Welcome to Tractor Beam, a new quarterly publication coming early 2025. Stories will explore audacious and provocative ideas around farming, food, earth science, and beyond, reimagining how humans can live more harmoniously with nature. We call it… soilpunk.
You dig? Read our first story below, submit your own through our open call, and follow to experience the full issue when we launch.
Text by
Renan Bernardo
Illustration
Sajan Rai
Reading Time
10 Minutes
“The walls have been breached…” Giovanni’s audio message is anxious. Adri packs her things hastily—her pad, a box of blueberries for Giovanni, and the bracelet with Mama’s molar fastened to it—pops two strawberries in her mouth and rushes down the stairs, her heart racing.
“Ha, good one,” she audios Giovanni back. It must be a joke—the walls of Maitake can't be breached. She mounts her bike and pedals.
As soon as she crosses the buffer zone onto Freulick Street, she sees the facade and walls of two houses mottled with dark, wilted mushrooms. They stand in stark contrast to the sturdy caps of the Oyster and Reishi mushrooms that ordinarily grow there. Even the doors have been overtaken by the misshapen fungi, which form a chaotic pattern around their knobs. One of the residents, leaning out his window, trims away the overgrowth from inside with pruning shears. The act seems pointless.
The collectors are sitting on the sidewalk with their baskets, murmuring to each other, casting inquisitive looks at Adri, Giovanni, and the duo of agritects he’s brought along to assess the situation.
“No joke, huh…” Adri mumbles.
“It’s a pathogenic fungus,” Giovanni says, not raising his head from his pad. “Biohacked into the walls.”
“It’s a pathogenic fungus,” Giovanni says, not raising his head from his pad. “Biohacked into the walls.”
“Spores?” Adri asks, fetching her pad and opening Maitake’s map.
Giovanni nods. Adri sighs and hands him the box of blueberries.
"Eat them while you still can."
Adri is the food manager of Maitake, responsible for distribution, not the edibility or quality of its produce. And though she is one of the original designers of the walls, today the task of managing them belongs to agritects like Giovanni. If a pathogen is spreading through the plant and fungal life growing on the town’s walls, that means food scarcity. And scarcity means unrest—or worse.
She assesses the other houses on the street. She needs to calculate how long they have until things get really bad. They’re in the District of Shrooms, where the walls are dedicated to growing edible and functional fungi species. The district stands apart from the other Maitakian neighborhoods, separated by buffer zones with airlocks to prevent cross-contamination. Perhaps there’s still hope—at least for the other districts.
Adri slumps on the sidewalk, her back to the contaminated walls. She folds her knees and rests her head in her hands.
This should never have happened. They should’ve been protected. She’s read the papers, the technical agritect reports about the silver nanoparticles that inhibit microbial growth, about the humidity and temperature controls, about the pest management tools. The systems have been showing all stats as healthy.
The renowned walls of Maitake had been her idea. But it was only when a group of young microclimate and biotech engineers arrived from the capital for internships that the feasibility of her idea was put to the test. Made of a substrate of resistant polymers mixed with layers of organic material engineered to host a variety of edible plants and fungi, the Maitakian walls are thicker than stone; within, smart hydroponic and aeroponic systems work to nourish the food that grows on them. Mycelial networks thrive within the substrate. With buffer zones, environmental sensors, artificial rain, and towers to balance the nutrients of each neighborhood, the town was able to “bypass” the Great Drought.
“The good news is…” Giovanni crouches by her side and shows her the display of a sequencing rod he has grabbed from one of his colleagues. “The hacker made a mistake. It stinks of Saint Lazarus."
From a distance, Maitake’s houses look straight out of a fairy tale—their walls made of strawberries, blueberries, lettuce, arugula, cucumbers, zucchini, beets, and a vast assortment of mushrooms and herbs. Young folks push handcarts through the fragrant streets, plucking from the walls food that later will appear on their sisters’, grannies’, and friends' tables. Small groups of collectors cross the buffer zones on electric scooters, carrying in baskets laden with production surplus waiting to be sent to nearby towns in need. From the windows, elderly ladies reach out to wave and pluck strawberries from baskets that dare to get too close. "To give us luck," they say.
