New to Grim5next: 5-Minute Writers & Grim Illustrators

Hello Grim5next Artists, Supporters, and fans!

I hope you had a great Easter weekend! I still have stomachache from all the chocolate…

So I'm back with an important update. If you recall, last week I called for writers, illustrators, and composers. Writers for Last 5 Minutes (section 2 of our Anthology); illustrators and composers for Grim Future (section 1). I am very happy with the response we got, but there's still a little room left. So I’m updating the list of artists today! 

Below I introduce: THE TWELVE TEAMS. Each team contains: writers, illustrators, and composers for each story. So far, we have the Grim Writers, most of whom have finished their pieces (three drafts left), most of the 5-Minute Writers, and some of the Grim Illustrators!

As you can see, we need THREE more ILLUSTRATORS (for Grim Future), and generally more composers (as they can contribute as much as they'd like). If you want to join us, feel free to submit your proposal here with your name, story choice, rough idea, and link to your work. Also comment if you've any questions.

For WRITERS, Last 5 Minutes is the section where 12 writers end the worlds of Grim Future. Your task is to do it in no more than 2000 words. Your focus will be on the character who sees the last five minutes of the world as it is ending. Pretty emotional stuff…

For ILLUSTRATORS, let me know what you’d like to illustrate & leave a link to your portfolio.

For COMPOSERS, just hop on board and work with us. I promise it’s a lot of fun. All grim stuff. :D

For those already on board, please contact your designated team or give me your email, so I can get everyone in touch and start working. It’s up to you guys how much you collaborate with one another, but you're encouraged to brainstorm and work together to make the stories better. 

Also, brainstorming sessions and progress reports will still be happening on Goodreads.

Art does not have to be a solitary experience… and Grim5next is the living proof!

Next Steps

1. I send the finished stories to the newcomers. The Grim Illustrators can start as soon as.

2. After they read the stories, the 5-Minute Writers give their rough ideas for ending the world HERE. This step is done for the sake of variety. Besides, most of you already gave your ideas in their proposal. :)

3. When we have all ideas, I give you the thumbs up, and you start!

Deadlines

From the moment they start writing, the 5-Minute Writers will have 15 DAYS to produce their first draft and 10 DAYS to polish it with their beta/s (whom I'll assign soon). 

The Grim Illustrators will have THREE WEEKS to come up with one illustration (per story) to set the mood. Hopefully, we should all be done a month from now.

(I haven't given exact dates because some may start sooner than others.)

Now give it up for the new members of Grim5next and the stories that need more love…

-Quantum Handshake-
Grim Writer: Maureen Hovermale
Grim Illustrator: Monica & Andrea
5-Minute Writer: J. Whitworth Hazzard
Grim Composer: Tzuriel Kastel 

Working on the Quantum Electrodynamics Theory by Richard Feynman that theorizes particles can move forwards and backwards in time (time reversibility), Leonard is almost able to do what has seemed impossible for years: Time Travel.

Going through yet another experiment, he thinks he has failed again only to discover his daughter washing her hair in the kitchen sink.

When he woke up this morning, to his best account, Leonard was a bachelor.

-Untitled#1-
Grim Writer: P.L. Blair
Grim Illustrator: WANTED!
5-Minute Writer: Melinda McGuire

A series of earthquakes around the world lead to the discovery of Atlantis... 

In Jerusalem, a 12-year girl of Jewish parentage - but whose parents are atheists - discovers that, though she has never engaged in sex, she is pregnant... 

And astronomers in a SETI project receive a message from thousands of light years across space ... "The test is over. You have failed. We are coming." 

-Hunluan-
Grim Writer: Matthew Williams
Grim Illustrator: WANTED!
5-Minute Writer: Amber Ivers

The BosWash Metropolitan Axis: a city of over five hundred million people living in a sea of high rises and urban sprawl. In the den of one man - if he can be called that anymore - El Lobo and a group of apocalyptics are busy at work. In their hands is the deadliest virus ever known, a virus known as Hunluan.

In the end, their goal is simple: to crash the world's economy, disrupt all communications, and bring all commerce and diplomacy to a stop. In short, to end civilization as they know it.

Only then, they believe, will mankind truly be free... 

-Apocalypse-
Grim Writer: Denna Holm

Grim Illustrator: Raif Coe
5-Minute Writer: Scott Bury

In the Bible books of Daniel and Revelation, God warns about the coming apocalypse. Yet few are prepared for the swift strikes felt around the world, or the massive destruction that follows in their wake. Whole countries are leveled in days through plague, fire, and deformed locust.

In the midst of this chaos, a beautiful winged creature, claiming to be an angel of the Lord, visits Eric in all her bright glory. The angel informs Eric that God will ask him to perform a task in the near future. If he refuses, the consequences will be catastrophic for all those left on the dying planet. Confused by the creature standing in another dimension behind the angel, Eric must decide whether to obey when the heavens open their floodgate above his home … or fight against it.

-Project Reset-
Grim Writer: Michael Seese
Grim Illustrator: Kat Michaelides
5-Minute Writer: Jamie Dement

A video appears on a screen, and a weary man starts speaking. He is Adam Roman, the project manager for "Project Reset," now entering its final phase. What is Project Reset, you may wonder.

