My story, Now I am become Ken Burns, the Destroyer of Worlds, is currently locked in an intense battle in the quarter-finals of Broken Pencil’s Indie Writers’ Deathmatch, having slipped through the Lightning Round about a week ago.
For the uninitiated, the Deathmatch is an annual writing competition held by Canadian magazine Broken Pencil, in which sixteen (though in previous years, eight) stories are pitted against each other in a ‘no-holds barred contest’ in which the story with the most votes win. Voting is open to anyone, though in practice the competing authors must mobilise the support of their friends and family, and critical comments are encouraged on the associated message boards.
There’s already been one fatality. Or pretty much.
The eight stories with the most votes from the Lightning Round made it into the quarter-finals, where my story now sits in a match against Kris Bone’s mighty Incisor. If I can squeeze through into the semis, the story is guaranteed publication, so I’m hoping my vote holds up. I’m fully overdrawn on my goodwill account, but I keep writing the cheques anyway. So far so good. Some great stories have already exited, and I’d encourage you to read all the sixteen original entries – especially this one, which was my favourite.
If I win this round my next opponent will be a story about a female ninja Jean-Claude Van Damme. Picture that, if you will.
To get there, I need people to vote for me. So please, if you have a spare five minutes, create an account at Broken Pencil and vote for Ken Burns here.
Rhys Timson 