[Vintage Season]

On 24 April 2010 I posted a thread about an online, informal writing contest -slash- workshop hosted by sci-fi author Bruce Bethke ("Cyberpunk," Headcrash, etcetera). I literally posted an announcement for the Folk Tales of the Final Frontier challenge on MobileRead as soon as I thought to do so... but since that was a three-week "greater" challenge, folks here only had a one-week warning to meet the deadline.

Since anyone interested in participating needs adequate time to prepare an entry, this thread will be where I keep folks apprised of the current challenges. I will try to keep this initial post up-to-date, with the details of any current challenges and their respective deadlines.

If you would like to participate, lurk, or just read some really good stuff, come on over to thefridaychallenge.blogspot.com. I'll see you there!

- M.

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Folk Tales of the Electronic Frontier
Category: Lesser Challenge
Deadline: "midnight Central time, Thursday, July 1"
Winner: TBA!
... click here to visit the original blog announcement
... click here to read the entries
... and click here to see the results!

Folk Tales of the Electronic Frontier

Let me tell you a little story.

In 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. Everyone knows his famous line about the small step and the giant leap. What fewer people know is his next line, "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky."

Confused, NASA officials tried to figure out who Mr. Gorsky was. He wasn't a Soviet cosmonaut nor a Soviet scientist. He held no position at NASA, not even as a janitor. He wasn't even one of Neil's former commanding officers, college instructors, or school teachers. When questioned, Neil refused to identify Mr. Gorsky, saying it was personal. This, of course, did not stop speculation, and Neil was regularly asked about Mr. Gorsky after speeches and during other public appearances. Every time he was asked, Neil politely refused to answer the question.

Then, in 1996, while Neil was taking questions after a speech in Florida and was again asked about Mr. Gorsky, he said, "I've been asked that question for the last 27 years and have always refused to answer. Well, Mr. and Mrs. Gorsky have both passed away and they had no children, so... The Gorsky's were our next door neighbors when I was growing up. One day, when I was nine, my brother and I were out in the yard throwing a baseball back and forth. My brother threw one over my head and into the Gorsky's yard. As I was picking the ball up, I overheard Mrs. Gorsky saying something to Mr. Gorsky. She said, 'You want oral sex? You'll get oral sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!'"

I loved this story. Truly and thoroughly loved it. I stumbled across it on the internet many years ago and took great pleasure in telling it to friends, family, and co-workers. I was really disappointed when I discovered it wasn't true. It was one of those folks tales for the electronic frontier, otherwise known of as an urban legend.

I'm sure most of you are familiar with some of the more famous urban legends. There's the guy who strapped JATO rocket to his car and ended up smashing into a mountain going a couple of hundred miles per hour. Then there's the one about rattlesnakes in the McDonald's ball pit. And who could forget about the poor guy waking up in a tub full ice with both his kidneys removed?

What do all of these stories have in common? They combine just enough details to imply reality with just enough imagination to grab our attention. The best of them have just enough of the ring of truth that people the world over forward emails recounting the urban legends to all their friends and family. Those of us who are less gullible always have snopes.com bookmarked in our browser.

As you've no doubt guessed by now, your challenge for this week is to write an urban legend. No topic nor person is out-of-bounds. Remember, though, that a true urban legend is rarely, if ever, graphic in its descriptions. You will lose major points if the judges can find your entry at snopes.com now. You'll score major points if your entry ends up on snopes.com sometime in the future. (That won't help you win next week, but it would still be pretty cool.)

As always, we're playing by the loosely enforced and rarely updated Official Rules of THE FRIDAY CHALLENGE, and playing for whatever is behind Door #3. The deadline for this one is midnight Central time, Thursday, July 1.

July 4, 2050
Category: Greater Challenge
Deadline: "(midnight) July 1"
Winner: TBA!
... click here to visit the original blog announcement
... click here to read the entries
... and click here to see the results!

