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INNOVATION: a second-place win!

I am so very chuffed to be able to finally announce that my 300 word flash fiction piece, “Dragonslayer”, placed second in the 2020 annual flash fic contest from Queer Sci Fi. The fact that it is included in an anthology with some of my personal idols has me vibrating on a molecular level.

IN-NO-VA-TION (Noun)

1) A new idea, method, or device.

2) The introduction of something new.

3) The application of better solutions to meet unarticulated needs.

Three definitions to inspire writers around the world and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell. Here are 120 of our favorites.

Innovation features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.

Series Blurb:

Every year Queer Sci Fi holds a flash fiction contest that solicits stories from writers around the world, and publishes the best stories as an annual anthology.

Non-Exclusive Excerpt:

“The fields are overgrown, have been for years with all the Bios underground. The wind kisses the grass in serpentine patterns long forgotten, patterns the Bios couldn’t imagine anymore. My mechanical hand stores the seed envelope in the mechanical pocket in my androgynous torso. In these suits, there is no gender. Gender is, always has been, in the mind. And I am finally, unequivocally, female.” —Seed, by Val Muller

“No one in the village knew what the Change would bring. They never saw it happen. They only knew what they had been promised: the Change would bestow three gifts.” —A New Way, by Rory Ni Coileain

“The girl kissed her, hard. Then backed away, grinning, teasing, drawing her to the end of the hallway and a flight of stairs leading downward. She took two steps and gazed back up at Lilian, one hand outstretched. Her brilliant red lipstick wasn’t even smudged. Her skin glowed in the harsh white torchlight.” —The Thing With the Bats, by Mary Francis

“Interspecies sex is outlawed on the Freespec Interplanetary Space Station. Politicians call it a safety measure. But I’ve been in the Medical Corps for half my lifecycle, and I call it criminally negligent prudery. Leaders would rather let innocents die needlessly—punctured by sperm darts and dissolved in sacks of voltaic pleasure mucus—than give them the knowledge to express their feelings safely.” — Are My Underwater Sperm Darts Normal?, Brenna Harvey

“The bell’s brassy gong echoes through the flat; the walls blush crimson. See, see! He’s at my door. The live feed shows him sniff his armpit; cup his breath. He wants to impress, but I’m impressed already. His lips softly part; he brushes them with stubby fingers, as he waits. Ugly fingers. Ugly hands. Scrawny neck. Milky eyes. But those lips, see, they’re perfect, just perfect. Plump n’ pale, a slither of my future.” —Just perfect, by Redfern Jon Barrett

“Lekke looked down over the valley, First People’s home for as long as any tales or dreams could tell. Now only Spirit Dreamer Manoot, neither he nor she but both, and Lekke, elder healer, were left. Lifetimes of Long-legs’ raids had driven First People to their deaths—or, some few, to the Way. If there truly was a Way.” —Going Back,” by Sacchi Green

“Savinna limped into her lover’s workshop, her hip still sore from tangling with the marabbecca which had knocked her into its well before she managed to kill it. Such was the life of a monster hunter. Not at all surprised to see Larissa hunched over her bench, hard at work tinkering with something, Savinna ghosted her hand over Larissa’s back.” —Those Who Hunt Monsters, by Jana Denardo

“The baby cried as Freya lowered the bartering bucket into the wishing well. Many had come to the tree-shrouded clearing to make exchanges—a bushel of azure apples for a sword, a woven blanket for a day of rain. The well had been the final creation of a thousand-year-old inventor. But dead wizards often don’t anticipate how their gifts birth consequences.” —The Bartering Bucket, by Diane Callahan

Giveaway:

Queer Sci Fi is giving away your choice of a $20 Amazon gift card OR a print copy of four of the other five flash fiction books in the series – Flight, Renewal, Impact, and Migration (US only unless you are willing to pay the shipping outside the US) with this tour. Enter via Rafflecopter: a Rafflecopter giveawayhttps://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d47138/?

