The Theme this time is... you guessed it, Bad Santa. Since winners will be published in the December 2005 issue, we thought it would be fun to have a criminally Christmas theme.

Use your imagination -- it doesn't have to actually be a Bad Santa, the theme can be realized in any number of ways.

DETAILS:

Length: up to 10,000 words

DEADLINE: October 31, 2005

Winners will be announced/published in the December 2005 issue.

Prizes include:

$25.00 to the first place story;

publication of the top three stories in the December 2005 Mysterical-E

Staff of Mysterical-E and their families are prohibited from submitting work to this contest.