Archive for Competitions
This week’s signing, plus competition reminder
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Remember that this Friday at 6.00pm, there is an opportunity to meet with Angry Robot authors Aliette de Bodard and John Meaney at the Forbidden Planet Megastore in London. You can pick up signed copies of their books (Aliette’s Servant of the Underworld and John’s Edge – written under his alter-ego’s name: Thomas Blackthorne).
While there you can pick up a competition entry form to win one of two great prizes – a stone replica of an Aztec calendar (to tie in with Servant of the Underworld) or the opportunity to have a character named after you, and killed in Point – the sequel to Edge, published later this year!
Also, don’t forget this week’s competition, celebrating the release of Guy Adams’ The World House, alongside Kaaron Warren’s Walking the Tree and Thomas Blackthorne’s Edge.
Write a short story about any subject you like. The only rules are:
- 1) It has to be 13 sentences long
- 2) The first word of the first sentence must begin with T, the first word of the second sentence must begin with H, the first word of the third sentence must begin with E, and so on, so that the first letters of the sentences, printed one under the other, spell out “THE WORLD HOUSE”.
The best entries will be sent to Guy Adams for judging, and the winner gets an Angry Robot USB drive plus a choice of any book Angry Robot published in 2009. No geographical restrictions.
Send your entries (in Word or RTF format) to: theworldhouse [AT] angryrobotbooks.com
Competition ends Sunday 14th February.
Good luck, and have fun!
The World House – a fun competition
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Here’s something to get your brain ticking over.
Write a short story about any subject you like. The only rules are:
- 1) It has to be 13 sentences long
- 2) The first word of the first sentence must begin with T, the first word of the second sentence must begin with H, the first word of the third sentence must begin with E, and so on, so that the first letters of the sentences, printed one under the other, spell out “THE WORLD HOUSE”.
The best entries will be sent to Guy Adams for judging, and the winner gets an Angry Robot USB drive plus a choice of any book Angry Robot published in 2009. No geographical restrictions.
Send your entries (in Word or RTF format) to: theworldhouse [AT] angryrobotbooks.com
Competition ends Sunday 14th February.
Good luck, and have fun!
A two-author signing, and WIN immortality by being killed!
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On Friday 12th February at the superb Forbidden Planet Megastore in Shaftesbury Avenue, London, join John Meaney (aka Thomas Blackthorne) and Aliette de Bodard for a signing session. This is a rare opportunity to meet Aliette, who isn’t in the UK very often. She will be on hand to sign her already-acclaimed debut novel, Servant of the Underworld and John will available to sign his latest book, Edge, written under his new alter-ego, Thomas Blackthorne.
The signing is from 6.00pm until 7.00pm, but you’ll have the opportunity to chat with the authors afterward – we’ll no doubt retire to a local hostelry for this part of the evening.
As well as the opportunity to meet Aliette and John, we have two rather splendid prizes to give away. There is no fee to enter (of course), and no purchase necessary, but you do need to be at the signing to pick up the contest card.
Click to see a bigger version
Answer a simple question to win either:
1) a wonderful 23cm stone replica of an Aztec Calendar, to celebrate Aliette’s book, or
2) get yourself written into the sequel to Edge as a throwaway character, likely to die a violent death! How cool is that? Point is currently being written, and will be published this summer.
Two fantastic prizes from two fantastic authors!
If you can’t make it to the event, you can pre-order signed copies of the books from Forbidden Planet.
See you there!
Angry Robot Poetry Competition – Results
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So, after literally minutes of deliberation, our friends over at My Favourite Books have chosen the winner of the first ever Angry Robot Poetry Competition!
The rules were:
- * You had to write a 4 line poem
- * It had to be about Angry Robot, our authors or our books
- * Entries would not be accepted from John Dunleavy who stole my pen when I was 13.
The winning entry was from danielleloko78:
Books of horror, books of style
A genre implodes
An army then grows
And somewhere hidden, a robot will smile
Congratulations to Danielle, who wins a copy of every book we published this year!
There are a couple of honourable mentions over at My Favourite Books, so go see.. They don’t win anything material, but we’re sending them mind-hugs, which is perhaps just as valuable a prize.
Clarification on Competition Rules
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Our friends over at My Favourite Books, who are running the Angry Robot poetry competition have had a query about the rules:
Are there limitations on who may enter? Any categories of people who are ineligible? (SFWA members, for example? Rhysling Award winners? Professional publication?) How many entries one may submit? Whether, if multiple entries are allowed, if they can be entered at one time or if each must be entered in a separate entry? Please clarify your rules.
I’m not entirely sure why we’d want to discriminate against the groups of people mentioned, but for clarification:
If there is no rule stated, you can pretty much assume there’s no rule.
