Cat Fantasy Short-Story Contest

To celebrate the wonderful new feline fantasy novel The Wild Road, we invited all fledgling writers to send us a cat-fantasy tale of your own, and take a chance at winning a pair of splendid prizes. Stories had to be original, never-before-published, in the fantasy genre, and no longer than 7,500 words. All entrants had to be over age 18, and entries had to be postmarked by February 28, 1998.

Five contest winners, chosen by our judges, will receive a copy of Gabriel King's The Wild Road in hardcover, autographed by the author, as well as a free one-year subscription to Realms of Fantasy magazine. In addition, the five winning stories are now part of this Web site! Read them below.

Three Honorable Mentions have also been chosen--those authors will receive a signed copy of The Wild Road.

THE WINNERS:

"Dogcatcher Dreams" by Gary Every

"Isola Bella" by Betty Gibb

"Separation: The Story of a Cat Named LiThai" by Leona L. Leo

"Resurrection Day" by John Moore

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

"The Spellweaver's Tale" by Michael M. Jones

"Jenny's First Kitty" by Sarah Macht

Guidelines and Rules:

1. Story must be original, unpublished, and no more than 7,500 words. Manuscript must be typed double-spaced, on one side of the paper and with one-inch margins. Your name and address must appear on the first page; name or title on other pages is desirable. Number pages sequentially. Don't bind.

2. Stories should have a cat-fantasy theme.

3. Eligibility: only never-before-published authors are eligible (this refers to novels and short stories).

4. The award is open to all persons over the age of 18, except employees of Random House, Inc.

5. No more than one manuscript may be submitted by an entrant.

6. Entries should be mailed to: Cat Fantasy Contest, Del Rey Books, 201 East 50th Street, New York, New York, 10022, USA. Please include your full name and postal address.

7. Deadline: entries must be postmarked by February 28, 1998.

8. Five winners will receive publication of their submission or portion thereof (as determined by Del Rey editors) on The Wild Road Web site, a signed edition of The Wild Road, and a free one-year subscription to Realms of Fantasy.

9. Del Rey will use due care in the handling of the entries, but will assume no responsibility for any loss or damage.

10. In view of the expected volume of entries, Del Rey Books cannot enter into any correspondence with respect thereto.

11. Del Rey Editors and professionals in the Science Fiction field (herein "the Committee") will select five winners based on skill, as they shall judge in their sole opinion.

12. The award winners will be announced on The Wild Road Web site on March 6, 1998, and an announcement letter will be transmitted to the winner immediately after the public announcement. It shall be a condition of the award that publication of the winning submissions on The Wild Road Web site will occur only after written permissions, acceptable to Del Rey, are signed and delivered to Del Rey by the award winners.

13. This contest of skill is void where prohibited by law.