Honorable Mention—Summer 2021 Supernatural Fiction Award
“Lara’s basement was a dank, unwelcoming place. The fireplace was plastered over, the window a thin rectangle that looked up through a grate. It had no furniture and little light, and Lara doubted that any person could improve it. But the lodger seemed unbothered. “Trust me,” he said, “I’ve seen much worse.”
“It was only then that Lara remembered to ask his name. “Since,” she said, suddenly shy, “you’ll be living here and everything.”
Our Short Story Competition Winners Feature Sex And Santería, The Devil Himself . . . And Some Cannibals With Artistic Tastes
We’ve selected three fine short stories as the winner and two honorable mentions in the Summer 2021 Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award competition. Accompanied by original illustrations from artist Andy Paciorek, all are now available for your reading pleasure right here.
In addition, these three pieces will also be included in our print anthology, 21st Century Ghost Stories: Volume II, due out from Wyrd Harvest Press (Durham, U.K.) in September. Cheers.
Our Summer 2021 Supernatural Fiction Award competition deadline has come and gone, and here at TGS, we’re reading like crazy. And on June 21, we will both announce and publish the winner and two honorable mentions.
Not only will all three stories be published, with illustrations, on our website, but they will also be included in our print anthology, 21st Century Ghost Stories—Volume II, which is due out from Wyrd Harvest Press (Durham, U.K.) early this fall.
It’s always an exciting time when we reveal the winners of one of our contests—but because the anthology only comes out every three years, this is an especially thrilling time for us.
If you submitted a story to the contest, you’ll be hearing from us soon. Everyone else . . . you’ve got some great reading coming in the near future.
The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition was an American sweep this time around. “Straw Dogs,” by American writer Mona Susan Power, is the Screw Turn winner for 2021. Our honorable mention winners are Scott Duncan, of California, for his story, “Wake Up Gringo,” and Marie Raven, an American living in Norway, for “Here Be.”
Each year, The Screw Turn contest awards publication and cash prizes for excellence in supernatural fiction of under 1,000 words. For your reading enjoyment, all three stories are posted below, as well as on the Screw Turn Story Page.
Meanwhile, our contest for full-length supernatural short stories of up to 10,000 words, The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award, opens for submissions on February 15, with a deadline of April 30. If you’re a writer of supernatural fiction, have a look at our competition guidelines.
Volume II of our print anthology, “21st Century Ghost Stories,” has just been published. It contains all of our Summer 2018 to Summer 2021 winning and honorable mention stories from The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award contest and The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition—30 fine supernatural short stories in all!
