# Forum News - WiFs 31



## PiP (Mar 2, 2017)

Another month and another WiFs! No, your eyes are not deceiving you it is in a different format.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints in RL, Sigmadog is unable to work his usual magic and produce the WiFs newsletter until the end of April/May, so you're stuck with my basic formatting. 

Please grab a coffee, pull up a chair, and catch up on WF news *otherwise it will be so out-of-date it will have cobwebs!* 

*Grand Fiction Challenge 2017 

*February 1st, kicked off with the Writing Forums' 2017 Annual Grand Fiction Challenge, sponsored by Writing Forums and Meerkat Press. This year's prompt was 'Ordinary Chaos' and attracted fifteen entries!








Stop Press: If you get your skates on and scoot over to the People's Choice Award poll, you still have time to cast your vote for your favorite entry before the poll closes on the 5th March! *Vote now*

For those new to WF, the Grand Fiction LM is an invite-only prize challenge open to winners of the previous year's LM and CoF Challenges.

To celebrate the opening of the submission period (1st-14th February 2017, midnight GMT) we interviewed last year's winner, InkwellMachine (Benjamin). *Read More
*
We also interviewed our panel of judges. What a great lineup!  So, who are these dedicated group of volunteers?







*
Meet the Judges!* *Read More*
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Member News
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We like to keep abreast of our members' success. Please let us know what you have published, where and when!







 Originally Posted by *astroannie* 


I've made the leap and made Eclectica: Genre Poetry available as an ebook from Smashwords. Click on it to find out more







 Originally Posted by *Dave Watson* 


Again, much appreciation to the folks of WF for this one as I ran most of these stories by yourselves at one point or another.  Shots in the Dark








 Originally Posted by *Angel101* 


Got a poem accepted to 3Elements Review and The New Verse News. A poem of mine is also being published by Qu Magazine today. Woot!







 Originally Posted by *Angel101* 


My poem "Cartography with Tears" was accepted a couple weeks ago and is live at One today! The issue is excellent, and I'm pleased to be in such great company! http://one.jacarpress.com/





 Originally *Posted by Monique*
I wanted to share a piece of good news. I have just published a new children picture book, illustrated by my friend Maggie and my daughter Nicole. You can find details in link below. This is a little project I started almost 9 years ago! When Echo found his voice. Available on Amazon


*Moderan* is serving as editor-in-chief, publicist, and general henchman for an anthology of literary weird fiction. Test Patterns involves stories and poetry written in the vein of the old Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Night Gallery...not in the retro sense, but in the sense of possible moral underpinnings, plot twists, dark subject matter. Right now it's invite-only, and has attracted some of the best-known writers in the weird fiction field. Watch this space for further updates!

​*Please don't forget to share your success on Beyond the Forum
*
​*Contests and Challenge Winners for January 2017*
*
Monthly Poetry Challenge

Prompt: *Control
All of us kids ran amok in the candy shop, and although the race was  close, one poet has emerged victorious. Kindly join us in slamming our  sticky palms together to congratulate and honor a first time entrant, *clark* for his absolutely stunning effort, *Correcting Bad Behavior*.

*Pip (Poets in Progress) Challenge*
The focus for the January Pip challenge was to write a series of related haiku or senryū. The winner for the most improved poem was Ned, and the best poem, Smith. Congrats to you both!
*
LM Fiction Challenge

Prompt:* '_When A Good Man Falls'_  brought home a tie for first place with
*The Preacher's Wife* by *Godofwine*, and *The Catcher in the Sky *by *Terry D
*Congratulations, guys!
*
CoF (Colours of Fiction Scene Prompt Challenge)*

*Prompt*: Stranger + Train
Congratulations to jenthepen with her winning entry_ Family Tree._*
**
WF Podcast

*





This rather important episode focused on the main reason why we're all here: giving and receiving critique. It's in-depth stuff, comprising as it does some of the best guides ever submitted to the site in spoken-word form. There's excellent material by J-Mag (read by the author) and an equally excellent guide by the late George Potter (read by Cran).

