2012 Forum Anthology Contests

[zachariah]

I still think explicitly stating the Mayan calendar thing will make it look stale immediately after December 21st.

I suggest tweaking the second para:

This collection brings together all-new* stories by award-winning authors Hugh Howey, Michael J. Sullivan and Tristis Ward, with fresh, new voices selected by their peers at SFFWorld.com - all brought to you in this first-of-its-kind anthology.

And shorten the third:

Each story explores a different end of the world. What is the limit of a computer virus?** Can we save the world by stopping time itself, or is every attempt to avert disaster destined to fail?

[zachariah]

* I assume their stories are not reprints.
** I assume this is one of the stories we haven't seen yet, I don't recall any from the voting being about a computer virus.

[zachariah]

Apologies for the multiple posts, the forum software crashed out on me every time I tried to put the above text in one go. A process of elimination showed it doesn't like something about the asterisks.

[tmso]

Okay, how about this?

***************
Everyone knows the world is going to end in a matter of days. The Mayans knew it – their calendar proved it. So what better way to go out than by reading this short story collection about The End? ...apart from telling your friends about it in 2013, of course.

This compilation brings together short stories by award-winning science fiction and fantasy authors Hugh Howey, Michael J. Sullivan and Tristis Ward, with fresh, new voices selected by their peers at SFFWorld.com - all brought to you in this first-of-its-kind anthology.

Each story explores a different end of the world. What is the limit of a computer virus? Can we save the world by stopping time itself, or will we just wither away in the relentless winds of the apocalypse?

Grab your copy now before the end of the world, and find out.
***************

I tweaked your tweaks, Zachariah, but maintained the bulked of it. I do want to keep the Mayan reference because that's what started it all. Yes, it will date it, but everything gets dated pretty much right after it is published. Hell, we have a story that references Hostess twinkies, but by the end of the year, will those even still be around for someone to hoard?

NOTE:We do have one re-print. And yes, one of the non-contest stories has a computer virus.

Are we good with this version?

Please type up or forever hold your fingers. I'll be "test" publishing it tonight.

[Wulfen]

:approved:

[zachariah]

[Igor]

Lovely jubbly.
Igor

[Wulfen]

tmso, is it OK for us to post news of this on our blogs, or should it wait?

[tmso]

tmso, is it OK for us to post news of this on our blogs, or should it wait?

Ah, well...sure. I guess it is okay. Go ahead and give a release date of sometime between the 9th and 15th.

The thing is...I am having technical difficulties.

I know, I know. How hard can it be?

It's not hard. But I wanted to include a non-traditional story so I have an extra hurdle to overcome.

Don't worry. The file went through the meatgrinder fine - for MOBI, which is what most folks will download (it's readable!). But, it missed the mark with the epub format. I will confer with my minions and I should have it all cleared up by this weekend.

[tmso]

Okay, before anyone else can say it, I'm gonna do it.

I now know all the limitations to Smashwords. I know that in the future, I will go a different path. But for this anthology, we are stuck with Smashwords.

Remember, it could be worse.

I should have a link for you all by mid-week. :-)

[Wulfen]

No problem, tmso!

[CMTheAuthor]

Instructions and contest announcements can be found in this thread you are reading.

Um, I'm pretty sure this isn't supposed to be a thread for advertising other contests, just for our own. (Methinks it was a mistake to have the thread title be plural.)

[Wulfen]

I think that guy is either spamming or just trying to get his post count up. Either way, his post is completely unnecessary.

[CMTheAuthor]

Official announcement thread is live! Now all of you can go nuts promoting this.

[tmso]

Hey all,

It is promotion time. Whether you like it or not, we have to present our baby to the world. And since it is ending in a matter of days, we better do it quick!

Just joking about the last bit, of course.

For those who maintain a blog, I'd like to do a blog tour. (For those who don't, maybe this is a good time to start one, eh? Did you know you can have one here on SFFWorld.com?)

Here's how I think it will work:
1) I will ask three, mind-blowing questions about The End of the first author who, after a brief introduction to the anthology, will answer them in a blog post.
2) At the end of that blog post, he/she will identify the next author who will have two choices (or maybe not, depending on the preceding author's inventiveness or cruelty):
- a) Answer the same questions (in a blog post within the following week)
- b) Or answer three new questions the previous author came up with (it could be a mix of new and old)
3) The second author will identify the next author who will have the same choice in questions (either the original questions, new questions, or a mix - depending on what the preceding author decides for them).

Does that make sense?

Here are the starting questions:
1) Not including your own, name your favorite story in the anthology. Why?
2) Are you a (doomsday) prepper? If so, what are you prepping for?
3) What soundtrack would you give The End - Visions of the Apocalypse?

Who would like to sign up for the blog tour?