This was a good return to the monthly challenge, with close results and several stories only just missing out on the places.  There's also a dead heat for second place - not only did they get identical judges' scores, they also got identical star ratings.

1st Place: I, Meteor by fkurni
Just a silly little thing, pardon me. You think meteors are just random asteroids falling from the sky? Well, apparently they’re not. (Hmm... not sure where after the challenge, low fantasy?)

2nd Place: Grave Robbing for Dummies by ryanstothard
June challenge story, incorporating all five requested elements, however flimsy they might be.
McRoy and Puck seem to have stumbled onto a good thing. An untouched tomb full of treasures is theirs for the taking, but doesn't it all seem too easy?
Light fantasy after the challenge, please. 2960 words

2nd Place: Maze by lesliweird
The story of a maze, a delay, some animals, death, and so on.
Dark fantasy, I guess, after the contest. 

Members Choice: Aunt Caroline by Erika
A young woman must travel far from home in order to fulfill the final wish of her eccentric Aunt Caroline. (2800 words)
Category: Contemporary Fantasy

Congratulations to all the winners.    

See a list of past challenge winners here

After nearly a year of work, we are ready to test. For those who haven’t heard, we will be moving to a new site software package that will be hosted on a new (faster) server that has a much larger possibility for expansion, and is just all around better. Nearly all data from this site has been imported into the new site for testing. I say “nearly all” because some data weren’t able to be converted as there was no real way to convert it or the data itself was corrupt in some way. During testing, you are free to do *almost* what you like as whatever happens on the testing site will be deleted later as we do other test runs to make sure we have a solid foundation to move forward with. Our TOS still apply.

This month's challenge comes courtesy of a suggestion by Serafyr, though so long ago that she probably doesn't remember (see, I do keep all suggestions made).

The challenge is to write a story where a character goes to great lengths to obtain something seemingly insignificant.

Please read on for the complete rules. Failure to follow the rules will lead to disqualification, whether you read the rules or not.

It has been decided to give the Member of the Month interviews a bit of a break until after the site move. You can read previous MoM interviews by going to the bottom of the News page and putting in the month and year of the interview you'd like to see.

Thank you.

Yes, the challenge is back, after a lay-off for May.  Lots of people have made suggestions for topics, all of which are on the list and may be used, but I want to keep it simple and flexible after recent problems.

The challenge is to write a story (whatever you like, as long as it has some fantasy element) containing the following elements:

A far-off place
A frustrating delay
A maze
An unusual animal
Someone who isn't really dead.

You can interpret these any way you want, but all five must be present and be important to the story.

Please read on for the complete rules. Failure to follow the rules will lead to disqualification, whether you read the rules or not.

I had the sad duty to inform starbeam that his anti-campaign tactics failed utterly and he was selected as this month's Member of the Month. Who'd have thought that the threat of utter cookie deprivation was the way to win the hearts and votes of his fellow FWOers?

Who'd have thought indeed, my fellow FWOers should have taken the free cookies.

You have no one to blame but yourselves.

This month's challenge only had three entries, so there's no members choice this time.

1st Place: Note Taking by Aiara
Hoping fervently a few other folks are trying to slip under the deadline here ... Ecca, servant to the Notetaker who specializes in translating foreign languages, finds she has a unique perspective on the dialect of the Islanders.  Approximately 4800 words.  Low Fantasy after the challenge.  (I'm not sure if it fits, but it's a change.  )

2nd Place: The Language of Doubt by starbeam
A young mage must overcome the dount of others and herself to help  the survivors of an earthquake. 2100 + Words
Edit:  I should probably note that my methd of addressing the challege is a litteesoteric, what I'm going for is how the "language" of doubt and belief can effect us.
Also, since I forgot to this when I posted, High Fantasy after the challenge.

3rd Place: Don't take me too seriously by Esayel
Fairy Tale after the challenge please.

Congratulations.

We will be upgrading our firewall tonight so the site will be up and down during the installation and configuration. I apologize for the very short notice but UPS delivered it a day early and I really want to get it in place. Everything should be back to normal by 11 PM EST.

I apologize for all the recent down time, but we have made lots of changes.