October 2024 (Issue #44)

The premise for Issue #44 was

EXPERTISE

We challenged contestants to write a creative, compelling, well-crafted story between 1,000 and 5,000 words long in which some kind of expertise plays an important role.

We received over 560 contest entries. Of those entries, six stories won prizes. Two more stories were offered guest writer positions, but only one author accepted. The guest writer story will be published in November 2024 as an addition to Issue 44.

Four of this issue’s prize-winning stories are speculative fiction and two are real-world stories. The guest writer story is also real-world. One of our prizewinners has had a story published in OTP before, and the others are new to OTP.

CONTENTS:

Marjean had found Eric Dunn on a website of white type on a black background, and everything about him said SCAM.

FIRST PLACE: The Impossible House, Dannye Chase’s speculative fiction story about a specialist in communicating with the dead who helps someone who may have bigger problems than either of them recognizes. (New OTP author.)
______________________________________________________

“We’re going home?” Biggest letdown ever. “Why?”

“Spiders.”

SECOND PLACE: The Trouble with Vegan Spiders, Melinda Brasher’s speculative story of a very young scientist helping terraform a planet. (Melinda was previously published in Issue #22, and in mini-contests #25 and #43.)
______________________________________________________

The only person who understood his pain had just died. Behind a fearless facade, they confided in each other that the fire raging within would soon win.

THIRD PLACE: A Winter Classic, Rob Bailey’s real-world story about a professional hockey player who just lost his best friend to a medical problem that he might also have. (New OTP author.)
______________________________________________________

The line of drummers her family came from had won wars with the sonic thrum of their drums.

HONORABLE MENTION: The Drummer Arrives, Busayo Akinmoju’s real-world story about a Nigerian folk drummer who faces one set of problems while learning the drums, and a different set of problems after mastering them.(New OTP author.)
______________________________________________________

Full moon nights are the worst in the emergency department. I mean, every night is bad, don’t get me wrong, but when the moon is full we get the real weirdos.

HONORABLE MENTION: Grimm’s Anatomy, Terri Hamill’s speculative story about what it’s like to work in a hospital’s emergency room in a world where magic exists. (New OTP author.)
______________________________________________________

“With all due respect, Mam,” said Huff. “I believe as twelve-year-old boys, we’re obligated to stir some type of mischief.”

HONORABLE MENTION: Speak Ill of the Dead, Justin Alcala’s speculative story about two kids who investigate a rumor that a certain scarecrow might be alive. (New OTP author.)

Note: Photo by Shane Albuquerque from Pexels