Tony, aka Rouiancet

Yep, that's all! For this (or for any Challenge), you only have to create a new thread, give it your story's title, and palce your story in the thread's content.

That was my thought as well. But if you've read this thread, then you can choose to write in response to what you know it to be, or you can take it in a completely different and/or conceptual way. Also, do please continue to discuss on this thread if you'd like!

Welcome back, everyone, and I hope you're excited for the first Writing Challenge of 2014! We're going to be doing something quite new for this Challenge: Instead of presenting you with a theme or an idea, we'll be giving you a piece of Trek conceptual art -- in this case, this piece of art chosen by our November & December 2013 winner, Sarah: http://www.coronacomingattractions.com/sites/default/files/news/trek_into_darkness_pods_0.jpg Writes Sarah: "The image holds an incredible sense of anxious foreboding for me." What about for you? Regardless of whether you know what this image may represent, how can it inform or inspire your own story? You may take this Challenge in any direction you would like so long as it's inspired by the art prompt. As always, feel free to ask questions in this thread if you'd like to talk more! As of today, Thursday, January 2nd, this Challenge is open! All entries must be received by Friday, February 21st in order to be considered for this Challenge. As always, please remember: *Your work must be completely original. *You must be the sole author of the work. *Your story must take place in the Star Trek universe, but may not center upon canon characters. *Sign your final draft as you would a post on your ship. *Your story must be between 300 and 3000 words. For any questions you might have, remember that you can always post questions to this thread or visit the Writing Challenge website. Good luck!

Do you have any general questions about the Writing Challenges, the Hall of Fame, Challenge Champions, or anything else? Please ask here!

Greetings, everyone! Please enjoy this full compilation of the November & December Writing Challenge, available for the first time with all the entrants' stories and judges' comments. This is a PDF document with interior hyperlinks to each story for your ease of navigation, so do please read at your leisure. Let me know if you enjoyed this easy way to read! Get yours right here!

