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Could you use a cold $1,000? Are you a good writer?

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

fiction-contest-slipThen why haven’t you entered our 2010 Fiction Contest? The deadline is this Friday at 5 p.m., and the theme is “slip.” First prize is $1,000! Winners will be published in Creative Loafing and honored at an awards ceremony. For all the information, click here.

CL Fiction Contest party!

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

Join us on Thursday, January 8 at Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery as we celebrate the winners from the eighth annual Creative Loafing Fiction Contest. This year’s event will include readings from all of winners, refreshments, live music, and so much more. This CL event is free to the public and will kick off at 7 p.m.


More details to come!

Pop! goes the 2008 Creative Loafing Fiction Contest

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

It’s that time of year again folks – Fiction Contest time! And we know that given the current economic situation (there’s some serious cash at stake here people), there are more starving artists out there than ever.

So, submit a manuscript of no more than 3,000 words either as a hard copy to our offices or online. All works of fiction must in some way incorporate the word “pop” — as a theme, a metaphor, whatever. You can use the word as any way you like; just use it well. Originality is encouraged, and the word count is enforced.

Click on the image below for more details or to submit an entry.

Pop! goes the 2008 Creative Loafing Contest

Monday, November 17th, 2008

It’s that time of year again folks – Fiction Contest time! And we know that given the current economic situation (there’s some serious cash at stake here people), there are more starving artists out there than ever.

So, submit a manuscript of no more than 3,000 words either as a hard copy to our offices or online. All works of fiction must in some way incorporate the word “pop” — as a theme, a metaphor, whatever. You can use the word as any way you like; just use it well. Originality is encouraged, and the word count is enforced.

Click on the image below for more details or to submit an entry.

Pop! goes the 2008 Creative Loafing Fiction Contest

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

It’s that time of year again folks – Fiction Contest time! And we know that given the current economic situation (there’s some serious cash at stake here people), there are more starving artists out there than ever.

So, submit a manuscript of no more than 3,000 words either as a hard copy to our offices or online. All works of fiction must in some way incorporate the word “pop” — as a theme, a metaphor, whatever. You can use the word as any way you like; just use it well. Originality is encouraged, and the word count is enforced.

Click on the image below for more details or to submit an entry.

Pop! goes the 2008 Creative Loafing Fiction Contest

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

It’s that time of year again folks – Fiction Contest time! And we know that given the current economic situation (there’s some serious cash at stake here people), there are more starving artists out there than ever.

So, submit a manuscript of no more than 3,000 words either as a hard copy to our offices or online. All works of fiction must in some way incorporate the word “pop” — as a theme, a metaphor, whatever. You can use the word as any way you like; just use it well. Originality is encouraged, and the word count is enforced.

Click on the image below for more details or to submit an entry.

Pop! goes the 2008 Creative Loafing Fiction Contest

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

It’s that time of year again folks – Fiction Contest time! And we know that given the current economic situation (there’s some serious cash at stake here people), there are more starving artists out there than ever.

So, submit a manuscript of no more than 3,000 words either as a hard copy to our offices or online. All works of fiction must in some way incorporate the word “pop” — as a theme, a metaphor, whatever. You can use the word as any way you like; just use it well. Originality is encouraged, and the word count is enforced.

Click on the image below for more details or to submit an entry.

CL’s Fiction Contest: We’ll have music and everything!

Friday, December 14th, 2007

duet1.jpg(Photo courtesy http://duetonline.net)

We’re pleased to announce more reasons for folks to come check out our annual Fiction Contest party at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10, at Eyedrum. Not only were we blessed with a record number of submissions this year, but we’ve also got some cool sponsors (Café Intermezzo, Chattahoochee Review) and cool judges (David Fulmer, Joshilyn Jackson, Fiona Zedde).

Now we’re a bit geeked to have confirmed one of the more mood-enhancing musical acts in town in the form of Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel. Featuring Scott Burland (pictured, at right) on theremin and Frank Schultz on lap steel, this duet is often described as experimental, ambient and minimalist — their music seems to come more in surges and streaks, strains and swoops, with stops and starts thrown in for good measure. You might call it sonic! It’s intoxicating stuff that stands on its own or as a heady soundtrack behind the winning entries, which will be read by the winners at the end of the evening.

Check out this U.K. appearance …

Fiction Contest: Y’all are messed up

Friday, November 30th, 2007

scratch-ad.jpgWell, we’ve heard from you loud and clear, and we here at CL would like to make one humble suggestion to our blossoming literary scene: Get help.

