I’m not really fond of the autumn as everything starts to points towards a dark, cold and windy winter season that will last for months, luckily enough there are a few things that lighten up the bleak autumn days – The Halloween Invitational at The Royal Academy of Bards and The Autumn Romance writing contest at The Athenaeum!

Yes you’ve got it right a lot of new fic’s to lighten up your life – follow the links and go look at the new stories for your self.

The Halloween Invitational gives us a number of fic’s from the pen of well-known writers from the (fan) fiction world. I can’t say that I have read them all, but I did take a look at the ones penned by the writers that I like the most.

If you want a taste of the possibilities of new love you can look up Artemis Callaghan’s “Light up the sky with Standard fireworks” it’s not exactly Halloween, but it’s a celebration and it holds a promise of a new loving relationship. If you can live suspended in time in the memory of shared love you might want to look up Karin Kallmaker’s “Tick, Tock” – it’s touching but sad, and if you are ok with a visit from beyond – you can look up Lois Cloarec Harts “Midnight Message”. Finally if you want a bit of a scare – and it is a Halloween Invitational after all – you can try out the short fic (!) from S X Meagher “Stormy Weather”.

The Autumn Romance writing contest at The Athenaeum is quit different – this is a contest! We – the readers – get a month to read the 9 stories entered in the contest and vote for the two titles that each of us like best. While the voting is on the stories is posted without information on who penned each story. As long as the contest run I don’t think that I should tell you which stories that I like the best, but I guess that it would be ok to say that I do have a couple of favourites.

The stories entered present a mix of storylines – you’ll find a story with a bit of a supernatural soul mate theme in an ancient Chinese setting in “Forbidden History”, a short modern-day romance in “Still Standing”, and a story of mature love that lasts a lifetime in “An October Romance” – and a number of other themes. I urge you to go read and cast your vote.