"Devil in the Silence" writer's character: Sal Taybrimjudge's character: Aron Kells First, I have to give some immense praise to the phrase "...it looked like the whole planet was in the middle of a giant snow globe that was being shaken continuously, never giving anything time to settle," which neatly describes not only the weather but also the frantic, pitched atmosphere of this story. I would like also to applaud the way in which it's told, as the events unfold solidly with a fine flow; the inflections in the plot (Dailing in the barn, the Bakalens' first words, and so forth) occur at pleasing points and the story feels almost like a very short version of the hero's journey. And while this story works very much on the level of its sentences and lines of dialogue, I was most impressed by its devotion to Trek's history: It was a brilliant maneuver for Lilly to mention Janus 6 (which, for those who don't know, is the home of the Horta -- I didn't know, but once I looked it up, I was immensely pleased). However, within that brilliant maneuver is the story's weakest point, as the sentient-life-we-don't-think-is-sentient has been done many times in Trek, from the Horta to the crystal life forms of "Home Soil" (who so memorably labeled humanoids "ugly bags of mostly water"), that once that reveal has occurred, the story loses a lot of its momentum. Evans hasn't been developed beyond the hero of the piece, and while he doesn't need to be -- I don't necessarily think this is a character-driven story -- I do need something to keep me going beyond the Bakalens' first words. Or, put another way, just because the revelation-of-sentience storyline has been done before doesn't mean it can't be done again, only that any further use must develop the concept beyond the surprise reveal, and that is what I'd like to see in this story. Maybe something to think about for a future story? Regardless, I do hope you'll enter the Challenge again as I am very impressed by your work with story structure and style. I'll leave this review with another of my favorite lines, from the story's beginning: "On a planet where the miners had fifteen different words to describe the precise kind of cold the current weather was displaying, and another seventy-three to cover the specifics of icy precipitation, being able to single out one instance as cold enough to mention lent an air of significance to a simple saying." Well done! --- "A Past Forgotten" writer's character: Suvi Ilajudge's character: Aron Kells I very much appreciated the ambition of this story! It's not quite 1200 words, and still it makes a gesture at what seemed to me to be a double twist. The first twist, which comes at the end of the first section, is almost entirely condensed into the final sentence of that section and in Johnna's puzzlement, which neatly becomes the reader's as I wondered why she looked vacant. The second section jumps right into the story behind the story and ends, too, with a question that calls to the Challenge's theme and also provides the second twist, which more implicitly than the first questions the nature of what I just read. The structure, then, is controlled well here, and I want to strongly praise that. My major difficulty with the story is that the first section, when read on its surface, is a little too overwrought and often saccharine, but -- and bear with me for a moment -- I believe this has the potential to make the story work even better. It could be that this highly idealized scenario is meant to be the treason or revolution of the story's last line, and if that's so, I think it's an incredibly clever idea to do so and to frontload that before any explanation. However, I have these questions: We get much less character in the second section by way of thought, emotion, or luxuriating in detail, and so I have a hard time determining why the first section would be the ideal of choice. The story seems to be making gesturing at "love conquers all," but if that's the case, I find it odd that -- in an egalitarian, utopian universe like Trek's -- the fantasy is very much based in clear gender stereotypes of the twentieth century before. And while the story does leave me with these and many other questions, most of those are productive and don't require the story's revision for me to find pleasure in them. Again, this is a story with a very clever concept, and I thank you for the submission--- "Operation Remember" writer's character: Hannibal Parker judge's character: Kali Nicholotti There is a kind of grit that is laced throughout this entry from the very beginning, conveying the idea of a tough natured Marine who had been through plenty. It also set up the idea that the man wasn’t happy with how things turned out. Throughout the story, readers get a good sense of the back-story and of events that have lead up to the moment we are glimpsing, and the use of imagery throughout did a good job of pointing out just how this character was thinking and why. And just when you think you understand, and maybe even share, in his depression, both reader and character are struck with the solution – an out, offered from an unlikely source. As a reader, it seemed to be a no-brainer; take the opportunity and live knowing that you did what you could to make things right. After all, the story seemed to set this character up to do just that. But that’s when we all, as readers, get a surprise. Though I found the end somewhat rushed and less dramatic or gritty, or image provoking as the beginning (perhaps because the writer was running out of words/space – a constraint I understand), we find our battle hardened Marine doing just what we thought he wouldn’t do; going against his own thoughts and doing the morally right thing. Overall, I think this was a well written story. In the future, the only feedback I might offer to the writer is to delve more into a realm that is unknown (perhaps through a character not as well defined as Parker) and avoid the clichés if only to get some experience writing perspectives and situations that aren’t as often seen or followed by writers/screenwriters/etc. Such exploration may net a true gem, even to those who know your writing well. With This story, as it stands, however, is good and I appreciate that you took the time to include the exposition that you included. It was a good read and I certainly look forward to seeing more! --- "Sins of the Mother" writer's character: Saveron judge's character: Sinda Essen This could well be the most thought-provoking story I’ve ever come across in the writing challenge. I must admit at first I didn’t know where the story was going, or how it fitted in with the theme. Although the easy style of writing made reading it very enjoyable from the start.The characters are all well-grounded in just a few appropriate words. It was easy to develop an idea of how Admiral Heraan spoke or Cadet Bourke looked. I even got a sense of how the echoes of the auditorium sounded. Saveron clearly follows the old writers rule very well - show, don’t tell. The set-up is clever, a debate between two high-achieving students. With Admiral West as our eyes and ears the event feels pretty mundane, the sort of lecture you’d expect at any university. This allows the pacing to be pretty relaxed. That sense of the ‘everyday’ adds a nice element of misdirection so you don’t know where the story twist is going to appear from. I was half expecting West and Everington to use the debate as a catalyst for their own plotting which meant I was focusing on them when Vanyeris dropped her bombshell, which made it all the more effective. The Undiscovered Country ranks as one of my favourite Star Trek films and Saveron’s reference of it in this story is a particularly genius move. The themes of treason and plot are obviously major ones in the film, but Sins of the Mother is not a simple retelling of the same story, rather a continuation. Saveron and the characters have the benefit of hindsight, as do we as readers, which makes Vanyeris’s argument all the more intriguing. Plus dropping in some SB118 history in with the canon stuff was a particularly effective touch.All in all, a very entertaining and well structured piece of writing. --- "No Turning Back" writer's character: Robert/Kaitlyn Falconjudge's character: Sinda Essen This topic lent itself to some interesting and thoughtful stories and No Turning Back was a very strong take on the theme. The arguments that Admiral Colt puts forward are entirely reasonable, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance as he very aptly puts it, and Colt is acting out of the best interests of the Federation.As a character, Colt is perfect for this story. Falcon presents his readers with an officer who is planning treason, and yet for all the right reasons. Typically the plotter would be a bad guy, but Falcon doesn’t write Colt as such,. Instead he gives us a man who’s trying to do his best but is held back by Federation bureaucracy, a very sympathetic character. Structurally, the story is spot on. Considering it consists simply of a conversation between two characters Falcon makes the most of the lean set up. A quick description of the office sets the scene and adds some nice touches and almost all of what follows is dialogue. While that could be a weakness in other stories it is a strength here and Falcon doesn’t waste a single word. I like stories that make me think, and No Turning Back certainly achieved that. It left me considering a very interesting dilemma - who’s to say Colt is wrong? If I were in Captain Rainsford’s shoes, would I agree to go along with the coup, too, despite the consequences? --- "Pray for Favour" writer's character: Diego Herrerajudge's character: Toni Turner "Pray for Favour" was a study of survival, and a subject that Herrera particularly handles well. I like his in character personalization as it put the piece in a mode that endeared the character to most readers as they, in some way, could identify with his troubles, and the mindset his world had taught him. Things that kept him coming back night after night . . . "human" kindness for his beggar friend, and survival.

