 Today Sacred Chickens is publishing the third and final winner of our writing contest. Be sure to check this and the other posts out! Happy reading! Third Place: "Master of the Marshes" by Danny Cove
We are still newcomers to this swamp, but I would venture to call it home. Little has been built, of course, but that is owing to our very rocky start. But soon that will change, as this particular clearing will become the homestead. Each family will build their house from whatever they can find – most likely mud, clay and driftwood which hasn’t yet rotted – and once they finish they’ll help out those who are still building. I began construction of my own house yesterday, drawing out its foundations and laying a floor of red clay that I’d dug from one of the banks that vanished into a mire. It should be dry by tomorrow morning, and then I’ll start work on the walls. All-in-all, there are seven families and eleven singles to form our community. It’s very small, and our original numbers – twelve families with twenty-three singles – were not so much greater. But this clearing gets enough sunlight that it should make for a good homestead, with some gardens between the houses and an adjacent clearing for more diligent farming.
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 Here at Sacred Chickens, we are going to be publishing the stories that won our writing contest over the next couple of days, and today we have our second place winner. Be sure to check them all out and happy reading! Second Place: "Jolene" by Ethan Willis
(Please be advised that this story contains graphic language and sexual situations) We thought a weekend at Hilton Head would be good for our marriage. We made the four hour drive for the most part in the cold silence we were accustomed to. He drove while I looked out the window or checked my phone, occasionally telling him to slow the hell down. He would say I was a nag. I would tell him he would get us both killed. Not that a small part of me wouldn’t have minded that.  Here at Sacred Chickens, we are going to be publishing the stories that won our writing contest over the next couple of days, with the first going up today in this very post! Be sure to check them all out and happy reading! FIRST PLACE: Coping Mechanism by Adam Padgett
Entry one, May 3, 2007 So the people in the white coats insist that I start writing down my personal experiences, thoughts, and feelings. I feel like it's stupid, but they'll probably take something away from me if I don't do this. I guess, since this is my first entry in this journal, I'll write a summary of things so far. I think my name is Max. It's what the doctors call me. I wish I could remember my last name, but I've been in this place so long now that I forgot. I guess I'm about sixteen. All of the “experiences” they want me to write down are boring. All I do is stay in this white room and follow a schedule. I wake up when the lights come on; I bathe and take my meds. Someone comes in and teaches me about math and English and crap like that until time to eat. After I eat, the therapist comes in and we talk about junk. She's probably the one who suggested this stupid journal. After that, I just do whatever I can in this room until dinner and lights out. That's my life as far as I remember. Same things happen every week. Nothing changes. As far as “thoughts and feelings” go, I've got nothing to write down that I haven't already told the therapist. There. I started the journal. Maybe this will be enough.  Morty has gotten dressed up this week to announce the winners of the writing contest. They are.... First Place: "Coping Mechanism" by Adam Padgett Second Place: "Jolene" by Ethan Willis Third Place: "Master of the Marshes" by Danny Cove Once again, thanks to everyone who submitted! The stories themselves will be published next week individually. Congratulations!  Don't go to your local medium! Just check your email. Uncle Morty has commissioned Jarad to inform the winners. We want our winners to give us bio information, a photo or other art work they want to display with the writing, if they so choose, and how they would like to be paid. We will announce at the end of this month and begin publication of the winning stories!  Why is Morty playing a celebratory fugue? Because we FINALLY know the winners to our first annual fiction contest. We hate to keep you in suspense, but Jarad will be contacting the winners for their information and preferred payment methods. We will also check to see if the authors have any preferred photos, art work, and bios to go along with their entries. We should be able to make final announcements on August 30. We will publish first, second, and third place stories on this very site! Thanks to all our submitters for your weird and wonderful stories! In the meantime, we'd like to thank friend of the chickens, award winning author, Jeff Weddle, for judging the contest.  Many thanks to Friend of the Chickens, Paul Leach, for taking in the submissions! Paul was our go-between guy who made sure the contest was fair to entrants. Not that Uncle Morty isn't totally impartial...but still... Paul received your submissions, assigned your entry a number and sent it to our judge, Jeff Weddle. Jeff has no way of knowing who you are, whether you've submitted here before or whether any of us likes, dislikes, or is just kind of meh about you. When our judge has time to go through our submissions, we will announce the winners! And, Morty wants me to add as a matter of greater importance, dole out the dough. So good luck to all our entrants. You will be hearing from us soon!  UPDATE: Contest Ended! by Uncle Morty This Contest is over, but Morty is contemplating another one. Keep up with Morty and the chickens to find out when the next one starts! Uncle Morty is excited because his contest is about to end. After the entries are judged, he will be able to read them. Finally! You may submit your stories until midnight August 1, 2018. Whether you've been trying to perfect your story, or whether you just happen to have a story lying about the house...dust it off and turn it in. Time grows short so don't delay! Click here for a refresher on the rules. |
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