Short Story Contest Archives - REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |

2014 Project REUTSway Cultures Reveal

Summer — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 11:00:06 +0000

This month has already been packed with so much excitement, and we’re just getting started! We’ve revealed the overall theme for this year’s fabulous rendition of Project REUTSway–we’re taking you around the world, challenging you to bring the most unique myths and legends from the four corners of the earth.

But with just four days for each challenge, that’s a lot of ground to cover. So today, we’ve decided to give everyone a jump start on this year’s competition! Allow us to present the four cultures for the 2014 Project REUTSway challenges:

–Egyptian

–Celtic

–Asian

–Eastern European

That’s right! So hone your research and brush up on your favorite fabulous tales. But don’t get too comfortable, because we’ll have more twists and turns than a runway strut. If you haven’t refreshed yourself on our submission guidelines and rules (aka terms and conditions), do it now! Because the next time you hear from us, we’ll be announcing the Week #1 challenge, and the clock will be ticking!

ARE YOU IN?

If you haven’t already signed up for VIP notifications, what are you waiting for? As an “official” competitor of Project REUTSway, you will be subscribed to all updates on the PRW site, including a first look at weekly challenges and news!

Follow @ProjectREUTSway and @REUTSpub to get REUTED in this season’s most fabulous writing contest, and use hashtag #ProjectREUTSway to join the buzz!

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Project REUTSway Official Rules

Summer — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 12:16:25 +0000

Well REUTies, we’re getting close! Only two more weeks until the 2014 season of Project REUTSway kicks off! We’ve revealed this year’s theme, shared the fabulous cover for the 2013 anthology (available Oct 31st), and now it’s time to get down to business.

THE RULES:

Each participant will have creative carte blanche to select and adapt his or her favorite tale, as long as the original story is considered a “myth” and falls within the parameters of the weekly challenge. (For the purposes of this competition, we are considering mythology to be defined as cultural legend or folklore for the specified region.)

Participation in every challenge is not mandatory. Each week will present a new palette of material, so choose the fabrics that fit you best or try them all. The choice is entirely up to you!

All submissions must be suitable for YA/”light” NA audiences. We will not accept anything above a PG-13 rating in terms of graphic violence or sexual situations. (Steamy make-out sessions are okay, even encouraged, but this is a fashion-themed challenge, so NO wardrobe malfunctions. The clothes STAY on, people.) Let’s keep it classy, REUTSWriMos.

Be creative. Knock our designer socks off! And above all, HAVE FUN!

Submission files should be named and structured as follows:

TITLE by AUTHOR’S NAME (WORD COUNT).doc (or .docx, .pdf, etc . . .)

The maximum number of submissions per person, per challenge is THREE, and each submission MUST fit within the 2,000 – 5,000 word limit. That part is NON-NEGOTIABLE.

You MUST include the name of the original myth you’re retelling, along with your name, and the story’s word count in the upper left of your manuscript. (Think school papers here, people. Don’t make our judges hunt for your information; proclaim it proudly — a designer label for your words.)
All manuscripts must adhere to standard formatting — (Times New Roman or Arial Font, 12 pt, double-spaced, etc.)

THE PROVERBIAL FINE PRINT: (Otherwise known as Terms & Conditions)

By submitting to Project REUTSway, you are stating that you understand and agree to the following:

By submitting to us, you are stating that your work is entirely your own and you hold the publication rights to it. We will not accept reprints, so your work must be unpublished, either in short story form or as part of a larger work. We won’t go as far as to say you can’t have “sketched” some of the idea(s) before, but please refrain from recycling.
You understand that submitting to this contest may result in the use of first publication rights to your story should it be chosen for either the Official Anthology or the Runner-up Blog Tour. (If you are selected for either prize, you will be contacted, at which time you’ll have the option to withdraw. But unless you officially do so, you have submitted your work with the intent to publish with us, and your publication rights will be affected accordingly.)
Furthermore, submitting to the contest grants REUTS Publications the right to post excerpts of your work (up to 1000 words) for contest features/promotional purposes.
Short stories submitted for consideration cannot be queried elsewhere until after the competition concludes and the winners have been announced, this includes posting online. (Similarly, stories that have been selected for the Runner-up Tour prize — which the author has accepted — cannot be posted to personal blogs or manuscript display websites until AFTER they are showcased.)
Project REUTSway is a non-paying anthology. Winners will receive bragging rights and exposure via the Official REUTS blog or via the published anthology, depending. (Winners featured in the official anthology will receive a complimentary eBook of the finished product, featuring their work with full author credit.)
Failure to follow the submission guidelines/rules listed above will result in disqualification from the contest.