And there's always an old man sitting in a plaza, just waiting until some unsuspecting child ambles by to remind the younger generation how good they have it in Maitake these days.
The town wasn’t always called Maitake. Twenty years ago, it was known as Rockstrak, and Adri was a single child raised by her mother among her boisterous cousins, Giovanni, Gina, Taylor, and Alves.
What use were the pipe dreams of a little girl living through the Great Drought, when even the emergency crops shriveled up, and when even the price of packaged food soared?
Adri was set on going to a university and studying something—anything. Robotics. Food Engineering. Genetics. When Mama was tipsy, she listened to Adri in silence. Sometimes Adri glimpsed a smile on her face, a kind of shy audacity as she let herself dream her daughter’s dreams. But when Mama was sober, she just grunted and shook her head. What use were the pipe dreams of a little girl living through the Great Drought, when even the emergency crops shriveled up, and when even the price of packaged food soared?
The trouble with Saint Lazarus is that it smells too much like her past. Adri plods along the concrete in thick-soled boots, absorbing the familiar stench of smog and food trucks frying too many different things at once. Even the air is sticky.
The streets are packed tight with stone-built houses, clinging to each other as if craving touch. From above, Saint Lazarus looks like a crumbling, neglected mosaic. Its population, ever fearful of foreigners, seems always to be peeking out from behind the curtains.
Saint Lazarus has been going down for years, now. There’s never been a government program to revive it, never a glimmer of hope for its people. It is one of many towns that belong to Big Food—it’s their consumer market, but also their supply of test subjects. The place is brimming with mouths to feed with their latest ultra-processed food “products.” Adri once met with the mayor, offering to loan out a few agritects if Lazarians so desired, but when she started receiving veiled threats from Big Food disguised as polite letters, she never came back.
She finds their only biotech lab tucked between two abandoned buildings in a plaza that has been converted into a junkyard, filled with the rusty hulls of vehicles.
Her pad vibrates on her belt. Giovanni.
“Tell me a joke, please,” she says, picking up his video call.
“I'm all out…” The lines around his mouth are grave. “Shrooms is compromised.”
He toggles his camera config to show her the view of an agritect drone. It flies over the District of Shrooms, which has turned to black. Just six days have passed since they first learned of the pathogen.
“We still have some intact houses,” he says, “but the food won’t be safe to consume, not sure how long from now…”
Adri calculates on her pad. It’ll be five months until people start feeling the effects—until Maitake becomes Rockstrak again.
“And the other districts?” she says.
“Buffer zones remain operational, but if this was a deliberate act of sabotage, then the people behind it probably thought about cross-contamination. I ordered preventive containment protocols to curb crop failure.”
“Please, tell me a joke.”
“I told you, I'm all out.” The camera flips back to Giovanni. He’s frowning at her. "Why do you want one now?"
“Because it’s the one thing that makes me believe things could work out. Laughing in a situation like this is… kind of defiant, you know?”
“Okay.” Giovanni looks around to check if anyone else is nearby.
“Why do Maitakian agritects think too much?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“I don’t know either. Food for thought.”
Adri roars with laughter. It comes out almost involuntarily, a sick reflex amidst the dread. But what she needs right now is a good laugh. That’s what Saint Lazarus needs, too. Her voice echoes out over the abandoned vehicles on the plaza.
In her dreams, Maitake will lead the way. Even Riverden, the 15-million-person capital, will have the walls. Riverden’s skyscrapers will be blanketed in greens and yellows and reds, with walls for harvesting, cascades of life dripping into the world below. The packed slums and the factories will bloom with the blood-red exquisiteness of strawberries. Kids will look out the windows as their mothers collect dinner from scaffolding platforms. Riverden’s nuclear power plant will be a broad and open garden, the greatest in the city—heartwood carved from the reactor core, creeks borne of heavy water, flowers blooming from pressurization valves.
The packed slums and the factories will bloom with the blood-red exquisiteness of strawberries. Kids will look out the windows as their mothers collect dinner from scaffolding platforms.
