Several weeks ago I wrote about a writing competition I had entered with my daughter Crystal. I said there were 5000 entrants, but I was mistaken. The first round only had 4000. Anyway, to survive the first round you had to finish in the top 10 of your 50 person group. My RomCom bit actually shocked me by finishing 3rd in my group, when I had prepared myself for failure.
Here is round 2, in which I now must finish top 5 in a group of 50, all of whom have had top 10 finishes. My genre this time is Sci Fi, and I have to include the action of shivering, and the word never. I have never written anything Sci Fi before, so it’s terra incognito to me.
Aboard the Exoplanet Investigator, the cryogenic system was waking up Lieber. He shivered under the foil blanket and his eyes burned from the intensifying light.
He trembled as he stood for the first time in seventeen years and pulled on his suit. Trillions of miles away, Earth was becoming a hostile environment, and Lieber and others were tasked with helping to find mankind a new habitat. He climbed into his landing pod and sealed the hatch. He would never see home again.
Planet Wolf 1061c kept the same face toward its star, and half broiled mercilessly while the darkened half froze solid. Between the hemispheres was a warm twilit band with liquid water and an oxygen rich atmosphere. It was here his lander descended.
On the contrary, Kamagra generic viagra tab is a general drug used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Always buy your cialis shipping product from the stores, which are licensed, experienced and ensure 24 hour efficient customer care support to solve your queries and grievances. Instead of indulging in these activities extensively, you can reduce their http://amerikabulteni.com/2012/02/04/new-yorkta-super-bowl-finalini-seyredebileceginiz-en-iyi-10-bar/ cialis generic purchase consumption to a limited extent. viagra online pharmacy It can cause low self-esteem as the number one reason why women cheat in a marriage.
Stepping from the landing pod, he was amazed to see lush grasslands and glittering lakes, untouched by malice. His probes found the ground rich in nutrients and the atmosphere warm and breathable. He stood on a mesa high above a vast plain that spread for many miles before him toward a distant rim of intense light. Millions of people could survive here. The gravity was slightly stronger than Earth, but muscles would adjust in time.
Lieber’s hands shook as he wrote his log entry. “Rocky environment. No growing medium for crops. Poor atmosphere, trace toxins, carcinogens in water. Hostile native species, airborne insects. Oppressive gravity. Recommendation: not suitable for settlement.”
The report would reach home in 13.8 years. Wolf 1061c would be better off without us.
Well, I’ll find out in January what the judges thought of this. A few notes: Lieber is Kurt Vonnegut’s mother’s maiden name, and he is my writing hero and he began by writing science fiction. Wolf 1061c is an actual planet that astronomers have identified as having the right conditions for life, and it does keep one face baking in the sun while the other half freezes. After I submitted this story, I went to the store and basically diddled around for a while. Then for some reason I checked for an email from NYC Midnight confirming they got my story, but I didn’t get one. I re-checked the submission form and found it had rejected my story because it had 251 words. I chopped a word out and got it in under the wire. The deadline for submission was 9 pm PST, and I got my confirmation email at 8:55. Whew!