Ad Astra

[mirandafave]

Ok so Mistral's signature challenge is closed and voting is now open here!

You have stories from which to choose, seven days in which to cast your vote, and one vote to cast.
Our challenge is closed but the voting opens. You have one vote and seven days in which to cast it.And here are the entries:

"What Lies Within" by Lil black dog
"Echoes" by Gumnut
"Dealing With It" by IntrepidSovereign
"Facet" by Mistral

Lastly, a big congratulations to Nerys for winning the Great Review Hunt. As a reward Nerys' featured story is 'Exits in the Haze', a piece of artwork and the chance to offer our new challenge.

Likewise, you too can win all these and more, simply by taking part in our new Great Review Hunt. Titled: 'The Original Taste' it will reward any reviews based on TOS stories with an additional ten bonus points. So get reading and reviewing.

 

[mirandafave]

New Challenge issued

Nerys' challenge is "Growing up in the Trekverse". Stories must be about the childhoods of your story characters:
This would be for stories of your characters' childhoods--i.e. anything before they reach the legal age of majority on their world (for instance, in the 24th-century USA, this would be stories taking place before the age of 18). We have an idea of Starfleet Academy, for instance--but I'd love to see what it's like for kids in the Federation and other worlds before they're old enough for that.

 

[SLWalker]

Winners and... more Winners!
Well, after a successful vote for the Signature Challenge posed by Mistral, the winner comes up Lil Black Dog with the story What Lies Within. Congratulations, Cuppy! To view all past challenges and entries and winners, you can find those right here.

But we've got lots of winners...
Because all you rock the world. It took me an hour and a half to tally up the reviews since May 18th; our lovely Miranda is in the lead, but anyone can still take it. Remember the bonuses for word count:

0-100 = +0
101 - 200 = +10
201 - 300 = +20
And so on...

For those of you who are new to Ad Astra, the reason why we award bonus points for the word count is because we want to encourage longer, more indepth reviews.

There are also an extra 10 bonus points up for grabs for any story in the Original Series section. So go give TOS some love! The winner of the review hunt come next Wednesday gets to name the next challenge, a two week featured story AND a piece of fanart. Talk about a sweet deal!

And while we're at it...
Nerys's Growing up in the Trekiverse challenge is now open to old stories and new ones. So, if you have one already written that fits the theme, feel free to submit it!

New Members
We picked up some new folks while I was on vacation -- welcome aboard! Don't forget that Ad Astra also has wicked cool forums you can hang out on, where you can mingle with other ficcers, get involved in a round robin, ask for a beta, randomly chatter Trek... well, there are all kinds of benefits.

And you lot have a great Wednesday!

 

[SLWalker]

A Vote, A Winner, A Wednesday!
Voting is now open for the Growing up in the Trekiverse challenge over here on the forums. Two votes are allowed, so vote for your favorite two, and don't be afraid to give the authors some extra love on the whopping ten submissions we got for it!

And while we're at it...
Your winner for the Great Review Hunt this time around is our lovely MirandaFave; given his continued admin status, this will be the last time he's eligible. So, Miranda, lemme know what our next challenge is, what your fanart prize is and what the featured story will be! Coming in second was the also wonderful Gibraltar who really showed some shine on the archive, hitting a number of stories.

But it never ends!
After going through the archive counting reviews, I was struck by how unloved our Next Generation category has appeared to be. So, in order to have these wonderful stories get some attention, there will be an extra ten bonus points for all reviews of stories in that category for the next two weeks. Give Picard and crew some attention, folks!

 

[SLWalker]

A winner, a vote, a review hunt!
Welcome to the Wednesday Edition of the Ad Astra News Service, wherein Steff pretends to be a newscaster. Your headlines this morning are:

A winner!
Which would be Gibraltar, also known as Sam Redfeather; a skyrocketing number of thoughtful, intelligent reviews put Sam in a lead early and he never wavered. Mistral came in second, and passed the vaunted 200 mark. Congratulations, gentlemen! Sam, lemme know what the challenge is, what the featured story is AND what you want fanart wise.

Taking Command Challenge Vote!
The Taking Command challenge is now closed, so that means it's time to vote! So head on over to the forums and cast your ballot for who gets the nifty little trophy; as always, the vote ends in one week exactly. If you want to see the past challenges and winners, you can head right on over here and view them in all of their font-colored glory!

Orphans and Adoptions
Compiled by your resident Canadian administrator Teddog is a list of stories that have no reviews, and all bonus points in this next review hunt will be dedicated to getting them reviews. Head on over here to view the details of this hunt. We'll do our best to update the list as new, reviewless stories come in and older orphans finally get some attention.