And there will be stories of the past—the parched lands, and also the wildfires, the starvation, the extinctions, the alliances sealed in greed. But they’ll be unreal, almost fictional, detached from the reality blossoming around them.
In an antiseptic instrumentation room at the Saint Lazarus lab, Adri hands the pathogenic fungus to a biotechnologist.“That seems impossible,” Dr. Wu says, frowning at it. “Are you accusing our lab of contaminating your bio-engineered walls?”
“I’m not accusing anyone of anything,” Adri says. “But you can’t deny the genetic marker is strikingly similar to the ones you use in your research projects.”
Dr. Wu bites her lip and takes the specimen inside for analysis. Adri waits. When she comes back, surprise is etched on Dr. Wu’s face. “You weren’t wrong, but you weren’t right either,” she says. “I believe it may be the work of one of our interns. The marker corresponds to a degraded version of our marker." She points to a series of data points on her pad, going over several lines. It seems to trace back to someone who has had some training, but not a full agritect apprenticeship.
"Do you know who it is?" Adri asks.
"I have a hunch," Dr. Wu replies.
Adri makes her way to a house a few blocks away from the lab, reading from a file Dr. Wu has just sent her. Jacob Nunes: 28-year-old-male. Former agritect-in-training. Dropped out of the program during economic downturn to take care of family.
Jacob isn’t home. Instead, Adri finds Roberto, his father, in the living room sorting packages. “Jacob hasn’t been home in over a week,” Roberto says, averting his eyes when she asks him about his son. Perhaps it’s her clothes—a button-up with the crest of Maitake’s Department of Nutrition—perhaps it’s her tone of voice, or even the aroma of Maitake she carries with her that causes him to mistrust her. “I’ve been working overtime.” He nods at the packages, reading one with a barcode scanner.
“Does Jacob work with you?”
“Not with me. We have different delivery routes.” He grins menacingly at her, and it’s the first time he looks directly at her. Shadowy protrusions bulge from underneath his heavy-lidded eyes.
"Look, we just want to preserve our town. We think Jacob could help us. He has agritect training, right?"
The man slowly lets down his guard. "The boy has itchy feet—maybe he’s out to make new friends. He should, lonely as he is.”
“Have you noticed anything lately?”
Roberto shrugs. He lifts a heavy box and she rushes to help him. “Not eating enough. Or eating too much. Talking about revenge against those who don’t share.”
“Share what?”
“Damned if I know. Anything, I think.” Roberto frowns. “Did you say you learned about him in the lab?”
Adri nods, pressing the bracelet with her mother’s molar.
“Jacob said that place was the future.” Roberto picks up the barcode scanner, then gives up and wipes the sweat off his brow. “He kept saying Saint Lazarus would become a Maitake-by-the-Sea. Turns out, our town's lab is as poor and broken-down as us.”
“He kept saying Saint Lazarus would become a Maitake-by-the-Sea...”
Adri can tell she’s not going to get much out of Roberto. He's on the defensive. But just as she turns to leave the bedroom, Roberto grabs her by the hand and says, “He’s in the hostel by the docks. Talk sense to him. I’ve tried.”
Cousin Gina. Cousin Taylor. Cousin Alves.
It should have been a happy day. The first rain in exactly 207 days had just fallen. She and Mama had seen the first drops splashing on the porch and watched it for almost an hour, not a finger moving, not a word said between them, as if they were afraid to spoil it. Then Mama got the call.
Adri's cousins had been caught stealing food, according to the Big Food representative who spoke as if from a script. Regrettably, they’d been involved in a fatal accident when trying to flee the authorities. The representative was very sorry. Would she like to pursue a trial? Mama hung up. Everyone knew what happened to those who got in the way of Big Food.
The downpour didn’t stop. Perhaps some crops would survive a while longer on the outskirts of Rockstrak after all. Perhaps the mayor wouldn’t have to import expensive food from Riverden this time, and perhaps no one else would think about stealing food, or buying expired packs off the black market. At least the rain hid her tears.
