The 2026 Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award
March 13, 2026 by Bethlehem Writers Group in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Contests tagged as #TheBWG, Bethlehem Writers Group, Seasons Readings, Short Story Award, The 2026 Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award
The Bethlehem Writers 2025 Short Story Award
BWG is seeking stories of 2,500 words or fewer on the theme of Speculative Fiction (tales of science fiction and fantasy, broadly interpreted). The winners receive cash and publication, with the first-place winner being considered for our upcoming anthology, Illusive Worlds: Sweet, Funny and Strange Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy, forthcoming in 2026.
Winners receive cash awards and offers of publication. (See below for details.)
First Place:
$250 and consideration for publication in our upcoming anthology: Illusive Worlds: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy or Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
Second Place:
$100 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
Third Place:
$50 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
The 2026 guest judge is science-fiction and fantasy author Susan Kaye Quinn.
Susan Kaye Quinn has designed aircraft engines and studied global warming, getting a PhD in environmental engineering along the way, but now she invents cool stuff in books. She’s been writing across multiple genres for 15 years, with her latest works focusing on hopepunk, solarpunk, and the new stories we need to build a more just and sustainable world. Her short fiction can be found in Grist, Solarpunk Magazine, Reckoning, and all her novels and short stories can be found on her website: SusanKayeQuinn.com. She is the host of the Bright Green Futures podcast.
For more information on the 2025 Short Story Award and for information on how to enter, click here. You can also read an interview with Ms. Quinn here.
About BWG
The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC (BWG), is a community of mutually supportive fiction and nonfiction authors based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The members are as different from each other as their stories. BWG also publishes quality fiction through their online literary journal, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable, and their award-winning A Sweet, Funny, and Strange Anthology series.
Each anthology has an overall theme—broadly interpreted—but includes a variety of genres. All but the first anthology include stories from the winner(s) of The Bethlehem Writers Short Story Award.
Their first anthology, A Christmas Sampler: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales (2009), won two Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Best Anthology and Best Short Fiction.
Season’s Reading: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales is the latest in A Sweet, Funny, and Strange Anthology.
Books from Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC (BWG), founded in 2006, is a community of mutually supportive, fiction and nonfiction authors based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The members are as different from each other as their stories, spanning a range of genres including: children’s, fantasy, humor, inspiration, literary, memoir, mystery, paranormal, romance, science fiction, women’s fiction, and young adult.
See the schedule of meetings and events here.
Featured Author: Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
March 1, 2026 by Bethlehem Writers Group in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Contests, Featured Author of the Month tagged as #TheBWG, Bethlehem Writers Group, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award, new release, Seasons Readings, Short Story Award
About Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC (BWG), is a community of mutually supportive fiction and nonfiction authors based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The members are as different from each other as their stories. BWG also publishes quality fiction through their online literary journal, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable, and their award-winning A Sweet, Funny, and Strange Anthology series.
Next up for BWG
BWG is working on their ninth anthology, Illusive Worlds: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy
In connection with this anthology, they are hosting The Bethlehem Writers 2026 Short Story Award.
The 2026 Short Story Award opens on January 1, 2026. The theme will be Speculative Fiction (tales of science fiction and fantasy, broadly interpreted).
BWG is seeking never-published short stories of 2,500 words or fewer.
First Place:
$250 and consideration for publication in our upcoming anthology: Illusive Worlds: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy or Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
Second Place:
$100 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
Third Place:
$50 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
The 2026 contest judge is speculative fiction author Susan Kaye Quinn.
About the 2026 Contest Judge
Susan Kaye Quinn has designed aircraft engines and studied global warming, getting a PhD in environmental engineering along the way, but now she invents cool stuff in books. She’s been writing across multiple genres for 15 years, with her latest works focusing on hopepunk, solarpunk, and the new stories we need to build a more just and sustainable world. Her short fiction can be found in Grist, Solarpunk Magazine, Reckoning, and all her novels and short stories can be found on her website: SusanKayeQuinn.com. She is the host of the Bright Green Futures podcast.
Read BWG’s interview of Susan here.
For more information on the 2026 Short Story Award and for information on how to enter, click here.
