For the unaware, last Friday we announced our erotic fiction contest, lovingly titled "150 Shades of Shame," and in the short space of time between that announcement and this writing, we've already received a fair number of worthy entries—including at least one incredibly strong piece that's bound to make a push for the top prize.
But before we get into that, let's recap:
"150 Shades of Shame" is a contest that hopes to cultivate the one thing people tend to pick up romance novels for: unbridled passion, dirty role-playing, hilarious anatomic mishaps. In other words, sex; and the more heaving the bosom, the more turgid the wang, the better.
That's what we're hoping to take in from all of you—but, in the interest of time, our alcohol budgets and our amusement, we've got a few caveats.
First, each story has to be roughly 150 words long, which seems short, but remember—it's not about the size of the boat, but the skill with which it's maneuvered into the port. Or something like that. Either way, it's about quality, not quantity—thus, "150 Shades of Shame," not "260 Shades, Plus Footnotes About Lube."
Second, each story must, in some way, involve the Tucson Weekly. Whether the print edition itself is used as a prop (makeshift paddle?); Weekly World Central is noted in the background; or our writers are written to be in some sort of romantic/lustful entanglement, it's all fair game.
Finally, and most importantly, be creative. Be clever. Be funny. Don't hold back.
What you're writing for, aside from the whole glory of your smut potentially being featured in the pages of Tucson Weekly, is this: First prize takes home $75 in gift cards from our friends at Fascinations, your one stop for Valentine's Day shopping with the largest selection of romantic gifts. Two Second Prize winners earn $25 dollars in Fascinations gift cards.
Stories will be judged—sternly yet tenderly—by Weekly staff, who are not only terrified of the possibilities but shamefully curious as to what we'll be reading.
You've got until the end of this week, Saturday, Feb. 9, to submit your entries to us. Send them over to TucsonWeeklyContests@gmail.com, and we'll do the rest.
Good luck—now, get it on.
The Week On Our Blogs
On The Range, we shared word that Tucson's own Catnip: Egress to Oblivion is now an award-winning film; tut-tutted at Troubled UA Running Back Ka'Deem Carey's latest run-in with the law; lamented the closure of Woody's on Oracle, while sharing hope about the planned downtown location; celebrated the opening of Ten-55 Brewing; expressed our desire to become Hedwig's sugar mama; noted as Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords testified in front of Congress about gun violence; discussed violence on television in Tom Danehy's latest blogging effort; shared that El Charro hopes to maintain some kind of nightclub presence; and more!
On We Got Cactus, we expressed our reasons for being pumped up about Coachella's lineup this year; talked about the incredibly rare Fall Out Boy vinyl re-release; shared informaion about Phoenix's 2013 Country Music Megaticket, featuring a whole mess of Country superstars; enjoyed the slow trickle of leaked music from Coheed and Cambria's new release; followed the news of the Postal Service's new headlining tour; and gave a thumbs-up to Dave Grohl's Sound City documentary.
Comment of the Week
"The argument about privacy just doesn't have legs, especially in this day when new phones and new automobiles have GPS units which track information that can be obtained by police. (Hmmm, I wonder what the gun buyers would say to a GPS tracking device in all new guns instead of licensing?)"
—TucsonWeekly.com commentor Ann Pattison making some sense in the midst of gun legislation insanity ("Background Noise," Cover Story, Jan. 31).
Best of WWW
While the conversation on gun legislation is both incredibly interesting and incredibly divisive (check out the comments on last week's cover features for more), but what's particularly interesting to me is the conversation between Weekly boss Dan Gibson and TucsonWeekly.com commentor Mammey, discussing whether or not society should be responsible for monitoring content that children could see on the Internet ... all in the context of our 150 Shades of Shame erotic fiction contest. Drop in on that to let your thoughts be heard.