For the new folks, the Great Review Hunt is basically an attempt to reward both readers and authors for maintaining an active, vibrant community. The top reviewer at the end of the two week period gets to name the next story challenge, the featured story for two weeks and a piece of fanart drawn by either Teddog or I (amateur though it may be). Reviews are awarded bonus points based on word count to promote quality over quantity, and extra bonus points depending on a theme.

So, if you love fanfic, love getting and giving feedback and want to help this continue to be one of the finest Trek archives on the web, don't be afraid to get involved!

And have a great Wednesday!

 

[SLWalker]

The News!
Your news this Wednesday is that the 'Taking Command' challenge has been voted on, and people somehow decided to pick Middle Watch. Thanks, guys. I am both grateful and utterly abashed. ;-)

In more important news...
The Great Review Hunt: Adoption Edition is still on; go pick a story that needs a review or two or three and give it some love! Not only do you win ten extra bonus points if you make it over fifteen words, but you'll also make a writer's day. So far, Terilynn is in the lead, followed by Mistral.

Award discussion?
Indeed, we are kicking around the notion of Ad Astra having its own awards; namely, something people's choice-ish. Feel free to come on over to the forums and weigh in!

And finally...
Gibraltar's Underdog challenge is now open to both old and new stories alike, and will close in a week! So, get those tales in!

 

[SLWalker]

Your Early Bird Wednesday Headline!
On the top of the list this fine Wednesday is the end of one review hunt and the beginning of another. It looked like the lovely, be-booted Terilynn would have this one, but then Nerys came in from behind and crossed the finish line! So, your winner this time around is Nerys Ghemor, who gets to name the next challenge, the featured story and a piece of fanart. Lemme know what's going on ASAP, Nerys!

Next hunt!
Given that I can't seem to think of a theme this time around, I'll open it up to suggestions. What kinds of stories do you want to see get more attention? What types of tales should the reviews of get ten extra bonus points? Lemme know quick, and I'll go with the first suggestion to get two 'nominations'.

Trek Twelve Days of Christmas, '09
As many people are well aware, Ad Astra is coordinating the fiction portion of the Trek Twelve Days of Christmas this year. We already have four eBook novels in the works and we're opening up round two submissions now. We're looking for four to six full-length novels, any series (canon or original) that will have a fairly broad appeal. If you have one or know someone who does, have 'em come on over or contact me on any one of the many forums I'm on.

Underdog Challenge Vote!
While only carrying three entries, Gibraltar's Underdog Challenge is now being voted on here. So go on, speak up, let folks know which one you think was the best.

 

[SLWalker]

Headlines, Headlines

The winner!
Not surprisingly, the winner of the Underdog challenge is Nerys Ghemor with the ultimate underdog-beats-the-odds story, Let He Who Has Eyes See. Congratulations, Nerys!

But don't get complacent...
Nerys issued a very cool challenge, namely speaking, the Headlines Challenge wherein you get to be the media! It doesn't have to be long. Go write an article, an editorial or something (in character) based on one of your characters or stories or universes. Have fun with it!

Review hunting!
Mistral and Gibraltar are in the running; Gibraltar's ahead of the game, but Mistral is still within striking distance. But with one week left, anyone can still take this one! So, go and get involved!

Recruitment Drive
Another thing people may want to do is pass around work of mouth recruiting for Ad Astra. Nothing huge; just ask around and see if you can get folks who are interested in being part of a warm, participatory community involved.

Have a great day!

 

[SLWalker]

The News of the Week!
Anna Amuse has passed 100 reviews!

And in other news...
The winner of your Great Review Hunt this round was Gibraltar with 1562 points; following him was Mistral with 804. So, Sam, pick a featured story, a challenge and tell me what you want fanart-wise -- the latter may be quite awhile, though. I still owe Nerys hers.

As always, it's time for a new review hunt to come up. Because I am feeling thoroughly uninventive, this time around, we're gonna go with awarding ten extra bonus points to reviews over fifteen words for all stories that start with the letter A. Gives me a handy way to keep us moving, right?

Don't forget
That Ad Astra's going to be down for maintenance for two hours tomorrow, starting at 6:30 PM Pacific (9:30 EST); Mike, our technical guru, will be upgrating our eFiction archive software. Forums, however, will still be online in the meantime.

Finally...
The Headlines Challenge is now closed and voteable on the forums; so, head on over there and throw your voice into the mix for who you want to win!

Have a great rest of the week!

