"Merge and Converge"

IN THIS competition, entrants combined the titles and plots of two separate stories to create something unique. Like peanut butter and chocolate, if you're American. Or apple pie and stilton, if you're English. Or soylent green and the Welsh, if you're an F&SF reader (see below).

Some of the merged plots were even more entertaining than the originals. And some of the titles even more amusing than that. Thanks to all who participated.

But for future reference, if submitting an entry by e-mail, no attachments, please; if submitting by mail, unless you're a professional architect or calligrapher, please send typed entries.

First Place
"Catch-2001"
(Catch-22 by Joseph Heller plus 2001 by Arthur C. Clarke)
There was only one catch and that was Catch-2001: He would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to.
"Unless," thought HAL, "I start killing the astronauts."
—Jason Whyte
London, United Kingdom

Second Place

"Strange but Not a Stranger Things Happen" by James Patrick Kelly Link
(Strange but Not a Stranger by James Patrick Kelly plus Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link)
A critically acclaimed collection of short stories including "The Propagation of Water Off a Black Dog's Back," "Proof of the Exis–tence of the Snow Queen," and "Most of My Friends Are Two-Thirds Fruitcake."
—Jamie Rosen
Ottawa, ONT, Canada

HONORABLE MENTIONS

"The Twilight Zone Diet"
(The TV show The Twilight Zone plus The Zone Diet by Barry Sears)
A man on a plane freaks out as he slowly realizes that he's been served an inappropriate ratio of macronutrients.
—Stephen Stiefel
Los Angeles, CA

"A Princess of Green Mars"
(A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs plus Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson)
Fighting man John Carter is transported from Earth to Mars. Once there, he is engaged in a series of eco-political discussions.
—Bruce E. Hanson
Augusta, MA

"Soylent Green Was My Valley"
(Soylent Green by Harry Harrison plus How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn)
Welsh miners is people!
—Mike Curry
Mt. Vernon, IL

DISHONORABLE MENTION
"Neuromancer and
The Return of the King"
(Neuromancer by William Gibson plus Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien)
The sky above Orodruin was the color of Ringwraiths, tuned to a dead magic.
—Jon Lyndon
Reservoir, VIC, Australia

"Tron of the Dead"
(The movie Tron plus the movie Dawn of the Dead)
Kevin Flynn, hacker and video game enthusiast, finds himself trapped in a computer world plagued by zombie processes.
—Jacob P. Silvia
Webster, TX

F&SF COMPETITION #74

Adapted?:

Take at least one genre book (or short story) and merge it with another name. Then describe the plot of your new creation. (Thanks to Richard Bleiler via Gordon Van Gelder for the suggestion.) Limit your description to fifty words, and submit no more than six entries. Remember to include your name and address.

Example:

"Pride and Extreme Prejudice" (formerly Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)

Rules: Email entries to carol [a-t] cybrid [d-o-t] net. Be sure to include your contact information. Entries must be received by May 15, 2007. Judges are the editors of F&SF, and their decision is final. All entries become the property of F&SF.

Prizes: First prize will receive a signed copy of Map of Dreams by M. Rickert (Golden Gryphon Press). Second prize will receive advance reading copies of three forthcoming novels. Any runners-up will receive one-year subscriptions to F&SF. Results of competition #74 will appear in the October/November 2007 issue.