It’s time for our annual Fantasy Limerick contest!

Your task is to create a limerick that has something to do with speculative fiction. It could be about a character, a series, an author, or whatever fits the theme. Here are the rules for creating a good limerick (quoting from this source). A limerick:

  • is five lines long
  • is based on the rhythm “da-da-DAH” (anapest meter)
  • has two different rhymes
  • Lines 1, 2, and 5 have three of those da-da-DAH “feet,” and rhyme with each other.
  • Lines 3 and 4 have two, and rhyme with each other.
  • You can break the meter rules if there’s a good reason. You may
    • drop the first “da” in a line, changing that foot to da-DAH
    • add an extra “da” or two at the end of a line IF it’s used for an extended rhyme, such as cannibal and Hannibal
  • The best limericks are funny or witty or clever.

fantasy book reviews science fiction book reviewsSo, the meter goes like this:

da da DAH / da da DAH / da da BING
da da DAH / da da DAH / da da DING
da da DAH / da da BAM
da da DAH / da da WHAM
da da DAH / da da DAH / da da PING

As an example, here’s the winning limerick (by Arcanist Lupus) from last year’s contest:

The Bay’s home to more than just mud
and streets where the parking is crud.
Let all changelings beware
when the scent in the air
is the fragrance of roses and blood.

And here is the winning limerick (by Ben) from 2015:

The day came that I had been dreading,
It would surely end in beheading
and my family depressed
as they murdered their guests,
Never go to a Westeros wedding

Your turn!

The author of the limerick we like best wins a book from our stacks or a FanLit T-shirt (sizes avail are S – XL). If you live outside the US, we’ll send a $7 Amazon gift card.

Author

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