All good things must end someday, and this includes The Pete Wood Challenge. After a four-year run and more than 230 published stories, it’s time to close the circus, strike the big top, pay off the roustabouts, and send the elephants off to their well-deserved retirements in The Elephant Sanctuary.
However…
Before we go, there is just one more thing we need you to do.
Four years. More than 230 published stories. That’s a lot. Looking back on it all, it seems like the only fitting way to wrap up The Pete Wood Challenge would be by putting together a book:
The Very Best of The Pete Wood Challenge
What I’d like to do is a reprint collection, putting together in some kind of meaningful order the stories that represent the very best of all the work that has come through the PWC in the past four years. The problem is: how do we define the best?
I can’t ask Pete to do it. He’d want to reprint everything. I can’t afford to do that.
(Yes, the selected authors will be paid for reprint rights.)
I can’t go by site metrics. These are wildly skewed and more than a little suspect. If we went strictly by readership numbers, the single most-read story would be “King of Chrome,” by Travis Burnham, which has drawn more than 3,400 reads!
Or has it? Considering that it’s also drawn thousands of spam comments, I have to think there is something in that story that really appeals to the algorithms of spambots, much as there are things in “Canned Kraken” by Tobias Backman or “Pink Marble” by Zoe Kaplan that continue to draw spam comments galore.
(I will confess, even with all possible spam filters engaged, having to moderate the comments section has taken a lot of the fun out of running this web site.)
Ruling out the obvious spam magnets, it appears the all-time most read stories in the Pete Wood Challenge have been “For Sale: Used Time Machine. No Refunds!” by Roxana Arama and “Songbird, Jailbird,” by Pauline Barmby. But a host of other factors have also affected the readership numbers over time and from challenge to challenge, and so it seemed unfair to me to pick the stories for the collection based solely on metrics. The list would skew towards older stories, as they’ve had more time to rack up reads. Deserving gems might be overlooked, because they were published at a bad time. Less-deserving stories might be included, solely because their authors had really great social media presences. Selecting the very best stories was beginning to seem like an insoluble problem, until I had a thought…
Why not ask you?
And thus, we come to:
The Final Pete Wood Challenge
Here is the complete (we hope) list of every story we have published in the past four years as part of the Pete Wood Challenge. What we want you to do is skim through this list, read anything that catches your interest, and then—this is the tricky part—nominate your choices for stories to be included in the ‘Best of’ collection!
Don’t comment on the stories themselves. I’ve had to lock-down commenting on older posts because of the ever-growing spambot menace. Put your comments in this post, if you don’t mind their being public, or in an email to our submissions mailbox, if you’d rather they were private.
The nominations period closes July 31st. If there are a lot of nominations we may do a run-off to pick the finalists, but I’ll be surprised if that’s necessary. We’re doing this by Chicago Rules: vote early and vote often! Campaigning and log-rolling allowed! Bribes appreciated but not necessary!
Tell your friends! Tell your fans! Tell the people you know who aren’t such good friends but can be cajoled into voting for you anyway! But most of all: READ THE STORIES!
And share the link. Remember, likes and hearts are nice, but shares and retweets get the message out.
