2017 BLOODY PARCHMENT SHORT STORY COMPETITION OPEN

With the current issue of Bloody Parchment available on a Kindle near you, the SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment team is pleased to announce that the 2017 competition is now open. We continue to seek the freshest, disturbing and disconcerting new voices in SFF, with emphasis on tales that wander into the darker side of the storytelling spectrum. While this is chiefly an African short story competition, and is focused on the development of up-and-coming voices, we are open to international entries. There is no entry fee.

Our categories for this year include flash fiction (up to 1000 words); short fiction (up to 4 000 words); and novellas (between 15 000 to 30 000 words). A winner and two runners-up will be picked among the finalists, for possible publication in a collection. Further details to be announced at the final selection.

First prize is a full assessment and round of developmental edits for a novel-length work or short story anthology. Runners-up to receive a full, developmental edit for a short story or novella other than their submission. The aim of Bloody Parchment remains the upliftment and development of new authors and the promotion of science fiction, fantasy and horror in Africa.

What we're looking for: The SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment team is looking for short stories or novellas that fall under the horror and dark fantasy/SF genres. If it's dark, we're interested. So, yes, if you've written a GrimDark tale in a gloomy secondary world, we're interested. Hell, we'll even look at your vampires, so long as they don't sparkle. Cleverly executed alien invasions have legs. That being said, if the story's impact relies purely on gratuitous violence and rape for its punch, rather don't waste our time and yours. Also, for the love of dog, make sure your story falls within the required word count – at least a quarter of our submissions are rejected each year because they do not adhere to the word counts. While we won't reject a well-written submission that's a few hundred words over (there is wiggle room), don't expect us to read short stories that are way off the mark in terms of word count. Multiple entries are allowed, but chances are good that if both your stories make it to the final round, we will use our discretion to select the one that is the best possible fit for the anthology.

If you have any questions, feel free to drop the editor, Nerine Dorman, an email at nerinedorman@gmail.com CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES: OCTOBER 31, 2017 To enter, email your story saved as .doc or .rt format to nerinedorman@gmail.com with "Bloody Parchment 2017" in the subject line. Standard manuscript formatting is absolutely fine (12pt Times New Roman, indented paragraphs, double spacing).

WINNERS: 2016 SA HORRORFEST BLOODY PARCHMENT SHORT STORY COMPETITION

It is with great pride that I bring you the final round-up for the 2016 SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment short story competition.

Taking first place, we have Blaize Kaye, with "Remains of an Old World".

Runners-up are Brett Rex Bruton, with "The Out of Place"; and Lester Walbrugh, with "For Better or Wors".

Our finalists, who have the option of going into the anthology, as well as receiving some extremely useful editor notes to help improve their story-telling overall, with guidance from an editor, include Aito Osemegbe Joseph, Shaun van Rensburg, Erhu Amreyan, Jessica Liebenberg, Toby Bennett, Stephen Embleton, Livingston Edwards, William Burger, Mignotte Mekuria, and Janine Milne.

A very big congratulations to all of you!

We would like to thank this year's judges: Cat Hellisen, Dave de Burgh, Diane Awerbuck, Efemia Chela, Lauren Smith and Sarah Lotz, who had the difficult task of evaluating the short list.

BLOODY PARCHMENT 2016 shortlist

We have our shortlisted stories gone through for judging. A huge thank you this year to our judges: Sarah Lotz, Diane Awerbuck, Cat Hellisen, Dave de Burgh, Lauren Smith and Efemia Chela. I'm hoping to rustle up their answers by mid-May, in which we will announce our finalists, runners-up and winner.

Our shortlisted authors are: 
Aito Osemegbe Joseph
Alexander Clark
Shaun van Rensburg
Erhu Amreyan
Jessica Liebenberg
Dhee Sylvester
Stephen Embleton
Toby Bennett
Kingsley Okpii
Blaize Kaye
Livingston Edwards
Brett Rex Bruton
William Burger
Lester Walbrugh
Mignotte Mekuria
Janine Milne

A huge congratulations, folks, and I wish you all the best!
Our next anthology releases soon; we'll keep you posted.