ARE YOU IN?

Add the official Project REUTSway badge to your Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Website, etc…

Follow @ProjectREUTSway and @REUTSpub to get REUTED in this season’s most fabulous writing contest, and use hashtag #ProjectREUTSway to join the buzz!

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COVER REVEAL: Fairly Twisted Tales for a Horribly Ever After

Summer — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 11:25:46 +0000

We’re anxiously awaiting the release day for our 2013 Project REUTSway anthology. Our authors, editors, and illustrators have been working double time to prepare this amazing book! We’re truly amazed and thankful for all of the fabulous talent involved in making the magic happen. With less than three weeks until our Halloween release, we’re thrilled to present the cover reveal for this amazing project!

Summary

When it comes to fairy tales, there are plenty of things that go bump in the night. Things so morbid and grotesque, so sinister and diabolical, they haunt your imagination; warnings from generations past that still manage to terrify.

In 2013, authors came together for the annual Project REUTSway writing competition, penning their own interpretive twists on stories we’re all familiar with. Seventeen were chosen, bringing twenty-five new versions to life. From The Brother’s Grimm to Hans Christian Andersen and beyond, these tales are not the ones you grew up with. They are, however, Fairly Twisted Tales for a Horribly Ever After. Dare to find out what happens when “once upon a time” ends in the stuff of nightmares?

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We Want You!

If you love to write short stories or think you’d like to give it a try, Project REUTSway Season 2 is just around the corner! Week 1 kicks off on November 1st, with a new challenge posted every Sunday. Don’t miss your chance to have your story published in our next anthology!

Learn More About Project REUTSway 2014.

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Project REUTSway Returns for Season Two!

Summer — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 12:39:20 +0000

Once again, it’s that time of year REUTies! As writers all around the country gear up for NaNoWriMo, we’re busy behind-the-scenes, prepping for another fabulous round of short story madness! After an amazing outpouring of participation and support last year, we’re ecstatic to announce the 2nd annual Project REUTSway competition!

Over the next four weeks, we’ll release everything you need to know to participate, including this year’s theme and hints to our weekly challenges. In true fashionista style, contestants will have the opportunity to sign up for VIP notifications and early sneak peeks of the story “patterns.” Are you IN?

But that’s not all! We’ve been burning the midnight oil in preparation for the RELEASE of last year’s anthology! That’s right! Mark your calendars ladies and gents! FAIRLY TWISTED TALES FOR A HORRIBLY EVER AFTER releases October 31st! Filled with amazingly gruesome tales and hauntingly skillful illustrations, this anthology is sure to be a unique addition to your fairy tale shelf. Sign up here to participate in the Cover Reveal on Oct 14th and the Release Day Blitz on Oct 31st.

Don’t miss OUT!

Follow @ProjectREUTSway and @REUTSpub to get REUTED in this season’s most fabulous writing contest, and use hashtag #ProjectREUTSway to join the buzz!

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Project REUTSway Challenge #3: Fairy Tales From Hell – Introducing, This Week’s TOP LOOKS!

Ash — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 15:00:53 +0000

Thank you to all who participated in the third challenge of Project REUTSway 2013!

With your help, we’ve gotten to the point where we don’t even want to TELL people what our collective word count is, because we’re making the other NaNoWrimo groups look bad. (Psst, it’s well over 700,000 by now.)

BUT WAIT. We’re not going to stop there, oh no. We’re going to keep RIGHT ON running with all of this fabulous creativity, until we’ve got ALL the twisted fairy tales we can handle…and more! (Not to mention lifetime rights to brag about how we slayed NaNoWriMo, like the bosses we are.)

Please stay tuned for the FINAL Project REUTSway challenge, which will be so CRAZY and TRANSFORMATIVE that it will make all the previous challenges look like child’s play! Project REUTSway Challenge #4 will be announced Sunday 11/24 at 9:00am EST.

In the meantime, we’ll be damned if you don’t seriously love this week’s TOP LOOKS:

Project REUTSway Challenge #3: Fairy Tales From Hell – TOP LOOKS

(In no particular order, posted in their raw & unedited form)

***

Her face was radiant and shone brightly, but that wasn’t the only change. As she set back on her feet I realized that I was slumped to the floor and she was kneeling before me, covered in the black ichor that was demon blood. Her short dark hair now tumbled to her waist in golden waves, and her big brown eyes, shown brighter than the clearest topaz in our treasury. Her face and everything else was the same, or at least I thought so. Rubbing my gritty eyes, I looked again for the trace outline of wings undulating and shimmering behind her back. Blinking my eyes again, they were gone and her street rat glamour was restored.

