Congratulations to our September/October Challenge winner, Gul Rejal!

Our champion has suggested "Silence" as our next challenge topic.  Says she:

"In any form and for whatever reason; for a moment or for a long time; caused by surprise, shock, happiness or something completely else."

So, there you have it: Our November challenge.  Find the silence in your story universe and show it to us ... where it came from, why it's there, how it makes your characters feel.

Challenge will run until Friday, December 2 at 11:59 PM EST.  That weekend, we will vote.  (We'll probably take December off from the Challenges due to the usual holiday craziness, so whoever wins this one will name January's challenge.)

Good luck!  Enjoy!   

Nerys Ghemor, our challenger for this month, writes:

I was thinking of a Trek XI-based challenge, but I want to keep it as open as possible so that everyone--both the lovers and the haters--feel like they can participate.

The rule is that you must write in a universe where Nero destroyed the Kelvin and destroyed Vulcan.  However, what you do from there is up to you.  If you liked the movie, you can continue its story either in that time period or any future period.  You can even have your original characters but they must be in that AU.  If you didn't like the movie, as long as you keep the two specified elements, your challenge is to do it better.  Hated something?  Fix it!  That can either be addressed by writing in the movie itself OR setting it after that time frame.  As long as the specified two changes to the timeline occurred, it's fair game.

There you have it, folks.  Our destinies have changed.  It's an alternate reality ... and we're going to write in it.   8)

Challenge will run through Friday, October 21, 11:59 PM EDT.  After that, we'll vote.  Discussion thread to be found here.

Good luck!

August Challenge VOTE

A big thank you to everyone who participated in this challenge, and special thanks to Samuel Pengraff who picked a real winner of a topic!  Eleven entries just might be a record!  It's especially wonderful to see so many newly joined authors participating. 

Because we have so many quality entries for people to read, voting will stay open for five (5) days to give everyone a chance to consider their options.

Check the voting thread HERE!

We've had lots of new members lately to the archive and forums, which we just love. We want to welcome everyone and get everybody involved.

Members of the forum have the opportunity to take part in the Weekly Free Write Prompts. This week's prompt: 'If I could do it over again...' has already produced some great pieces. Why not head over and check them out. Better yet, head over and submit a piece yourself.

And a shout out to all our regulars, hello and thanks for being a part of Ad Astra.

Last month's challenge was a great success and provided terrific reading. The cunning challenge for April as suggested by last month's worthy winner, Lil black dog, is Role Reversal.

Any characters, any universe, just have one (or maybe more) character doing another’s (or each others') job for whatever reason – illness, injury, shore leave – the possibilities are endless.

Or even, any character doing a job that is usually not theirs – Kirk as a nursemaid, Spock as a babysitter, McCoy as an engineer, (I'm a TOS girl, but you get the drift) etc.  Again, the wackier, the better.

The challenge will run until Saturday, April 30th. All participants are welcome and good luck! This should prove to be very interesting.

Submit your challenges here!

The challenge for February is, as suggested by Enterprise1981,  "Overcoming Personal Prejudice". What prejudices do your characters hold?  With all the different cultures coming together in the world of Trek, there are bound to be clashes.  We see it between humans and Cardassians, Vulcans and humans, Klingons and ... um, well Klingons and EVERYONE.    So, tell a story of how one of your characters overcame a personal prejudice.

Challenge runs now through 11:59 PM EST, Friday, February 25, 2011.  After that, we'll vote and hopefully get the next challenge up by the first of March.  Good luck!   

Follow any thoughts here in the challenge thread.

"Writers take a moment in Trek history, be it canon or their own stories/universe, where a pivotal decision is reversed and then write on the effects. I could even give some prompts:

1. TOS: What if Spock had killed Kirk during 'Amok Time?'


2. TNG: What if Riker had not made it off of Nervala II in 'Second Chances?'


3. DS9: What if Bashir did graduate as Valedictorian and ended up on Lexington?


4. VOY: What if Kes never left and had to work with Seven?


5. ENT: What if Trip hadn't died?"

Kes7, our challenge administrating guru of late, goes on to add:

"So ... take any turning point or critical moment in Trek history (canon or fanon) and turn it on its head. Show us what happens. Any universe, any crew, no word limit. New entries only for the first two weeks, then we'll open it up to older ones if we don't have four new entries. Deadline is the 26th at 11:59 PM EST. Voting will push into December for this one, partly because of the late start and partly because of American Thanksgiving ... a lot of us might be suffering from turkey coma for a couple of days."

You can find the challenge here and the forum discussion thread here. Have fun, and happy writing!

A new feature wings it way to the forums. With so many great artists out there among the readership, we've created a new art challenge based on an appropriate theme: 'Ad Astra'. Check out the thread for details.

Also, with a tie in the borrowed toys challenge we have a run off between gojirob and trekfan here! Cast your vote or they'll be made to duke it out at dawn. New vote ends on March 20th.