November Theme Prompt Winner
- Jim Dutton
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Editors' Choice:
"Ash Winter" by A. P. Ritchey is the editor's pick as the best theme story for November/December, the final prompt of 2025. Congratulations A. P.
Last month's theme prompt, Celestial Signals, ended on December 21st, with the final accepted entry published on January 6th. We had ten theme submissions about strange or interesting objects in the sky above. Here's a summary of the winning story:
by
A haunting, intimate science-fiction tale about fear, faith, and survival beneath a buried sky. Ash Winter unfolds as a story told to children who have never seen the sun, revealing how a mysterious ring of alien lights once warned humanity of a coming catastrophe — and how that warning reshaped civilization. As a long-enduring global winter nears its uncertain end, hope and dread collide in the flicker of a lantern underground. Quietly epic and emotionally grounded, this story asks what it means to endure, to remember, and to step back into the light, where they will finally answer the question...
Are the watchers still there?
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 aspects such as the title, subtitle, opening, character development, 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 strange or interesting sky phenomena:
Two Halves of the Sky by Jim Dutton
All My Broken/Stolen/Missing Parts by Kyle Hildebrandt
Brighter by J. Millard Simpson
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 |
Dan Leicht | Dec 5, 2025 | |
Randall Andrews | Dec 8, 2025 | |
B.M. Gilb | Dec 15, 2025 | |
J. Millard Simpson | Dec 22, 2025 | |
Jim Dutton | Dec 25, 2025 | |
A.P. Ritchey | Dec 29, 2025 | |
Nina Miller | Dec 31, 2025 | |
Nathan McWayne | Jan 2, 2026 | |
Ian R. Villmore | Jan 5, 2026 | |
Kyle Hildebrandt | Jan 6, 2026 |
Next Theme Prompt
The next theme prompt, Auld Acquaintance, was announced on January 11 and will end at midnight on February 15. Join the prompt this month by submitting your own retro-futuristic science fiction story.
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.
You can read all of these amazing stories, plus a new one every weekday, for less than the cost of a kerosene lantern. Monthly and yearly subscriptions are available. All you have to do is,
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