceforth, says he, this piece is strictly for the use of hedgehogs. He rushes off to Fleet Street, apprentices himself to a demon barber and is scarcely ever heard from again.
Queen Victoria declines to accept the chair, even though (or perhaps because) it is
perfectly scaled to her unique proportions. And in a rare display of public temper, she
revokes the royal charter lately bestowed upon the artist by her own podgy little hand.
Pamela Christie (if that is her real name) lives in a very old house with minimal technology and a cellar full of strange memories. She treats these like a mechanical engineer would, viewing them from every angle, pulling off bits and sticking them onto other memories, or sticking bits of other memories onto the ones she is examining, then reassessing them and ultimately turning them into stories. She does not subscribe to the efficacy of electric rice cookers.
Eli V. Washington is an Atlanta-born native who loves to write surreal, fictional narratives but with a message that can be applied to real life. He likes video games, movies, tv shows, and books. Every time he reads, he likes to imagine his inner voice as The Master from Fallout 1.
Seeing Grey Ghosts is the first story he’s ever submitted.
Eros Nocturne was born in Philadelphia. They began writing in 2013 and are exploring the world of published literature very recently while taking on contract work. They still live in Philadelphia, and are a big fan of the artistic culture and community one can find in the city. Their genres of specialty are romance, fantasy, horror/thriller, and dark romanticism — often mixed together!
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