Adhering to the tradition of keeping the Rules simple and to a minimum, thank you in advance for helping things run smoothly by keeping these few essentials near and dear to your heart.

The Official SSC 2009 Rules.

1. The contest has started! It will end at August 15th, 2009, 11:58 p.m. Central and Mountain Time.
2. All stories should be about, or include, the topic of our shared interest: that is, spanking!
3. Except where noted in specific categories, stories can be no longer than 500 words. Headers, titles, author names and notes, copyright notices, and links aren't included in this word count, although if all that other stuff is 500 words long by itself, we're going to have a talk.
4. We're looking for new stories that haven't been in previous contests or posted on SSS before.
5. Your story is not officially entered in the SSC until it is sent to mirth256 at msn dot com.
6. Subject line must include SSC 2009, your title, and the category you want the story entered in. Some stories may fit multiple categories, but you have to commit to one. It may be tough, but I know you can do it.
7. Please submit stories in plain text. If you use a word processor with a proprietary format, like MS Word, save as plain text before you post. I take no responsibility for stories that end up with funkadellic spacing and a bunch of Illuminati symbols because it wasn't submitted in plain text.
8. By entering a story in the SSC you've consented, nay, demanded as is your due, for it to be included in this year's archive.

The Official SSC 2009 Categories.

Through rigorous statistical review of previous SSCs and extensive polls of Oompah-Loompahs, we have distilled the following categories that we hope will inspire you:

• ADULT. The main characters and focus is on adults.
• CHILD. The main character is under 12 years old, or the focus of the story is childhood.
• COMING OF AGE (feel free to abbreviate as COA). The focus is the time in someone's life when they are neither child nor adult, that angst filled, yearning age between 12 and 18.
• EDGE. One man's tool is another man's torture. Edge stories explore the boundaries of the author's comfort. Please include an author's note (not included in word count) to explain why it is edgy for you.
• FAN FICTION. Decided Johnny Smith's ex-wife needed the wishy- washiness removed by a good, hard over-the-knee session from Walt Bannerman in The Dead Zone? Think the Tudors need an extended spanking scene? Spend hours thinking about how spankalicious Spock is? Then this is the category for you. Write the scenes that are missing from your favorite book, TV show, or film. Be sure to include a note stating where this is from. Links to Wikis are helpful, and in some cases may be neccessary.
• HISTORICAL. For period pieces set back in time. Set your spanking back in Egypt during construction of the Pyramids, or try to capture a dust bowl day flavor. This category is for those of you who understand that history doesn't mean the time when you had breakfast yesterday.
• PARODY. This is for you pervs who want to take something boringly vanilla and twist it to our own nefarious purposes. Copies of the source material for comparison are not included in word count.
• PICTURE. See if you can find inspiration in one of these pictures, and write a story in the direction your imagination takes you! Please note which picture inspired you.
  
  
  
  
• SAME SEX. This category is for the hot contemporary man-on-man or woman-on-woman action some of us love so well.
• SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR. For those of you for whom the Real World is not enough, who need a little sorcery with their sword, some space with their frontier, or a big lusty werepony to feel complete (and who wouldn't be horrified to find out that they've got the glamorous power to become . . . a pony?).
• 1000. This is a longer word count story, and may be any topic. Each author may submit only one to the contest. Word count is not to exceed 1000.
• 2000. This is a much longer word count story of any topic. Each author may submit only one to the contest. Word count is not to exceed 2000.

Okay, now all you have to do is get started writing those stories! I look forward, as I always do, to reading all your wonderful submissions!