The Cult of Me - Interviews, Guest Posts, Short Fiction Contest and so much more!

[Michael]

It made me chuckle :-)

[Michael]

I might not have reached my Goodreads target this year, but last year was still a damn fine year for reading and here are my highlights with my Top Five Reads of 2015:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

There's only two week's left to enter January's Short Fiction Contest and this month's Penny Dreadful cover has already inspired some delightful stories. If you haven't submitted your story yet, then now is the time to do so!

Entry to the contest remains free and the following prizes are available:

- First prize is a £50 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
- Second prize is a £20 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
- Third prize is a £10 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize

You can submit your entry through the form on the contest page here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

If you haven't read the winning stories from December's contest yet the you're in for a treat. You can read them here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

We've entered the final week to take part in January's Short Fiction Contest, so if you haven't entered yet then you're running out of time! There's no entry fee and it's easy to enter. First write a story of no more than 500 words based on this month's image. Then enter it through the form provided on the contest page here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

Here are the winning stories from December's contest - if you've not read them yet then you really should!

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

February's Short Fiction Contest has started and sees the return of the wonderfully talented Luciana Nedelea with an image from Paradise Lost - which for me is the greatest story ever told.

Your entry doesn't need to be Paradise Lost themed, it just needs to be inspired by the image and be no more than 500 words. There'd no entry fee and you could win one of the following prizes:

First prize is a £50 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
Second prize is a £20 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
Third prize is a £10 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize

The deadline is February 21st and you can enter your story here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

"Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste brought Death into the world [...]" - John Milton/Excerpt from Paradise Lost.

[Michael]

I'm pleased to announce the winners of January's Short Fiction Contest:

- First prize of a £50 Amazon or PayPal prize goes to M. A. LaMothe for 'The Devil Wore Heels'
- Second prize of a £20 Amazon or PayPal prize goes to Leigh McQuuen for 'The Devil at the Gate'
- Third prize of a £10 Amazon or PayPal prize goes to Jay Michael Wright II for 'The Devil's Bad Day'

Congratulations to the winners and here are their stories:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

We've entered the final week for February's Short Fiction contest and this month's image of Death by Luciana Nedelea has already attracted many excellent entries. But there's still time for more! To enter, simply write a story of no more than 500 words based on this month's picture and submit it through the form provided here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

There's no entry fee and you could win one of the following prizes:

- First prize is a £50 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
- Second prize is a £20 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
- Third prize is a £10 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize

If you've not read January's winners yet then you will find them here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

March's Short Fiction Contest has started and with February's being the most successful so far, let's see if we can make March's even bigger!

To enter write a story of no more than 500 words based on this month's image and submit it through the form on the contest page here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

There's no entry fee and you could win one of the following prizes:

- First prize is a £50 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
- Second prize is a £20 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
- Third prize is a £10 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize

The deadline for entries is March 20th.

[Michael]

Picking the winners for the Monthly Short Contest is never an easy process and this was even truer for February's winners. The contest attracted more entries than any previous month with over 120 submissions. Even with such a high number I was still impressed by the quality and variety for the entries - Luciana's amazing art inspired some excellent stories!

A big thanks to everyone who entered and also those who support the contest by reading and sharing - please continue to do so. I wish I could support more winners, but there has to be three and here they are:

- First prize of a £50 Amazon or PayPal prize goes to R.D. Piner for 'Life and Death'
- Second prize of a £20 Amazon or PayPal prize goes to Annie Percik for 'The End of All Things'
- Third prize of a £10 Amazon or PayPal prize goes to Hugh Clarke for 'Gelosia'

Congratulations to the winners and here are their stories:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

March's Short Fiction Contest is well under way and if you haven't entered yet then you only have two weeks left to do so. It's easy to enter - the hard part is writing a story of no more than 500 words based on this month's image. Once it is written you submit it through the form provided on the contest page here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

There's no entry fee and you could win one of the following prizes:

- First prize is a £50 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
- Second prize is a £20 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
- Third prize is a £10 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize

If you haven't read last month's winning stories yet then you're in for a treat - check them out here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

We've entered the final week for March's Short Fiction Contest - so if you haven't enetered yet then now is the time to do so. To enter, write a story of no more than 500 words and then submit it through the form on the contest page here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

There's no entry fee and you could win one of the following prizes:

- First prize is a £50 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
- Second prize is a £20 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
- Third prize is a £10 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize

If you haven't read last month's winning stories yet then you're in for a treat - check them out here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

April's Short Fiction Contest has started and this month's image is a little more light hearted than usual. Entry to the contest remains free and you could win one of these prizes:

First prize is a £50 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
Second prize is a £20 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
Third prize is a £10 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize

The story must be no more than 500 words and the deadline is 21st April 2016. You should submit your entry through the form on the contest page here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

I've posted the winning stories from March's Short Fiction Contest:

- First prize of a £50 Amazon or PayPal prize goes to John Moralee for 'The Great Narrator'.
- Second prize of a £20 Amazon or PayPal prize goes to Betty Rocksteady for 'You'.
- Third prize of a £10 Amazon or PayPal prize goes to Jonathan Hill for 'The Literary Magician'.

