Fan Fiction Challenges :  CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE 

CAPTAIN SCARLET and the MYSTERONS UNOFFICIAL WEBSITE

by Chris Bishop

UPDATES: JANUARY 31, 2012:

CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE CLOSED - READ ALL THE STORIES ONLINE!

This is the end, people!  The 2011-2012 Christmas Challenge, the 10th in Spectrum HQ history, is over and done!

And here's for you the very last story for this Challenge, which has been a beautiful one.  As a bonus, it's a New Captain Scarlet story:

• THE FIRST CHRISTMAS, by Skybase Girl.  Spectrum's first Christmas means different things to different people and unexpected emotions flood to the surface. The sequel to "Signals Through the Glass".  ff 483

With this story, NINE stories have been posted during this challenge (including one re-posting).  So in all, EIGHT new stories were presented to the website.  Sadly, no new author submitted a story to this year's Challenge, but maybe this will be for next year.  Because we will be back, you can be sure of that! 

I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who were involved with this year's Challenge:  writers and beta-readers, readers, forum members and visitors - you all contributed to this Challenge and this website's success.  We thank you all very much for your dedication and your encouragement.  You

In the meantime, you DON'T HAVE to wait for a challenge to submit a story!  You can do it all year-long!  The only theme required is to write a Captain Scarlet related story - either of the original series, or the newest CGI series.  Plus, you can become a member of our forum, and participate to our ongoing Forum Fan Fiction.  Go and visit, and check it out!  You're welcome to participate!  But you have to be a member to do so!

Now that the challenge is completed for this year, stay tuned for what comes next!  In the last weeks, a new story was submitted to us, as well as a revised version of one of our oldest entries.  They'll be posted soon!  So be sure to come back and check it out!

'Til next time!

UPDATES: JANUARY 23, 2012:

On this eighth week of our Christmas Challenge, we have yet another story to offer to you.  And once again, from one of our most prolific (of not THE most prolific!) and best writers:

• FOOL IF YOU THINK IT'S OVER, by Marion Woods.  Symphony's past results in present danger and future menace.  ff 482

With a little more than one week left, we're growing very close to the end of our challenge, which ends January 31st.  So, still some time left for anyone who wishes to participate to submit his or her own Christmas-based Captain Scarlet story!   Even if it's your first story, you are very welcome to participate! OR, if you wish, you can present a picture, drawing, montage on a Christmas-themed Captain Scarlet story, which will be put on our Christmas Pictures page.

Don't forget, this is the TENTH anniversary of our website, as well as the 10th Edition of this challenge!  So far, many have join the celebrations,  and we hope a few more might do as well, to offer our visitors a gift that they will remember!  Everyone is welcome:  long-standing writers and new writers alike!

Read the information below regarding the rules and how you can participate, and contact the webmaster at spectrum_hq@hotmail.com with your submission!

UPDATES: JANUARY 14, 2012:

Seventh week - and yet, another story for our 10th Christmas Challenge!  It is my turn now to offer you my own submission:

• GOODWILL TO MEN, by Chris Bishop.  It's New Year's Eve...  and Captain Black is in London, on a Mysteron mission. ff 481

UPDATES: JANUARY 7, 2012:

We enters our sixth week into the 10th Christmas Challenge.  And this week, we have another real treat for all of you!

• STAR STRUCK, by Marion Woods. When the Stars shine down at Christmas...  Follow up to "More than substance". ff 480 

UPDATES: DECEMBER 31, 2011:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  ON this fifth week of our 10th Christmas Fan Fiction Challenge, and as always every December 31 of each year, the Spectrum HQ website is proud to offer you its unofficial - but nonetheless traditional and much popular - Captain Scarlet Calendar!

• STAND BY FOR ACTION, a Captain Scarlet Calendar for 2012, by Caroline Smith and Chris Bishop (Title, Montages, Backgrounds, Calendar Pages and Presentation), with Hazel Köhler (Beta-reading). Christmas Challenge.  ff 479

This year, the calendar proposes to you various action scene, in which our heroes and heroines defy death and maiming, in order to save the world from lethal and horrifying threats!