An enormous thank you to all the writers who entered this end-of-the-year Challenge, and a special shout-out to the newest members and Challenge participants, Suvi Ila and Sal Taybrim; we always appreciate having new entrants and your stories were a pleasure to read! Without further ado, I'm pleased to announce the winners of the "Treason & Plot" Writing Challenge! "Sins of the Mother," courtesy of Sarah, the writer behind Saveron, mightily impressed the judges for this round and is our winner, while "Pray for Favour," from Ed, writer of Diego Herrera, is our runner-up. All my congratulations to you both, and please join in congratulating these authors and all our participants in this thread! My special thanks to this round's judges, the writers behind Fleet Captain Kali Nicholotti, Fleet Captain Toni Turner, and last round's winner, Lieutenant Sinda Essen. Please do leave your congratulations below!

Ditto! That line just set the bar high for what I expected from the sim -- and it delivered!

This cracked me right up, but I have an odd sense of humor: Maréchal-Ferrant : Hwhat do you mean, Captain Kells isn’t here?

My sincere thanks to everyone who entered this contest! It is now officially closed and the judges have convened. We hope to have an winner for you by New Year's Eve!

That's right! Beginning with the September and October Writing Challenge, we have available for you a downloadable PDF that contains all of the entries from the Writing Challenge round. Winners will get a special write-up on the first page. Now you can add the stories to your computer or mobile device and read them at your leisure! Our first compilation is available right here!

Welcome, all, to the final competition of 2013! For this Challenge, consider this old rhyme: Remember, remember! The fifth of November, The Gunpowder treason and plot; I know of no reason Why the Gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot! Chris, aka Sinda Essen and the winner of the previous round, would like you to think about "Treason & Plot" for your entry in this final contest. He writes: "I was thinking of going all historical and Anglophile with Bonfire Night coming up - possibly the only annual celebration over an act of (attempted) terrorism in the world..." How will you interpret this theme? What justified and positive reasons might exist in Trek for treason or terrorism? It's a topic dealt with in a few of the serialized series' episodes, but usually they went the standard route of having terrorists as the bad guys. What else can you do in your story? As of today, Saturday, November 2nd, this Challenge is open! All entries must be received by Friday, December 27th in order to be considered for this Challenge. As always, please remember:*Your work must be completely original.*You must be the sole author of the work.*Your story must take place in the Star Trek universe, but may not center upon canon characters. *Sign your final draft as you would a post on your ship.*Your story must be between 300 and 3000 words. For any questions you might have, remember that you can always post questions to this thread or visit the Writing Challenge website. Good luck!