So, anyone can enter any number of times (though, to be fair, the judges aren’t likely to read through 150 entries from the same person due to boredom threshholds, etc, so put your best ones first). The judges reserve the right to read the first few entries by an individual then nip off to make a cup of tea, and forget exactly where they were on their return. If you are personally known to any of the judges you may enter (for fun) but you will not win, though we may buy you a beer as consolation when we next see you. How are you, anyway? It’s been ages!
Actually, I’m going to amend the absence of rules by including one very special one:
Anyone may enter except the John Dunleavy who stole my pen in class when we were both 13 and the teacher wasn’t looking. I’ve never forgotten that, and I was too afraid of you to say anything at the time, but who’s got the last laugh now, huh, bully-boy? huh? huh? You’re just going to have to buy the books! And all for one measly pen! Was it worth it John? Really? Was it? I suspect not…
Don’t forget you only have to write a 4-line poem, its free to enter, you can win a copy of all our published books so far, and the closing date is 24th November – head on over to My Favourite Books for full details.
Competition – Win all our books!
Posted by: | CommentsWe’ve teamed up with the lovely people over at My Favourite Books to offer a once in a lunchtime prize – win every copy of every Angry Robot book published in 2009! Have a look at that lovely list just to the right of this post. See all those gorgeous books? They could be yours!
We’ve been a bit evil this time, though – we’re asking you to write a short poem (4 lines – no more, no less) about Angry Robot, our authors, or our books!
MFB originally ran this a couple of weeks ago, but had some email problems, so we’ve agreed to extend the competition by one week. The closing date for entries will now be 24th November, which gives you ample time to compose your epic poem (and to then edit it down to 4 lines!)
Head over to My Favourite Books for details of where to send your entry, etc.
The winner - along with the best of the rest – will be published over at MFB and here on our website.
Good luck in writing your verses
You may be in line for some books
Vets, doctors, drivers and nurses
Evidently have a far better chance than me of winning this thing! ummm… or cooks.
Moxyland Short Story Winners
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Over at the excellent HarperCollins Authonomy website, we ran a short story competition for people to write a short story (up to 3,000 words) based in the world of Lauren Beukes‘ Moxyland.The winners have just been chosen!
Here’s the official announcement from Lauren, herself. Take it away, Ms B:
A huge thank you for everyone who took the time to write a story inspired by some aspect of Moxyland.
The stories were fantastic, from canny perspective switches on major events in Moxyland to sheer insanity I don’t know if I would have come up with if you shot me full of hallucinogens and locked me in one of those floaty sensory deprivation tank things. I’d often catch myself grinning at stories, at the wild inventiveness.
The calibre of the writing was great, and even when it wasn’t, when the writers didn’t quite deliver on the premise, the ideas fizzed and popped like sherbet laced with C4, from a live guitar that had to be tamed to nano-goo sex dolls to body armour made of meat.
It’s been an incredibly frustrating process to decide on just three stories. In making the big decision, I looked for stories with smarts, that were playful or surprising, but also had bite. They had to be bold, inventive and ideally have a social conscience. If they found a sneaky way to bring in Moxyland’s characters or major events or ensure that it was very much at one with the universe, so much the better.
Ultimately, it was a very subjective and personal decision. I chose the stories that excited me the most, the ones that resonated with Moxyland, the ones that made me want to rave about them to everyone I know.
The full short-list and long-list are included below.
The (very, very close) runners-up are:
- Khanyi by 821202 – A cunningly brilliant perspective switch on Moxyland’s gallery scene written with wit and style and a razor-edged verve. I loved this story.
- Shade by TobyOne – A wicked and thoughtful gem of a story. It has great writing, a well crafted story about energy and land claims with impeccable world-building and a nastily appropriate resolution. And it has zeppelins.
AND… THE WINNERS ARE (cue drumroll… segues into extended drum solo):
- Inatec Biologica by Unpresuming
- Land of the Blind by Newmouse
- @nother by Bryan Steele
The winning stories will be published in the British edition of my new novel, Zoo City and in the US edition of Moxyland – both in stores in May next year.
Inatac Biologica by Unpresuming
I love stories that play with unconventional format and the minutes of a board meeting between various concerned parties concerning the Toby situation was both clever and appropriate. This, along with the runner-up story, ‘Khanyi’, represents, for me, the best of true fan fiction, picking up a dangling thread in the novel and running with it. It’s smart and funny and disgusting (the kebab image is vilely, perfectly Toby). A pitch-perfect postscript to Moxyland that answers, very satisfyingly, the burning question at the end of what Toby did next.
Land of the Blind by Newmouse
This isn’t a perfect story. It has rough edges, partly due to the lost formatting. But it’s the kind of story I wish I’d written. It’s loaded with subtle telling details incisive insights, beautiful descriptions and a dark plot that tangles up a mesh of shiny ideas in a way I didn’t see coming, incorporating a secret drug trial only accessible via a virtual world, disturbing art, seedy Salt River locations, epilepsy and the anti-corporate struggle. It’s provocative, political and really, just horrible. Which I appreciate.