July 4, 2050

As for this month's greater challenge: I'm going back to the well and dipping out one that has worked very well for us before. Quite simply, I want you to imagine that it's July 4, 2050. What does the world look like? What kind of holiday are the people of this nation celebrating today?

Reunification Day, on which we celebrate ridding ourselves of that pesky American exceptionalism and humbly rejoining the community of responsible nations? Defeat Day, on which we celebrate the president's historic trip to Moscow, during which he stunned the world by apologizing for the Cold War and then unilaterally surrendering to Russia? Could this be Oppressed People's Payback Day, the highlight of which is the ritual burning in effigy of an "Uncle Sam" cowboy at the big community bonfire tonight? Or is it perhaps even Dependency Day, on which we celebrate all the blessings of Mammon that Fearless Leader showers down upon we, the little people, who are too weak and foolish to know what's really in our own best interests?

Or maybe, just perhaps, God willing, is this Blood of Tyrants Day?

That's the challenge. We're looking for stories that celebrate freedom, liberty, independence, and all that jazz. For our U.K., Canadian, Australian, and Romanian friends: if the July 4th date doesn't work for you, substitute one you like better. This being a Greater Challenge, we are looking for actual complete stories of at least 1,000-words in length. The deadline for this one is July 1.

Meet My Strange Family
Category: Lesser Challenge
Deadline: "midnight Central time, Thursday, June 24"
Winner: TBA!
... click here to visit the original blog announcement
... click here to read the entries
... and click here to see the results!

Meet My Strange Family

And now for this week's challenge, we turn the microphone over to Kersley Fitzgerald.

Interstellar chick
Giant robot pants on stilts
Nice day for a walk

My brother is an artist. My sister and I text each other in haiku. That caption, if you didn't recognize it, is an acceptable haiku.

This week's challenge is to write a short-short story about the above illustration, which was drawn by my brother, John Tank. Bonus points if your entry is in the form of a particularly clever haiku or limerick, although I'll be impressed by any kind of poem.

As always, we're playing by the loosely enforced and rarely updated Official Rules of THE FRIDAY CHALLENGE, and playing for whatever is behind Door #3. The deadline for this one is midnight Central time, Thursday, June 24.

• • • • • • • •

The Western Pitch
Category: Lesser Challenge
Deadline: ENDED
Winner: Avery
... click here to visit the original blog announcement
... click here to read the entries
... and click here to see the results!

A Truly Fantastic Book Review
Category: Lesser Challenge
Deadline: ENDED
Winner: "For the win, Miko, and tying for runner-up, Avery and Dana!"
... click here to visit the original blog announcement
... click here to read the entries
... and click here to see the results!

Geek Confessional
Category: Lesser Challenge
Deadline: ENDED
Winner: Stephen117
... click here to visit the original blog announcement
... click here to read the entries
... and click here to see the results!

The Land Before ZIP Codes
Category: Greater Challenge
Deadline: ENDED
Winner: The Bandit
... click here to visit the original blog announcement
... click here to read the entries
... and click here to see the results!

tlhutlh Daq Qapla'
Category: Lesser Challenge
Deadline: ENDED
Winner: Avery
... click here to visit the original blog announcement
... click here to read the entries
... and click here to see the results!

Invasion of the Ring-Stealing, Satellite-Snatching Mechanical Zombies From Outer Space!
Category: Lesser Challenge
Deadline: ENDED
Winner: Miko (by default, since his was the only entry!)
... click here to visit the original blog announcement
... click here to read the entries
... and click here to see the results!

Short Attention Span Theater
Category: Lesser Challenge
Deadline: ENDED
Winner: Miko
... click here to visit the original blog announcement
... click here to read the entries
... and click here to see the results!

Folk Tales of the Final Frontier
Category: Greater Challenge
Deadline: ENDED
Winner: Anton Gully (a.k.a. dadioflex)
... click here to visit the original blog announcement
... click here to read the entries (note: the last two entries have been removed)
... and click here to see the results!