Love Bytes: So how did this all get started?
- Scott Coatsworth: We were casting about for ideas to engage our (at the time) new audience, and one of my publisher friends suggested a flash fiction contest. The plan was to bundle all the entries together that first year into an eBook, which we could also use as a giveaway. We came up with the idea to theme it around a single word – “Endings” – and the basic format of the contest was born. That first year, we had sixteen entrants – including one who submitted his entry in binary code (hey, this is a spec fic contest, after all) and put together a little eBook with the winning stories.
LB: What happened next?
JSC: We talked about it, and had so much fun doing it that we decided to try it again the next year. We started a few new things in year two – asking the winners from the previous year to come back as judges, and passing the theme suggestion responsibilities around the QSF group. I’d come up with “Endings” in 2014; for 2015, my husband Mark suggested “Discovery” for 2015. And so it’s gone on for eight additional years: Flight, Renewal, Impact, Migration, Innovation, Ink, Clarity, and now Rise. We try to choose a theme that’s not too closely linked to one genre, and that has many possible meanings. My favorite stories are often those that take the theme in an unexpected and unusual way that still makes perfect sense.
LB: What happens behind the scenes when the stories are all in?
JSC: I compile them all into a single file, minus author names, and forward them along with a scoring spreadsheet to the judges. We suggest that they read no more than ten stories a day, as they can tend to blend together when there are so many on the same theme. Each judge scores each story on four categories:
- Adherence to Theme
- Use of Spec Fic Genre(s)
- Use of LGBTQ+ character(s)
- Quality of the writing
With a maximum of 20 points for each category. If a story is entirely lacking in one or more of these categories, in a judge’s opinion, they mark it as Disqualified (DQ). If at least three of the five judges DQ a story, it is out of contention for the contest and the anthology.
Once the scores are in and averaged, the judging panel meets and discusses the top-ranked stories (and has the option to add other stories into consideration. Once the pool of finalists is chosen, the debate begins to choose the top three. It’s not uncommon for the top scoring story to not be chosen as the first place winner for the contest (though it almost always places in the top three). All of this is done without the judges knowing who wrote the stories under consideration. That’s only revealed to them after the winners are chosen.
LB: Sounds a bit like herding cats. Thanks for the look behind the curtain. Care to give us a sneak peak at the 2024 theme?
JSC: Um, “Cheese”? Wait, that’s just my lunch. Seriously, though, we haven’t chosen it yet, but we usually pre-announce it in November, so folks can start working on their story ideas. The contest is open March 1st-May 1st. I hope some of your readers will enter – you don’t have to be a professional writer, and a number of our top stories have been from relative newcomers. Grab a copy of Rise and see how it’s done. Thanks for having me!
RISE (Noun, Verb)
Eight definitions to inspire writers around the world, and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell:
- An upward slope or movement
- A beginning or origin
- An increase in amount or number
- An angry reaction
- To take up arms
- To return from death
- To become heartened or elated
- To exert oneself to meet a challenge
Rise features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.
About the Series
Every year, Queer Sci Fi runs a one-word theme contest for 300 word flash fiction stories, and then we choose 120 of the best for our annual anthology.
Publisher | Amazon | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org | Google Play | Kobo | Scribd | Smashwords | Thalia | Vivlio | Goodreads | Universal Buy Link
Queer Sci Fi is giving away a $25 Bookshop.org gift card with this tour:
Passed down in whispers and hands tracing hands through flour and faith. Never written down, paper being too precious for such a small spell, some might say. Like something must be loud to have worth.
A common myth, one that serves her quiet magic well.
She sits pretty in commonhalls and houses, empty eye-sockets and a cloak of harmless charm enough for most to dismiss her. Certainly, her weaving or kneading is all her pretty head can handle.
She listens, and her hands move. Each stitch another secret, gossip kneaded into every loaf.
—From Simple Recipes for Small Magics – Ziggy Schutz
It wasn’t the principles that Matt Harden objected to. The principles were fine: Limited planetary resources. Circle of life. The wrongness of playing God.
But, he thought as he spread the herbs on the basement floor in the prescribed way, the principles were bullshit when you were faced with reality. When the only man who’d ever held your heart was stolen from you by a moment’s distraction behind the wheel. When you never had the chance to even say goodbye. When your body in bed was as cold and alone as a corpse in a coffin.