"What Was To Come"writer's character: Diego Herrerajudge's character: Ben Livingston There is a particular allure for writers to incorporate ornate and complex language. Done poorly, this can ruin a respectable piece; in “What Was To Come”, however, sentence structure and diction add to the story. It’s clear that each uncommon word and every turn of phrase is chosen to deliver a particular connotation. The piece deserves a second read for the language alone. The story itself tells of the “sphere-builders” from the perspective of one realizing that their way of life is going to come crashing down – and it cannot be stopped. This piece’s power is, in part, that this is a plot played out over and over throughout history, and the writer explores the experience of someone to whom it is actually happening – an appealing perspective and a voice not often heard. There is a peculiarity of the work that highlights the idea that this could be any society with more power than it has collective wisdom: the story of the Sphere-builders is one with which many readers may be not be familiar. Reading the story without the relevant background leads to questions as to the race’s identity, which only emphasizes this theme. There is one aspect worth noting for future improvement. The character’s reaction to the situation is given, but it does not offer a complete exploration of the character’s internal journey once the realization occurs. The piece is set up to deliver a stunning account of the feelings experienced upon realizing “what is to come”. The final line is powerful, but it would be more so with more leading up to it, offering a chance to better identify with this alien. This is an extremely well-written piece that deserves to be sat with and pondered. It is a showcase of language, a story with an intriguing idea, and a great piece overall. Well done! --- "Diplomatic Impunity, (or 'The Tribble with Troubles')"writer's character: Saveronjudge's character: Toni Turner This piece was a fast-paced read that flowed seamlessly from beginning to end, the only problem with that was it left me wanting to read more at that pace, which was not a fault at all. I also liked Severon's mastery of extra long sentences as well, proving that when punctuated correctly, they don't disrupt the flow or pace of the point being made. While the entry verged on being perfect, I kept reading it over to see if I had read it's one mistake incorrectly, but alas the misspelling Federation (Federtion) kept blaring out at me in the third paragraph. No problem though, I didn't count off for that careless mistake. Excellent work, Lt. Commander. --- "A Place in Time"writer's character: Brayden Joreyjudge's character: Aron Kells A very solid story! This story uses its Trek foundations, from the appearance of the Borg to the use of imzadi, to place itself strongly before it makes its gutsiest jump: The Borg have changed! The fear of assimilation that Trek's presented for nearly a quarter of a decade has escalated and the Borg, for whatever reason, have decided that they'd prefer to annihilate whomever they encounter. However, that's also where the story stumbles a bit, because, like Jorey, I'm not quite sure what the scenario I just saw meant. Was it a premonition, or, one step further, temporal jump? Or was it a delusion? Either of those would've been a really interesting consequence to investigate, but especially the second: Why would Jorey be delusional; what terrible things have happened to him? It's clear that he's a character who lives very much within his emotions, and so I was tempted to think that it would be easy to jump to a place of overwhelming emotion, and perhaps even delusion. For the future, I'd suggest that the writer think about what really happened here and whether it could happen again, and, if so, why...?--- "Yesterday's Tomorrow"writer's character: Sinda Essenjudge's character: Aron Kells Yesterday's tomorrow, indeed! This story starts off at a sprint and never slows down, helped along by its smart pacing, a heavy use of dialogue, and space descriptions; if pages were involved, it would be a page-turner for sure. The Macmillan epigraph provides a very useful context for the piece; replicators in post-WWII Britain would certainly mark those words as true. In fact, I think it was a very smart choice on the writer's part to keep this story relatively small and contained with a single character as its through line, as I suspect that introducing replicators would -- well, as Charlotte says, "What happens when everyone suddenly has everything they ever wanted, without restraint?" However, the story intelligently doesn't concern itself with answering that question in exhaustive detail but presents its narrative as an answer to the question. In one way, the story is a Trek-based reaction to the steampunk genre generally; it uses time-travel as its macguffin, but I suspect that if this had been a television episode, there would have been a few hundred fan fictions based in this alternate history! If I had one suggestion for the writer, it would be that while the dialogue is doing a useful job of moving the story along, I wouldn't mind stopping to breathe a bit in this world before the big reveal as I'm quite curious about what, for example, Charles's life would be like on a day-to-day basis. However, I don't think not knowing detracts overwhelmingly from what's presented here, and I'm entirely satisfied by the story's end. Excellent work!

