competitive fiction, part II

This week, I’m going to be presenting the short stories I wrote for the Ceramic DM 2007 writing tournament, which I managed to win. As with the previous tournament, each pair of competitors was presented with a set of images that they were required to integrate into a coherent and compelling short story. Each story is presented here, however, without the initial prompts. Hopefully they stand alone.

Today, the story from round one, A Late Aubade, is a tale of urban fantasy involving one man’s love for a very special tree.

On Wednesday, the story from round two, Three, Two, One, Go is a futuristic take on the 50s, set on Mars.

Thursday brings the story from the semi-final: King of Snake is a wuxia take on a fantasy world filled with spirits and kung-fu masters.

On Friday, the winning story, The Short Story of Esmeralda Santiago, takes on childhood, dreams, love, and loss.

I hope you enjoy each of these stories.