When the night mist was clammy on your neck and the grave-dirt heavy on your shovel.
—From Principle and Reality – Kim Fielding
“He’s here,” Matt said, slamming the door behind him. “You ready?”
“Think so,” Rory said. He’d finished the salt circle, and quickly moved on to placing the candle in the center.
“Will this work?”
“It’s this or nothing.” Once Tiff told them she’d survived a run in with the killer known as The Hook, Rory knew they were as good as dead. Supposedly this bastard had been killed before, but he never seemed to stop. Much about The Hook seemed unreal, but Rory thought it was the only weapon they had – the unbelievable. Besides, they were gay; those characters always died first.
From Best Served Cold – Andrea Speed
“You do realize,” the nurse said gravely, “that without your parent permission form, this procedure can only be temporary.”
“I do,” Sharon said nervously. Sharon. That was a good name, right? Sounded like Shawn, but wasn’t. Was a girl’s name. A woman’s name. She liked Sharon.
“And that given your parent’s lack of support for this, there will be a counselor assigned to your home to ensure your safety?” The nurse continued, checking the talking points on her tablet with precision.
“I won’t need it,” Sharon said nervously. “They think it’s a phase, but they’re not, you know, hostile.”
From A New Day – Amy Lane
This year, 554 authors entered the Rise contest. 120 of them were chosen, and their stories are included in this anthology:
- Jordan Abronson
- Aisling Alvarez
- CJ Aralore
- Ellery Arden
- Anusha Asim
- K. Aten
- Drew Baker
- Jeff Baker
- Evelyn Benvie
- Eytan Bernstein
- L. R. Braden
- Sorren Briarwood
- Kayleen Burdine
- Siri Caldwell
- Sonja Seren Calhoun
- Jennifer Caracappa
- T. D. Carlson
- Caro
- Minerva Cerridwen
- Amanda Cherry
- Dawn Spina Couper
- Monique Cuillerier
- Lynden Daley
- Claire Davon
- Ef Deal
- Francine DeCarey
- Nicole Dennis
- Sarah Doebereiner
- Kellie Doherty
- Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Markus McCann Edgette
- Kim Fielding
- Tom Folske
- Athena Foster
- Ani Fox
- Beáta Fülöp
- Jendia Gammon
- Storm Grant
- Chad Grayson
- Gabbi Grey
- Kaje Harper
- Narrelle M. Harris
- Kelly Haworth
- Chisto Healy
- Megan Hippler
- Joanna Michal Hoyt
- Grace Hudson
- Meghan Hyland
- Jeff Jacobson
- Erin Jamieson
- W. Dale Jordan
- Adrik Kemp
- Olivia Kemper
- Jamie Lackey
- Aidee Ladnier
- Amy Lane
- Tris Lawrence
- Brenda Lee
- Katrina Lemaire
- Gordon Linzner
- Jayne Lockwood
- Clare London
- Nathan Alling Long
- Patricia Loofbourrow
- J.C. Lovero
- Ilyas M.
- Stacey Mahuna
- Paula McGrath
- Atlin Merrick
- Amanda Meuwissen
- Eloreen Moon
- Jaime Munn
- RJ Mustafa
- Oliver Nash
- Annika Neukirch
- Jess Nevins
- Rory Ni Coileain
- K.L. Noone
- Milo Owen
- Chris Panatier
- J Piper
- Nia Quinn
- Mere Rain
- D.M. Rasch
- Kazy Reed
- LS Reinholt
- Alexei Madeleine Reyner
- Emerian Rich
- Rie Sheridan Rose
- Anna Rueden
- Curtis Rueden
- Carol Ryles
- Jamie Sands
- Rodello Santos
- Sumiko Saulson
- Aradhya Saxena
- Ziggy Schutz
- C.J. Scott
- Alex Silver
- Roxanne Skelly
- sparks
- Andrea Speed
- Chloe Spencer
- Robin Springer
- Andrea Stanet
- Nathaniel Taff
- O.E. Tearmann
- Tori Thompson
- George Underwood
- Avery Vanderlyle
- Joz Varlo
- Dawn Vogel
- Rhian Waller
- Dean Wells
- Devon Widmer
- B Wilkins
- Holli Rebecca Williams
- Paul Wilson
- X. Ho Yen
- Jamie Zaccaria
Queer Sci Fi Website: https://www.queerscifi.com
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