Thanks to our great writers who entered this September and October Challenge! Just in time for Halloween, I'm pleased to bring you the judges' decision and our feedback. I was incredibly happy to see the diversity of stories here, from a character-action piece to a second-person mythos narrative to some alternate history via time travel to the story of a tribble fancier. Well done, all! The judges were unanimous, however, in deciding that "Yesterday's Tomorrow," courtesy of Chris, the writer behind Sinda Essen and Jhen Thelev, should win this contest. The Challenge's runner-up, then, is "Diplomatic Impunity (or 'The Tribble with Troubles')," courtesy of Sarah, the writer behind Saveron. All my congratulations to both of you, and please watch the Community News around mid-November and -December for more about these authors and their stories! My special thanks to my fellow judges for this round -- the writers behind Fleet Captain Toni Turner and our special guest, last Challenge's winner, Lieutenant Ben Livingston. Writers and all interested parties will find individual feedback posted below this message. Please feel free to use this thread to offer your congratulations to the winning writers!

Thank you to everyone who entered! The Challenge is now over. Judges will be able to announce a winner by November 1st!

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to our second-to-last Writing Challenge of 2013! I'm glad you could stop by, and I hope you'll give this Challenge a read and then decide to enter your story for consideration. For this Challenge, Will -- the writer behind Lieutenant Ben Livingston and the winner of the July & August "Under My Skin" Challenge -- would like you to consider the topic "What Will Come." The Challenge dares you to consider the implications of action -- or perhaps of inaction -- upon the future, if you prefer, but remember that in Trek, what will come is not necessarily always in the future. Certainly, with the developments in 118 fleet in the past year or so, including the Small War with the Klingons in last year's blockbusters, the resurfacing of the Iconian gateways in this year's, and the recent addition of slipstream travel to many ships in the fleet, "what will come" has never been muddier. However, that's up to you to determine, and the judges look forward to receiving your entries! The deadline for this Challenge is Friday, October 25th, and as of today, Monday, September 2nd, this Challenge is open! As always, please remember:*Your work must be completely original.*You must be the sole author of the work.*Your story must take place in the Star Trek universe, but may not center upon canon characters. *Sign your final draft as you would a post on your ship.*Your story must be between 300 and 3000 words. For any questions you might have, remember that you can always post questions to this thread or visit the Writing Challenge website. Good luck!

Important facts: 1. That Cookie Monster .gif made my life. 2. I hereby petition for Joset and Delak to get their own spin-off show.

