A small bunch of you sent us their 100-word texts for the microfiction writing competition, “An Alien Walks into a Eurocon.” We announced the winning entry and the three runners-up at the beginning of our closing ceremony. The winning poem was read by Valentin D. Ivanov, who had the idea for the competition.

The process of finding the winner and runners-up involved Valentin anonymizing the entries and then sending them to three busy team members who needed some good chuckles. They picked their 5 favorites each. From the overlap in this first step, four common faves emerged, which we then sent to Rebecca Treasure, managing editor of Apex Magazine, for the final selection. Some of you may have been at her flash fiction writing workshop on Friday afternoon.

So now, without further ado, here are the small gems that came out on top:

Winner: “An Alien Walks into a Eurocon”, by Zero Alala

His skin gleamed chartreuse with irregular spots,
Instead of two nostrils, his face bore six slots.
He had two antennae, three eyes, and four knees.
His ears were so floppy they waved in the breeze.
His tail softly whistled a curious tune,
With teeth and a snort like a sandworm from Dune.
The crowd cheered, “Amazing! The best costume here!”
The jury delivered a verdict quite clear:
“Your costume’s spot-on, though not truly the best.
“Third place will be yours if you dare to contest.”

1st runner-up: “An Unlikely Encounter”, by Lenko

An alien walks into a Eurocon – he wishes to socialize.
He comes across a group of Germans. He comes up to them and says “Hello!” in his language.
The Germans don’t understand him. The alien goes elsewhere.
Then he comes across a group of Brits. He comes up to them and says “Hello!” in his language.
The Brits also don’t understand him. The alien goes elsewhere.
Later, he comes across a group of Dutchmen. He comes up to them and says “Hello!” in his language.
“Oh, Jan! Hello! How have you been?”

2nd runner-up: “Travel Time”, by Alvar Borgan

An alien walks into a Eurocon, buys books and speedreads them in seconds. An organizer asks:
“Where are you from?”
“Betelgeuse. I came to give a talk on galactic societies.”
“Wonderful!”
“But your authors have covered everything already. Such amazing imagination! I have nothing more to tell you about societies.”
“Maybe teach us technology instead? Spaceships?”
“My friend will do that. Top Engineer. Knows all that science stuff. Unfortunately, she will be late.”
The organizer checks a watch. “How much?”
“About five hundred years.”
“WHAT!?”
The alien sighs. “You know scientists. They refuse to travel faster than light.”

3rd runner-up: “Rules”, by Thorsten Küper

An alien walks into Eurocon, turns around to a bunch of different creatures following and says: “Okay, fellows! You know the rules. Don’t eat, impregnate, abduct, chestburst or invade them. If asked by somebody, use your translator and say, “I am a cosplayer from Moldova!” Don’t forget to wash your extremities afterwards. And don’t fuck this up like in Tunguska, Roswell, or like the sucker who gave them generative AI!”
“Why did he do that?”
“Look around. Compassion for their lack of fantasy.”

Congratulations to all of you!!!!