As always, to get your calendar, you must either be a member of the Spectrum HQ Forum (you can register in, with no obligation to participate!) OR you just need to ASK, by writing an email to THE MYSTERONS PLC.  Don't worry, the Mysterons are pretty harmless, and are rather proud to participate to the FREE (you read it, FREE!) distribution of our calendar!

UPDATES: DECEMBER 24, 2011:

Christmas week-end.  And this is the fourth week of our 10th Christmas Fan Fiction Challenge!  The Spectrum Headquarters website and its administrators wish you a very Merry Christmas!  And we come today, bringing you another present, in the form of a new story.

This week, we offer you a New Captain Scarlet story:

• THE VIGIL, by Skybase Girl. On Christmas Eve, Captain Blue worries that Santa Claus might not deliver the one gift Spectrum needs. New Captain Scarlet story.   ff 478

UPDATES: DECEMBER 17, 2011:

Today December 17 marks the third week of the Christmas Challenge for 2011-2012... as well as Captain Scarlet's birthday!

On this occasion, the Spectrum HQ website, within the Christmas Challenge, traditionally offers visitors a special treat, with a Captain Scarlet's birthday story!  And this year, we stick with tradition:

• CELEBRATION, by Marion Woods. On a significant milestone in his life, Captain Scarlet learns the true meaning of 'many happy returns'. ff 477

UPDATES: DECEMBER 11, 2011:

Second week of the 10th Christmas Challenge!  We're at less then TWO weeks of Christmas, and we have yet another posting for you.

This week is the official re-posting.  It was suggested to me that in tribute of the 10th Anniversary of the website, I should re-post my first ever Christmas story.  And it so happens that it's one of my favourite, all of all of those I wrote!  So, with a brand-new title art (and for those of you who own a wide screen, a brand new presentation), here's my first Christmas story, offered a second time to you:

• MIRACLE AT 40,000 FEET, by Chris Bishop. Spectrum must find out what is 'the Spirit of Christmas' the Mysterons want to destroy, while Captain Scarlet discovers an intruder in his quarters. ff 90 Originally posted December 15, 2002.

This is all for this week, but next week-end, we'll have another offering to you:  our now official Captain Scarlet's birthday story!  So come back again, for more goodies!

UPDATES: DECEMBER 3RD, 2011: CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE, FIRST POSTING!

Hello everyone, and welcome to our first week of posting for the 2011-2012 edition of the Spectrum Headquarters Christmas Challenge - our TENTH Challenge!

And what better to start our challenge this year, then with Cloudbase's own quarterly magazine.  That's right!  'Baselines' is back, under the title 'Strictly Baselines', with a special Christmas issue.  Unfortunately, this webmaster forgot to renew the magazine's subscription with Lieutenant Wisteria, Cloudbase Welfare and Morale Officer...  Or is it that the previous issues contained elements that couldn't be divulged to public?!  Anyway, we have now the Christmas Edition to present you, and it's a great kick off for our challenge!

• STRICTLY BASELINES,  Volume 3, Issue 4 - By Lieutenant Wisteria. Newest issue of Baselines is now available online. Christmas Edition! ff 476 Posted December 3rd, 2011.

UPDATES: NOVEMBER 11, 2011 - CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE, 2011 EDITION NOW LAUNCHED!

On this Remembrance Day, we officially announce the Christmas Challenge, 2011 Edition!

Like for the Halloween Challenge, this is our 10th Edition of the Christmas Challenge, which started in 2002.  Yes, it's been ten years already people!  Ten years of stories and goodies, that Captain Scarlet fans, with a flair from writing and ailing from all around the world offered you as gift for the Christmas Season...    Nearly as popular as the Halloween Challenge, the Christmas Challenge has become a Holidays tradition, for the Spectrum Headquarters site. 

And we're hoping that this year too, writers will submit new stories!  So we make a call to  writers and artists to, once again, participate in great number to our new edition of the challenge, with new stories that will prove as entertaining as those that have been submitted to us in the previous years.

If you are a regular visitor to this website, you already know what the Christmas Challenge is all about.  But for those of you who are new to the site - or to the challenge - here's how it goes:   

Christmas Day is coming in less than two months, and then, a week later, January 1rst will bring us to 2012!   For the occasion, the Spectrum Headquarters website invites all of you  to participate to the Holidays Celebrations, by also participating to the  2011 edition of the CHRISTMAS FAN FICTION CHALLENGE.  

