I want to keep this post frank and productive, so instead of writing a big gushy paragraph about what a good job you're all doing at writing shitty words for 8 years, I sat down briefly with Sebmojo to talk about 8 years of this contest, as well as what it means to do and be Thunderdome in 2020.

Right. So whether you are an old hat at Thunderdome, a newbie, or one of our prompt contributors from BYOB, welcome!

Many of you have commissioned stories by submitting one or more outlines to this form (which is now closed—thank you so much to everyone who contributed). It's possible you didn't know you were commissioning a story, but that's what's going to happen!

We're keeping it simple this week. You sign up, you receive a random outline from the above form, and do your damndest to write a story that uses all the details in the outline you receive. Outline contributors get to watch their stories come to life! Much to their delight, or dismay.

You couldn't ask for a simpler prompt. Most of the thinking has already been done for you; you get the fun job of stringing it all together!

The winner of this week will have the option of receiving a free custom week 420 av. The loser will receive a free, non-optional custom week 420 av ;)

Boilerplate stuff:

• No erotica. Your story must be viewable on the forums. Don't put your story in quote tags. Don't waste the judge's time with boring political screeds.


• No editing once you've posted!


• Signup deadline: Sign up by 11:59:59PM PST on Friday, August 21


• Story submission deadline: Post your story by 11:59:59PM PST on Sunday, August 23


• Maximum word count: 2,420 words (do not feel obligated to use all of them!)


• Toxxes are allowed, and may be fulfilled with a minimum $10 to a charitable cause should you fail your toxx.

Fun stuff:

The top outline contributor was Tyrannosaurus! Wow. Thanks buddy.

The top genre category was magical realism, followed by science fiction, fantasy, horror, and general/literary fiction!