BSG Essay Contest through December 31, 2006

[Michael]

Hey folks! Have I got a sweet gift for five of you!

I have five copies of So Say We All: An Unauthorized Collection of Thoughts and Opinions on Battlestar Galactica to give away to members of SF-FANDOM (moderators and admins are not eligible -- sorry).

The book was edited by Richard Hatch. Here is the table of contents:

• "Introduction" by Richard Hatch
• "The Mirror Frakked" by Eric Greene
• "The Gods Suck" by Matthew Woodring Stover
• "An Angel On His Shoulder; A Devil On Hers" by Chris Roberson
• "The Face in the Mirror" by Natasha Giardina
• "M U A C - S I G Briefing" by Peter B. Lloyd
• "The Natural and the Unnatural" by Lou Anders
• "Galactica's Gods" by Charlie W. Starr
• "Identity Crisis" by Tee Morris
• "Legitimate Authority" by Steven Rubio
• "The Machinery of Love" by Summer Brooks
• "Burdens: A Proof" by Jacob Clifton
• "Stripping the Bones" by A.M. Dellamonica
• "Men are from Aquaria, Women are from Caprica" by Mur Lafferty
• "Between the Stars" by Brad Linaweaver
• "GINO" by Bill Gordon
• "Cheez Whiz and the Future" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• "Report to Congress" by Bill Fawcett and Jody Lynn Nye
• "Adama and Fascism" by Adam Roberts
• "Reporters in Spaaaaace!" by Shanna Swendson
• "An Army of One God" by James John Bell
• "From Battlestar to Battlestar" by Richard Hatch

I wish I could say these copies are autographed, but for reasons I don't recall, the publisher could not get them autographed. Anyway, we have been asked to give them out and we have some leeway in how to do that. The books are for fan members of our BSG community, not for Xenite.Org stafff.

So here is the deal. Anyone living in the Continental United States or Canada or Mexico is eligible. Sorry, but postage comes out of my pocket.

You have until Midnight, Pacific Time Zone (Los Angeles time), January 15 (was December 31) to submit an essay of 1,000 to 1,500 words about any aspect of either Battlestar Galactica television show.

No fan fiction. These are opinion essays, op-eds. Critical essays.

No pornography. If you talk about sex, it had better be as plain and boring and sterile a discussion of sex as if you were writing about two amoebae mating asexually.

The five essay winners will each receive a copy of the book and possibly one other book or an online bookseller gift certificate (yet to be determined). Their essays will be permanently ensconced on Xenite.Org as a new feature section. Each winning essayist will receive a short bio.

The essays must be original work. They cannot have been published anywhere else. You grant to Xenite.Org an exclusive right of first publication in perpetuity. That means you have to wait at least 90 days before you republish that essay in any book, magazine, Web site, forum, or whatever. You can sell your secondary publication rights.

Xenite.Org will not use these essays for any purpose other than creating a special feature articles section. That is, should I ever decide to publish a book of BSG essays, and I want to use the winning essays, I'll have to make subsequent arrangements for the rights.

For those of you who have an interest in accumulating writing credits, winning one of the five slots under these terms will qualify as a semi-professional contest credit.

I will choose the winners.

The essays are to be submitted EITHER through the Xenite.Org Contact Us form OR you may try to send it to me through a private message in the forums. You must select the "SF-FANDOM BSG ESSAY CONTEST" subject line if you use the Xenite contact form.

Your essay should be typed into a standard text editor like Wordpad or Notepad. You may be able to copy it into the form from Microsoft Word but I'm not sure what will happen.

Anyone may submit an essay, but because I have to mail the prizes to the winners, anyone under 18 years of will have to send me a letter signed by their parents giving me your address and permission to send you the prize(s) and indicating whether it is acceptable to include a brief bio on Xenite.Org. Go ahead and submit an essay if you are under 18. You only have to make sure I can contact you by email in January. I don't need any other private information at this time.

Winners will be announced the weekend of January 27-28, 2007.

Questions may be posted here. We'll try to answer them as quickly as possible.

DO NOT POST ESSAYS IN THIS FORUM. Posting an essay on SF-FANDOM disqualifies you (and it also constitutes first publication -- you don't want to do that).

Good luck!

[Darq Ali]

Sounds great. I hope you have wonderful response and I look forward to reading the results.