Seriously, y’all are messed up. That’s as simple as we can put it, judging from the entries to our seventh annual Fiction Contest — the (extended) deadline of which passed on Wednesday. The theme is “scratch,” and let’s just say the entrants took the notion and ran with it in every manner possible. There’s the scratching of the itch (with images too vivid to recount here), Old Scratch (a particular favorite), scratching on the eight ball in pool, scratch as in money. Now, I didn’t read all of them — thank you, thank you, thank you, CL staff — but I don’t recall it being used in the racetrack vernacular (as in scratching, or removing, a horse from a race), although I’m sure every other angle was covered. And this stuff was so gothic, so dark, so supernatural, so … icky … we just wonder if we’ve opened some wounds with this one.

Best of all, from rudimentary research, we’ve learned our submission total of 240 is an all-time best. And our apologies for any confusion caused by the extended deadline, which resulted in a FLOOD of extra entries. Now comes the judging phase; and as we mentioned in a previous PopSmart post, we’ve got an impressive lineup: Fiona Zedde, Joshilyn Jackson and David Fulmer.

Now, onto the next phase: the party! We’re scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 10, at Eyedrum. We’re working furiously to set up the appropriate musical and other ambient moods, and of course there will be refreshments aplenty. Mark it on your calendar; it’ll be the first cool literary event of the new year, so don’t scratch it off your list …

CL Fiction Contest: Deadline extended!

Friday, November 23rd, 2007

Yes, you read write on our homepage: The deadline for the annual Fiction Contest has been extended. We figured with the holiday looming people might feel hard-pressed to make the deadline and their oyster stuffing, so we thought we’d make it easier on folks (and harder on our judges!).

Keep ’em coming!

2008 Fiction Contest: A late ‘Scratch’

Thursday, October 25th, 2007

fiction_header2.jpgForgive us for dragging our heels a bit around here at CL, but at last we’re ready to announce our annual Fiction Contest. This year’s theme, “Scratch,” follows in our now-seven-year tradition of allowing Georgia writers a chance to take one simple word and really run with it — all the way to a 3,000-word short story that will have our readers green with envy.

The rules (posted below) are pretty simple, with the main requirement being a Georgia resident’s ability to weave the word “scratch” (or certainly the idea of the word) into a compelling, original narrative. It could be scratch as money, as the dreaded play in a game of pool, as getting eliminated, taking care of that itch. A metaphor. A vivid image. As the writing coaches demand: Never bore.

Deadline is 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 21 (firm!). Winners will be chosen in December by a panel of celebrity judges from the literary community, and their selections will be published in the Jan. 10, 2008, issue of Creative Loafing and celebrated at a party that week at Eyedrum.

To submit your story, simply visit atlanta.creativeloafing.com/fiction, fill out the form and include all your relevant information (name, address, phone number).

Good luck, and don’t forget to scratch that itch.

Also don’t forget to check out last year’s winning entries!

Fiction contest rules:
1) Stories must reference the “Scratch” theme in some fashion, even tangentially. Originality counts.

2) Writers must be Georgia residents.

3) Stories must be no more than 3,000 words.

4) Three winners will appear in the Jan. 10 issue of Creative Loafing.

5) If entry is being submitted via snail mail, send one copy of a typed, double-spaced, unpublished manuscript. List your name, address, phone number, e-mail address and title of the story on the cover page only. Please staple all pages together. Be prepared to submit the story electronically if chosen for publication.

6) One story per entrant.

7) Judges will make their decision based on originality, style and literary quality.

8) Manuscripts must be the original work of the entrant, unpublished and not currently under consideration for publication. No excerpts from longer works will be considered, nor will stories previously entered in a CL Fiction Contest.

9) Do not send originals. Entries will not be returned.

10) Staff members of Creative Loafing Inc. and current freelancers are not eligible to enter.

11) The author retains copyright, but Creative Loafing reserves the right to publish entries in both its print and online editions.

12) All entries must be received by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 21. No exceptions, so don’t ask.

13) Finalists will be contacted by e-mail or phone on or around Dec. 23.

14) No phone calls, please.

Gore spirit slumbers

Monday, February 19th, 2007

Last Friday night at Manuel’s, Tom Webb had the microphone in the back room, exhorting the crowd to draft Al Gore for president in 2008.

"He’s the perfect candidate," Webb told an emptying barroom of patrons.
"You know Al Gore is the best-qualified person to be president," he added.
There was no objection to the statement, but neither was there a sense anyone took it seriously. Still, there was no rallying cry for "Hillary" or "Dodd" from the drooped heads up at the bar.

Between guitar and singing acts, Webb was a little more impassioned even as the crowd was a little smaller and a little more unimpassioned — or disoriented.

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