Just for the Asking

Naomi Johnson has announced the start of The Drowning Machine’s fourth annual Watery Grave Invitational Short Story Contest.

As she explains, the top six contestants from last year--including first-place winner Chris La Tray--will each receive “an automatic invitation without any further requirements. ... In addition to those six writers, personal invitations will go to five writers of my choosing ...”

Beyond that, there will be 10 slots open to other writers who “have a crime-fiction story of no more than 3,000 words already published in any format that is available for the public to read. Web, print, digital (e.g., Smashwords, Kindle, etc.)--they all qualify. Your story posted on your own blog does qualify. The story must have been published between April 16, 2011 and April 15, 2012.” To be considered for an invitation to this contest, “e-mail a link to your story (the link must connect to the online posting of your story) to beauvallet@aol.com no later than 9 p.m. EST, Thursday, May 17, 2012.”

Johnson’s full set of rules and regs is available here.