“Oh good!” she threw her arms around my neck, peppering my cheek with kisses, “I thought for certain she had eaten you!”

Rubbing my aching temples, I looked at her through squinted up eyes, “What? Why would she eat me? My badassed-ness is too bitter for her!”

Project REUTSway “Fairy Tales From Hell” Top Looks – Excerpt from “Agrabah” by Carly Drake

***

On the day after Corbin’s sixteenth birthday, Father gave him a new apple and a crust of hard bread, handed him his dead mother’s sword, and sent him north to Beastly Manor.

“You knew this day would come,” Father said, kissing Corbin on one cheek, and then the other, while Corbin’s golden-haired sisters hung in the doorway and cried. “It’s a pact I cannot break. For the sake of your sister, you must go.”

Corbin nodded. He was too old to cry, and the sword had been his best companion for the last decade.

“I’m ready, Father,” he said. He hesitated, then gave his father one last, hard hug. “I’m more than ready. I’ll bring you his head, and free Belle from your bargain.”

Father was too old to cry, also. But he wiped tears from his face as he nodded.

“Good lad,” he sad, turning and ushering Corbin’s sisters back into the family cottage. “God go with you.”

Project REUTSway “Fairy Tales From Hell” Top Looks – Excerpt from “Corbin and the Beast” by Sarah Remy

***

He holds me tight, his breath tickling my skin and his teeth on my neck. I’m trapped beneath him, one hand in his hair and the other grasping at his shirt because there is nowhere else I can put them, and there is no place I would rather be. His body is hard and warm against mine, his lips rough; he moves up my neck, to my mouth, and bites, sucking on my bottom lip before kissing me properly. Finally.

I pin him closer, wanting all of this, and I feel him smile against my mouth. It only spurs me on; our actions become heated, our wants driving us over the edge and bringing us so close… so close…

Then he moves, and leans back to hover over me. He keeps his face just a couple of inches above me, teasing me. “What?” I murmur.

“Wake up, Snow,” he whispers, a dangerous gleam in his eyes. It scares me. “And run.”

Project REUTSway “Fairy Tales From Hell” Top Looks – Excerpt from “Unnatural” by Sam Hardy

***

Her soul nearly stripped of brilliance, she sinks to the ground. I hover over her, life-giving energy coursing through my body. I can live forever. The fear of fading away, of being lost to the universe is wiped away. Despair of reaching the end vanishes. The drunks, the blackened spirits, can sustain me, but pure souls can make me immortal. The woman’s eyes fill with life. Her soul flickers, regaining a bit of its light. My eyes lock on her as I step away. Her soul can regain what I’ve taken. Good deeds will add to its brightness — I’ve seen our kind save people from darkness. She may replace enough light to save herself from the burning, it’s possible. But now her soul is tainted.

My gaze sweeps the landscape. Small shops. Restaurants. A bicyclist whizzes along the sidewalk. Waving new leaves, trees line a street that minute by minute holds more cars.

My hunger growls. My body trembles with newfound excitement.

The hunt beckons.

I can survive. The easy targets will always be there, always giving up whatever light they have left. After tasting the pure light, I want more. I turn my back on the streets of addiction, of darkness and face the light. A challenge. Someone to feed me, to keep me whole for a long time, allowing the hunt to continue. That individual will be hard to push into the dark, for the truly good, the ones with power enough to help me along the path to eternal life will have no blackness.

From the shadows, I stalk the humans, gazing into their souls. The sun takes its final leap up into the sky. A group of trees throw long shadows across the grass. Moving silently through the trunks, I creep through the beams of light. My face remains in shadow. My tattered clothes hang loosely from my weak, pathetic frame, but I am strong. I was banished, left here to turn to dust and have found a way to survive.

How many others discovered the secret? How many others roam the world searching, hunting for the light? Those among the stars sing and give praise, never knowing what evil they have set loose on the world.

The Wolf.

Project REUTSway “Fairy Tales From Hell” Top Looks – Excerpt from “Dark Wolf” by Kathleen Palm

***

Project REUTSway PSA: If you weren’t chosen for this week’s Top Looks, don’t worry! You’re still in the running for the final anthology, provided your story met all of the posted submission guidelines. Likewise, if you were chosen for the TL this week, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be a finalist overall.

Keep creating! Keep writing! As they say, it’s still anyone’s game!

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