But Mama didn’t have the luxury of mourning their deaths. She was malnourished and anemic—her immune system impaired. Every day was a struggle for survival: bartering for substandard food with local bankrupt farmers, squeezing two or three dinners out of a single-serve ready meal pack, taking her daily pills every other day, then weekly, then not at all.
Adri was fourteen years old—reading books on agricultural innovation, watching videos about mycelia and funny-shaped mushrooms, following tutorials on how to plant a cactus. But now she knew that her hobbies and whims wouldn't be enough on their own; her future was bigger than that. She would have to go away to end the hunger that got her cousins killed.
Had Adri known the true state of her family’s finances, she would have taken a job to make ends meet. She probably would’ve never left Rockstrak to carry out her research. But Mama never told her anything. She lost a tooth one week after the incident, the one Adri wears on her bracelet to remember the darkest days.
After six years of research, Adri’s team reached a milestone: a water and nutrient retention system that could be embedded into the walls of a building through a long-lasting, low-maintenance mix of aeroponic and hydroponic systems. It would grant food sovereignty to entire communities and enable local production.
In an alternate reality, Mama would have recovered and gotten to see the first cap of Maitake sprouting on the walls designed by her daughter, her nephew, and their team. In that reality, Mama would have smiled and dared to dream alongside her daughter.
Jacob Nunes checked into the Waterview, a decaying hostel shrouded in the salty mist of Saint Lazarus’ docks, spent two weeks there, then left without paying. The hostel owners gladly let Adri enter his room.
The room is tiny: one twin bed, a nightstand, and a lamp. She used to leave her bed just like that when she was in college—sheets crumpled, pillow cast to the side, the sign of someone utterly absorbed in their work. She opens the nightstand drawer and finds a tiny, cropped picture of Roberto. Jacob's father looks younger in it, healthier, his cheeks bright with a big smile that fails to predict the harshness of his later years.
Then, close to the baseboard, through cracks in the wooden walls of the bedroom, she notices overlapping blackened caps growing.
She calls Giovanni and asks for the genetic profile of the pathogenic fungus. Not because she wants to check if they’re the same—it’s obvious they are—but because she needs to know something else.
“You’re going to love this,” Giovanni says sardonically.
She loads the fungus’s genome on her pad, zooming in on the parts Giovanni has already selected for her. There it is. The fungus Jacob created is a strain of the Grifola frondosa, the Hen of the Woods, or Maitake. It’s the first edible fungus she, Giovanni, and their agritect partners successfully grew on the laboratory walls.
You don't just leave your amulets lying around. You carry them with you.
“Looks like the pathogen only targeted the oldest models of our walls,” Giovanni adds. “It’s spreading to the new ones, though. Maybe the hacker believes the old ones are the easiest to breach.”
Adri nods. She stares at Roberto's face in the tiny photograph. Something stirs in the back of her mind. You don't just leave your amulets lying around. You carry them with you. She touches the molar on her bracelet.
“Or maybe it’s just where he thinks the door is open…” Adri says.
The first thing Adri does when she gets back to Maitake is hug Giovanni. His colleagues murmur, staring at her with worried expressions. Then she feels the tension in Giovanni’s arms. She leans back, staring into his eyes.
“Tell me!”
"Several districts of Maitake have been affected by Jacob’s strain," Giovanni says.
“You know what we’ll have to do,” Adri says. He nods. Giovanni frowns but she doesn’t explain.
Jacob’s pathogen is the strain of fungus that gave birth to her town—and to her future. The fact that it’s this strain and not another makes everything a whole lot easier. They just have to find a way to contain it, either with the introduction of a new species that can outcompete it or by applying bacterial antagonists to inhibit its growth.
“Did you find the guy?” Giovanni asks.
Adri shakes her head.
“Not really. He’ll reveal himself in time.” Before Giovanni can reply, she adds, “Remember the political lobby we assembled in Riverden? To carve Maitake out of Rockstrak?”
“Oh, yeah. That was one hell of a battle.”
