Fearsomely fantastic!

As we approach April and the return of The Magnus Archives for its final season, we have one last order of business for the season break, and that’s to announce the winning entries in this year’s horror short story writing competition, Rusty Fears 3: Fearsome!

This year we asked you for your takes on one of three themes:

  1. Let It Out
  2. One Last Time
  3. The Awful Machine

And these certainly sparked your creative imaginations. Thanks to everyone who submitted stories and spread the word. We received 195 valid entries, which far exceeds any of our other competition responses to date! Quality was extremely high, and narrowing these down to any kind of list was very difficult. But from these we managed to get down to a longlist of 32, from which the judging panel deliberated and after much consideration selected a pair of winners.

This year’s judges were:

  • Jonathan Sims, writer of The Magnus Archives
  • Helen Gould, voice of Azu on Rusty Quill Gaming
  • Elizabeth Moffatt, vocal editor for The Magnus Archives
  • Anil Godigamuwe, Community Manager

Their decision as to the winning entries… <<drumroll.wav>>

CONGRATULATIONS go to Elizabeth Wynn for Nox Mare and Duncan Watson for The Turning of the Gears.

These stories will now undergo the Rusty Quill treatment for a dramatic reading. Stay tuned to The Magnus Archives feed later this month to hear the final productions!

Honourable mentions also go to the following entries:

  • Jack Beckwith – Butterfly House
  • Estelle Carey – Dear Amy
  • Mo Dooley – Where the Deer Sleep
  • Gabriella Figueroa – Further In
  • Ashley Jade – Waterloo
  • Michelle Kan – Inkling
  • Indigo Lee – Craving
  • Natalie Logan – The Loom
  • plainsugarwafflepine – Maximizing Growth with Team Synergy
  • Six Rudolph – The Last Living Human on Route 66

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