Weird Tales Contest (Due Date 4 August 2008)

July 28, 2008 — WEIRD TALES ANNOUNCES SPAM-BASED WRITING CONTEST!(posted at www.WeirdTalesMagazine.com)* * *You’ve seen the latest wave of spam — you know, the faux outrageous news headlines: “Osama trains goats for tactical bombing.” “Laika the Russian space dog returns to Earth.” “Children admit to being little shits: Video.” Isn’t it a shame the headline is all we get? So here at Weird Tales we’re inviting YOU to turn this spam into… um… spam-ade!Write a flash-fiction story — under 500 words — based on a spam you’ve received. Send your story to:contest@weirdtales.netbefore 9 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 4, along with the headline that inspired it. The Weird Tales/ /editorial team will judge them, and three winners will be announced at the Weird Tales reception on Friday, Aug. 8 at the World Science Fiction Convention in Denver!The first-, second-, and third-place winners will all be published online at WeirdTalesMagazine.com the week of August 11. The first- and second-place winners will also receive three free issues of Weird Tales; and the first-place winner will also receive an autographed copy of Ekaterina Sedia’s incredible new novel The Alchemy of Stone.(**For those who've already thrown away all their own spam, writer Adam Israel has compiled a humongous collection of spam headlines here: http://battleaxe.net/%7Estone/spam.txt. Be forewarned that adult language abounds therein.)We encourage you to distribute this announcement far and wide. But note: entries from Nigeria will be examined very closely.* * *ABOUT WEIRD TALES: Originally founded in 1923, Weird Tales was the very first storytelling magazine devoted explicitly to the fiction of the dark and fantastic. It provided a literary home for such diverse wielders of the imagination as H.P. Lovecraft (creator of Cthulhu), Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan the Barbarian), Margaret Brundage (artistic godmother of goth fetishism), and Ray Bradbury (author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Illustrated Man). In 2008, Weird Tales and its dynamic new creative team are celebrating the magazine's 85th anniversary, introducing a fresh generation of writers, artists, and storytelling ideas, both in print and at WeirdTalesMagazine.com.

* * *Stephen H. Segal
Editorial & creative director
WEIRD TALES / www.WeirdTalesMagazine.com