 

[SLWalker]

The Early Wednesday News!
All right, first things first! The Alternate Reality Challenge is now closed, which means that it's time for a vote! So, go read the various alternate scenarios, leave some feedback and vote for your favorite within seven days.

And then...
Your winner with 907 points in this Great Review Hunt was Anna Amuse! Since she's still an admin, this is the last time she gets to take it, but in the meantime she gets to name the next challenge, the featured story and a piece of art! Though, the last one may be slow in coming.

Your next review hunt...
Will award ten extra bonus (on top of the regular scale) for all stories in the Humor genre. So, go and tickle your funny bone, make an author's day and maybe win the hunt! Any which way, it's good for everyone and anyone.

And chances are, I'll be back to update with the story challenge later today. Until then!

 

[mirandafave]

Drum Roll Please!

Howdy do folks!
A little bit of Wednesday news to impart. First up, a big word of congratulations to the Amusing and fabulous Anna who wins the Alternate Reality Challenge. I think everyone will agree that there were stellar entries all round but Anna's Quasi una fantasia pipped the post. Thanks to everybody who entered - great job everyone. Let's not forget though, those who voted and reviewed the entries and make it all the worthwhile for the entrants.


Our current challenge is still running and you have until the 12th to enter a story. Go on - you know you want to! To find further details and view some of entries already made go to here >>> 'Clashing Personalities'


Check back soon for more news ... now for the weather ...

 

[mirandafave]

SOME GOOD NEWS! A Review Hunt Winner and a New Review Hunt ... er ... Hunt!

Gibraltar (that reviewing machine, amassing over 200 reviews and deserving a vacation) walked away with this review hunt, but he had some very close competition in one of our fine new folks, PSGarak. You people are mighty. A one time special prize means to say Gibraltar wins a vacation - honestly! his flight is booked an' all. Ok so that's false advertising!

With Steff more than busy, the art prize is not on hiatus but I can try my hand at a piece of art work or photoshopped magicary, all depending on what the winner asks for. In addition to a questionable piece of art prize, the winner gets to name the featured story and name a challenge.

Speaking of challenges don't forget that the Clashing Personalities challenge vote is going down on the forums, too. Some tough competition to choose from.

Another challenge is presented to Miranda Fave and Anna Amuse, your intrepid global mods, who are going to keep an eye on the review hunt. But with no access to the database that keeps track of all that they must do it with pencil and paper. So one tiny, little complication for this review hunt is that in order to qualify at the end of the day, the reviews must be PM'ed to Miranda Fave and Anna Amuse. Otherwise, we can't track down the reviews, give any bonus points, or scores for word count.

Onto the theme of the theme for this Review Hunt >>> 'I'll Be There For Youuu!' Yup! The song from Friends, meaning that any reviewed stories with the 'friendship' tag get an extra 10 points. There's heaps of stories with it so this could make things very complicated and competitive. Yay!

Get voting, get reading, get writing for whatever new challenge comes up, and get reviewing. Best of luck and care to you and all of yours.

 

[mirandafave]

Your Applause and Voting Cards to the Ready

Congratulations!
The winner of our Review Hunt is PSGarak. As a reward he gets to name the story featured on the front page of the Archive, create a challenge and although the art work might not be to the standards of others I'll see what I can rustle up for the winner.
A new Review Hunt is also announced. I'm making an executive decision on this one. In honour of our review winner being a Cardassian and the fact I've seen a number of DS9 feature episodes as of late, any stories from the Deep Space Nine category receive an extra ten points.
Remember the purpose is to reward you fab readers who take the time to drop a comment and give all the authors some deserved loving. Having hunting, happy reading.

Voting Cards.
The vote is now open for the Haunting Challenge. Seven very different entries for you to choose from.
Go here >>> VOTE! <<< to cast your vote in the forums.

 

[mirandafave]

Just a further update. PSGarak as winner of the review hunt has issued the following challenge for people to take part in. So why not try your hand.

The Bad Penny: Somebody from your character's past that they thought and hoped never to see again is back with a vengeance. Walking away isn't an option. What is your character going to do?

 

[Mistral]

C'mon, people, we need a tie-breaking vote over at the Ad Astra story contest! The Haunted Challenge is neck and neck!

 

[kes7]

Anyone else having trouble accessing Ad Astra?

 

[Gibraltar]

Anyone else having trouble accessing Ad Astra?

Oh, so it's not just me then? Yeah, I can't connect either.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Same here.

 

[Sovereign_One]

What's going on? I got to get my fic fix!

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I'm gonna PM Mike and see if he can figure out what's going on.