Yes, you read that right: "And" is your enemy. So too are "or", "but", and all those commaed lists half a mile in length. Anything that...

This month, we've got an especially close race, so much so that we've been forced to add another Honorable Mention. Cool, huh? Our...

Your story must begin at the end of your plotline.

...new (to us) writer Joshua Mannix, and his story " At the Yatai on Kuiper Station Nine "! Well done! As with every such prize,...

Editors' Choice: " Human's Best Friend " by Alex McNall is the editor's pick as the winning theme story for November/December. ...

Write a sports- or gaming-related sci-fi story. Let the competition begin! Well, it's already begun in a number of venues. In the US, the...

Congratulations to our very own J. Millard Simpson for winning the December Reader's Pick with 44 rockets for his story, " Potboiler " --...

Merry Christmas, everyone! When my kids get up on Christmas morning and race to the living room to see what is under the Christmas tree,...

Dorothy Parker never did write the novel she spent half her life pursuing. O. Henry's only long work is "Cabbages and Kings", which is...

Nina Miller, " Lost Citizens of the Fringe " as November's best story, with an amazing 40, count them 4-0 Rockets. Congratulations!!!...

Write a sci-fi story set in a fictional utopian society. I admit I have lost track of what a majority of Americans envision as our ideal...

One of the most frequent topics we chat about in the (metaphorical) smoke-filled lounge labeled EDITORS ONLY is: "What can we do to...

Change can be good, friends, and I'm not talking nickels and dimes here. Most of our writers' stories here at Sci-Fi Shorts are kept...

"Lifetime Subscription" by Guy Lingham is the editor's pick as the winning theme story for July/August.

Write a science fiction story in which the villain or antagonist is an artificial intelligence. This Halloween, there's a lot of scary...

"Because it's there!" -George Mallory, English mountaineer Mars is a barren wasteland devoid of life. There's nothing there, even less...

So many writers are nervous about submitting their stories, afraid of being judged, afraid of putting their work out there and being told...

"Pulling on his pants, he rushed to the door when the doorbell rang, fumbling with the latch." That's an example of False Simultaneity: ...

It would be customary at this time of year to look back at the changes, events, and developments that occurred in the year 2023. Having...

Image Copyright 2023 - SFS Publishing LLC Writing for periodicals is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s also not for the faint of heart,...