July Theme Prompt Winner
- Jim Dutton
- Oct 4
- 3 min read
Editors' Choice:
"Tommy" by Michael Barbato-Dunn is the editor's pick as the best theme story for July/August. Congratulations Michael!
Last month's theme prompt, Aliens Among Us, ended on August 15th, with the final accepted entry published on September 9th. We had fourteen theme submissions about aliens living with humans. Here's a summary of the winning story:
by
When a washed-up hot dog vendor living in a junkyard discovers a crash-landed alien the size of a child, he doesn’t panic — he names him Tommy.
What begins as a bizarre rescue mission becomes a deeply human story about loneliness, second chances, and unexpected fatherhood. As Tommy grows into someone who could walk among us, his caretaker must face a truth he’s been running from: sometimes the family you lose is replaced by the one you find.
Tommy is a heartwarming, funny, and surprisingly emotional sci-fi tale about an alien visitor, a man with nothing left to lose, and the bond that forms between them — one bag of junk food at a time.
How We Choose the Winner
The editors at SFS re-read each of the submitted prompt stories and evaluate them based on three metrics: technical excellence, adherence to the theme, and originality. The technical score is a numerical formula that takes into account eight factors, including things like the title, subtitle, and opening, along with the quality of the character and story arcs. The last two metrics are subjective judgments on our parts.
Sometimes we disagree. The contest is almost always close because we have great writers here. But then, sometimes the answer is clear. In any case, we rank all the theme stories the same way. Our own stories are disqualified from winning the first-place prize, but sometimes one of ours ranks high enough to be mentioned honorably here. Of course, we hope you read all the theme stories, and in fact, all our published stories each month. We do!
Honorable Mentions
The editors agree that three other theme stories deserve mention as excellent examples of sci-fi stories about aliens who live among us:
"Tender in the Morning" by Jim Dutton
"Not a Locall" by J. Millard Simpson
"To the Alien in Apartment 3B" by Gary Smalls
If you'd like to read all of last month's prompt stories to appreciate and enjoy the variety of ways our writers chose to treat this common theme. Here's a full list:
Title | Author | Release Date |
Jim Dutton | Jul 31, 2025 | |
Chaz Osburn | Aug 1, 2025 | |
Randall Andrews | Aug 4, 2025 | |
J. Millard Simpson | Aug 6, 2025 | |
Gary Smalls | Aug 7, 2025 | |
Michael Barbato-Dunn | Aug 8, 2025 | |
Sophie Lennox | Aug 14, 2025 | |
Patrick B Hall | Aug 15, 2025 | |
Michael Royal | Aug 22, 2025 | |
Anne Wilkins | Aug 28, 2025 | |
Kyle Hildebrandt | Sep 2, 2025 | |
Jenny Abbott | Sep 4, 2025 | |
Jeff Currier | Sep 5, 2025 | |
Jeff Cochran | Sep 9, 2025 |
Next Theme Prompt
The next theme prompt, Terrestrial Settings, was announced on September 9 and will end at midnight on October 15. Join the prompt this month by submitting your own science fiction story set in some location on or close to dear old Earth.
To allow sufficient time to publish all the accepted theme stories before announcing the editors' choice, we ask you to please complete any necessary revisions within one week of receiving editorial comments.
If you are a subscriber to our site, you can click on that little rocket icon at the end of a story (up to five times) to express your appreciation to the author. Each month, we award a cash prize to the story that has the most rocket blasts.
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