Thanks,
Bruce Bethke
Stupefying Stories
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Challenge #38: “Happy Trails”
First Place: “The Marks in the Walls” • by Sophie Sparrow
Second Place: “Farther Galaxy’s Choose Your Own Adventure” • by C. L. Sidell
Third Place: “The Unicorn Farm” • by Carol Scheina
Honorable Mentions:
“May Your Path Be Blessed Forever” • by Jeff Currier
“Flashes” • by Gideon P. Smith
Challenge #37: “Out of Gas”
First Place: “Scavenger Hunt” • by Jeff Currier
Second Place: “Visions in the Jar” • by Sophie Sparrow
Third Place: “A Visit to the Recycling Center” • by Christopher Degni
Honorable Mentions:
“Panne d'Essence” • by Andrew Jensen
“Once With a Blue Moose” • by Lori Jensen
“Parting Ways” • by C. L. Sidell
“What Fuels Us” • by Richard Zwicker
“Do Not Go Gentle” • by Karin Terebessy
Challenge #36: “Pick Two”
First Place: “When the Wind Changes,” by Tobias Backman
Second Place: “Anders in Exile,” by Andrew Jensen
Third Place: “Outside,” by C. L. Sidell
Honorable Mentions:
“The Most Dangerous Game,” by Gustavo Bondoni
“Bitter Return,” by Pauline Barmby
“Talking Turkey with Tom,” by Richard Zwicker
“Hunters,” by Jason P. Burnham
Challenge #35: “The Offseason”
“The Offs” • by Ted Macaluso (1st Place Winner)
“Reflections on Carnival-by-the-Sea” • by Christopher Degni (2nd Place)
“Dangerouser and Dangerouser” • by Sophie Sparrow (3rd Place)
Honorable Mentions:
“Tonight, We Embrace the Dark” • by Gideon P. Smith
“Efficiency Optimization” • by Jeff Currier
“Footprints” • by Robin Blasberg
“Proper Witch’s Home” • by Carol Scheina
“The Sky Will Fall” • by Tobias Backman
“The Ghost of Moscow” • by Sophie Sparrow
“Wandering the Cosmos” • by D.A. Xiaolin Spires
“Towerless” • by Lorraine Schein
INTRODUCTION:
The Space: 1999
story contest wasn’t officially a Pete Wood Challenge competition, but
there was enough overlap that we decided to include those stories in
this index.
Space $19.99! (The initial announcement of the competition)
Follow-up Questions about the Contest
The winning stories, in publication order:
“Today in London History” • by Judith Field
“Pulling Up the Moon” • by Karl Dandenell
“Waxing Crescent” • by Andrew Jensen
“Chasing the Moon” • by Karin Terebessy
“A Curse and a Blessing” • by Jeff Currier
“Must Have Been Moonglow” • by Jeanne Van Slyke
“Happy Anniversary?” • by Andrew Jensen
“A Behemoth Problem” • by Kimberly Ann Smiley
“Cruel, Unusual, and Optional” • by Gustavo Bondoni
“Green Shoots” • by Christopher Degni
“Punch Flavored Punch” • by Yelena Crane
“The Potato Singer” • by Ian Li
“The Sirens’ Salvation” • by Kimberly Ann Smiley
“A Quiet Where Magic Can Grow” • by Kai Holmwood
“A Snail’s Pace” • by Pete Wood
“Floating Light Over the Waves” • by Brandon Case
“Canned Kraken” • by Tobias Backman
“When the Woman in the Forest Says, ‘Please, You Must Help’” • by Elis Montgomery
“Astronaut Countdown” • by Brandon Case
“Summit, in Memory” • by Ian Li
“Like Clockwork” • by Yelena Crane
“Argentina, Before Barcode Scanners” • by Gustavo Bondoni
“A Jackass Walks into a Bar” • by Pete Wood
“Forgetting on Draft” • by Elis Montgomery
“The Triennial Igneous Tri-Partite Competition” • by Pauline Barmby
“Service With a Smile” • by Gustavo Bondoni
“The Draft Horse Doesn’t Leave the Stable at Night Anymore” • by Jason P. Burnham
“To Hell and Back” • by Kai Delmas
“Hosting a Tempest” • by Ian Li
“The Hand That Feeds” • by Tobias Backman
“How to Win at Cards When You’re Sick of Being Queen,” by Elis Montgomery
“The New Familiar” • by Lorraine Schein
Challenge #27: “You Need to Make New Friends”
“Honeybunny and the Embroidery Witch” • by Brandon Case
“Watch Over Me” • by Addison Smith
“It’s Alive!” • by Kimberly Ann Smiley
Challenge #26: “Nine Lives”
“Forced Perspective” • by Kimberly Ann Smiley
“The Moments Between” • by Elis Montgomery
“Runt of the Litter” • by Gustavo Bondoni
Challenge #25: “Desert”
“Rain Dancer” • by Sylvia Heike
“No Justice for Deserters” • by Pauline Barmby
“Treasure Hunting in the Old City” • by Christopher Degni
“Egg Disputes Beneath the Desert’s Quietest Erg” • by Jason P. Burnham
Challenge #24: “Outpost”
“Sending Love,” by Kimberly Ann Smiley
“Lunar Ghosts,” by Sylvia Heike
“Trash-Talking Space Honky Trips Over the Finish Line,” by Brandon Case
“Roadside Stand,” by Pete Wood
Challenge #23: “Static”
“My Name is Static,” by Christopher Degni
“Symmetry,” by Gustavo Bondoni
“Sound Affects,” by Kimberly Ann Smiley
Challenge #22: “Writer’s Block”
INTRODUCTION:
This week we hand the SHOWCASE microphone over to Pete Wood, to present the results of another Pete Wood Challenge. Normally participation in The Pete Wood Challenge is restricted to members of the CODEX online writing group, but this time Pete decided to extend the invitation to participate to the members of the Stupefying Stories Secret Inner Circle as well. His challenge was to write a 125-word flash fiction piece inspired by the words, “writer’s block,” whatever you might interpret them to mean.
