Welcome to Round 3, SmackDowners! You might remember the theme of this round from the previous SD, MadMike's Revenge. Now, back then it had two meanings, because it also represented the merging of two teams. This time, however, it's only called "the merge" for one reason, and that reason is pretty awesome.
In this round you will each be given two sci-fi sub-genres—one -Punk and one not—randomly drawn last night from a hat, which you must then merge together for the purposes of your story. There's also a quote prompt and a super-special deluxe wicked-awesome picture prompt.
Word count: 2,000 to 3,500 words
Deadline: Thursday August 1st, 3:30 PM PST/6:30 PM EST/10:30 PM UTC—(Friday August 2nd, 10:30 AM NZT)
Email your story here: mikemarsbergen@hotmail.com
Sound hot? Let's go see these prompts and everyone's two sci-fi sub-genres.
1. All of you must use the following bit of text at some point in your story:
I'm like a tree. My leaves might change color, but my roots are the same.
2. The two sub-genres you must each combine are the following:
painebook - SkyPunk + AfroFuturism
Wuckster - SportPunk + Satanic SF
sacredlilac - PiratePunk + Virtual Reality
CJG1988 - BonePunk + Singularity
WilliamJJackson - StonePunk + Final Contact
Wolfwhistle - SnowPunk + Space Western
jinnis - DesertPunk + Generation Ship
TEBramble - AtomPunk + Lost World
Holly_Gonzalez - WattPunk + Colonisation
HardeeBurger - OceanPunk + Galactic Empire
3. You must at some point include or mention your designated cactus in some way or form. Each cactus has been randomly selected for you from my collection. You do not need to use my personal names for the cacti, or their bracketed descriptor.
Hybrid (San Pedro x Peruvian Torch) - sacredlilac
Pedro & Puppy (San Pedro) - jinnis
Santos (San Pedro crested reversion) - Holly_Gonzalez
Peruvia & Little Torchy (Peruvian Torch) - painebook
Bolivia (Bolivian Torch) - TEBramble
Goldy (Golden Torch) - CJG1988
Scopy (Scopulicola) - Wolfwhistle
Brainy (San Pedro crested) - HardeeBurger
Willy (Bolivian Torch monstrose short-form) - Wuckster
Grafty & His Merry Band of Pups (San Pedro) - WilliamJJackson
Judges
MadMikeMarsbergen and Nablai will judge:
MadMikeMarsbergen and ashiqtnt will judge:
The two lowest-scoring individuals will be eliminated, regardless of whether anyone else drops out.