"Adapted"

COMPETITORS of the "Adapted?" competition had to take a well-known book of fiction and adapt the plot for an audience versed in genre fiction.

I was deeply impressed with the range of titles for this competition. It seems F&SF readers are familiar with a wide range of classics, such as Plutarch, Shakespeare, Dumas, Pushkin, and, um, Dan Brown.

I expect to see some of these stories at the movie theater any day now….

NOTE: Always include your address. How else can we give you prizes?

FIRST PRIZE:

Oedipus T-Rex (Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, with thanks to Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton)
A young Tyrannosaurus's happy, tourist-eating days on a tropical island preserve are shattered with the shocking revelation that his suicidal thoughts and autoerotic habits both stem from the fact that, as a clone, he is technically both his own father and mother.
—Charles Schmidt
Fridley, MN

SECOND PRIZE:

"Serving Tiffanies at Breakfast" ("Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Truman Capote, with thanks to "To Serve Man" by Damon Knight)
Holly was a country girl trying to break into the Manhattan socialite scene when the aliens arrived with their messages of peace. She paid them little attention until they opened an ultra-exclusive day spa. Coincidentally, an alien restaurant, serving low-fat entrees, opened the same day.
—Hans Christian Nelson
Kincheloe, MI

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Orbit (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey)
McMurphy convinces guards he is crazy to avoid spending time in an asteroid prison. He is sent to an off-world asylum where his defiant attitude brings hope to the alien patients. But robot Nurse Ratched drives him mad with methodical analyzing and error messages.
—Tara Habenicht
North Ridgeville, OH

Möbius Dock (Moby-Dick by Herman Melville)
Captain Ahab, demoniacally possessed with his quest to find the way-station he believes can catapult mankind to the other side of the universe, discovers, too late, that he and his throttled crew are already on the other side of the universe.
—R. E. Keeperman
Stony Point, NY


DISHONORABLE MENTION:

Of Mice and Wookiees (Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck)
George Solo's life would be simpler if he didn't have to keep Lennie the Wookiee out of trouble. Lennie likes to touch soft things but accidentally crushes his pet Ewok. No one minds a dead Ewok, but George can't protect Lennie when Princess Leia wears a fur bikini.
—Andy Spackman
Springville, UT

F&SF COMPETITION #75: REWRITE-KU

Retell a well-known science fiction or fantasy story in the form of a haiku. (First line, 5 syllables; second line, 7 syllables; third line, 5 syllables.)

Limit your expertise to six entries, and try to make them funny.

Example:

"A Boy and His Dog" by Harlan Ellison:

A boy loves his dog.
Dog is hurt. Needs meat to live.
Dog loves boy's girl—cooked.

Rules: Email entries to carol [a-t] cybrid [d-o-t] net. Be sure to include your contact information. Entries must be received by November 15, 2007. Judges are the editors of F&SF, and their decision is final. All entries become the property of F&SF.

Prizes: First prize will receive a copy of Infinity x 2: The Life and Art of Ed and Carol Emshwiller by Luis Ortiz. Second prize will receive advance reading copies of three forthcoming novels. Any runners-up will receive one-year subscriptions to F&SF. Results of Competition #75 will appear in the April 2008 issue.