Unfortunately Pete interrupted me with this idea while I was in the midst of doing a very important crossword puzzle, so instead of a flash fiction story all I was able to give him was yet another rejection letter, as I have sent him so many before.
___________________
Dear Mr. Wood,
Thank you for your inquiry. Yes, there is a medical treatment for the condition commonly known as "Writer's Block," but I would advise against pursuing it. The treatment is a rarely performed neurosurgical operation called the "Faulkner Procedure," but it has potentially deadly side effects. In a small but significant percentage of patients the procedure at first appears to be successful, but then the patient develops "Joyce Syndrome," which is, tragically, irreversible. After that the only humane option remaining is euthanasia. Unfortunately your stated limit of 125 words is far too short to capture the full horror of seeing someone who was once an intelligent and articulate human being reduced to babbling idiocy by the onset of Joyce Syndrome.
Sincerely,
Dr. Bruce Bethke
Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN
___________________
“Songbird, Jailbird” • by Pauline Barmby
“A 125-Word Story About Writer’s Block in the Style of Italo Calvino,” by Christopher Degni
“Writer’s Blockchain” • by Gustavo Bondoni
“Upon the Writers’ Block” • by Addison Smith
“A New Emancipation Proclamation” • by Chana Kohl
“Androids and Keyboards” • by Marco Cultrera
“Writers Strike Reaches the Office of Predestination,” by Brandon Case
“Inspiration” • by Guy Stewart
“The Hero” • by Eric Dontigney
“A Giant Problem” • by Judith Field
“There Goes the Neighborhood” • by Pete Wood
Challenge #21: “Nepotism”
“Jimboree” • by Christopher Degni
“Power Limits” • by Kimberly Ann Smiley
“Leave the Plasma Gun, Take the Cannoli” • by Brandon Case
“Holding the Fort” • by Gustavo Bondoni
Challenge #20: “Rain”
“Party Trick” • by Kimberly Ann Smiley
“All the Colors of the Rain” • by Gustavo Bondoni
“Rain Falls on (Almost) Everyone” • by Jason Burnham
“A Prayer in the Sand” • by Matt Krizan
“Scarlet Rain” • by Eric Fomley
“Divided Sky, Stolen Life” • by Brandon Case
Challenge #19: “Thanks for Nothing”
“Upgrade,” by Christopher Degni
“Solution,” by Gustavo Bondoni
“The Intergalactic Pocket Phrasebook,” by Mark Vandersluis
Challenge #18: “[character] had never heard of [title of a movie]”
“S’mores Therapy,” by Gustavo Bondoni
“The No-Win Scenario,” by Patricia Miller
“Open the Deck-7 Airlock!” by Jason Burnham
“You Live Long Enough,” by Christopher Blake
Challenge #17: “Reservation”
“Providing for his Family,” by Matt Krizan
“Signs of Life,” by Christopher Degni
Challenge #16: “Haunting Memories”
“The View from the Old Ship,” by Carol Scheina
“Mother Noodges Best,” by Allan Dyen-Shapiro
“Every Day the Music Died,” by Jenna Hanchey
“The First Stage,” by Matt Krizan
Challenge #15: "Ice"
“The Message,” by Helen French
Challenge #14: “Breakdown”
“Kickstarting Fate,” by Patricia Miller
“It’s What You Think,” by Bob McHugh
“Support Issues,” by Mark Vandersluis
Challenge #13: “Second Contact”
