The story of the week for November 17 to 21 is Commuting by Anton Rose.

As someone who takes public transit to work every day, I appreciate the truth that underlies this story’s dark humour. On trains and buses, and in crowds in general, we get so buried in our bubbles of personal space. The fact that this story could essentially be true is what makes it effective. Congratulations Anton!

The story of the week for November 10 to 14 is Inspiration by Perry McDaid.

The concept of a spider inspiring a man to commit murder has a lot of darkly artistic potential, and the framing of the story as something casual and absentminded enhances that darkness by contrast. There haven’t been many wins lately for stories with Amusing tags, but Perry’s earned one!

The story of the week for November 3 to 7 is What Passes by Jennifer L. Freed.

Beautiful prose packed with emotion. I think we’ve all come to expect nothing less from Jennifer!

Ah, November, that wonderful time of year when the Christmas products and ads start popping up everywhere (already!), when winter is in the air, when men and boys let their facial hair grow to raise money and awareness to fight prostate cancer.

We’re going to have a contest themed on one of these things. Any guesses which one?

Yup: moustaches!

The Moustache Memoirs contest will be open to your entries from November 1, 2014, until November 22, 2014. All submitted stories must be related to the theme of “moustache” in some way. Take the theme whatever direction seems best to you!

The best 10 submitted stories will be posted to the site during the week of November 24 to 28, 2014, at the rate of two stories per day.

PRIZE

The best story from all of the entries, as judged by editor Tim Sevenhuysen, will be posted as the second story of the day on Friday, November 28, and will also be marked as the Story of the Week for that week. The author of this story will receive a $15 Amazon gift card!

The story that wins the contest will also be eligible for selection as Story of the Month. (That means your story could win you up to $25 in total!)

MORE RULES

• To be eligible for this contest, stories must be received between November 1, 2014, and November 22, 2014.
• Stories must be related to the theme of “moustache”. Stories not related to this theme will not be considered for a prize, but may be considered for later publication on the site.
• Any stories received for the contest but not published during the week of November 24 to 28, 2014, will still be held eligible for later publication on the site. Entry into the contest does not guarantee publication on the site.
• Submit your entry or entries to tim@fiftywordstories.com. (Limit two story submissions per writer. Please send each story in a separate email. The story should be pasted into the body of the email.)
• The subject line of your email must start with “MOUSTACHE MEMOIRS ENTRY” and include the title of the story.
• Stories must be exactly 50 words long, not counting title and author biography.
• All stories must follow all guidelines specified on the Submissions page. Please read this page before sending in your entry.

I look forward to receiving your entries. Spread the word around and get your author friends to enter, too!

The Story of the Month is chosen from the Story of the Week winners announced from the past month. The finalists for October were:

Creation by Pavarti K. Tyler
The Mapmaker’s Calligraphist Daughter by Bob Thurber
Snowbound by Ruby Ray
Footsteps by Barry O’Farrell
The First Time I Gazed Into My Wife’s Eyes by Bob Thurber

The winner of the October 2014 Story of the Month, and the $10 prize, is…

The Mapmaker’s Calligraphist Daughter

Congratulations, Bob!

The story of the week for October 27 to 31 is The First Time I Gazed Into My Wife’s Eyes by Bob Thurber.

This is Bob’s third story of the week award, and he’s earned this one with a marvelous piece of poetic prose. The thing that really sealed this selection for me was the closing metaphor of the kite: what a beautiful image! Bob stretched the limits of what can be done within the tight confines and restrictions of a 50-word story, and I think he did so quite successfully.

The story of the week for October 20 to 24 is Footsteps by Barry O’Farrell.

Footsteps uses its central metaphor to communicate the character’s mental and emotional state in a really powerful way. Great job putting this story together, Barry.

The story of the week for October 13 to 17 is Snowbound by Ruby Ray.

There’s a lot of art in communicating an idea indirectly, the way that this story implies a discussion of beauty and gender roles/expectations without actually bringing them up directly. This is a story that is larger than itself, and that’s always a mark of success in the 50-word format.

The story of the week for October 6 to 10 is The Mapmaker’s Calligraphist Daughter by Bob Thurber.

It’s a great world-building piece with awesome characterization. The story absolutely goes beyond the 50-word limit to communicate setting, character, and plot. Great work, Bob!

The story of the week for September 29 to October 3 is Creation by Pavarti K Tyler.

There were a few really strong scene-setting stories this week, and this one stood out to me. I love the eerieness and the implied world-building.