@nother by Bryan Steele
This story plays out behind the scenes on Moxyland. Cnapce is a repo man cum bouncer for the digital age, an irresistible bastard who gets a kick out of pulling the plug on unpaid accounts, booting duplicates and generally enforcing the rules of Pluslife according to his dailylister uploaded by his corporate bosses. The writing is sharp and slangy and Cnpace is that dangerous combination of cocky and oblivious to what’s really going down here. You just know someone is going to get hurt. It’s fast and fun, hurtling towards a moral crisis that’s all in a day’s work.
—————————————————————————————————-
Here’s the shortlist, who all deserved being mentioned in dispatches:
1. Khanyi by 821202 – a cunningly brilliant perspective switch on Moxyland’s gallery scene
2. Raw Materials by Anitero – Death and architecture in Manila with a dose of brand sabotage.
3. @nother by Bryan Steele – The story about the online equivalent of the repo man, booting users and shutting down illegal accounts that seamlessly latches Moxyland.
4. The TICK-TOCK-MAN by B. Saint V – a queasy mash of identity and art with beautiful characterisations and explosive results.
5. No Cure For Cancer by Decca – A secret nano-cure for cancer and reality TV are not a good combination in this raucous fast-paced frolic of a story.
6. Nostrum by Duffy5000 – Before Kendra’s Ghost, there was another lurking in Foo Bear’s tai-chi classes. A sly, smart tale about what’s wrong (or right) with the kids today.
7. Digem 1.0 by Keith Harvey – Tobacco industry advertising at its finest and vilest with compelling characters and a real sense of Cape Town.
8. Land of the Blind by Newmouse – Secret drug trials, disturbing art, a working class stiff stricken with epilepsy, virtual espionage and dodgy dealings and an anti-corp struggle hero who is going down.
9. Shade by TobyOne – When even sunshine has become a commodity, Startek finds a unique solution to dealing with an unwanted intruder in their Kalahari solar plant. A provocative, relevant and spiky story.
10. Inatec Biologica Inc by Unpresuming – a pitch-perfect postscript to Moxyland that answers the burning question of what Toby did next.
And, by popular demand, here’s the long-list:
- Khanyi by 821202
- Raw Materials by Anitero
- @nother by Bryan Steele
- The TICK-TOCK-MAN by B. Saint V
- No Cure For Cancer by Decca
- Nostrum by Duffy5000
- Digem 1.0 by Keith Harvey
- Land of the Blind by Newmouse
- Shade by TobyOne
- Inatec Biologica Inc by Unpresuming
- The Sedge by Steffan Evans
- A Cup of Coffee by Adrian Ellis
- You Have No Fucking Idea by flatbread
- Job Hunting by qscribe
- Optical Delusions by Cadence
- Life is a Diamond by Giulietta M. Spudich
- Level Four Physicality by Rico Craig
- Whispers on the Wind by Sam W. Sanders
- Thandie Barbie Meet Ghost by Poppet
- Technically Defunct by Ryan
- Untitled by Seamus33
PS: If you’d like to discuss your story with me (briefly) I’m open to giving you once-off feedback. This is not an invitation to a lengthy critique, but I can give you some quick comments and notes, if you’d like. Contact me via my delightful publishers, on moxy@angryrobotbooks.com — Lauren
Scary Angry Robot mask for Halloween!
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Click for a much larger, printable version.
So look, we were talking in the office, and as a joke, purely as a joke, I said – or maybe Lee said – words to the effect of: why don’t we turn Angstrom, the Angry Robot logo droid, into a mask and give it away for Halloween? We chuckled for a few moments, shook our heads, and went back to rejecting seventy more urban fantasies in which the Celtic Wild Hunt somehow rampage around Chicago, putting the willies up several characterless cardboard-cutout students.
Only… the other evening over too many beers I mentioned it to the nice people at our design agency, Argh! Nottingham. They laughed the sort of laugh that says, “You gotta be kidding.” and their eyes went all panicky. I reassured them that despite the earliness of the hour, I was deadly serious. They went away, they came back again, and thus…
Either print it onto as thick a piece of card as your printer can handle or glue a flimsier printout onto thicker card. (Note to self: Insert something here about A3 paper for people with scarily big heads, but don’t make any reference to one particular Angry Robot author, oh no.) Then cut around all the dotted lines without severing your fingers, do something clever with some thin elastic cord or glue it directly to your forehead, then go scare the bejeezus out of the neighbourhood. Slightly less comprehensive instructions are on the mask too.