“Working His Way Back to Her,” by Matt Krizan
“Terms of Agreement,” by Bob McHugh
“To Boldly Go,” by Carol Scheina
“Warranty Claim,” by Gustavo Bondoni
Challenge #12: The story must take place on a train
“The Trees Blow By,” by Jason Burnham
Challenge #11: It must center on something that is second-hand
“Secondhand Hugs Still Have All the Warmth,” by Carol Scheina
“Middle School Heartbreak,” by Roxana Arama
“Disgruntled,” by Lorraine Schein
“From Soulless to Soulful,” by Jenna Hanchey
“Secondhand Planet,” by Wendy Nikel
“Ties That Bind,” by Melissa Mead
“That Darn, Dear Cat,” by Melissa Mead
“Old Friends, Across Galaxies and the Space Between,” by Jenna Hanchey
“The Annual Times Square Paint Dry,” by Larry Hodges
Challenge #9: “After naughty and nice, Santa had a third list”
“Christmas Collections,” by Matt Krizan
“You Better Watch Out,” by Jason Burnham
“Santa’s List,” by Melissa Mead
“The Santa Paradox,” by Mark Vandersluis
“The Undeliverables,” by Allison Mulder
“The Santa Heist,” by Carol Scheina
Challenge #8: “The Cafeteria Plan Challenge”
“Bargaining Power,” by Mary Berman
“Out With the Old,” by Eric Fomley
“King of Chrome,” by Travis Burnham
The Caferteria Plan Challenge, as described by Pete Wood
Challenge #7: “Incompetent Archaeology”
“Still Life with Elderberries,” by Anatoly Belilovsky
“Getting Performance Up to Par,” by Gustavo Bondoni
“Clowning Around,” by Carol Scheina
“The Memory Excavator,” by Adriana Kantcheva
“Sleeping Beauty,” by Roxana Arama
Challenge #6: “It’s Too Darn Hot”
“At Wit’s End,” by Roxana Arama
“The Secret to a Happy Marriage,” by Carol Scheina
“Too Hot to Handle,” by Ray Daley
“What’s a Monster to Do?” by Melissa Mead
“The Summer of Phoenix Spotting,” by Sylvia Heike
Challenge #5: “I’m Pretty Sure He Wasn’t Our Waiter”
“Just Like Before,” by Carol Scheina
“When Thieves Give You Lemons,” by Duke Kimball
“First Date Magic,” by Sylvia Heike
“Metamorphosis,” by Jonathan Worlde
Challenge #4: “Tourist Trap”
“Crush Depth,” by Hayley Stone
“Far Side of the Moon,” by Zack Lux
“How Not to Save Your Marriage,” by Cécile Cristofari
“Roy’s Playland — Half-price on Weekdays!” by Eric Fomley
“Day Trips to Purgatory: Buy the Total Experience Package!” by Alicia Hilton
“History is Alive and Well,” by Roxana Arama
“Have Earthlings, Will Travel,” by Jonathan Worlde
“The Family Business,” by Carol Scheina
Challenge #3: “For Sale: Used Time Machine. No Refunds!”
Challenge #2: “Wish You Were Here”
“Two lost souls and a fishbowl,” by Cécile Cristofari
“My Fair Claritin Lady,” by Gretchen Tessmer
“O, Brother,” by Filip Wiltgren
“Wish You Were Here,” by D. M. Beucler
“Long-Distance Relationship,” by Carol Scheina
“Worlds Enough and Time,” by Jonathan Edelstein
“Are There Cats on Mars?” by Jonathan Worlde
“Machine Learning,” by Sylvia Heike
Challenge #1: “Would you like fries with that?”
“The Dying Pool,” by Melissa Mead
“High School Drama,” by Paul Celmer
“Two All-Meat Zombies,” by Gretchen Tessmer
“Untitled,” by Anatoly Belilovsky
“Ringing in Her Ears,” by Ephiny Gale
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