Vocies/Future Tense is proud to join the The Orion’s Arm Universe Project in sponsoring the 2008 Novella Contest. There will be Five (5) winners will be announced in December 2008 at www.orionsarm.com, and here at V/FT. You could win cash and the opportunity to be published in the first annual Orion’s Arm Universe Project book.


Deadline for submissions: 09/30/08

Prizes: Each of the five winners will receive a $200 (USD) cash prize, and a royalties contract to correspond with their publication in the first annual Orion’s Arm Universe Project paperback book. A collection of short stories set for release in summer 2009.

Entry Guidelines:

  • Contestants must be at least 18 years of age to participate.
  • The competition is open to manuscripts at least 20,000, but not greater than 25,000, words in length. Entries outside the word limitation will be disregarded. Type the word count on the first page of your entry along with your name, address, phone number and email address.
  • Only one manuscript per author will be selected for inclusion among the finalists.
  • All entries must be in English, original, unpublished, and not submitted or accepted elsewhere at time of submission.
  • Orion’s Arm Universe Project, Inc. reserves the right to electronically publish all entries in the October 2008 edition of Voices/Future Tense.
  • All entries must be set within the Orion’s Arm universe as outlined at www.orionsarm.com. Entries using subject matter outside established OA Canon will be disqualified. We want to clarify that this does NOT mean that as an author you cannot submit new ideas, worlds or characters, we simply ask these fall within the confines established by the Canon in order to be compatible with the Orion’s Arm universe.
  • All entries are to be submitted via email sent to orionsarm1@aol.com as an MS Word document attachment with “Novella Contest Entry” as the subject line . You will receive a confirmation email upon receipt of your submission.
  • In addition to the electronic submission a signed copy of the Authors Contract must be sent to the Orion’s Arm Universe Project offices located at:
    Orion’s Arm Universe Project, Inc.
    Attn: Chris Shaeffer
    4202 Tree Crossing Parkway
    Hoover AL 35244
  • All contracts and entries must be received by midnight, central standard time, September 30, 2008.
  • The contest is open to all members of the Orion’s Arm Universe Project including all members of Orion’s Arm Worldbuilding Group, Café OA, and Orion’s Arm Celestia Group except as noted in item 11.
  • THIS CONTEST SHALL BE GOVERNED IN ALL RESPECTS BY THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF ALABAMA WITHOUT REGARD TO ITS OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION’S CONFLICT OF LAWS PRINCIPLES. THE SOLE VENUE AND JURISDICTION FOR DISPUTES ARISING FROM THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE THE APPROPRIATE COURT WITHIN HOOVER, ALABAMA, AND CONTRIBUTOR AND THE ORION’S ARM UNIVERSE PROJECT INC. BOTH IRREVOCABLY AGREE TO SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF SUCH COURTS.
  • Winners will be selected by popular vote as tabulated by our friends at Voices/Future Tense. Chris Shaeffer (Secretary of the Board) and Bill Ernoehazy (Editor, Voices/Future Tense) will serve as final arbitrators and as such will be excluded from entering the contest.

    • Distributors that will be carrying the book in its final form:
    Ingram
    Amazon.com
    Amazon.co.uk
    Borders.com
    Barnes&Noble.com
    Powells.com
    Froogle
    Alibris
    Baker&Taylor
    Abebooks
    Gardners
    BAMM.com
    Bertram Books
    Nacscorp
    Orionsarm.com

    Simple Suggestions to Improve Your Odds:
    Write. Successful entries will have original ideas, strong characterization, fidelity to the OA canon, and appeal to the sense of wonder. Stories must be clear and understandable.
    Share. Post your developing story as it progresses at the Café OA for reviews and critiques by your peers. This really is a phenomenal tool that will allow those who use it to progress leaps and bounds beyond those that do not. Maybe that great text you have written works for you, but nobody else understands it. Maybe the science is faulty or you have misused features of the project. This is the place to work out those bugs.
    Know your audience. Do your research and ask questions in the discussion groups. Don’t let yourself to be disqualified simply because your story is outside Canon. This is another reason to follow suggestion #2. If you’re new to the Orion’s Arm scenario we suggest starting with our introductory material found at the Welcome page in order to get up to speed.