Well, hi. We’re having a contest! And Stephen Graham Jones is Guest Judge! You like contests, yes? Of course you do. Here’s the deets:

When: Submit to the contest anytime between September 1st and October 15th. Look at all that time. Wow. You have plenty to send us something new and good. Unless it’s almost October 15th. In which case, man, time sure happened for a while! Better submit soon.  The winners will be announced around Halloween.

What: Hm. What? Are you asking what a contest is? Because it’s sort of hard to explain. We’ll try. Well, a contest is when a lot of people do something, and a select few are chosen as having done the best job, and then sometimes the people who are chosen receive rewards. Did that clear it up? No? Oh. Sorry. You want to know about this particular contest. Sure.

What, for real this time: This is a contest for previously unpublished flash fiction under 1,000 words. All entries will be judged by Cease, Cows staff. Judging will be anonymous, so don’t put your name anywhere on the submission! The top five entries will be passed on over to Stephen Graham Jones, author of Zombie Sharks with Metal Teeth and Flushboy. And lots of other stuff, which you most definitely must read to be one of the cool kids. Stephen Graham Jones will pick the top three winners. Oh, and we forgot to mention, submissions have got to adhere to the contest’s theme.

The Contest has a Theme?!: Wow. That was just three punctuation marks in a row. First the question mark plus exclamation point, and then the colon. Geez.  You’re ridiculous, bold text person. Anyway. Yeah. The contest has a theme. It’s “Hallowed.” Or just “Hallow.” Either of those words, any of their meanings. Your submission’s got to have some connection to the theme. Preferably a real connection. As in, probably don’t send us a story about a relationship that goes sour and oh yeah the couple totally met at a bar called Hallowed’s Pub.

We mean, come on.

Ok, how much do I gotta pay: You gotta pay $5! That is, if you only want to submit one piece. If you’d rather submit up to three pieces, the fee is $10. 50% of money raised goes to the author of the first place story. 25% goes to the author of second place. 15% goes to third. And 10% to Stephen Graham Jones because he’s a badass.

Let’s do this, man. Let’s make this happen: We agree. Submit here.