New Competiton - We Burned So Bright
WE BURNED SO BRIGHT
Stephen Baxter, best-selling British science fiction writer , and award winning author of books such as Evolution, Moonseed, Voyage and The Time Ships, will be judging the finalists of a £100-prize short story competition called ‘We Burned So Bright’, run by PowerSwitch.org.uk, a website dedicated to raising awareness of oil depletion and the energy-culture transition.
Oil. We love it. It is the lifeblood of the developed world. There is probably nothing around you that has not been made from - or transported by - oil. From transport to plastics, chemicals to medicine, we have become totally dependent on oil. Indeed, for every calorie of food we eat, several calories of fossil fuels are used to grow, farm, transport, package and store it! We literally eat oil! Oil is fantastic. But as everyone knows, we’re running out - and quickly .
With just 1000 billion barrels of oil left, there is enough to last us just 35 years at current consumption rates. But we’ll never run out of oil - it’ll become too expensive to use before we get to that point! Losing oil will be for the economy what losing too much blood is like to a person : first there is shock then, if there is not enough blood, there is death.
As yet there is no replacement for oil. Any technological breakthrough, if there is to be one, will take many years to implement. So the question is, what will life be like in the future : in a world where it is too expensive to transport food from distant locations ; where plastics will cost too much to use in everyday products ; where the things we take for granted now will be a luxury ; and in a world where global warming is even more of a reality than it is now ? What will our daily lives be like? Our relationships? Our ethics? How will society function, if at all? Will we still be around or will we have been ruined as the result of resource wars?
To mark the peaking of global oil production , we are seeking short stories of up to 3000 words set sometime in the near future, exploring the society you live in now, where oil is becoming - or has become - too expensive for everyday use. We want you to use your imagination and knowledge to explore the energy-culture transition. It can be in any genre and in any style. Stories can be positive as well as negative!
You are not limited to the number of stories you can submit.
You will find visiting sites such as http://www.energybulletin.net/primer.php and www.drydipstick.com very useful , as well as www.powerswitch.org.uk .
To enter the competition, e-mail weburnedsobright@powerswitch.org.uk with either your story in the body of the e - mail or as a .doc, .rtf or .txt file. Please also include your name, postal address and e-mail address , and your age if you are under 18 years old. Please also indicate whether or not you would like your story to appear on PowerSwitch.org.uk. Original author retains full copyright. We apologise, but entries will not be individually acknowledged.
This competition is funded by PowerSwitch.org.uk. The £100 prize is split into £50.00 for the winner and £25 for two runner-ups.
The closing date for entries is 28th February 2005 and the results will be announced by www.PowerSwitch.org.uk on 30 th March 2005. The winner and runner-ups will be notified by e-mail.
You are welcome to address any queries to weburnedsobright@powerswitch.org.uk.
The decision of the judging panel is final.
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