The contest will be taking submissions beginning March 1, 2021, and ending on March 31, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. EST. I'll be the Guest Editor for the contest.
Each author may submit one original fantasy story of 500 words or less. Stories will then be sorted into groups, anonymized, and posted to our forums for all to read and vote on in a tournament-style contest. The three winning stories will be purchased at our usual payment rate, USD $0.08 per word, and the stories will be run together as an episode of PodCastle. Note that stories will be published on a members-only section of the forums, so first publication rights will not be expended by participating in the contest.
Authors are allowed to vote in the contest, including for their own stories! However, no one else who knows which story is yours is allowed to vote for it! This includes friends and family members. If you are sharing a computer, living space, or router with someone else who will be voting or creating an account, make sure to message me, and include who else is voting and if they know anything about your story. Failure to do so may result in your story being disqualified.
Author names will be revealed once a story has been eliminated from (or won) the contest.
Submit entries via this link