A short story coming from the future.

io9 threw a writing contest that ended last week. You can read all of the details here, but here’s the gist of it:

• Speculative fiction about how a basic individual income could affect the world
• No limits on how the money can be spent
• The money should cover basic needs
• 5,000 words maximum

My cousin was the first to let me know about the contest, but I heard from a few others who said they were going to submit a story. After all, the grand prize is $12,000—something rather unheard of, at least recently, in regard to such a short piece.

I’m not sure if they submitted anything, but I sure did: a 2,700 word story I simply titled “61.”

I won’t go into details now, but regardless of whether I win or not, you will see this story published within the next six months or so. If I win (whether the grand prize or one of the short list prizes), it’ll be available on io9. If I don’t—and, let’s be honest, with a prize pool like this, there’re going to be a lot of submissions, so winning is going to be a challenge—the story, or a form of it, will be released digitally on Amazon a la “A Conversation.”

I’m rather proud of “61,” and looking forward to your response to it.

In the meantime, though, tomorrow is election day, and my nerves are on end as the opening hour for the polls gets closer and closer. Vote Row A! And for the latest updates, be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.