Why not have a listen? And why not let us know what you think afterwards? We on the media team are positively gagging for feedback.
_
Are you sitting comfortably?_* Tune in** <here>

WF Member Author Interviews

**
Stephen Bishop

*This month we interview newly published author Stephen Bishop, better known on the forum as WALTEREGO. His debut novel 'The Next Eight Days' is a military thriller and available on Amazon, Smashwords and Nook.






*
Interview continues here*

*Limelight!

*Schrody our resident LIMELIGHT hostess has been busy again this month. 






So who's under the spotlight?

Let's take a look...

Great choice, Schrody! Let me present Sam and Daniel!

*
Featured Guest Interviews

*Any fantasy or scifi fans out there? Yes, of course there are. This month we interview epic fantasy and scifi author, Michael J. Sullivan


Michael J. Sullivan is an American writer of epic fantasy and science fiction, best known for his debut series, _The Riyria Revelations_, which has been translated into fourteen languages. In 2012 io9 named him one of the "Most Successful Self-Published Sci-Fi and Fantasy Authors" as well as many other accolades for his novels, to many to choose from! He has written three series. _The Riyria Revelations_ and _The Riyria Chronicles_ were published by Orbit Books and _The First Empire_ will be released by Del Rey Books as well as a stand alone Science Fiction Novel, _Hollow World._

What words of wisdom does he offer?






*Check out his interview <Here> *
*

Out and about around the forum. What's new?*

*Red Light room *

Strictly Adults Only. Rated R18+. An invite-only forum for Red Light  Ticket-holders. This forum allows for explicitly graphic works which  should be treated sensitively and with respect.

*The Great Op-Ed Challenge *

A challenge for lovers of the topical or controversial. Take a side, and take your best shot, because you only get one.

*Writer of the Month *

The Writer of the Month project is not a WF structured challenge. There  are no prompts or scoring rubrics involved. Polls may be used to refine  or select finalists for WF media publication. Selected works may earn  the Pulitzer or similar award.

If there is a challenge, it is aimed at the reviewers or critics of  nominated works. Selected reviews may be quoted in WF media platforms,  and may earn the reviewer or critic the Star Critter or similar award.  Only quality quotable reviews or critiques of eligible works will be  considered.

The idea is to encourage members to bring the best works posted in the open Prose forums to broader attention and appreciation. 

*Read more*

Our first 'Writer of the Month' was wulfAlpha with his short story Dragon Vs Princess

Who will you nominate for February? Post your nominations <*here*>


*Coming Soon!*

April 2016 saw WF's 'Inaugural Grand Invitational Poetry Challenge' organised to coincide with National Poetry Month. This year plans for this year's challenge are already underway and  announcements and invites will be posted in the next couple of weeks.

_If you have any news items you would like included in the next WiFs, please send me a PM.

_*Thanks for reading!*


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## jenthepen (Mar 3, 2017)

Thanks, PiP for keeping us up to date. There seems to be such a lot going on around the place at the moment. Exciting times!


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## rcallaci (Mar 4, 2017)

You did a Pipafantistic job---you are the template for energizer bunny- This is good stuff a perfect remedy to break up the news aspect and the creative stuff in a separate mag-format, but it still is a hell of a lot of work, you deserve hugs and kisses from of of the WF community.


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## Harper J. Cole (Mar 4, 2017)

Thanks for posting! I hadn't seen Flashes of Brilliance #8 going up ... some thought-provoking thoughts on critique there. I'm someone who does tend towards just pointing out the SPaG errors. 

HC


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## sigmadog (Mar 12, 2017)

Thanks, Pip! I'm just checking in and saw this post. Thanks for taking care of WiFs31. It's much appreciated.


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## Anthony Clark (Jun 17, 2017)

Thank you! This is a good forum!


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