It’s been a quiet, maudlin few weeks in the ‘dome - somber stories about the frailty of human life, and a creeping sort of existential dread. That’s all well and good, but it’s time for a change of pace; your story this week must be METAL AS FUCK. That’s not to say it can’t confront grand themes of the human experience, but it should endeavour to do so with (for example) as many mecha-vikings, dragons, babes (or hunks), wizards, battleaxes and improbable explosions as possible.

But that’s too easy, so we’re gonna mix it up. None of your characters may be straight, white men, and your story must pass the Bechdel Test.


There are no genre restrictions on this week, so long as the judges get a palpable “FUCK YEAH” rush while reading: space babes wielding laser blasters to fight off mecha-pirates? Awesome. A group of suburban teenagers accidentally bring about the apocalypse by rocking too hard? Deathgasmic. If you’re still lost, the judges be posting a series of album covers for inspiration during the week. You may use them as you see fit.

Nb: if your story comes off like a Saturday Morning Special about TOLERANCE, you will have failed the Viking Gods and will receive an automatic DM. On the flipside, no weird porny stories about girls kissing each other while riding dragons or whatever - sexuality is not forbidden, but be smart about it because if you fail, you will fail hard.

No fanfic. Poetry is acceptable, but must be EPIC.

There is no word limit but I'll stop reading when I get bored.