PseudoPod Flash Fiction Contest V Rules and Other Horrors

[mjarvis]

Looks like the competition is going to be fierce! Looking forward to all the stories!

[Schrodingrr]

this is my first trip down in the mire...

Um, rude! The corridors of the Pseudopod dungeons are kept meticulously mire-free, thanks to the insatiable hunger of our roving swarms of maggots.

[Bdoomed]

5 hours left! We have a ton of entries and this is going to be so fun.

Cheers.

[Thunderscreech]

Juuuuuuuuust squeaked in under the guillotine.  This is not a genre I'm comfortable in so this was difficult but damned if I'll miss an opportunity to grow as a writer.  I mean....  the kind of growth I can get without taking classes or reading writing books or all the other things serious writers do to improve.  I'll never miss an opportunity....  to do the minimum effort?  Because I'm a hack, I guess?  That sounds less commendable the more I read it.  Oh, I know, I'll just hit 'Post' then the painful introspection can go away.

[dwarzel]

In with ten minutes to spare...

[Constance]

Good luck everyone! I can't wait to be horrified. 

[Ibba Armancas]

Stoked to get out of my narrator zone and write something! Can't wait to read everyone's submissions!

[Constance]

Newbie question: I was going through past competition threads and realized there are some rules that were mentioned (ex: three votes [per group? per round?], nobody who knows the author can vote for their story), but I couldn't find a current comprehensive list of voting rules. Way back in a 2007 thread there was a link for "judging guidelines," but that's now a dead link. Is there a current link I'm (probably) missing? 

[Obleo21]

this is my first trip down in the mire...

Um, rude! The corridors of the Pseudopod dungeons are kept meticulously mire-free, thanks to the insatiable hunger of our roving swarms of maggots.

Yes, but what do you do when those industrious maggots transform into flies? Do you have a back up beastie?

[Schrodingrr]

this is my first trip down in the mire...

Um, rude! The corridors of the Pseudopod dungeons are kept meticulously mire-free, thanks to the insatiable hunger of our roving swarms of maggots.

Yes, but what do you do when those industrious maggots transform into flies? Do you have a back up beastie?

Are you telling me that you've never once wondered why every member of Pseudopod's staff is made entirely of spiders?

[Bdoomed]

Newbie question: I was going through past competition threads and realized there are some rules that were mentioned (ex: three votes [per group? per round?], nobody who knows the author can vote for their story), but I couldn't find a current comprehensive list of voting rules. Way back in a 2007 thread there was a link for "judging guidelines," but that's now a dead link. Is there a current link I'm (probably) missing? 

You're not missing anything. Each voting round will list the 'three votes' rule (and restrict you to that number even if you try to vote for more).

And if you know the author of another story, you must refrain from voting for it (either by skipping that round entirely if you feel it necessary, or simply by voting for other stories)

[Bdoomed]

Anyway... submissions are over! wooo.

We have 199 total submissions (wow... this is going to be fun) so I'll be posting all the stories over the next week, and we'll get this thing kicked off on September 25th.

This is a lot to tackle no matter how you cut it, so I think this is how we'll break it down.

We'll have 17 initial groups of 11 stories each, and one group of 12.
That will narrow it down to 54 stories for the second round, divided up into 6 groups of 9.
Semifinals will be 18 stories, so 3 groups of 6 which will give us 9 stories for the Final Round.

I hope you're all ready for a long journey!

[ACreamer]

...We have 199 total submissions (wow... this is going to be fun)...
I hope you're all ready for a long journey!

Looking forward to reading everyone's work!

[Not-a-Robot]

...We have 199 total submissions (wow... this is going to be fun)...
I hope you're all ready for a long journey!

Looking forward to reading everyone's work!

Ditto

[astrokath]

Anyway... submissions are over! wooo.

We have 199 total submissions (wow... this is going to be fun) so I'll be posting all the stories over the next week, and we'll get this thing kicked off on September 25th.

This is a lot to tackle no matter how you cut it, so I think this is how we'll break it down.

We'll have 17 initial groups of 11 stories each, and one group of 12.

Whoa, that's a lot of reading! Are you going to be opening groups daily, or every 48 hours like Ocicat did for PodCastle?

[Bdoomed]

Anyway... submissions are over! wooo.

We have 199 total submissions (wow... this is going to be fun) so I'll be posting all the stories over the next week, and we'll get this thing kicked off on September 25th.

This is a lot to tackle no matter how you cut it, so I think this is how we'll break it down.

We'll have 17 initial groups of 11 stories each, and one group of 12.

Whoa, that's a lot of reading! Are you going to be opening groups daily, or every 48 hours like Ocicat did for PodCastle?

Every 48. Daily is too heavy.

[Unblinking]

I am in! I even had to write something new because I didn't have anything unpublished in the range that hadnt been in a previous contest, first new fiction from me in over a year. I didn't even hate it! I look forward to commenting on its thread after its voted out in the first round!

[Bdoomed]

May you yet live to eat those words.

[Frank Evans]

I look forward to commenting on its thread after its voted out in the first round!

I loled at this.

[shawnproctor]

What the heck is going on in those four other threads?

[Thunderscreech]

Spammers.  They show up occasionally to pop out nonsense threads and advertisements.

[InformationIsBeautiful]

What the heck is going on in those four other threads?

I'm guessing it's spam of some kind based on the fact they've got links in their signatures.

More on topic I look forward to seeing what people think of my first complete piece of fiction.

[Not-a-Robot]

More on topic I look forward to seeing what people think of my first complete piece of fiction.

I look forward to reading it. I submitted two of my first stories to the last Pseudopod FFC (last FFC was two stories 750 words each).

[Bdoomed]

Okay, folks. Final tallies are actually in this time, taking into account some withdrawals. Ignore my earlier count, I guess I was lying to you. That's what we do here at PseudoPod towers. Misdirection.

We have 191 stories in 12 different groups. 11 groups of 16, 1 group of 15.

Groups will be posted at 6PM EDT every 48 hours. So you can expect the first group to come live right around then today. (ETA: 18 hours)

I'm excited to be hosting another one of these and I'm thrilled to have so many entries! I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do. You all rock!

[astrokath]

So, it'll be three rounds rather than four?