I haven't a clue how to do it with my computer, however, so I won't be entering. I do encourage others to do so, as it sounds like fun and the prizes sound great, too!

P.S. I'm already published, but not in the Sci Fi field. I've even been paid a little on occasion, so it isn't that big a deal to me. But I think it a great opportunity for others who are seeking to showcase their talents, and I thank you on their behalf for setting this up!

[Michael]

I don't understand. What can you not do with your computer? Upload the essay? You just need to copy-and-paste from a text editor or word processor the essay's text into the contact form on Xenite.Org.

[Darq Ali]

Right! You get it. I haven't a clue. Should have had children, for then by now I would have grand children who could teach me about this infernal machine. You could put what I know in a thimble and not find it!

I hope you get great response.

[Michael]

If anyone wants to send me their essay via private message through the forum software, I think that will work, too. Give it a shot.

I've only just realized this weekend that December is probably the worst-possible month to run a contest. I am extending the deadline to January 15. I'll edit my original post to reflect that.

[Michael]

This thread has been read several hundred times but I have not yet received any submissions. I'm going to guess no one wants to write an essay? It's an opportunity for some exposure as an amateur writer if nothing else, as Xenite.Org gets about 100,000 visitors a month (not all of them looking for BSG content).

I'll wait until the contest deadline in case people are holding back, but if I hear nothing by next week then I may just give books away to the first five people who contact us through our Contact Form.

I was hoping the contest idea would be fun. I'm open to suggestion (and, yes, I know I said I would try to review the book -- but I've been very, very busy).

[mrt77]

Well, I started on one, but of course have been procrastinating. The word count I think had me a bit intimidated. Maybe I'll see if I can try to find enough to say here though in the next couple of days to fill 1000 words. I do have my topic at least.

[Michael]

Sorry. I'm so used to writing I didn't think that 1,000 words might be daunting to people.

If people want to submit an essay that is somewhat shorter, that will be fine. But I suppose a lot of people have given up on the idea by now.

[mrt77]

I'm about 1/3 of the way done, I'm gonna get something submitted today.....

[mrt77]

As it turns out I'm not going to have any problem with the 1000 words, those sure add up quickly, only about a page and a half....

[mrt77]

Its done; however I did not have any luck sending it to you on the Contact Us form. I will send it private message in the forums. Let me know if you want to see the error message I got back from the form.

[Michael]

Well, I only received 1 essay. I'll go ahead and create a feature Web site for it and mail you a copy of the book, but that still leaves me with 4 copies.

Does anyone want a copy of the book?

[mrt77]

Cool, when can I expect that to happen?

[Michael]

I'll send you the book next weekend. Sorry for the delay. Been working on other projects.

[mrt77]

Here's a really fantastic BSG essay- much better than mine. Too bad they did not submit this to your contest:

http://www.thethoughts.co.uk/thought...star-galactica

[mrt77]

Originally Posted by Michael

I'll send you the book next weekend. Sorry for the delay. Been working on other projects.

So, how 'bout that book now?

[Michael]

Sorry. I keep forgetting to send your snail mail address to my work account. I'll send it out this week. I'm sure....

[RobRoy]

Originally, I didn't respond to this as you advised the books were not for staff. However, given the lack of response for this, would you be willing to re-open the competition for staff as well? I'd like to take a hand at writing an essay on the subject as a fan. I'll certainly understand if it was specified no staff under any circumstances.

It might also help if we advertised this contest throughout all of SF-FANDOM. What am I saying!? I shouldn't help the competition if it's possible for me to saddle up! Anyhow, just a thought.

Also, if anyone has trouble with the submission process (because of technology or whatever), I'd be pleased to act as a receiver and send them on through.

I just hate the thought of those four remaining books collecting dust, when one of them could be on my shelf collecting dust!

[Afiriel]

Curious. Are the essays in this book intended to compare TOS with the current one, or just to provide thoughts about either (i.e., is viewing of the entirety of both series necessary)?

RobRoy, just wanted to add appreciation for a genuinely nice offer to assist anyone getting over technology humps. I expect I could manage, but can understand how anticipation of such difficulties might result in others turning off to the whole suggestion.

(Heading back to assigned time for daily recitation of the Buffy cast, atonement for total stupidity. )

[Michael]

I'd be glad to open up a competition to anyone, staff or not.

Afiriel, as far as the contest was concerned, the essays could be about anything related to the topic of Battlestar Galactica, old show or new.