Moses Vs Pharaoh. David Vs Goliath. Odysseus Vs Poseidon. He-Man Vs Skeletor. Mario Vs Bowser. Most great stories that have shaped humanity from ancient times to the present have depicted the noble hero’s conflict with an intimidating villain. And that’s what we’re looking for at Liberty Island. Give us good, old fashioned, inspiring heroes and evil, menacing villains rather than the morally-confused characters wallowing in moral relativism who dominate so much of fiction and popular culture today.

Prompt: In any genre write either a short story or the opening chapter of a novel with a word count of approximately 1000-5000. Introduce either a compelling hero or an intimidating villain. You may submit one entry in both categories. You may either utilize a recognizable hero or villain from mythology or history (not a character under someone else’s copyright please); or you can create your own wholly original characters.

Prizes: Two winners will be selected – one for a hero story and one for a villain story — and each will receive a $25 prize. Liberty Island readers will then vote on which one of them will be the grand prize winner, receiving an additional $75 for $100 total. Two runners up will receive gift baskets of Liberty Island titles. If the same person submits both the best hero story and the best villain story they will automatically win $125.

Deadline: Now extended to December 15, 2017 at midnight PST.

Email Submissions to: Submissions[@]LibertyIslandmag.com In your subject line, please indicate whether your entry is for the Heroes contest or the Villains contest and include your story’s title. Please attach your story in Microsoft Word format.

Winners to be revealed and published: January 2018