Making their idea a reality had been more like an all-out war than a battle. They had to turn from agritects into legislators, to convince Riverden’s companies to fund the walls and rebuild an entire town from scratch. To this day, they still have to lobby for their cause year after year, to convince those who make the laws and who provide the money that saving people from starvation is not only a worthy cause but the most noble of them.
“It was never a breach,” she tells Giovanni finally, remembering the pathogenic maitake creeping up the hostel’s walls.
“If it’s not a breach, what do you think it is?” Giovanni asks.
“An attempt at symbiosis.”
Imagine a better future that starts with the soil. It could be near term. It could be eons away. How could the ways we shape and coexist with the earth shape our lived experience? What human and non-human sagas might unfold? What if looking forward meant looking down, at the earth beneath our feet, not up at the stars? Is there hope to be found?
THE BRIEF
Write or illustrate a short story set in a future world shaped by innovations in, or alternative practices around, soil. We’re inspired by novel applications of earth and material science, regenerative agriculture, microbiology, and of course, human ingenuity. Each story should be a visionary proposal woven into a spectacular plot.
Length: up to 4,000 words for short stories and 16 panels for graphic novellas.
Note: existing unpublished works are eligible for submission. Submissions do not need to be written for this opportunity, however you must own all production and publication rights to the works.
WINNER CATEGORIES
REWARD
$1,500USD for each selected work
TIMING
All work must be submitted
by November 22, 2024
Winners will be notified
December 16, 2024
JUDGES
To be announced!
Tractor Beverage Company
TRACTOR BEAM™ Speculative Fiction Contest
Official Rules
THESE OFFICIAL RULES ARE A CONTRACT—READ THEM CAREFULLY BEFORE ENTERING. WITHOUT LIMITATION, THIS CONTRACT INCLUDES A RELEASE AND LICENSE FROM YOU, AND A LIMITATION OF CERTAIN OF YOUR RIGHTS AND REMEDIES.
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1. Promotion and Sponsor. Participation in the TRACTOR BEAM Speculative Fiction Contest promotion (the “Promotion”) constitutes Entrant’s (as defined below) full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules. Entrant is free to disclaim any prize and status as Entrant, and as a result will not be eligible to receive any prize. The Promotion is sponsored and administered by Tractor Beverages, Inc., 147 East Aqua Circle, Suite 2, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 83815 (“Sponsor”). All decisions related to and interpretation of these Official Rules by Sponsor are final and binding. While this Promotion may be publicized on social media websites, such websites are not affiliated with Sponsor or this Promotion. This Promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok or any other third-party website or application that might host content where information about this Promotion is published (collectively “Content Hosts”).
2. Promotion Period. The Promotion begins at 12:01 a.m. PT on October 17, 2024, and ends at 11:59 p.m. PT on November 22, 2024 (the “Promotion Period”). Only entries submitted and received during the Promotion Period will be accepted. Sponsor is the official timekeeper of this Promotion.
3. Eligibility. The Promotion is open only to individuals that are legal residents of one of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, Ireland, Poland, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, China, South Korea, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Sierra Leone, or Botswana, ages 13 or older. Employees or agents of Sponsor or its parent or affiliate companies, vendors, suppliers, agencies, consultants, subcontractors or legal counsel, as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings and children) and household members of each such employee or agent, are not eligible. Legal entities are not eligible to enter. Eligibility is contingent upon agreement to, compliance with, and fulfillment of all requirements of these Official Rules.
4. How to Enter. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. There is one method of entry. By participating in the Promotion in any way you will become an “Entrant.” Each Entrant who enters using the below method of entry will receive one entry in the Promotion. Limit one eligible entry per person and per email address.
Story Submission Entry: During the Promotion Period, you will automatically become an Entrant and receive one entry in the Promotion by writing an original short story or graphic novella (a “Story”) that envisions a better world built from the soil up, building on ideas around farming, food systems, earth sciences, microbiology and beyond (the “Theme”), and submitting the Story for the Promotion by email to [email protected].