And yes, we are serious. “Best” photos of you or unsuspecting child-units in full AR mufti will win prizes. Who’s up for an Angry Robot flash mob in the bar at World Fantasy? Now that’s terrifying!
Send your pics to: incoming [AT] angryrobotbooks.com
Angry Robot Goodie Bag
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Last week we ran a Twitter short story competition (you can see the results here – they’re excellent) and we promised the winner some books and other goodies. Here, then, is the complete goody-bag collection for @punktorian.
The bag is a one-off, ordered specifically for this competition, and the little silver dongle thing in the centre is an official Angry Robot USB key with our logo computer-etched onto the brushed metal finish. You can’t buy these, and they’re pretty damned cool!
So, congratulations, again, @punktorian – your prizes are in the post!
Twitter Competition Results
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Two days ago, to celebrate reaching 500 followers on Twitter, we launched a Twitter short story competition. The rules were: Write a single-tweet short story about a robot – any robot – and Tweet it. The tweet must include @angryrobotbooks so we can see it.
Simple, yes? Not so much – just try writing a story in 140 characters or less! Nevertheless, we were inundated with entries! So many, in fact, that we had to have our submissions ‘bot recharged halfway through the judging process.
So, huge thanks to everyone who took part. Here are a selection of the best (the Twitterer’s name is in bold):
Best Philosophical Stories
jasonlblair Had he ears, they would be deafened. Mind, worried. Heart, broken. But he did not so the sound of war meant nothing to him.
djelibeybi_meg Xa stepped out of line, the others remained unmoved. “What’s the point of sentience if I don’t use my choices?” it thought.
Best Romance
jaredsorensen Her titanium hand held flesh, then bone, then dust. She sits there still. A romance to last forever, even if he did not.
Best Tales of Gore
m_Robertson_UK “Why did no-one tell me what ‘nil by mouth’ actually meant?”, muttered the rookie nurse-bot, as it wiped the bloody walls.
garethlpowell Her metal hands dripped with blood. She had reassembled the human child but for some reason, it still wouldn’t breathe
phil_lunt Gax tore off her arm and scratched a face on it. A crude substitute baby for a robot. Gutteral shudders replaced sobbing
Best attempt at currying favour
_owl_ Once upon a time … We all read @angryrobotbooks and lived happily ever after. 
Best Jokes
m_Robertson_UK “Listen” says PC99, “Here’s a good one. A1 D6 5F 83 E5….” “I need to stop you there,” says C64, “I hate hexist jokes…”
davidalanmack LG969 had learned there were only 10 types of humans: those who liked binary-language robots and those who didn’t.
tsrosenberg “I’m a combination of Apple and Asimov!” “You’re what?” “I, iRobot!”
Best dance number
mpettitt You put the left leg on, you pull the left leg off, you do the robo-cokey and you reverse the polarity…
Best original programming
Mad_Penguin
10 INPUT “HUMAN? Y/N”, Z
20 IF Z=Y THEN GOTO 50
30 PRINT “You are free to go!”
40 GOTO 10
50 PRINT “DIE!”
60 GOTO 10
Best Möbius tale
jhunterj “How is this a short story about a robot?” asked T11U. “We’ll say you wrote it,” replied 95V5. “Then it’s recursively so.”
Best story from an Apple user
petertubbs Power up. Gather weapons. Travel. Target acquired. Safety Off. Aim. Error: Critical Windows Exemption. Powering down. Fail
Best tales of anticipation
jrobertking Some people would forget their heads if they weren’t attached. KR0n5 forgot its body. Then the rugby team arrived.
AlasdairStuart The Forest had been built as a joke, metal trees with fibre optic roots. When they found the seeds, the laughter stopped
Saddest Story
mpettitt The steady tone from the oscilliator changed to white noise. “I’m sorry” said the technician “There was nothing I could do
Best Angry Robot advertising pitch
jay_lake Biomechanical serial killer? BDSM ‘bot? Droid with a duct tape fetish? @angryrobotbooks, for when three laws just aren’t enough.
Most poetic
skippy_2 Though ‘Made in Japan’ / There’s no robots in haiku / It seems such a shame.
Best “something we might need to check when we get home” story
coffeewithkate The staff at @angryrobotbooks were neither angry nor were they robots. At least, that’s what their masters programmed them to believe
Best tale of Doh!
davidmbarnett “I still can’t believe we didn’t give them an off-switch,” said the last human to fall before the robot army’s onslaught.
and the winner is…
Best environmental story
punktorian Every day moved them closer to a planet without nature. To the amusement of the robots, they had not had to do a thing.
Punktorian – please DM us your address in Twitter and we’ll get a goody-bag out to you, including copies of our first 6 books and a couple of other cool things!
To everyone else who entered, thank you. This has been a huge amount of fun! We must do something similar when we reach 1,000 followers on Twitter…
