Henry Zou, Black Library wants you

Bob the Gunslinger · Post by **Bob the Gunslinger** » 2007-08-03 01:21am

I don't know if Henry Zou posts on our forum, but considering the quality of our fanfic smiths and the enthusiasm for 40k on this board, I'd figured I'd try to let him know.

Henry Zou, you may already be a winner.

Anybody know him or any of the other contest winners? Did Stravo win? How many times did Stravo win?

Post by **fgalkin** » 2007-08-03 05:18am

Stravo won zero times

After a long and hard process going through the 600+ entries for the Planetkill Short Story Competition, we have our finalists!

Congratulations to:

Simon Dyton
Robey Jenkins
Crystal Morris
Alex Roustborne
Mathew Sargent

We are also waiting for confirmation from one finalist, who unfortunately we haven't been able to get in contact with. You know who you are, please get in touch before it's too late!

Commiserations to all our other entrants, who should all be applauded for their efforts. Honourable mentions for those who came close but didn't quite make the grade this time go to:

Simon Bright
Alexander Wyatt
Robert Rath
Owen Barnes
Richard Smeeton
David McGuire
John Coffren
Jonathan Brown
Richard Marsden
Alexander Hay
Mark Chivers
Steven Book
Tamara Siuda
Alex Marshall

Well done again to the finalists.

See your name on the list?

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Bob the Gunslinger · Post by **Bob the Gunslinger** » 2007-08-03 05:39am

I don't know what Stravo's name is, or if he's using a pen name. I just figured he had a good chance.

No, I didn't win, either.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2007-08-03 01:57pm

WHAT?!?! No ImperialOverlord?!

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2007-08-03 06:32pm

LadyTevar wrote:WHAT?!?! No ImperialOverlord?!

Nope. Getting rejected is a normal thing in the writing business. One professional writer I met had one of his pieces rejected sixty seven times.

Feil · Post by **Feil** » 2007-08-03 07:58pm

There were six hundred entries - far worse odds than most short story markets. And even in those, failure is expected; success is a surprise.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2007-08-03 09:19pm

It's disappointing but not altogether unexpected. Still it was a blast to participate and it was my first attempt at any competition like this one. Its inspired me to try again because you never know. Congrats to all the winners the lucky bastards.

RazorOutlaw · Post by **RazorOutlaw** » 2007-08-03 09:20pm

Imperial Overlord wrote:
LadyTevar wrote:WHAT?!?! No ImperialOverlord?!
Nope. Getting rejected is a normal thing in the writing business. One professional writer I met had one of his pieces rejected sixty seven times.

And isn't the problem not always the quality of work but what the publisher is looking for? If I remember correctly from my writing class, there's a list of things that could be "wrong" with a piece without the piece being poorly written.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2007-08-03 09:22pm

I should pick up the story I started writing and finish it. I'm sure the people here would enjoy it, even if the BL thought it sucked.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2007-08-04 09:14am

RazorOutlaw wrote: And isn't the problem not always the quality of work but what the publisher is looking for? If I remember correctly from my writing class, there's a list of things that could be "wrong" with a piece without the piece being poorly written.

Yes, there's all sorts of reasons that a story could be rejected that have nothing to do with its quality.