Alien Vampire Bunnies Writing Contest Winners!

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the stories coming in. When Kate Duffy first mentioned this idea, off-handedly, we were laughing about how “stupid” the idea potentially was. And yet, the writers submitting stories this year were able to over-come that barrier.
As promised, the winner of the contest receives a free critique of the first 100 pages of a story. The first place winner may should contact me via email for further information.
Also, this is for you editors out there. If you love a premise of the story, I will arrange to get it to you! I dare you!
Like I said, you all made it tough on me. Some were funny, some were dang serious. In the end, I was looking for the story that exemplified quality writing as well as meeting the criteria of the contest. In other words, the story had to be about Alien Vampire Bunnies.
First of all, I want to thank the following writers for just competing. This was a tough challenge but you still did it. Good for you!

• Deathright by Joely Sue Burkhart

• Untitled by Kelly McClean

• Dissociation by Monica Peters

• Untitled By Marilou Goodwin

• Blood Counts by Jan Mitchell

So, without further adieu…

1st Place…
My Love, the Alien Vampire Bunny by Ellie Nystrom
A paranormal romance about Maggie, a small town substitute teacher with a big secret. Namely, the alien vampire bunny whose space pod crashes into her backyard. Seeing his adorable little cottontail, she names him Peter, but then, after biting the pizza delivery man, he transforms into her dream man.
Coming from a race of blood sucking creatures known only as the Collective, Peter does not understand the value of the individual. Maggie teaches him to respect himself and become his own man. He teaches her to embrace her differences, which are substantial and not entirely human, and follow her heart. In the end, as bunnies in little space suits descend upon Earth to rescue their lost friend, Peter decides that being with someone who loves him for himself is better than rejoining his kind where he's just another nameless part of the whole.

2nd Place…
The Bunny Prophecy by Carolyn Carey
Two weeks ago, Marley Holland was just a super wealthy former English prof who’d won the lottery and had been wondering what to do with herself, other than encouraging her boyfriend in his efforts to translate the medieval writings of an esoteric German who had prophesized the arrival of a spaceship filled with vampire bunnies whose meat could cure any human vampires who consumed it. Connor is especially interested in the prophecy because his sister is a vampire. And unbeknownst to him, so is his girlfriend. Ten days ago, Marley was attacked and turned while perusing the ancient textbooks in the archives of the graduate library at the university where Connor teaches. Now she has a personal reason for seeking out those blasted bunnies.
With help from her chauffeur, Kooper, and an occasional assist from Connor, who’s positive he knows the time and place the spaceship will arrive, Marley engages in a frantic search for the flying rabbit hutch Kooper spotted one dark evening on a mountainous road. Dangers they never anticipated arise. Seems Connor wasn’t the only scholar trying to translate the works of Hasenpfeffer, but where Connor had read “vampire bunnies,” others have seen “golden nuggets.” By the time Marley succeeds in trapping one of the bunnies, Connor has been changed and she must use the precious rabbit stew to return her beloved to a normal life. Then it’s time for her and Kooper to begin their quest again, leaving behind the comforts of normalcy in their continuing search for alien vampire bunnies.

3rd Place
24 Carrot Blood by Candice Gilmer
Just because Gerald was a vampire bunny, didn’t mean he enjoyed his violent ways. When he comes upon an alternative to killing beings for nutrients on the planet Earth, he high-tails it to the small planet. Unfortunately the King and Queen follow, bringing their subjects to find Gerald, as well as explore the delectable beings on Earth.
Gerald enlists the help of Kandi Kayne, immortal Templar Knight, to find this True Blood he seeks. While Kandi and the other Templar Knights search for the blood substitute for Gerald, the King and Queen start their sampling of the blood offered on Earth, creating a string of deaths all over North America. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Kandi and the other Knights have to find a way to get the vampire bunnies off world, and still allow Gerald asylum on Earth. Especially since this blood substitute Gerald seeks may not exist.

Honorable Mention
Untitled by Kimberly Rood
Thad Marshall and Allison Sherry are the executive liaisons for The Interplanetary Peace Office. It is their job, a long with the other members of their team, to keep peace between planet Earth and other extraterrestrial beings. Everything has been going fine until a meteor strikes The Alvampuns’ planet. The Alvampuns, strange creatures possessing mixed features of aliens, vampires, and bunnies are devastated by their planet’s destruction. When the meteor slams into their planet, a chain of natural disasters ensue. A year later, their planet is no longer fit to sustain life. They request refuge from Earth. The United States grants them asylum and allows them to move into designated neighborhoods.
People are outraged that the extraterrestrials are aloud entry into their country. It becomes obvious quickly that human beings and Alvampuns cannot get along. They refuse to except each others’ differences and peacefully coexist. Thad Marshall and Allison Sherry desperately try to bring the two species together but without success. When were-aliens threaten planet Earth, they must choose either to band together and fight or risk losing their precious home forever.