Back in May, I told you how much I was digging recent issues of Weird Tales and its eclectic mix of horror and dark fantasy stories. Now the magazine is sponsoring a writing contest inspired by spam, in which contestants are invited to craft stories based on the fake news headlines that have been cropping up on junk emails lately. Not sure what I’m talking about? Here’s some samples that got caught in the GalleyCat spam filter overnight:
Girl kicks brother to death
Interesting: Talk of Bush Impeachment? Video
Boy eats fried rat, pictures
US athletes banned from Beijing Olympics
So sift through your emails, and if one of those spam headlines inspires you to write a short-short story (500 words or less) by 9 a.m. Monday, send it in! Three stories will be selected for publication on the magazine’s website; the top two entries also get three issues of the magazine, with a signed copy of Ekaterina Sedia‘s The Alchemy of Stone thrown in for the first-prize winner as well.