Lauren Beukes

Judging the Moxyland short story competition has been hellish.

It started off well enough, getting to read 52 stories and pretending like it was work? Especially when those stories had DNA in common with Moxyland and all the things that excite me? Brilliant!

But then I had to start culling them down to a longlist. And then, god help me, a short list, and then the final three. Just three. It nearly killed me. Curse you all.

I looked for stories with smarts, that were playful or surprising, but also had bite. If they found a sneaky way to bring in Moxyland’s characters or major events or ensure that it was very much at one with the universe, so much the better.

Generally, the calibre of the writing was very good, and even when it wasn’t or when the writers faltered and couldn’t quite deliver on their premise, the ideas fizzed and popped like sherbet laced with C4, from a live guitar that had to be tamed to nano-goo sex dolls to body armour made of meat.

I’d strongly encourage the writers who didn’t make the shortlist to rethink and rewrite their stories – the potential is there. (Steffan Evans, Adrian Ellis, Poppet and Rolland get honourable mentions for kick-ass ideas that need more work)

Without further ado  – or any more bitching about the talent out there – here is the shortlist.

(These stories are all available to be read on Authonomy as the cherry-picked entries at the top of the comments section).

Winners to be announced on Tuesday.

SHORTLIST (in alphabetical order by author)

1. Khanyi by 821202 – a cunningly brilliant perspective switch on Moxyland’s gallery scene

2. Raw Materials by Anitero – Death and architecture in Manila with a dose of brand sabotage.

3. @nother by Bryan Steele – The story about the online equivalent of the repo man, booting users and shutting down illegal accounts, seamlessly latches onto Moxyland.

4. The TICK-TOCK-MAN by B. Saint V – a queasy mash of identity and art with beautiful characterisations and explosive results.

5. No Cure For Cancer by Decca – A secret nano-cure for cancer and reality TV are not a good combination in this raucous fast-paced frolic of a story.

6. Nostrum by Duffy5000 – Before Kendra’s Ghost, there was another lurking in Foo Bear’s tai-chi classes. A sly, smart tale about what’s wrong (or right) with the kids today.

7. Digem 1.0 by Keith Harvey – Tobacco industry advertising at its finest and vilest with compelling characters and a real sense of Cape Town.

8. Land of the Blind by Newmouse – Secret drug trials, disturbing art, a working class stiff stricken with epilepsy, virtual espionage and dodgy dealings and an anti-corp struggle hero who is going down.

9. Shade by TobyOne – When even sunshine has become a commodity, Startek finds a unique solution to dealing with an unwanted intruder in their Kalahari solar plant. A provocative, relevant and spiky story.

10. Inatec Biologica Inc by Unpresuming – one possible answer to the burning question of what Toby did next.