August 2026 (Issue #47)
[photo here]
The premise for Issue #47 was
LESS
We challenged contestants to write a creative, compelling, well-crafted story between 1,000 and 3,000 words long in which:
One or more characters are trying to have, get, or make LESS of something. Note that for THIS CONTEST ONLY, the maximum word length for contest entries was 3,000 words instead of the usual 5,000.
We received 338 qualified contest entries. Of those entries, six stories won prizes and two more will be published as a “guest writer” entry in September.
Four, or maybe five–that’s up for debate–of this issue’s prize-winning stories are speculative fiction. All seven authors in this issue are new to OTP.
CONTENTS:
Excerpt
FIRST PLACE: Fifty Miles, Pratibha Kumari’s real-world story about a long-distance trucker who needs to change his work habits. (New OTP author.)
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Excerpt
SECOND PLACE: Less Salt, Jennifer A. Cole’s real-world story about a stubborn grandmother’s new dietary restrictions. (New OTP author.)
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THIRD PLACE: Minutes, Anamika Nath’s real-world story about a mother who carefully considers changes to her life before she does, or does not, make them. (New OTP author.)
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Excerpt
HONORABLE MENTION: The Diminishing Bureau of Engineer Pacita Faustino, Avril Shakira Villar’s speculative story about an engineer who invents a kind of shrink ray that doesn’t work quite the way she intended. (New OTP author.)
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Excerpt
HONORABLE MENTION: Eleanor, Minal Shaman’s real-world story about a newspaper journalist facing a difficult deadline, and a difficult subject. (New OTP author.)
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HONORABLE MENTION: Boon, Laura Williams’s real-world story about a case of mistaken identity that leads to a small moral dilemma. (New OTP author.)