Books from Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC (BWG), founded in 2006, is a community of mutually supportive, fiction and nonfiction authors based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The members are as different from each other as their stories, spanning a range of genres including: children’s, fantasy, humor, inspiration, literary, memoir, mystery, paranormal, romance, science fiction, women’s fiction, and young adult.
See the schedule of meetings and events here.
The 2026 Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award
February 13, 2026 by Bethlehem Writers Group in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Contests, Featured Author of the Month tagged as #TheBWG, Bethlehem Writers Group, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award, new release, Seasons Readings, Short Story Award
The Bethlehem Writers 2025 Short Story Award
BWG is seeking stories of 2,500 words or fewer on the theme of Speculative Fiction (tales of science fiction and fantasy, broadly interpreted). The winners receive cash and publication, with the first-place winner being considered for our upcoming anthology, Illusive Worlds: Sweet, Funny and Strange Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy, forthcoming in 2026.
Winners receive cash awards and offers of publication. (See below for details.)
First Place:
$250 and consideration for publication in our upcoming anthology: Illusive Worlds: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy or Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
Second Place:
$100 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
Third Place:
$50 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
The 2026 guest judge is science-fiction and fantasy author Susan Kaye Quinn.
Susan Kaye Quinn has designed aircraft engines and studied global warming, getting a PhD in environmental engineering along the way, but now she invents cool stuff in books. She’s been writing across multiple genres for 15 years, with her latest works focusing on hopepunk, solarpunk, and the new stories we need to build a more just and sustainable world. Her short fiction can be found in Grist, Solarpunk Magazine, Reckoning, and all her novels and short stories can be found on her website: SusanKayeQuinn.com. She is the host of the Bright Green Futures podcast.
For more information on the 2025 Short Story Award and for information on how to enter, click here. You can also read an interview with Ms. Quinn here.
About BWG
The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC (BWG), is a community of mutually supportive fiction and nonfiction authors based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The members are as different from each other as their stories. BWG also publishes quality fiction through their online literary journal, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable, and their award-winning A Sweet, Funny, and Strange Anthology series.
Each anthology has an overall theme—broadly interpreted—but includes a variety of genres. All but the first anthology include stories from the winner(s) of The Bethlehem Writers Short Story Award.
Their first anthology, A Christmas Sampler: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales (2009), won two Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Best Anthology and Best Short Fiction.
Season’s Reading: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales is the latest in A Sweet, Funny, and Strange Anthology.
Books from Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC (BWG), founded in 2006, is a community of mutually supportive, fiction and nonfiction authors based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The members are as different from each other as their stories, spanning a range of genres including: children’s, fantasy, humor, inspiration, literary, memoir, mystery, paranormal, romance, science fiction, women’s fiction, and young adult.
See the schedule of meetings and events here.
Full of Scorpions Is My Mind by Dianna Sinovic
December 13, 2025 by Bethlehem Writers Group in category From a Cabin in the Woods by Members of Bethlehem Writers Group tagged as Bethlehem Writers Group LLC, Dianna Sinovic, Macbeth, Something wicked this way comes, weird sisters
My long relationship with “the Scottish Play” dates back to grade school, when I was assigned the role of one of the Weird Sisters (was the teacher trying to tell me something?). Two other girls and I paraded around a faux cauldron to intone those famous lines:
Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
I’m pretty sure my class did not stage the entire five acts of Macbeth, which seems too macabre for that age group. But I suppose that early exposure to the witches/weyward ones led me to my writing path of paranormal and horror.
Seeing the play again recently reminded me how powerful it is, and how it still speaks to the human condition and the ability of power to corrupt. It is, according to Meghan Winch writing in the Lantern Theater’s program, “about an unfit and unaccountable ruler seizing power from the rightful sovereign” and illustrates that “the people below suffer most when there is instability at the top.” Stuff right out of today’s news feeds.
The play is also full of evocative phrases that live on even today, more than 400 years later: “when the battle’s lost and won”; “what’s done cannot be undone”; “I bear a charméd life,” and “the milk of human kindness,” among others. One particular phrase, in a line delivered by Macbeth, had special relevance to me as a mystery writer: malice domestic. These days it’s the name of an annual crime fiction fan convention.