"The Enemy Within"writer's character: Toni Turnerjudge's character: Melitta Herodion Of all the ways to interrupt the theme of under my skin, a literal interruption could quite possibly be the trickiest to deliver in a truly meaningful way. But that was what this piece did as well as touch on such raw emotions coursing through the main character in a very convincingly within such a short amount of space. Perhaps the only concern that I have with this one is that I found it odd that you used sim thought tags ( oO Oo) when the rest of the story was written in a narrative formatting. While I did understand what was being said it did detract a little from the consistency of the story in my eyes. I am also more then a little curious as to what scenario led the Captain and her crew to that moment and the implied desperate circumstances that they faced. Despite the short size of this entry with each sentence and each additional detail I was blown away and found myself having to rethink my previous assumptions. For that reason I deeply enjoyed reading this one. Good work. --- "The Genetic Engineer's Manifesto"writer's character: Ben Livingstonjudge's character: Diego Herrera The first thing that grabbed me about this was the fact that it really is a manifesto, and that makes it stand out from quite a few of the entries I’ve seen in this or previous competitions. The unique interpretation of the theme was also very nice to see. The entry is very punchy in general as it does everything that it needs to do, including fleshing out just enough detail about the narrator to give us something to sympathise with, throughout the course of the speech itself. The only piece of constructive feedback I feel I can offer is that for me there were maybe a few too many sentences started with conjunctions. This can be an effective technique in writing and, indeed, in oration. However, if overused, it can disrupt the flow of prose. While it did serve to help create the regular cadence of a confident speaker, I felt that other techniques you used were more successful in achieving this goal. In fact, there were a range of literary techniques used throughout this entry that really enhanced the quality of its content. Rhetorical questions, varied sentence length with the shortest of them being used to convey key points and a regular, insistent use of the imperative really lend force to the presentation of the speaker’s points. To some degree, they’re quite unsettling and I think that’s part of the key to this piece’s success. It makes an argument for something that’s considered taboo in the established canon of the Star Trek future as well as our present day lives and it justifies it quite well.--- "I've Got You Under My Skin" writer's character: Alora DeVeau judge's character: Diego Herrera This entry does a great job of misdirecting the reader into making a big assumption right from the start. Descriptions are used to maximum effect in this pursuit; a focus on the emotions of the principal character send us down the path towards the final twist while giving us someone to engage with. Most of us have been in the position where we’re the new guy or girl and all but the most confident of us have probably sat around waiting for someone to introduce themselves! I would have loved to have more to engage with. The idea of Ensign Esther settling in wasn’t presented quite strongly enough to be the main plot element to my mind, and the episodes of dialogue could easily have been folded into a sentence of narrative or two as they didn’t seem to be essential. I was also a little confused as to why the ship wasn’t named - choosing any name at all would have been relatively easy. To some degree, it didn’t matter but, as readers, we do care about those kinds of details! There were some clever instances of word play that I really appreciated. “She loved the way his whiskers tickled her cheek when she hugged him” was a great way to drop a subtle clue without giving the game away. It’s always good to see tricks like that being deployed and being taken off in a direction you didn’t necessarily expect at the end of a piece of writing and I thought this entry did that effectively.--- "All Things Are Subjective" writer's character: Saveron judge's character: Kalianna Nicholotti As always, Saveron’s writer delivers an amazing entry composed of subtle, underlying tones that come together to make the reader go ‘ah!’ near the end. Though one of the longer entries, I feel it keeps the reader involved throughout, walking us through a short time in the life of the character, all while expanding on monumental history that had lead to this moment. Coupled with the very ‘realistic’ and believable persona of a Vulcan, this piece offers anyone who would read it, a great story. The theme for this challenge, however, isn’t readily apparent until you consider the ‘Subjective’, and view it all in the lens of individuality. It’s not as easy to catch on to as some of the other entries, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it is not impossible to make the connection. Overall, this is a great entry that I really did enjoy reading. Though this ‘Subjective’ is something relatively unfamiliar to me, there was enough in the story to explain where they came from and what they were, all while building up to an end the writer can be proud of. Thanks for the great entry and I look forward to what you come up with next!--- "Resignation" writer's character: Evan Delano judge's character: Aron Kells It's hard to pick out what to talk about first in a story in which so many things are working so well, but let's arbitrarily jump in with the structure. Using the resignation letter genre is a fascinating choice that pays off well in what it's able to do: It's not so much meant as a plot exposition as a declaration of character, and the tradeoff is a working one of philosophy rather than scenery. The smaller choices work well to create a full background for a story that's done well (Paragons vs. Perfects receives a particular mention), and there's a neat and very quiet moment in which the aliens are described (perhaps a shout-out to Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End?) -- very nice! The questions I have are mostly based upon plot choices: Would Starfleet try to forcibly remove Gardner? Were the events of Insurrection really enough to eliminate every other duckblind mission? But while those have an impact on the story's reading, the writing itself more than makes up for small stumbles in the plot and draws the reader on without letting go. Excellent, excellent work! --- "Under Our Skin" writer's character: Idril Mar judge's character: Aron Kells It's always nice to see something of Idril, but of course the risk run with an established character is that readers may need more background than a short entry can provide. Not so here: Idril and her Mar stand alone quite easily in this welcome story that takes its major characters to Scotland. The opening descriptions easily set the tone of the piece and drops the reader right on the summit with Idril and, eventually, Mar's past hosts. The scene is a beautiful one, and the story needs no more than that single scene to complete its work. The only confusion I had with regard to the story was, however, that I wasn't sure what its work was, exactly. Is it thinking about age? Is it, as its last line suggests, a reminder of Idril's lack of isolation, even in her own head -- and, as the story would seem to imply, is that a good thing? Put simply, how is the woman we meet in the first sentence different from that we meet in the last -- or is she? -- and if she is, how is the reader meant to read into what happens there a transformation? Of course, there's no reason that this story must be structured in such a way, and it's quite a lovely little vignette by itself. The writing, as usual, is wonderful, and I suspect that we'll be seeing more of Idril and Mar in the future....

