EVE Fiction

Edit Oct. 27: The entry period has closed, writers are done. Congratulations on completing your fiction works, all! 46 new and original Eve fiction stories entered. Check them out here. Judges now getting to work, results are expected in the next few weeks.

Hi all,
Probably around October, the Pod & Planet EVE fiction contest will open and run for a month. It's in its fifth year, and people have submitted some truly amazing stuff over the years. And a lot of them submitted with the preface, "This is my first time trying something like this, I've never written any fiction before."

So, since quite a few people know about the event, and are probably already working on stories for it, I just wanted to post this FYI. The prizes pool might be about 60 bil isk or so, but that's just filthy lucre. Prizes, no prizes, the fun of the event is everybody writing, having their stories read by many people, seeing how they fared with the judges, and hopefully being inspired to write more. Here's last year's contest site, with information. The rules will be the same this year. So if you want to start writing up 100 entries that fit into that framework, feel free and start now!

Any questions or comments, please just say in this thread. o7

Cool and o/, Korsavius, looking forward to the reading! If you can, bring a newbro writer with you!

That's sounds really interesting! I think I'll try to join!

Nice! Unfortunately, to be considered in the competition, an entry has to be 5,000 words or less. But there will be a section for posting and sharing non-competing works (the "Reading Bank").

For this contest, the story can't have been publicly posted anywhere else before.* But if you're trimming an 11,000 word chapter down to a 5,000 word stand-alone story, that would be eligible for entry. It would basically be a new work.

*Reason: The first year of the contest, EON magazine was going to publish the winning story in their next edition. They didn't want to publish something that people had already read on the internet. In later years we had to stay with the rule, because the prize pool was pretty big, and people wanted to enter stories they'd written years before to get a chance at winning a prize. That could open the door to many, many Eve fiction stories that have been written over the years. The judges already have 60-100 new stories to read; opening the door to a possible flood of older stories too is too much to ask of them.

Bump for the Pod and Planet Contest.

Endorsed by the High Drag Podcast!

Sam, would you be kind enough to include a PLEX from High Drag into the prize pool?

Would Napanii-language translations of existing fiction be considered?

We're live writers! (See Telegram Sam's original post edit.)

Grab your pencils and get cracking!



Edit for Prize Update:

Prize pool currently totals a drop over 54 bil ISK. Prizes will be a mixture of ships, nice item loot,
and raw ISK. The detailed mix for each category will be shake out as we go along.
(Note - the sanguinary theme emerged on its own as our various sponsors donated items.)
Amounts are rounded down so you may receive bonus blood infusion at the end. Check back often,
all the way until judging is complete and winners are announced. Kind and cheerful people tend to
donate additional loot as the contest progresses.
​
Grand Prize
Plex, 3 Bhaalgorn, Skill Injector & Liquid ISK = 7.5 bil
This prize usually goes to the best story in the 8,000 Suns canon-faithful category, but if a story from
either of the other categories gets a score that really outstrips the best in 8,000 Suns, it could steal it.

8,000 Suns in New Eden
1st Prize - 2 Bhaalgorn, Skill Injector, Dark Blood Medium Energy Nosferatu & Liquid ISK = 5.9 bil
2nd Prize (there will be two of these) - Ashimmu, Dark Blood Medium Energy Nosferatu & Liquid ISK = 3.7 bil
3rd Prize (there will be three of these) - Ashimmu, Dark Blood Medium Energy Nosferatu & Liquid ISK = 2.1 bil

A Day in the Life
1st Prize - 2 Bhaalgorn, Skill Injector, Dark Blood Medium Energy Nosferatu & Liquid ISK = 4.3 bil
2nd Prize (there will be two of these) - Ashimmu, Dark Blood Medium Energy Nosferatu & Liquid ISK = 2.7 bil
3rd Prize (there will be three of these ) - Ashimmu, Dark Blood Medium Energy Nosferatu & Liquid ISK = 1.6 bil
​
​Other Things Just Make You Swear and Curse
1st Prize - 2 Bhaalgorn, Skill Injector, Dark Blood Medium Energy Nosferatu & Liquid ISK = 2.7 bil
2nd Prize - Ashimmu, Skill Injector, Dark Blood Medium Energy Nosferatu & Liquid ISK = 2.1 bil
3rd Prize - Ashimmu, Skill Injector, Dark Blood Medium Energy Nosferatu & Liquid ISK = 1.6 bil
​
​Honorable Mention
(there will be eight of these) - Cruor & Liquid ISK = 540 mil
Across category prize chosen from top-scoring entries
​
Best Entry by a New Writer
'Nightstalker' Goggles, Cruor, Dark Blood Medium Energy Nosferatu & Liquid ISK = 1.08 bil
Across category prize awarded to the top scoring entry by an author who has never won a prize in a Pod and Planet contest
​
Thank you for the prizes and o7, generous sponsors and donors!

From Telegram Sam's website (see original post):

How to Submit Your Work

​1) Post your story somewhere on the internet where it can be accessed by the judges and readers. Examples: The EVE Fiction forum, pastebin, Medium, or any free blog host such as Wordpress or Blogger. The URL will be shared with the public, so don’t post in a password-protected place.

2) Send Telegram Sam an EVEmail with:
-The author's name
-The story's title
-Which category the story should be entered in
-The story's word count
-Your confirmation that it's your story and hasn't been posted/published before
-The URL link to where the story is posted.

Email with my own submission sent to Telegram Sam.

Was fun to write, but it was hard to hit that submit button! Please be gentle

Good luck to everyone and thank you to all the judges for taking the time to read trough all the entries!