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And the Winner Is...

Monday, October 4, 2010

Last month, it was my privilege to help announce the first-ever Pathfinder Chronicler fanfiction contest! In addition to encouraging everyone who's ever been tempted to write some Pathfinder-based fiction to enter the contest (or join up with the Pathfinder Chronicler and Wayfinder folks, who're rocking the fanfiction year-round), I was also honored to be brought in as the guest judge for the final round of the contest. After combing through almost 70 submissions, the secret brain trust behind Pathfinder Chronicler and Wayfinder presented me with the five stories that they'd chosen as the best of the bunch and asked me to cast the deciding vote.

And you know what? They were all a lot of fun. I knew our community had talent, but I was really blown away by the quality of the submissions. Some were funny—the amorous gnome who collects "bad boy" adventurers, or the famous adventurer-chef of Absalom—while others were deadly serious. I had to sit down and give the issue serious thought, but in the end, it was clear how the dice fell.

The Winner: Neil Spicer for "Rain of Redemption," the story of an Abadarian priestess's loss—and renewal—of faith. Plus ghouls. Lots of ghouls. Neil will receive a $100 paizo.com gift certificate, courtesy of the Pathfinder Chronicler folks, as well as special publication in Wayfinder #4.

The Runners-Up: William Dodds for "A Feast to Remember," a riotous romp through the seedy side of Absalom's restaurant business, and Eric Morton for "Unrequited," the aforementioned story of Princess, a gnome who's eager to prove her unsolicited love for dashing adventurers—by any means necessary. Both will receive $50 gift certificates to paizo.com.

The Finalists: Todd Stewart for "Tea with the Laughing Fiend," a classic, "wake-up-in-Hell"-style nightmare from the man who brought you The Great Beyond, and Maggie Hoyt for "Enchained," a story of the intricacies of genie binding and family politics. All of the "Final Five" winners will be posted in perpetuity on the Pathfinder Chronicler website, along with many other fabulous submissions.

Special Mention: Last but not least, I'd like to throw out a special mention to Katherine Worley, who at thirteen years old produced a truly impressive story of gods, curses, and kobolds in the River Kingdoms. Though she didn't make it into the Final Five this time around, I hope that she—and everyone who participated—is extremely proud, and that you all keep writing.

Thanks to both the Chronicler and Wayfinder folks, and here's to a thriving fanfiction community!

James Sutter
Fiction Editor

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16 comments.

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baron arem heshvaun

Oct 4, 2010, 12:04 am

Yet another HUZZAH for Neil !

And a bravo to the other finalists and participants !

Can't wait to read all of these soon.

joela

Oct 4, 2010, 12:25 am

W00t! Congrats to all the participants.

Mike Welham Contributor, RPG Superstar 2012

Oct 4, 2010, 07:15 am

Congatulations, Neil!

Good show to all who participated!

Hugo Solis

Oct 4, 2010, 08:11 am

Congratz to all participants!

Montalve

Oct 4, 2010, 08:44 am

Thanks for the blog James :)
It surely rocks!

And thanks everyone who made it possible by participating, James saw the tip of the iceberg, but there is a lot of awesome and talented stories in the contest. And the truth is that it will be a shame that such talent is keep for a few eyes. The Pathfinder and Chronicler still have plans for some of these stories, we are just deciding what is the best way to present this idea... believe me there is such variety that it avails to not one but many projects (I just do't want to kill myself with those). Anyway I will keep you posted.

And I would like to remind all the contestants that we are offering some basic feedback on your stories here or by email if you do prefer, also the thread begins with the concepts we evaluated and at least how I used them myself.

Myself, I can only repeat Epictetus wise and ancient words: "If you wish to be a writer, write."

by the way, you can find in our site 10 of the stories participating, including Kathy's wonderful tale.

Nani Z. Obringer

Oct 4, 2010, 08:52 am

Gratz Neil and everyone else!

Elorebaen

Oct 4, 2010, 09:50 am

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

Congrats to Neil and all of the mentions!

Bill Dodds

Oct 4, 2010, 10:34 am

Huzzah! Fantastic stories and stiff competition. I am honored to be listed on the blog and to be selected as one of the Fab Five. Thanks again to James for the final selections and the amazing editors, writers, and organizers that assisted the Chronicler in this endeavor, especially in such a short time!

Eric Tillemans

Oct 4, 2010, 11:23 am

Congrats Neil!

Neil Spicer Contributor, RPG Superstar 2009, RPG Superstar Judgernaut

Oct 4, 2010, 01:01 pm

I always known there's a wide gulf between writing game-related products and straight-up fiction. So I went into this contest just hoping to make the Top 5 and get my piece read (and critiqued) by James. I've attended both his writing seminars at PaizoCon these past couple of years and did my best to apply what we all learned as writers from him and Chris Carey. I guess it paid off? So everybody should sign up for next year!

Anyway, to say I'm pleasantly surprised to take 1st place would be an understatement. And, after reading the other stories posted at Pathfinder Chronicler, I'm pleased to find myself in such grand company. I'm also very much looking forward to the final release for "Rain of Redemption" when it appears in Wayfinder #4 (along with some really cool art!). Thanks again to Sutter, Ted, Liz, Ernesto, and all the other judges for putting on the contest and taking the time to review so many submissions. And also the other writers for all the hard work they put into what I hope will become an annual event. Looks like we all kicked this thing off really well.

Sincerely,
--Neil