Results of the Splintered Lands Contest

I wanted to thank all of you who voted for my story, “Blessed,” for the Splintered Lands contest. I truly appreciate the time you spent to vote and for the support you have given me in regards to this story.


This contest was a fiasco of epic proportions. Not only was it mishandled, Deepwood Publishing all but admitted through a tweet that “They could change the votes if they had to.” Well, perhaps they did.

What the results boiled down to was three of the four finalists being “disqualified,” leaving the sole author as the default winner. Not how I would have like to win, but a publishing credit is a publishing credit. They claimed that there were too many “voting inconsistencies that led to multiple authors being disqualified.”I did email Deepwood asking why my story was DQ’d, but have heard nothing from them. Unfortunately, I really don’t expect to.

For the record, despite the insinuation, I am not a cheater, nor did I ask anyone to cheat for me. Mostly, I am angry because I spent over six days crafting a story worthy enough for their anthology, only to have them toss it out for reasons beyond my control.

So, when play is not fair, how do you hope to win?

I am left with a story I am immensely proud of. When time allows, I’ll tear it down and build it up in my own world, with my own rules.

Varinia Sulan shall live on!

On My Way to Publication via Your Vote

Howdy all!

I have been slacking off on the princess posts and for that I do apologize, however, I have been busy with other writing projects.
I entered a contest for the Splintered Lands anthology http://splinteredlands.com/. This is a post apocalyptic land where magic has torn the world apart. Magic wielders and technologists are despise and hunted, while the Knights govern what they can and destroy the rest.

My story, "Blessed," is one of the four finalists. It under my pen name of Nicki Delone. Who ever wins, will have his/her story as part of the anthology to be published by Deepwood Publishing.

So if you have some time, go to the website and read the submissions. I have some tough competition. Your vote is greatly appreciated. Tell all your friends, neighbors, and paper boys. I don't know how long the voting will stay open, so hurry, hurry, hurry!