Congratulations to the winners and you can read their stories here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

The deadline for April's Short Fiction contest is rapidly approaching, so if you haven't entered your story yet then now is the time to do so. The contest remains free to enter and you could win one of the following prizes:

- First prize is a £50 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
- Second prize is a £20 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
- Third prize is a £10 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize

The deadline is April 24th and your story must be no more than 500 words and based on this month's image. You enter your story through the form provided here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

If you haven't read the winning stories from last month's contest then you really should! You can read the stories here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

We've entered the last week of April's Short Fiction Contest, so this is your last call to submit your entry if you haven't yet. The deadline is this coming Sunday, the 24th April. It's easy to enter, first write a story of no more than 500 words based on this month's image and then submit it through the form on the competition page here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

There's no entry fee and you could win one of the following prizes:

- First prize is a £50 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
- Second prize is a £20 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize
- Third prize is a £10 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize

If you've not read the winning stories from March's contest yet then you will find them here, and they're a cracking read:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

In celebration of the read-a-thon I'm taking part in, I've posted the top 5 books that influenced my love of horror stories:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

I've finished reading through the entries for April's Short Fiction Contest and as always I'm astounded by the variety and the quality of the stories. There were some excellent tales on offer, and it was difficult to pick just three, but here they are:

- First prize of a £50 Amazon or PayPal prize goes to Tim Maidment for 'The Road Crew'
- Second prize of a £20 Amazon or PayPal prize goes to Jason Purdy for 'Frank and the Faeries'
- Third prize of a £10 Amazon or PayPal prize goes to Jay Bookout for 'The Tinkerbell Gang'

Congratulations to the winners and a big thank you to everyone who entered - keep on writing!

Unfortunately this will be the last short fiction contest as I'm pretty much out of time or energy for anything but work at the moment. I'd like to thank everyone who took part, whther by submitting stories, or reading the winners, or by sharing the links and posts - it's been a great couple of years.

And now enjoy the winning stories here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Kath]

I don't know how you've kept this going as long as you have - thanks from someone who's been both an author and a reader in this project.

[Michael]

Thanks!

[Michael]

Viktoria Faust (author of 'Beauty of the Beast') provides a guest post today about the challenge of shifting from her home market of Croatia to a wider international audience:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

To celebrate the release of Lament of the Fallen, the second book in his 'The Last Bucelarii' series, Andy Peloquin has written a guest post for my blog:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

Here's the first of a new feature on my blog - The Five to Five Thousand Challenge. It looks at what our future might hold in 5, 50, 500, and 5,000 years time. Sci-fi authors and futurists have been invited to take part, although I've taken the plunge for the first one.

See what I think our future holds here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

If you'd like to take part, then get in touch and we can set something up.

[Michael]

The second Five to Five Thousand challenge has been accepted by Dan Grubb, head honcho at Fantastic Books Publishing - you can read his predictions for the next 5, 50, 500, and 5,000 years here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

If you'd like to take part then just drop me a line, and we can take it from there.

[Michael]

This week's Five to Five Thousand Challenge has been provided by science fiction author Drew Wagar - see what he predicts for our future here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

If you'd like to take part in the challenge then please get in touch!

[Michael]

This week's Five to Five Thousand Challenge comes from Neal Asher, one of the UK's leading science fiction authors. See what he thinks the future will hold for us below:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

I'm looking for more people to take the challenge, so let me know if you have any ideas for what the future holds.

[Michael]

To celebrate the release of his latest book Chaste: A Tale from Perilisc, Jesse Teller provides us with a guest post about his Ten Greatest, Terrible, Beautiful, Ugly Movies:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

This week's Five to Five Thousand Challenge is accepted by Ian Dingwall - senior writer on Elite: Dangerous. See what he thinks the future holds for us here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

If you have a vision for the future and would like to take part then email me at info@taucetimission.com

[Michael]

The Five to Five Thousand Challenge has been accepted by Darren Grey. See what he thinks the future holds here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

I'm looking for more people to take up the challenge, so if you have an idea for what the future holds in 5, 50, 500, and 5000 years, then contact me.

[Michael]

To celebrate the release of Chronicles of Drenyon: The Golden Sword, NLJ, has written a guest post about how to write a great villain:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

Author Gavin Smith is the latest to take the Five to Five Thousand Challenge and share his thoughts on what the future holds:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

If you'd like to take part in the challenge then just send me a message.

[Michael]

In anticipation for the upcoming release of Mestlven - A Tale from Perilisc, Jesse Teller invites you to read an excerpt from the opening chapter.

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...