Challenge! 2010 Writing Contest: Discovery
The first annual RBE Challenge! anthology is OPEN for submissions:
June 1 –
EXTENDED to
12:01 AM Sept 16, 2010
Discovery
Featuring awesome cover art from V Shane:
The RBE Challenge! is a competition anthology open to anyone who writes heroic action adventure of ANY genre! Using V Shane’s above artwork and the title Discovery as inspiration, pen me mighty and mysterious tales of action and adventure. Speculative fiction is NOT required for Challenge! themes! Sword & Sorcery, Sword & Planet, Soul & Sandal, Western, Mystery, Dark Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Sci-Fi, even Horror and Romance! You name it, so long as it’s heroic fiction, you can submit it.
Prizes:
Authors of the top twelve stories will receive one print copy of the anthology, while the top three will also receive
- Critiques from each of the judges!
& - Cash payments of
- 1st – $75.00
- 2nd – $50.00
- 3rd – $25.00
Judges for the first annual RBE Challenge! anthology are:
- Artist V Shane ~ Challenge! Discovery cover artist
- Editor John Klima ~ Electric Velocipede editor
- Author Alex Bledsoe ~ The Sword-Edged Blonde & Burn Me Deadly author
Stories will be judged on two criteria:
- How well it delivers quality heroic adventure
- How well it uses the cover art and title for its theme
Submissions OPEN! ~
12 submissions received as of September 1
- June 1-September 16! (Any received before then and after September 16 will be discarded unread.)
- Should be sent as .RTF attachment to to challenge@roguebladesentertainment.com
with a subject line that reads: Challenge! Your Story Title & Word Count — e.g., Challenge! The World is Mine 4500 - Cost $10.00 per story. There is no restriction on the number of stories an author can submit, but each must be submitted separately.
- Will be acknowledged within 3 days. The acknowledgment will provide either a PayPal invoice or the PayPal email address at which to submit the $10.00 for each story. Payment is required within 3 days of the sending of this email. If payment has not be received after 3 days, the story will be removed from the competition automatically and without notification. Please be advised: There must be a minimum of 30 submissions for this writing competition to progress. RBE will keep a running total of accepted submissions posted on this announcement page and updated weekly. Stories will be added to the total once payment has been received. If 30 submissions have not been received by September 16, 2010, all monies and stories will be returned in full.
- Accepted will be evaluated first by the RBE Prose Acquisitions Editors and narrowed down to the final 15. At the close of the submission period on September 1st, those top 15 will be delivered to the 3 judges. They in turn will rank each story, at which time I shall assign the final order and break any ties.
- Winners will be announced here around November 16th, and Challenge! Discovery will be published around Christmas 2010.
Further information and parameters can be found on the Challenge! page of the RBE site.
The 2010 Challenge! official cover
This contest has been endorsed by:
- Mary Rosenblum @ Long Ridge Writer’s Group: “…a novel way of keeping his company solvent while publishing authors. Go for it! I heartily endorse his entry fee–you have a chance to win and publish, and you’re supporting a market that may help support you in the future…get those swords swinging!”
- John O’Neill @ Black Gate: “…an opportunity to show your stuff, now’s your chance to appear in a new anthology from one of the top publishers of modern heroic fantasy.”
- Miguel Martins @ The Cimmerian: “…your chance to see your words printed in an anthology by a (good) professional publisher of heroic adventure.”
The cover price of this title will be $10.00 Print / $6.00 PDF – if there are 30+ entries.
BUY NOW @ the RBE Bookstore!
This information last updated August 23, 2010Popularity: 61% [?]
[...] is on the Official Announcement page, including this invitation from Jason Waltz: Using V Shane’s artwork and the title Discovery as [...]
[...] is on the Official Announcement page, including this invitation from Jason Waltz: Using V Shane’s artwork and the title Discovery as [...]
Hi. I am interested in entering this contest, but I am not sure about how to send you the entry fee via PayPal. While I recently joined PayPal to help with the business end of my career, I have not used it yet to either send or receive money. Please explain this process to me and I will be very grateful, plus able to enter my story in the contest.
Hi David, thanks for your interest. The contest opens on June 1st, so you haven’t missed anything just yet. Once opens submissions begin and so long as you follow the submission guidelines (.RTF attachment sent to challenge@roguebladesentertainment with the right subject line etc), you will receive PayPal information, never fear.
As for paying via PayPal, if you have the account already, it’s really rather simple. I can send you an invoice that you easily pay, or I provide you with an email address that you type in and pay. PayPal makes it easy to follow their steps.
Thanks for the question.
Hi.
It’s David Perlmutter again. I just wanted to know, are we supposed to write the story to fit the theme of the anthology- discovery of something or other- or, more specifically, the cover? The latter would kind of limit what would be available, wouldn’t it? Please write me back at dperlmutter@mts.net so we can talk about this directly and I can get to work.
Yes, that is actually the point, to find inspiration in the artwork and title ‘Discovery’ – So long as your story is any of the heroic genres, the ideas are limited only by your own imagination and desire. The only requirements of this writing challenge (hence the title Challenge!) are that your story must be heroic, must incorporate the artwork, and must at least hint at the concept of the title. Give it a shot, we’d be glad to see your work.
[...] OPEN SUBS :. Heroicologies Challenge! Discovery .: Available Titles :. .: Coming Titles :. .: RBE’s Published Authors :. Amazon.com [...]
Hello,
I’m game. I’d just like to ask one thing before I get started with my story. Would my story have to feature a girl warrior (like the one pictured), or would it be just as acceptable to feature a male warrior?
Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
Henry
Hi Henry!
‘Feature’ no. ‘Include’ yes. A female warrior like the one pictured must make an appearance in the tale, as well as the black panther, and the jungle setting. Neither of them are required to be featured though, meaning both cat and warrior can be protag, antag, sidekick to either, or one-scene participants. It’s the author’s call, but remember, judges (including the artist) will be judging upon how well the story represents heroic action and how well the story represents the picture.
Thanks for playing!
My thanks, Jason.
It’s completely clear to me now. I’m glad I wrote you. If I hadn’t, I might have gone down the wrong path and written a story that would probably have been dismissed out of hand.
Please expect a submission from me one of these days — well, July or August most likely.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must get cracking on my outline.
Say, this is kind of exciting, come to think of it!
–Henry
Hey Jason,
I was looking through this page and didn’t see anything about length specified. Is there a word range that I’m just not seeing, or is it completely open? Thanks!
The specs that are standard to all Challenge! anthologies are on the base Challenge! page http://www.roguebladesentertainment.com/products/rb-presents/challenge-anthologies/. This page is for the Challenge! Discovery, so it only holds specs specific to it. I probably should bring all the info over here, eh?