The Friends of the Merril Short Story Contest for speculative fiction

The Friends of the Merril Collection are running a Speculative Fiction Short Story Contest in order to raise awareness of the Toronto Public Library's Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy.

The Merril Collection houses a comprehensive array of over 72,000 items of Speculative, SF and Fantasy Fiction, including hardcover and paperback fiction, first and rare editions, TPB graphic works and comic collections, pulp and later era magazines, fanzines, research material and critical essays/reference works and compendia – as well as donated original manuscripts from authors such as Phyllis Gottlieb and Guy Gavriel Kay.

The contest is open to international entrants without restriction on country of residence, entrant’s publication history (or lack thereof), or any other delimiting factors (though entrants not of age of majority will need a parent or guardian’s permission in order to enter).

Entries must be original, previously unpublished short stories with a maximum length of 4,000 words, and must be submitted as an e-mailed .rtf attachment (composed in Standard Manuscript Format) to fomsscontest@gmail.com

First Prize: $350 and 1 copy of the limited edition booklet containing the winning stories
Second Prize: $100 and 1 copy of the limited edition booklet containing the winning stories
Third Prize: $50 and 1 copy of the limited edition booklet containing the winning stories

Deadline: February 15, 2012. Each entry must be accompanied by an entry fee of $5. Visit the Friends of the Merril and find the full contest rules here.

See Brian Henry's schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Gravenhurst, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.