Best Short Story

Our next presenter is well known as the author of the Safety series. That series has recently been completed, and our presenter has hinted that the storyline might be continued in a new series. While she's been too busy to begin the new series, she has taken the time to join us here today.

Please welcome... Jadzia!

Jadzia:

In many respects, writing a short story is different from writing a novel.

There is not a number of characters the writer has to keep track of, there are no complicated plots that must be integrated into the story, there are no relationships that need to be built carefully over pages and pages.

But there are other things.

What the writer of a good short story must achieve, is to press a life or a relationship into a couple of pages, to write just a few scenes that take the reader so deep inside the characters that he can feel with them, know and understand them, without having to know what happened before or what will happen afterwards.

The writer of a good short story knows that she has only so many words to describe something that represents so much more, and she knows every word is important.

Every word must be there for a reason, for there is not enough room in a short story for anything superfluous.

The nominees are:

Human Touch by Eider

As I close the door of the cell behind me, I feel a crackle in Krycek, as if colors and sounds suddenly fulfilled his aching soul for a too brief moment before being sized by the snow-white abyss and being assimilated. I shiver, suddenly cold, and make a mental note not to watch science-fi TV marathons while writing case reports ever again.

Interminable* by Sarah Bellum
Sarah Bellum has decided to withdraw from the awards. LeK respects her request, and continues to honor her story as exceptional.

Scars by Jessica Harris

Something had sparked between us right from the start, some kind of connection, and when he betrayed me it didn't so much destroy that connection as - well, *twist* it somehow. I still dreamed of those long-lashed eyes in that strange old-young face, but my fantasies got very ... dark. I dreamt of beating him until he was half-unconscious and then doing whatever I wanted to him... I dreamt of him coming upon me in the darkness and overwhelming me, making me powerless to resist the things I imagined him doing to me...

Sunflowers and White Linen by Te and Debchan

From Te's half:

Krycek, I know you're scuttling around down there. Can we quit fucking around and be clandestine and mysterious now?"

Mulder.

Alex scrubs his hand over his face, uses the grip on the gun to scratch a tiny itch on his nose before speaking. "Clandestine works a lot better without the whining." And stands.

From Debchan's half:

He lets Mulder push him down onto the couch, clings a little when Mulder pulls away, but uses his absence to peel off his clothes. And okay, maybe the leather will burn later, but for the moment its cool and smooth against his back and smells like Mulder.

Unspoken by Araxdelan

A war is a place of death. A place of violence and hate. I try to believe that we can withstand it. But I'm worried. I can imagine this going on longer, being stuck here for years, and in those images I see our love turn to rust. That scares me more than anything on the battlefield.

And the winner is...

Scars by Jessica Harris