The Garden State Speculative Fiction Writers announces their 20th annual Short Story Contest. This year’s theme is “Harping on Conspiracies.” The contest is open to all, with token cash prizes and possible publication in Space and Time Magazine for the winner. Deadline to enter is 31 July, and the winner will be announced at the organization’s 1 November 2014 meeting.

Detailing the theme, they write “1970s paranoia is back in fashion, but with a 21st century technological edge.  Does the NSA listen in on every little tweet?  Will drones watch over the backyards of America?  And what exactly is HAARP (the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program), with its high-power radio frequency transmitter facility located deep in the Alaskan wilderness?  Is the Air Force really studying the ionopshere, or is electronically tickling the Northern Lights a cute cover for more sinister experiments in weather manipulation, satellite disruption and mind control?

“Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to impress us with the wildest conspiracy you can imagine, whether inspired by current events like those above or drawn completely from your worst hypothetical fears.  All genres will be considered, and the subject matter need not be limited to modern, scientific skullduggery.  Freemasonry, ancient cabals, cults, secret societies and good, old-fashioned assassination plots are just as welcome.”

For full details, see http://www.gshw.net/contests.html.