At some point in the future, the powers-that-be decided that man has messed up the planet so badly that there can be no going back. It can't even be saved. So they embark on a project to "reset" the Earth: kill every living thing, leave behind instructions as to what went wrong, and hope that in a million years (give or take) the next species to evolve into the dominant, intelligent life form will heed the advice and do a better job.

Roman is the last surviving human. One he pushes the final button and takes a cyanide pill, it really IS all over. 

-Dark Horse- 
(a.k.a. 'The Third Horseman')
Grim Writer: Andrew Claymore
Grim Illustrator: Rubin Pingk
5-Minute Writer: Ahmad Taylor

On a cool summer night, Carol Riggs stumbles onto the reason for her farm’s consistently poor yields. A mysterious intruder turns out to be at the heart of a conspiracy that not only goes beyond her wildest imagination; it exceeds her definition of reality. 

She learns that an impending global famine is being engineered by an enemy that nobody ever thought to look for. Billions of lives hang in the balance and our world must rise to the challenge. Or face starvation. They are coming.

-The Unforeseen-
Grim Writer: Jinn Nelson
Grim Illustrator: Rubin Pingk
5-Minute Writer: Justin Beeman

Humanity engaged in a great experiment: to test a genius inventor's magnum opus, a biological miracle called Earth. The experiment, though planet-sized inside its self-contained universe, measured just one foot by one foot. It could be entered by a fragment of the soul—the subconscious—to control a body composed from Earth's own elements. 

Seven souls, brave and tenacious beings, entered first. The experiment lasted 14 days. Yet, once inside the experiment, they forgot everything outside of it. Fourteen days outside equaled 14,000 years inside. The seven procreated, and their descendants spread across the sphere. Earth was all they knew. 

Earth is one of the Great Wonders; its end will become a contest of will between itself and billions of soul shards who refuse to return home—a contest that cannot end well for those who resisted the inevitable. 

-Untitled#2- 
Grim Writer: Courtney Young
Grim Illustrator: WANTED!
5-Minute Writer: Ella Medler

The Naiyum, an intelligent civilization, worships the gods of the Earth. The land is plentiful and the forest that surrounds their village is flourishing. The people are in tune physically and mentally with nature.

After a fatal mistake, the civilization is damned to the depths of the sea for two thousand years. Without a way to die, their livelihood slowly diminishes. After centuries of torture, the people are returned to their unrecognizable homelands. They feel the Earth weeping and see extreme change and devastation caused by an alien life form called Homo sapiens.

The Naiyum must decide whether to destroy those responsible or allow the destruction to continue. Either way, blood will be shed. 

-Mutants of Mars- 
Grim Writer: M. Andrew Patterson
Grim Illustrator: Ferran Pages
5-Minute Writer: Cara Michaels

The Earth has run out of space and natural resources. Bio-engineered humans are sent to Mars to prepare it for colonization. The altered humans toil in slavery for their normal human masters.

Over time they manage to break their chains of servitude and take over the Mars colony. Angered by their treatment, they set their sights on destroying all normal humans. They have awakened. Earth is their target. 

-Bio Dome #21-
Grim Writer: Mia K. Rose
Grim Illustrator: Anko
5-Minute Writer: Terry Persun

The world began its collapse from overpopulation and loss of fertile land. Biologically sustaining domes sprung up through Europe to ensure humanity’s survival. However, due to rebellions over genetic control and conformity rules, the domes have started to fall.

Only one remains and it is about to rebel. 

-Sporelings-
Grim Writer: Nick. S. Nicholas
Grim Illustrator: Justine McGreevy
5-Minute Writer: Scott Whitmore

Driven by the need to quench the thirst for knowledge, mankind has embarked on a quest to study the pyramids in Egypt for thousands of years. What secrets are hidden inside these wonders of the ancient world? Do they hold the key to mankind's future or hide terrible secrets of mankind's past? The quest continues… 

Archeologist Elliott Gray leads his team into the Great Pyramid to investigate white lies hidden between the King’s and Queen’s chamber. The teams’ actions unleash a blight of alien sporelings that spread across the entire planet.

What is the sporelings purpose and who left them hidden for millions of years, waiting for mankind to discover them? What fate awaits us now that the sporelings are free? 

-Acciptacine 8-
Grim Writer: Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali
Grim Illustrator: Hadizah
5-Minute Writer: Miranda Hardy

Earth is in the midst of a volcanic winter and the population has diminished terribly. Resources are low and those who are left have begun to choose sides and fight for the left overs. There is hope however. Scientists and heads of governments have been in negotiations with an alien race who have watched our planet undergo this upheaval. They have a plan to help us but it would require much in the way of sacrifice: our humanity. The aliens make a revolutionary proposal which involves the creation of an alien human hybrid capable of surviving the harsh conditions.

This story will follow a single woman who has made the decision to accept this proposal. Question is: can she pass the strict physical examination or will she be euthanized like all those who are deemed unfit to undergo the change?