The main event of the Christmas Challenge is, of course, to write a Captain Scarlet and Christmas based fan fiction story.  But there is also a lesser event in which you might want to participate, by submitting other kind of projects, like drawings or montages.  See the rules below for more on this subject.

Of course, this challenge is rather short notice, which is the reason why it always last well BEYOND Christmas Day, and for all the Holidays Season. 

In the previous years, during the Christmas Challenge, so many various stories, of very good quality, have been submitted to this site. And this is all the question:  can YOU do the same this year, and answer the Challenge?   Will you have the inspiration to write a Captain Scarlet/Christmas related story, be it from the classic series, or based on the more recent CGI series? Will we discover new writers, as we did in previous years?  

Answer the Challenge and find out - and see your story posted on this website during the Holidays Season!

Remember, the information set on the Spectrum Headquarters site is there to help you write your story with better accuracy of the Scarlet mythos and backgrounds (Classic or CGI series).  Feel free to consult it! 

So if you have a project  for a Christmas story, that you're sure will be finished on time, contact the webmaster at scarlet1bishop@hotmail.com, or submit your story  directly at spectrum_hq@hotmail.com.  There is more then enough time! 

Announcement and submissions of Christmas-related stories will appear on a list that you will find that you will find on this page.    Consult it often to know what stories are coming your way! 

Also listed on the Christmas stories page are the  stories submitted in the previous years. Feel free to check them out too for a good read... or to see what other writers offered already! Maybe that'll inspire you.  These stories are available all year's long.  

Read for rules and more  information below.

TO PARTICIPATE:

RULES AND CONDITIONS OF THE CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE:

As always, the same basic rules as any fan fiction challenge project apply:

FAN FICTION:

• The story could be related to Christmas itself, New Year's Celebrations, or to one of the many subjects generally associated to them, or can simply be set during the Holidays Season. The story should keep true and faithful to the Captain Scarlet mythos, either from the Original Captain Scarlet series, or the New Captain Scarlet series.

• It could be as short as one page, or as long as you wish.  

• You can write your story alone, or team up with another writer.

• Slash stories will not be accepted. 

• Accepted will be one-shot stories, or two or three-parts maximum.  If more than one part, note that, to avoid an unfinished story,  all the parts should be completed before posting.  Contact the webmaster for more information or for special arrangements.

• Check our Submission Guidelines before submitting your story. If you need the service of a beta-reader, and don't have one at your disposition, ask the webmaster for the possibility of finding one. Take note that the use of beta-reader is not required, but recommended.  Please take beta-reading time into consideration when you submit your story!  

• The stories will only be accessible from December 1rst onwards, and January 31st will mark the last day stories related to the Christmas Challenge will be posted, giving  a little more time to writers to complete their stories (the Holidays Season being a busy period in the year for everyone). Depending on how many stories are received, one or more stories will be posted each week. The stories will  STILL be accessible after that,  but the Challenge will be closed.  The limited date to send your story to this website will be  January 25,  so we'll have time to prepare it for posting.

PICTURES:

You can also submit other projects, like drawings or pictures  - to be put with your story if you are a writer, or as a stand-alone artist rendition of a Christmas/Captain Scarlet  scene.  Your contribution would make a nice addition to the Christmas Challenge, and will be posted on the Christmas pictures page.  There's already a few items from previous editions, so you can visit the page, if ever you want some inspiration or ideas to what you might send.

Accepted will be original drawings, paintings, pictures, montages, collages,  comic strips, gif animations, etc.  Just contact the webmaster and propose your project(s).

We hope a lot of you will be able to submit something.  Don't be shy, and contact us to inform us of your projects  at this site regular e-mail scarlet1bishop@hotmail.com. 

A SPECIAL NOTE: As always, we won't refuse multi-parts stories ,  or stories out of theme, that will come along during the time this Challenge will last.  These stories will be posted as 'regular' Captain Scarlet stories, but they will not be considered part of the Christmas Challenge, and won't have a link through the Christmas page.  Depending on the webmaster or this website's collaborators' availability, for beta-reading (if required), these stories might get posted only after the Christmas Challenge.  The webmaster will contact you in case of delay.