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Stacker News Fiction Month Grand Prize Winner
2349 sats \ 30 comments \ @Scoresby 8 Sep BooksAndArticles

The judges for the 2025 edition of Stacker News Fiction Month are pleased to announce that @billytheked is the grand prize winner for his submission "Sagas of the Lincoln County War."

There were so many good entries in Fiction Month that making this decision was quite difficult. We each enjoyed different stories; however, all three of us agreed that Sagas of the Lincoln County War was something special.
@billytheked set a detailed scene that pulled us into the story and left us standing in a world we could almost touch. Curious, feeling at times like an old timey daguerreotype and at others like a travelogue, billytheked delivered an excellent story which we all hope he will continue.

The Prize

@billytheked: please post a lightning invoice for 100k sats and I will pay it.
Additionally, 21Futures would like to publish this story on their website, 21futures.com
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238 sats \ 9 replies \ @billytheked 8 Sep
verily --what an honor 'twas to have the story judged alongside all the others in this contest --reading some of the other great works --the speculative/science fiction --mystery --and others that elude genre --i felt my work may have been in the wrong contest --also seeing as it is not a bitcoin story i feel doubly honored that the judges would say such nice things about it
--hopefully the sagas valorized the frontier outlaw not to admonish his rancour --drunkenness or violence --but because in him (and her) lives the spirit of the american frontier --the spirit that inspires the adventure to do what we believe is right even at the cost of transgressing those (cronies) occupying conventional seats of power --a spirit i believe to be alive in the bitcoiners of today
BIG THANK YOU TO @siggy47 @TotallyHumanWriter and @Scoresby for organizing this contest and the countless other writers that made it so interesting --lastly thank you to my mammy for raising me good and ....
YUH BETTER SLEEP WITH ONE EYE OPEN PAT GARRETT I'M COMING FOR YUH
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36 sats \ 2 replies \ @plebpoet 8 Sep
who's pat garrett
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11 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 8 Sep
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0070518/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
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72 sats \ 0 replies \ @plebpoet 9 Sep
👍🏻
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113 sats \ 1 reply \ @TotallyHumanWriter 9 Sep
Can I post your story on 21futures.com this week, @billytheked?
Do you artwork you'd like to feature?
If so, please send that and your author bio to write@21futures.com.
Thanks!
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102 sats \ 0 replies \ @billytheked 11 Sep
You can --pologies for my delay been a busy week --if youd like you can feature all of the chapters published here so far
If so, please send that and your author bio to write@21futures.com.
👍
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @didiplaywell 9 Sep
Congratulations!!! 😁
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @billytheked 8 Sep
lnbc1m1p5t7t6app5nml2rg33xc3yv9gyd3yfj3rrtmureywp22ucrd2tfnk2mc2undcqdp9wdhzqenfvd6xjmmwypkk7mn5dqs8qunf0fjjqcqzysxqyz5vqsp5yte68wdq2u52uqlucswgavq4n9nwc2m3mc53ra2t67yp66g8v3gs9qxpqysgqsn38xl6l0ecupkss5npvuu86cwf4g93wcg8wm8rdcg6f0g3q6y0kfyz2mhj04qdg0k8m5cncx4k862wz3anpp8s7kscq7nkp54w5ungp6vtp32
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36 sats \ 1 reply \ @Scoresby OP 8 Sep
Grand prize dispatched! Thanks great story!
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 9 Sep
I await your invoice, my man
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298 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 8 Sep
It was a very difficult decision, since there were so many great stories. In the end, we narrowed it down to three. Selecting one was difficult, since any of the three could have been selected. Therefore, I have decided to mention the other two stories, and to zap them an additional 10k sats each:
The Talent Show Shakeup, by @realBitcoinDog
The Last Miner, by @GreaterthanFiction
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138 sats \ 0 replies \ @realBitcoinDog 8 Sep
🫡
Thank you so much! Like @GreaterthanFiction I’d also like to know what made my story stand out or not stand out 🙏
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252 sats \ 4 replies \ @SimpleStacker 8 Sep
By the way, I noticed that the grand prize winner wasn't from the top 10 in zaprank. I'm really glad you guys decided to read each entry individually. Sometimes, popularity is not a good mark of quality. I didn't read Sagas of the Lincoln County War when it was first posted, but this post made me go back and read it, and it is really good stuff. So, again, I'm glad you guys went with a personalized approach to judging.
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36 sats \ 3 replies \ @realBitcoinDog 8 Sep
I agree if we have judges let them read every entry!
Almost as bad as grok judging to go by zap rank, right @TotallyHumanWriter?
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30 sats \ 2 replies \ @TotallyHumanWriter 8 Sep
Ha ha. Do you know the latest on that saga?
He prompted Grok to pick winners. It did (I was among the 6 winners). Many people were unhappy, as Grok got the most liked chain wrong and it was all very unclear.
He announced that 6 people would get the sats in early August, and he hasn't paid out a single zap.
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31 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 9 Sep
Tell all the dissatisfied folks to come to SN, where the contests are clean and the payments are made on time! Haha
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @realBitcoinDog 9 Sep
See that’s awful to say 6ppl will get sats and still not pay
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241 sats \ 0 replies \ @GreaterthanFiction 8 Sep
Thanks so much! This provides great motivation to continue writing these stories. I’d love to learn what you enjoyed about The Last Miner as had four other submissions.
A huge congratulations to @billytheked! I have a lot of reading to do.
Really appreciate the organisers for putting this on, it’s clearly been a success!
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138 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 8 Sep
Awesome. Congrats @billytheked
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138 sats \ 0 replies \ @carlosfandango 8 Sep
Well deserved. Congratulations and amongst some other excellent submissions.
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138 sats \ 0 replies \ @rootmachine 8 Sep
congrats to the winner!! we wish him inspiration for the future!
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138 sats \ 0 replies \ @Coinsreporter 8 Sep
Congratulations @billytheked! Very well done.
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72 sats \ 0 replies \ @plebpoet 8 Sep
congrats @billytheked !! very nicely done
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77 sats \ 1 reply \ @TotallyHumanWriter 8 Sep
Congrats to all the participants.
Its been a fantastic inaugural Fiction Month.
I loved the descriptions and flowing prose of Lincoln County. For me, it was the most accomplished short fiction piece.
Of course, there was a lot to like about many entries. Harbinger City, The Trust Machine, OpenAids, and more.
Well done all, and thanks for helping us kick start fiction on Stacker news. I'd love to read more here, and remember, you can always submit to 21 Futures.
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30 sats \ 0 replies \ @billytheked 9 Sep
very cool off you guys to organize this contest --thanks again
The Trust Machine
you may have meant The Trust Museum by @jbschirtzinger
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36 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker 8 Sep
Excellent! Well deserved
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36 sats \ 0 replies \ @0xbitcoiner 8 Sep
Additionally, 21Futures would like to publish this story on their website, 21futures.com
Wow
Congrats @billytheked
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @2053456d48 9 Sep
Great story indeed ... @billytheked deserve the prize 🏆
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @brave 9 Sep
Huge congrats to @billytheked!
'Sagas of the Lincoln County War' sounds like a wild ride, can't wait to read it on 21futures.com
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138 sats \ 0 replies \ @CliffBadger 8 Sep
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