Fantasy Book Critic: "First Contact" Contest

Editor Marty Halpern (Neal Asher, Jeffrey Ford, Matthew Hughes, Jay Lake, Liz Williams, etc.) has brought to my attention that he would like to hear from readers on their favorite or best “first contact” story. The story must have been published post-1980 (no older stories will be considered) and it must be no longer than novella-length (40,000 words or less).

Marty writes: “I'm being fairly liberal in my interpretation of “first contact”; possibly “first meeting” would be a more appropriate term—one such story example would be Neil Gaiman's “How To Talk to Girls at Parties”.”

Please send your responses to: firstcontactstory@gmail.com
And in the Subject line: First Contact Story

Requirements:

1) To reiterate: the story must have been published since 1980
2) Only one story suggestion per person or email address
3) Include story title and author
4) Include publication source, only if known (please don't guess)
5) Include a sentence or two explaining why this story is your favorite/the best (this point is actually not a requirement, but it would be nice to have)
6) Deadline for reader responses: Sunday, September 28, 2008

After September 28th, Marty will randomly select three responses from all of the submissions, and these “winners” will receive a gift to be determined by the editor himself.