June 2025 (Issue #45)
The premise for Issue #45 was
SOMEWHERE ELSE
We challenged contestants to write a creative, compelling, well-crafted story between 1,000 and 5,000 words long in which someone or something important to the story is not where it/they always have been, or where it/they would be expected to be located, or is in the process of changing location from where it/they have always been.
We received over 570 contest entries. Of those entries, six stories won prizes.
Four of this issue’s prize-winning stories are speculative fiction, one is definitely set in the real world (though in the past), and the other… we’re not sure about. All six authors in this issue are new to OTP.
SPECIAL NOTE: This issue is dedicated, with gratitude, to Frank Dutkiewicz, who took over most of the duties required to make this contest (and this issue) happen while the co-publishers were preparing to retire overseas. Without him, this issue wouldn’t exist.
CONTENTS:
Everyone at the office is trying to wrap up loose ends before quitting time, but all Todd can think about is his wife.
FIRST PLACE: Gone, Stetson Ray’s speculative story about people who go missing. (New OTP author.)
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It was an ocean of stuff, rising to the ceiling, pinning Maggie in place.
SECOND PLACE: Her Mother, Reflected, Marlaina Cockcroft’s speculative story about a woman whose mother is a hoarder. (New OTP author.)
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Now neither garage door opens. I can’t get my car out.
THIRD PLACE: A Signal Echoing Through Radiospace, Zach Edson’s speculative story about a house that might be haunted. (New OTP author.)
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GranGran didn’t know I was leaving tomorrow. I’d told no one. But somehow the Sparrows found out.
HONORABLE MENTION: Eye on the Sparrow, Liz Mayers’s story about female gang members. (New OTP author.)
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AJAX disappeared around the far side of Jupiter. It would be a nerve-wracking five hours before they would pick up the signal again.
HONORABLE MENTION: Jupiter Rises, John M. Campbell’s story about an automated satellite surveying the planet Jupiter. (New OTP author.)
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Her Ford Falcon isn’t in the garage.
HONORABLE MENTION: Where’s Sparky?, Nancy Werking Poling’s story of a housewife who has disappeared. (New OTP author.)