This challenge is to write a story based on the recovery of one or more of the cast from a dark place. There is no picture. Instead we are looking for tales which are able to paint a dark word picture and show recovery and hope.

This is not an excuse to go off and create a tale where, for example, sexual abuse is shown in graphic, explicit and allegedly titilating detail. Such tales will be disqualified. Instead we are looking for the creation of the dark place by use of your skills as a writer.

The stories have been uploaded, and are here for you to read and enjoy. When you have enjoyed them please come back here before the closing date for voting and mark up to three stories in the overall survey.

Runners and riders

Full entrants

The stories are as follows. The order changes each time the page is refreshed, to try to get folk to read and rate all the tales. Stories published elsewhere will have their titles masked until the challenge goes live; new stories are named:

Cast your vote

There are two ways. Each story has a survey at the foot which relates to how well you judge that it met your needs as a reader. That's probably the most useful for the authors. After that, once you have read them all, please come here and rate them all.

Voting period

Voting lasts for three weeks only. Polls open on 4 January 2019 at noon, and close at noon on 25 January 2019. Poll opening and closing is programmatic

Rules

The basic rules are simple:

There is No Minimum word count, though aim for a broad minimum of 3,500 words. If you don't get that many, you don't get that many. It's an aiming point! If yours is shorter then it's shorter. Submit it anyway
No maximum word count. Sometimes more is better. Sometimes less is more. It's your story, so you decide.
The author may be one person, or more than one writing in collaboration.
A short story is as valid an entry as a novel, and vice versa. Multiple chapters are fine.
Format is to be .doc, .odt ideally, .rtf, .docx and .txt if you must, .htm and .html are acceptable. If you really must you can put your text in the body of an email, but I will hate you for ever. Do not send pdfs or any other format. They will simply not be considered.
The story must be submitted as a file. We will not scrape it from another site
At our sole editorial discretion stories may be accepted or rejected.
The title of your story should be your own invention. It really ought not to be whatever we have called the challenge.
Whatever the apparent age of the personnel in the picture, if any, that age may be varied for the story. The picture is there for inspiration and interpretation, not slavish adherence.
The email address for submissions is its_onlyme@iomfats.org

The story may be a new story, an existing story published in this site or elsewhere, or current work in progress (ie part of a serial that you also enter in the challenge). Absolutely no stories with adult/youth themes or heavy BDSM content will be allowed, and no exceptions will be made. Scatology, coprophagy, or faeces play will not be accepted. Diaper fetish is, likewise, deprecated.

Stories do not need to contain or avoid sexual encounters, nor need they be gay male stories, though authors' attention is drawn to the fact that this is primarily a gay site, with a gay male majority in the audience.

All stories that are accepted for the challenge will remain the copyright of the authors, and the authors and submitters give an absolute assurance that the stories may be published here. Authors' attention is drawn to the copyright statement at the foot of every page on this site. Stories accepted into the challenge and published on the site may not subsequently be withdrawn.

By submitting a story into the challenge the submitter gives an absolute assurance that he or she has the right to submit the story, that it is their own original work (or that they have the author's permission to submit it), and that it does not break any other person's copyright. Should the submitter be in breach of any undertaking in law, the submitter agrees that the webmaster be held harmless and that any such breach is the total personal responsibility of the submitter. Anyone recognising a work as their own and submitted without their consent, or having any issues with it should register this by clicking here and emailing the webmaster, explaining their reasons in detail.

Results