Buy Links:

Publisher: https://www.otherworldsink.com/book/innovation/

Amazon eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08D2M9NXX/

Amazon Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DSR7H1M/

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/innovation-j-scott-coatsworth/1137348374;jsessionid=B6173CB4BC3505B7042A4C867C2A0DCD.prodny_store02-atgap07?ean=2940164607074

iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1523783080

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/innovation-24

Author Bio:

120 authors contributed stories for this volume:

  1. Adrik Kemp

  2. Alex Silver

  3. Alex Stargazer

  4. Allan Dyen-Shapiro

  5. Andi Deacon

  6. Andrea Speed

  7. Andrew Vaillencourt

  8. Ava Kelly

  9. Barbara Johnson-Haddad

  10. Barbara Krasnoff

  11. Beáta Fülöp

  12. Benoit Lafortune

  13. Blaine D. Arden

  14. Bob Milne

  15. Brenna Harvey

  16. Brooke K. Bell

  17. C.L. McCartney

  18. Cassidy Frazee

  19. Chet Gottfried

  20. Chloe Spencer

  21. Chris Bannor

  22. Christine Wright

  23. Christopher Koehler

  24. Clare London

  25. D.J. Clarke

  26. D.M. Rasch

  27. David Gerrold

  28. Devon Widmer

  29. Diane Callahan

  30. E. L. Harrison

  31. E. Romeis

  32. E.D.E. Bell

  33. E.M. Hamill

  34. Edie Montreux

  35. Elaine Burnes

  36. Eloreen Moon

  37. Emilia Agrafojo

  38. Emma Johnson-Rivard

  39. Eric Warren

  40. Evelyn Benvie

  41. Gareth Worthington

  42. Ginger Streusel

  43. Howard V. Hendrix

  44. J. Needham

  45. J. Zachary Pike

  46. J.S. Garner

  47. Jade Black

  48. James Alan Gardner

  49. Jamie Lackey

  50. Jana Denardo

  51. Jasie Gale

  52. Jeff Jacobson

  53. Jennie L. Morris

  54. Jet Lupin

  55. Jon Miller

  56. Jonathan Fesmire

  57. Joshua Ian

  58. Julian Maxwell

  59. K. Kitts

  60. K.L. Townsend

  61. K.S. Marsden

  62. KA Masters

  63. Katelyn Cameron

  64. Kellie Doherty

  65. Kevin Andrew Murphy

  66. Kevin Klehr

  67. Kim Fielding

  68. Kitt Harris

  69. Koji A. Dae

  70. L.S. Reinholt

  71. L.V. Lloyd

  72. LC Treeheart

  73. Lee Jordan

  74. Lee Soeburn

  75. Lou Sylvre

  76. M. X. Kelly

  77. Maria Zoccola

  78. Mary E. Lowd

  79. Mary Francis

  80. Mary Kuna

  81. Matt Doyle

  82. Mere Rain

  83. Milo Owen

  84. Minerva Cerridwen

  85. Naomi Tajedler

  86. Nathan Alling Long

  87. Nathaniel Taff

  88. Nicole Dennis

  89. Nina Kiriki Hoffman

  90. Noah K. Sturdevant

  91. Patricia Scott

  92. Paul Uebler

  93. R. E. Carr

  94. R.L. Merrill

  95. Raine Norman

  96. Ray Lidstone

  97. RE Andeen

  98. Redfern Jon Barrett

  99. Rory Eggleston

  100. Rory Ni Coileain

  101. Rosalie Wessel

  102. S S Long

  103. Sara Testarossa

  104. Sean Ian O’Meidhir

  105. Shannon Brady

  106. Shannon Yseult

  107. Skip J. Hanford

  108. Stephen B. Pearl

  109. Stephen J. Wolf

  110. Steve Carr

  111. Stone Franks

  112. Stuart Conover

  113. Susan James

  114. Sydney Blackburn

  115. T. T. Thomas

  116. T.W. Cox

  117. Tom Jolly

  118. Val Muller

  119. Warren Rochelle

  120. William Tate

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