Flash Fiction Contest - Aliens Invade History

Aliens. What's up with these guys anyway? They're always flying across the unimaginable interstellar void to conquer earth, and somehow, despite being vastly outgunned, those plucky earthlings always manage to blow them out of the sky. It's like, guys, if you have the technology to travel the great gulf of darkness, how do you not have the ability to terraform Mars? Or one of the other planets in your own system for that matter?

What? Oh, right the prompt. See, Aliens are sort of a recent idea. You can probably trace alien invasion genre back to H. G. Wells and the War of the Worlds, and you could argue the whole flying saucer sighting thing got kicked off with the Great Airship Scare in 1896, both pretty recent on the scale of human civilization. But what if the flying saucers had shown up earlier? How would the fictional aliens of today fare against the Roman Empire or the Genghis Khan's Mongol army? That's the idea we want to explore in this month's flash fiction challenge.

You get a thousand words. Your deadline: Christmas Day. Send your entries in to hepodcast@gmail.com with "Aliens Invade History" in the subject-line of your email. We prefer ".doc" attachments.

The winner of the contest will receive ten dollars and have their story produced in audio form to air on the podcast. Good luck and happy writing!

The deadline for this contest is December 27th, 2013.

The Eaters of Earth

geophagy  [jee-of-uh-jee]:
noun
the practice of eating earthy matter, especially clay or chalk.

Some people eat dirt. Yes, really. It is weird, it is widespread, and it is not well-understood. Which for our money makes it perfect fodder for this month's flash fiction contest. We're looking for a story of no more than 1,000 words that explores this strange custom. The story does not necessarily need to focus on real examples of geophagy, though it is worth remembering that the best lies stories contain some kernel of truth.

The deadline for entry is October 4th of 2013. Send entries to hepodcast@gmail.com and include "Eaters of Earth" in the subject line. Word documents are very much preferred.

The winner of the contest will receive ten dollars and the story will produced in audio form and published on the Human Echoes Podcast. Good luck, and happy writing!