Bullets, Bras, Bug-Eyed Aliens... and Bruen

Thought more than a few of you might be interested in this fiction contest that the Philadelphia City Paper is running.

You can read all about it in my editor's letter, but frankly, who'd want to wade through that crap?

The quick and dirty: We're looking for pulp-style, page-turnin', suspense-soaked stories set in one of three genres: mystery, sci-fi/horror, or romance. They have to be set in Philly, but anyone can enter. (Unless, of course, you work for the paper.) The deadline is January 28, 2005.

The prizes are sweet. (Trust me.)

Sweeter still are the judges--most notably Ken Bruen, who's graciously agreed to take time away from blurbing all of the PointBlankers to read the mystery entries. How cool is that?

No matter how the contest turns out, it's going to be worth picking up the March 3, 2005 issue of the paper just to read Ken's judging comments.