A long time ago, in a room far, far away Gamecock Media and Space Squid, a fine purveyor of hand-scrubbed sci-fi and hijinx, had a private meeting to discuss the fate of the Mushroom world. The plan they hatched was so outrageous, that only the greatest minds in the fan fiction world could ever hope to win the grand prize. Hundreds wrote in, but only one would come out as top ‘shroom.

Only in the video game industry, I swear.

Space Squid, which, in plain English, is a sci-fi and/or humor zine, asked its readers and contributors to craft "outlandish tales from the three inch perspective of Mushroom Men" (the characters in the upcoming Wii/DS Mushroom Men titles). Once all was written and done, they read over the entries, narrowing things down "until six contenders were left afloat on a sea of hopes and dreams" (???). Now they've made the tough decisions, and the grand prize winner has been picked, and with that, the five runner-ups:

Grand Prize

"The Legend of Shiitake" by Christopher J. Oatis

Runner-Ups

"The Reply of Margarita Amanita" by Aaron DaMommio
"Roger Works, Man" by Andrew Godsey
"The Fleet Bolete" by F.W. Choi
"Tales From the Suburbs" by Justin Gordon
"Fun Guy" by Derek J. Goodman

The full stories can be read via the alternate source, but for now, an excerpt from the winning submission:

Shiitake returned to the village just as the torches were being struck to life, and the Bolete gathered around him like flies to dog waste. They all eyed the staffs that hung from his belt. “I killed the five Amanitas who were guarding this. It is a weapon. They clearly must be catapulting these staffs into our midst to distract us and separate us. I have also seen their forces. A large cavalry gathers on the north ridge. If we accept the plague they have cast on us we shall surely perish. We may be mushrooms, but we don’t have to be kept in the dark and fed this crap.”

They describe the piece as a "tale of danger (tobacco), intrigue (Compost Heap Canyon) and action (Amanitas riders on spiders)" which also communicates the message of responsibility and honor ("lone wolf mushroom kicks ass").

As the Grand Prize winner Oatis gets a Wii, and a copy of Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars, as well as a guest post on Destructoid.com. His reaction to the whole thing? "I'm the Mushroom Man now, dawg!” That's right.

The runners-up receive a swag bag which includes clothes, games and limited edition autographed (by Les Claypool of Primus, who did the soundtrack) Mushroom Men posters.

I just love it when a developer and/or publisher gets involved with gamers, and creates something altogether new, bizarre, and wonderful. Props to you, Gamecock!