Champions: An Anthology of Winning Fantasy Stories

by Alex S. Bradshaw (Editor), Eric Lange, Ken Lim

Champions is an anthology of more than thirty of the best fantasy stories that the online writing community has to offer; from spells gone wrong to prisons for gods and much more.

This anthology brings together the winning stories from the monthly competitions of Reddit's FantasyWriters forum with each story demonstrates the vivid and extraordinary worlds that the fantasy genre has to offer. The competitions these stories won range from the end of 2011 until the middle of 2015, meaning that the entries in Champions cover almost every kind of fantasy genre you can think of. With over thirty stories this anthology showcases a wide range of tales and demonstrates what it is we most love about fantasy tales: that anything is possible.

The relevant writing prompt also appears alongside each entry, giving you the opportunity to try your hand at writing something yourself, and each writer weaves a wonderful story for you to enjoy.

This anthology features stories from:
Ken Lim, Ian Michael Everett, Lesley Taylor, Ryan Hampton, David Eubanks, Alex Woods, Christine S.R. Jackson, David Babcock, B Lynch, Louise Stanley, G. T. Holmes, C. C. Lewer, Ryan Hampton, Anthony Pinggera, Eric Lange, Devon Young, Andrew Meyer, A.M. Adams, Andrea Stewart, Paul Nabil Matthis, Eamon Brenner, and more…

Genres: Fantasy, Anthologies

276 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 30, 2016

About the author

I am a fantasy author that loves stories with unforgettable characters in epic settings.

My own work is gritty and character-driven and my books have both been semi-finalists in SPFBO.

I’m also part of Spotlight Indie, a wonderful project and team that shines a light on the amazing work of indie creatives.

If I’m not reading or writing then you can probably find me playing games (I love a good TTRPG), or daydreaming about dinosaurs (not necessarily in that order).

I live not too far from Stonehenge and the Round Table and can often be found wandering between library shelves or along countryside footpaths.

Reviews

[Bookwraiths · Rating 2 out of 5]

A different kind of anthology with everything from poetry to novellas to cover blurbs. The pieces chosen from among the winning contributors on a reddit authors thread, and while most stories are definitely fantasy (There are sci-go themes as well) they definitely un the gamut from horror to urban to dark to everything else one can imagine. Can’t really say I loved this anthology, since nothing left a deep impression on me, but it was a decent time sink.

[Raymond Elmo · Rating 5 out of 5]

You’re rich. Why aren’t you happy?

I don’t mean “money” rich. I’m talking the wealth of Something Good to Read. Literarily, you have it all. Rapid access to whatever paper-brick book you want; instant access on your kindle. Heck, the complete works of Western Lit nest in your phone. You can sit in a bathroom stall perusing more titles than in the card-catalog for the Library of Alexandria.

And yet, bathroom tiles echo your dissatisfied sigh. Web pages and google-lists of titles, plots, famous authors… these are buffet items for someone starved, yet unable to spot anything that even looks worth sampling.

So much on the internet is unappetizing. Heck, it’s inedible. We long for the cafeteria shelves of Borders, Book-Stop, Barnes and Nobles and all the beloved dinosaurs of lore and yore. Those bookstores once weeded out the toxic trash.

Statistically, you know that on the internet waits terrific writing, stories for laughing aloud and sniffling in emotion, and going ‘oooh’ with fear or surprise. Like gold in sea-water. To find the gold, you just have to sift vast quantities of sea-water.

Which brings us to sifting: a monthly challenge tossed to talented fantasy writers. Sift, shift, filter: the best of the best is kept, the rest tossed back with a fond pat on the head.

So here is a feast of sure delight: “Champions”. A collection of short-stories by some 30 fantasy writers, in answer to some easy, hard, or mad writing challenge. Each story is the winner of a trial by fire, critique, and pen. Random sample of challenge: “write a fantasy short-story that incorporates tragedy without said tragedy relying on someone’s death; 3000 world limit”. The winner of that gives us something best narrated by Rod Serling: “Loose Threads”. A thought-piece bit of writing, moving and strange.

Here are jewels of humor, where a Necromancer files a formal complaint to protest gossip that he’s, well, creepy. Want world-building & character-building in stark lines of fire? Try ‘The Seed of Apostasy’. Want a story to make you tear up, go hug your kid or dog? ‘The Summoning’.

Want irony so dense it becomes heavy as wisdom? Read: "The Gods of the Lake". Here, read a tale you will recall five years from now, as you stand someplace dull and consider the faces of strangers and see ordinary souls transformed to players in a grand heroic epic, each a hero to the music they almost catch… "Decimilia Verba".

“Champions” is proof that excellent writing exists in the vast Sargasso Sea of internet fiction. The finding merely requires filtering. And sifting. And testing. And then some ordeals and editing and trials.

Any story that survives all that, is by definition, champion.

[Hank Hoeft · Rating 3 out of 5]

Champions is an excellent anthology I loaded onto my phone and read when I had odd moments of not doing anything, while standing in lines, waiting for appointments, etc. I normally load books I don't care enough about or find compelling enough so that I'm not bothered by reading it in bits and pieces. But these stories--collected from the winners of monthly competitions of Reddit's Fantasy Writers forum--were a pleasant surprise for me. The quality of the stories was much higher than I expected, and in fact I enjoyed this collection more than a lot of "best of" collections I've read.

[Gayreth Walden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept.

33 short stories from all fantasy genres. I found this to have an interesting concept that I have not seen before. Each story has a prompt that appears, giving you the opportunity to try your hand at writing something yourself.. The very first story is my favorite. Each of these stories were in a competition.

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding

Especially when you consider these are all stories not by professional writers, but rather writing contest winners. The downside of this, is there are no further writings from any of the authors that I've been able to tell...

[Cleocutie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthologies are always a good way to discover new authors and this one has such a wide range of stories that you are sure to find one or two or more new authors that you enjoy in its stories.