The Heinlein Society has finally announced the winners of their Robert A. Heinlein Centennial Short Story Contest. The contest was originally announced at celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Heinlein’s birth, two summers ago.
The stories were judged “on general literary quality and reflection of the spirit, ideas, and philosophies contained in the works of Robert A. Heinlein. A panel of professional authors and editors made the final selection of the three winners. The contest was administered by The Heinlein Society, with a prize fund donated by an admirer of Heinlein’s works who wishes to remain anonymous.”
The winners are:
First Prize (including a $5,000 award): “Under the Shouting Sky” by Karl Bunker
Second Prize (including a $2,000 award): “In the Shadows” by Charlie Allery
Third Prize (including a $1,000 award): “Salvage Sputnik” by Sam S. Kepfield
The three winning stories will appear, for a limited time, at the Society’s website over the coming months.
The Society provided write-ups of the winners and their stories:
Karl Bunker is a software engineer living in Boston, Massachusetts. Relatively new as a science fiction writer, his love of SF began at an early age. “The very first book I read that wasn’t a children’s book was a 1950s paperback anthology of science fiction stories,” Bunker says. “I didn’t set out to write a ‘Heinlein-esque’ story with ‘Under the Shouting Sky’, but when it was finished I saw that it included some of my favorite aspects of Heinlein’s works. Most notable of these is the nature of the central character. Someone whom no one—including himself—expects to be a hero, but who becomes heroic by doing what he knows he must do, acting on an unspoken sense of something greater than himself.” Of “Under the Shouting Sky”, Society President David Silver notes, “Bunker’s story perfectly captures the quintessential Heinlein story of quiet heroism and duty fulfilled whatever the personal price.”
Charlie Allery says “I’m English and live in Somerset in the United Kingdom. I have a BSc in Marine Biology, an HGV Class 2 lorry driving license, I’m a graduate of Clarion West (2003), and Heinlein has been my favorite author since I was 8 when I found Farmer in the Sky and Red Planet in the local library. Finding no more Heinleins in the children’s section, my father introduced me to the adult shelves and the further delights of Clarke, Asimov, Blish, Aldiss, et al. I currently have too many tools and not enough cats but am hoping for a solution to one of these issues in the not too distant future. I also placed 3rd in the 2008 Jim Baen memorial short story contest.” Silver observes of “In the Shadows”, that “It is a beautifully crafted pastiche of Heinlein themes and styles, and achieves the lyrical voice that Heinlein chose to employ in only the finest of his stories.”
Sam S. Kepfield writes that he was raised in western Kansas, graduated from Kansas State University in 1986, and received his JD from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 1989. He passed the Kansas bar exam that year, earned an MA in History from the University of Nebraska in 1994, and a PhD/abd in history from the University of Oklahoma. He currently lives in Hutchinson, Kansas, where he is a solo practitioner of criminal defense law. He is married, has two children, and in finest Heinleinian tradition, “a lot of cats”. Of his writing, he observes, “I began writing part-time in 2004. I early on discovered science fiction as a way to escape from the small town where I grew up. I bought a copy of Robert Heinlein’s The Past Through Tomorrow in high school, devoured it in a couple of days, and stories like ‘Life-Line’ and ‘The Long Watch’ stuck with me through the years.” Of “Salvage Sputnik”, one of the contest administrators, Geo Rule, said “Kepfield’s story harkens to Golden Age Heinlein—part sense of wonder, part puzzle to solve, part private enterprise commercialization of space, and all good fun getting to the end.”
The contest was first announced in this article in November 2007.