Thank you to everyone who participated in our late summer July/August Writing Challenge! I'm pleased now to bring you the judges' decisions. I will note that a clear final field was harder to come by in this contest, as some final rankings were only one point off another. The winner of the Challenge for July and August is the writer behind Ben Livingston, with his story "The Genetic Engineer's Manifesto"! Our runner-up is the writer behind Evan Delano, with his story "Resignation"! Congratulations to both of you, and watch the Community News in the coming weeks for more about these authors and their stories! My special thanks to my fellow judges for this round -- the writers behind Fleet Captain Kalianna Nicholotti, Fleet Captain Diego Herrera, and Commander Melitta Herodion. Writers and all interested parties will find individual feedback posted below this message. Please feel free to use this thread to offer your congratulations to the winning writers!

This Challenge is now over! The judges are currently donning their special suits of writing achievement and valor, and we hope to have a winner announced in a week or so! Stay tuned....

Haha, that one made me laugh out loud when I read it, too. I love the relationship those two have :-)

A warm welcome to both of you!

Welcome, my friends, to the July and August Challenge for 2013! For this Challenge, Ed -- the writer behind Captain Diego Herrera and Ambassador Tallis Rhul and the winner of the May & June "From the Past" Challenge -- would like you to consider the topic "Under My Skin." Now, you may choose to take this expression figuratively and examine its ramifications for one of your staid characters (or, perhaps, an entirely new one); but the beauty of Trek is that you may also choose to get under a character's skin literally, perhaps with some Borg nanoprobes, a Trill symbiont, or something completely unexpected. Whatever you do, the judges look forward to reading your entry! The deadline for this Challenge is Tuesday, August 27th, which gives you the better part of two months to consider this topic, watch the new movie, and produce your story! As always, please remember: *Your work must be completely original. *You must be the sole author of the work. *Your story must take place in the Star Trek universe, but may not center upon canon characters. *Sign your final draft as you would a post on your ship. *Your story must be between 300 and 3000 words. As of today, Tuesday, July 2nd, this Challenge is open. For any questions you might have, remember that you can always visit the Writing Challenge website at http://www.starbase118.net/members/events-activities/writing-challenges/ Good luck!

