The Winner’s Circle
Welcome back to Lunar Awards! I’m your horror ambassador, Shaina Read , author of Kindling.
The judge for this round was the indomitable Keith Long. He read all of your stories, and barely slept after, but in the end, there could only be one winner.
Thank you to all our entrants! Subscribe to the Lunar Awards and make sure to read the stories!
Drum roll please…
A note from Keith Long :
Judging a competition is tough because you often get so many good stories, but also because sometimes you aren’t sure what qualifies as a trait to judge by: is this story more horror than that one? What kind horror am I thinking of when I decide that? What is horror, really? I think horror as a genre extends beyond the boundaries of jump scares or frightening atmospheres or dark premises. Horror is about the unknown and the uncontrollable. It could be the environment; the ocean, space, caves, the dark, tight spaces — or the entity; demons, ghosts, serial killers, gods, witches, aliens. Horror stems from these two basic things. But there is usually one or two in a competition that stick out. You think about them after, picturing the characters and the scenes, hearing the dialogue, you feel the lingering tension.
Winner: Out of Silence by Jean Marie Bauhaus
I enjoyed reading everyone’s stories and I’m honored to have been your judge this round. The winning story I chose was Out of Silence by Jean Marie Bauhaus. I picked this one because it stuck with me, I thought about it long after finishing it. The characters were excellently written, the story was honed to a well edited point and came together beautifully, and the fears were on full display throughout. Space is a scary place by itself, add in an alien entity and the loss of control over oneself and you’ve got a good horror recipe. The final product is a high quality story that will stick with you.
Runner Up: Reunion by Zaklog the Great
My runner up choice is Reunion by Zaklog the Great. It’s a well executed story in a classic cosmic horror style. It sets out to be a sort of modern sequel to Lovecraft’s works and it accomplishes this very well. I enjoyed the mounting tension, the view of a horrifying situation unraveling at a distance.
Well, that’s a wrap friends. I enjoyed being the guest judge this round. Thanks for sending in your stories.
Congratulations to our winners!
Please take the time to read the other entrants! It takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there, and I would love for you all to discover more horror writers here!
NOTE: Reunion is the first chapter. The story as a whole is “Translation Error”. And thank you for the recognition.
Congrats to the winners and looking forward to checking out the stories. On that note, I don't think the winning and runner up stories are actually linked on the post. Just the authors.