The Lantern Theater in Philadelphia is an intimate space, a theater in the round; the onstage sparring with spears and swords took place only a few feet from the theatergoers. The aisle one seat to my right was a key passageway during the production: Macbeth and his Lady ran up that aisle, to murder Duncan, the king, and Macduff used it to discover the dead body. Settled in a front-row corner, I was so close to the action that I was probably the only audience member who could see the apparitions in Act IV, as they stood “hidden” behind a scrim to speak their lines.
And speaking of lines, a play (Shakespearean or not) embodies the oft-repeated “rule” in writing fiction: show, don’t tell. On the stage, dialogue and action are everything; there is no room for exposition. We understand the story via the words the characters speak and how others on stage react.
Regarding those infamous weird sisters, they seem to be more than mere witches. The lines they speak weave an incantation via the rhyme, the alliteration, and the strangeness of the words themselves. “Weird” from Shakespeare’s time did not mean “strange.” It stemmed from “wayward,” which referred to “destiny” or “fate.” As such, did the sisters make Macbeth commit the murderous crime? Or did that tendency lie within him all along?
That’s for you to decide.
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Dianna’s Books
BWG’s Books
A Memory of Gratitude by Carol L. Wright
November 13, 2025 by Bethlehem Writers Group in category From a Cabin in the Woods by Members of Bethlehem Writers Group tagged as Bethlehem Writers Group LLC, Carol L. Wright, From Scratch, gratitude, Sally W. Paradysz
The other day, I was thinking about how this regular “A Slice of Orange” column by members of the Bethlehem Writers Group (BWG) came about. It all began when one of our members, Sally W. Paradysz, wrote a monthly memoir/meditation from her “Cabin in the Woods” of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. When she started her regular contributions, she had already been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, but she didn’t waste her precious remaining time bemoaning her condition. Instead, she found many things for which to be grateful.
Bethlehem Writers Group was one thing she was thankful for until the end of her life. She was one of our founding members and grew as a writer during her years among us while helping other members to grow as well. I have always been grateful for Sal’s friendship and the time we had together.
After Sal’s passing in 2017 at the age of 77, other BWG members began writing their own thoughts for “A Slice of Orange” to fill the vacancy she left behind. You’ve seen us write original fiction, advice on writing, and thoughts on life.
Now, in the season for thankfulness, I want to honor Sal and share some of the many things that she appreciated most about this season–things that gave her life joy, love, and purpose. Below is a list of ten things I remember Sal being grateful for in this Thanksgiving season.
10. The fall palette that enhances Pennsylvania’s hills and woodlands, painting the trees in oranges, reds, yellows, browns, and greens against a clear blue sky in a natural masterpiece.
9. The scent of autumn after leaves have fallen when the air is crisp. It provokes a sense of anticipation of the changes to come: the bite of cold, a peaceful snowfall, and the contentment of being at home, snuggled under a blanket, stroking a cat, and reading a favorite book.
8. The trees that fell to give Sal a source of warmth through the colder months. Sal heated her house with a wood stove which gave a glow and fragrance that enriched the feeling of home. She thanked the trees for that gift.
7. The harvest that enhanced Sal’s vegetarian diet with fall flavors of squash and other vegetables that warmed the body and the heart.
6. The farewell honking of geese as they flew south for the winter. The songbirds that sang their gratitude for the many birdfeeders she filled as winter approached and food sources became increasingly scarce.
5. Deer and other wildlife, wearing their winter camouflage, that frequented her land, giving her a glimpse of stillness and beauty before disappearing into the gray-brown woods. Sal often wrote about the deer that eventually learned to trust her instead of fleeing from her presence.
4. The pets that owned her. Sal loved her gigantic Maine Coon cats. These long-haired beauties are friendly, vocal, loyal, and affectionate, even if they can be a lot to pick up and carry very far. They sometimes weigh in at over twenty pounds each.
3. The innumerable friends that shared parts of her journey, helping each other through the highs and lows, brightening joys and lightening sorrows. Sal’s heart was big enough to welcome friends wherever she went.
2. Family. Sal adored her children and grandchildren, appreciating each for their unique specialness. And, after a difficult marriage that ended in divorce, Sal found a true partner with whom to share the rest of her life. She was so very grateful for these much beloved people.
1. The blessing of a long life, affording opportunities to develop into her best self, to learn and grow, to become the published author she aspired to be . . . and to share these blessings with her readers from her cabin in the woods.
More of Sal’s Books
More of Carol’s Books
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