The Story must be entirely original and created exclusively by Entrant. The Story must not have been previously submitted in any promotion or otherwise published through any means. Entrant is responsible for obtaining, prior to entry, AND BY UPLOADING, SUBMITTING OR POSTING ANY CONTENT RELATED TO THIS PROMOTION DOES REPRESENT AND WARRANT TO SPONSOR THAT ENTRANT HAS OBTAINED, ALL RELEASES AND CONSENTS NECESSARY TO GRANT TO SPONSOR THE LICENSE MORE FULLY DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH 9 OF THESE OFFICIAL RULES, permitting, among other things, the exhibition and use, for all purposes and without any additional compensation, of the likeness(es) of all persons referenced in the Story.
Entries must be original to Entrant and not contain any material created by any third party or any generative artificial intelligence tools or models. Entries must not reference the brand name or trademark of any other company or product, or contain any lewd, vulgar, indecent, defamatory, discriminatory, obscene, offensive or illegal conduct or material. Entries must not invade or infringe the rights of any individual or entity, including without limitation, privacy, publicity and intellectual property rights. Entries must not contain any advertisements, “spam” content or references to other products, offers or websites. Entries must not contain any email addresses, domain names or URL links, phone numbers, physical addresses or other forms of contact or personal information. Any entry that does not comply with these Official Rules will be deemed ineligible and may be deleted in Sponsor’s sole discretion.
5. Conditions of Entry. Entries not legitimately submitted in accordance with these Official Rules are void. Only qualified entries received by Sponsor during the Promotion Period are eligible for participation. Entrants may be required to provide the following information to be eligible for a Promotion prize: first, middle and last name, month, day and year of birth, email address, complete mailing address and phone number (collectively, “Personal Information”). All requested Personal Information must be provided to participate in the Promotion and to be eligible to win a prize. Unintelligible entries; entries with incomplete, invalid or incorrect information; and entries that are counterfeit or tampered with in any way will be disqualified. Entries that are late, lost, damaged, misdirected, stolen or not delivered will be disqualified. Sponsor is not responsible if a potential winner does not receive a prize because incomplete, invalid or incorrect information was provided during the Promotion. Entrant’s evidence of sent entry or entry receipt does not constitute proof of actual receipt of entry by Sponsor. Sponsor is not responsible for any cancellations, delays, postponements, diversions, substitutions, changes in service or accommodations, or any other act, omission, or result thereof, caused by any third party.
Participation must be by Entrant. Participation by any other individual or entity, or originating at any other website or email address, including without limitation, commercial promotion entering and subscription notification service sites, is invalid. Any attempt by any Entrant to obtain more than the stated number of entries by using multiple email addresses, phone numbers, identities, registrations or logins; entries through a sweepstakes club or similar entity; or any other unauthorized method of entry will void all of Entrant’s entries and Entrant will be disqualified from the entire Promotion. Submitting mass entries or entries created with the assistance of any generative artificial intelligence tools or models, or generated by an automated program, script or macro, or the use of any other similar device, program or method to enter this Promotion is prohibited and will result in disqualification.
In the event of a dispute as to the identity of Entrant, the authorized account holder of the email address used to submit the Story will be deemed the Entrant. A potential winner may be required to show proof of being the authorized account holder. The “authorized account holder” of an email address is the natural person assigned to that email address by any organization responsible for assigning accounts to that email address. If the identity of the individual who actually participated in the Promotion cannot be resolved to Sponsor’s satisfaction, the affected individual’s entry will be deemed ineligible.
Sponsor may, in its sole discretion, disqualify any individual it finds to be in violation of these Official Rules, tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Promotion (including without limitation, tampering with websites or email addresses), or acting in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner. Any attempt to undermine the operation of the Promotion may be a violation of criminal or civil law, and Sponsor may seek damages to the fullest extent permitted by law from any person it finds to have made such an attempt.
6. Prize. There is one prize available to be won by each of three winners. Approximate retail value (“ARV”) of all prizes is four thousand five hundred dollars ($4,500). Each prize consists of $1,500 cash or cash equivalent.