“Questions and answers from the past.” writer's character: Alexander Richards judge's character: Toni Turner Lieutenant JG Richards delivered what his title promised in this well-told story of discovery and motivation. I was impressed by the fact that Captain Barnabus, even though looking forward to a shore leave, made the decision to investigate the wormhole first. It was very Starfleet of him. Although while the investigation answered the question of what had happened to the USS Tycho, NCC -1977, there still remained his questions about the wormhole that had taken it 33 years prior. I also like the fact that the incident brought about a fraction of personal discovery. . . "Do I regret ever having joined Starfleet rather than becoming a family man? Not for one moment, though I do sometimes find myself wondering, when I am alone, what if . . .? ” Thank you, Lieutenant Richards. Well done. --- "Lessons from the Past" writer's character: Kalianna Nicholotti judge's character: Jhen Thelev/Sinda Essen I must admit I approached this story with a slight reservation. A story with no dialogue is always something of a gamble.But appearances can be deceptive and 'Lessons from the Past' was a joy to read, quite literally.The lack of speech paid off, dealing as it does with memories - although our minds are good at remembering sights and even smells, rarely do we remember exactly what a person said. In this case, dialogue would have felt intrusive and jarring to the contemplative mood. Presenting snatches from the lifetimes of a Trill symbiont was a great way to approach this topic and Nicholotti presents us with half a dozen completely different hosts. Different, and yet connected by a number of themes, most prominently love and a deep interest in the unknown, be it space, science, future or even death. The presence of the symbiont is always there, not just to pass on the lessons of the past, but also to learn new lessons along with its host. Nicholotti's writing is beautifully poetic. Lines like; "questions not even asked yet would have answers" and "[the] impression that the star itself was dying, as rays of yellow, red, and orange bled into the water and spread in the waves" create a story that is evocative and thoughtful, as much about the future as it is about the past.Wonderful.--- "The Light of Darkness"writer's character: Hannibal Parkerjudge's character: Aron Kells This story places itself strongly within the genre of military sci-fi, which gives it an immediate opportunity to shine as it's not something that, with the exception of a couple of memorable DS9 episodes, Trek has done. Within that genre, it takes the Challenge's topic to heart and examines an important battle in the early service of Hannibal Parker, then a young marine officer. However, once under the surface of this attractive veneer, the story breaks down a bit. There's nothing very uniquely Parker about this story, and even his rallying cry is taken directly from Starship Troopers -- a disappointment for me, because I'm intrigued by Parker's character and I was intrigued to see one of his early experiences. The battle itself didn't carry much tension as I was certain Parker was going to survive and I wasn't vested in the Ha'Rouque character. However, the fact that the writer took on the challenge of writing about bloody military maneuvers in a universe in which that's generally not too accepted gains many kudos, and I'd like to see more of young Parker in the future.--- "Life in Memoriam"writer's character: Ben Livingstonjudge's character: Aron Kells This story takes on the immensely challenging task of explaining what happens in the moments we like to think of as empty. Or, put another way, it tells us what happens when nothing's happening for this character, and it does it very well. The wandering reflection amidst the structural device of the push-ups provides a nice ebb and flow to the narrative, and this is, all things considered, a very lovely take on the in-between. Its length is just right, too, as any longer would give way to a sort of mental rambling that this character wouldn't do: He reflects as he gets ready for his day and then he goes to it. Well done!--- "Not until this world burns" writer's character: Diego Herrera judge's character: Melitta Herodion When I started reading this piece I first thought that I was going to be reading about a character's exploits before or after a night of heavy drinking. As I read more though I found that I couldn't have been more wrong. The topic, "from the past" could refer to any number of things from a single past experience to the impacts of culture or tradition and how a person deals with one of those things. This story, "Not until this world burns" tackles all three (past experiences, ancient culture of a character's race and tradition) and it does so beautifully and in my opinion, it also does it successfully. As well as being well written this story made me want to look up the various details of Andorian society that weren't spelt out as the story progressed. I particularly had trouble with the different gender and family references but with that said I wouldn't ask that to be changed at all. I found that this story was excellently crafted using imaginative and deeply descriptive descriptions as well as truly heart felt emotions for each of the characters. To me though one of the best features of this story was how as the story progressed layer after layer of past influences were added which created the overall and very memorable effect and I deeply enjoyed reading. Very well done.

Happy midsummer, all! I'm pleased to bring you the results from our May & June Writing Challenge "From the Past." Our winner for this round is Ed, aka Captain Diego Herrera, for his short story "Not Until This World Burns." Close on his heels in the rankings was Marissa, aka Captain Kalianna Nicholotti, with her short story "Lessons from the Past." Congratulations to both of them and to everyone who entered! A new Challenge will be up early in July and will run through late August. Until then, I would like to thank my fellow judges for this round: the writers behind Fleet Captain Toni Turner, Commander Jhen Thelev (Lieutenant Sinda Essen), and Commander Melitta Herodion.