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If any potential winner is disqualified, not eligible, or for any other reason cannot accept the prize as stated, then Sponsor may select a new potential winner from the remaining pool of eligible Entrants using the Criteria (as defined below). Where legal, the winner may be required to submit, without alteration and in the form provided by Sponsor, a completed and signed Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability & Publicity Release (the “Release”), along with a properly completed U.S. Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Form W-9, within the required time period communicated in the Release to be eligible to receive or participate in any prize. The winner may be issued a U.S. Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Form 1099 and related tax forms for the stated value of the prize.
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7. Winner Determination and Verification. The process leading to the selection of each potential prize winner is within the sole discretion of Sponsor. Within a reasonable time after the end of the Promotion Period, one potential winners in each of three categories will be selected from the pool of all eligible entries received during the Promotion Period. The categories are Prose, Narrative Illustration and Overall Judges’ Choice. The potential winners will be chosen by a panel of at least three judges, including seasoned speculative fiction or sci-fi writers, climate activists or experts who understand the interconnectedness of the natural world and the stakes of setting it right, and scientists who specialize in soil, agriculture, farming or adjacent areas who can assess to the credibility and ingenuity of the ideas put forth in the Story, based on the following judging criteria applied to each Entrant’s entry: Narrative Illustration (30%); Organization, Development, Style and Mechanics (30%); and Adherence to the Theme (40%) (together, the “Criteria”). The Entrant with the highest combined score on the Criteria will be selected as the potential winner in the Overall Judges’ Choice category. The Entrant with the highest score on the Organization, Development, Style and Mechanics criteria will be selected as the potential winner in the Prose category. The Entrant with the highest score on the Narrative Illustration criteria will be selected as the potential winner in the Narrative Illustration category. In the event of a tie, the Entrant with the higher score on the more heavily weighted criteria (Adherence to the Theme) will be selected as the potential winner.
Potential winners are each subject to eligibility verification by Sponsor on an ongoing basis. An Entrant is not a winner of any prize, even if notified of being a potential winner, unless and until Entrant’s eligibility is verified to Sponsor’s satisfaction. To be verified as eligible to receive a prize, each potential winner must fulfill all requirements and continue to comply with all terms and conditions of these Official Rules, and not be disqualified for any reason. Sponsor will attempt to notify each potential winner by email (subject to Sponsor’s discretion) on or around December 16, 2024. If a potential winner cannot be contacted using the information provided, or fails to respond to Sponsor’s attempt to notify them of selection within five business days; if any prize or notification is returned as undeliverable or yields an error or undeliverable message (regardless of whether the message is ultimately delivered to the recipient); if a potential winner fails to sign and return the Release or any other required documentation or fails to comply with these Official Rules; if a potential winner is unable or unwilling to accept the prize as stated; or if a potential winner cannot be verified as eligible for any reason at any time before, during or after the Promotion Period, then that potential winner is disqualified and forfeits the prize, and an alternate potential winner will be selected from among the remaining eligible entries based on the Criteria.
In the event that an Entrant or potential winner is disqualified or fails to claim a prize for any reason, the process set forth above will be repeated until all prizes are awarded, or until three attempts have been made to award each prize and each attempt has failed. EXCEPT AS REQUIRED BY LAW, IF ANY PRIZE REMAINS UNAWARDED FOR ANY REASON AFTER THREE ATTEMPTS, THAT PRIZE WILL NOT BE AWARDED IN THIS PROMOTION. If any winner is awarded and claims a prize, a winners list may be obtained by hand printing the requestor’s name and complete mailing address on a 3x5” postcard and mailing it to Tractor Beverages, Inc., Attention: TRACTOR BEAM Speculative Fiction Contest Winners List, 147 East Aqua Circle, Suite 2, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 83815. Limit one request per person, per household. Requests must be received within three months of the end of the Promotion Period.
8. Limitations of Liability. By entering or participating in this Promotion or accepting any prize in any way, each Entrant agrees to indemnify, defend (regardless of ultimate liability), and hold harmless, and thereby does release and discharge Sponsor, and Content Hosts, and each of their respective parent and affiliate companies, vendors, suppliers, agencies, consultants, subcontractors and legal counsel, and each of their respective parent companies and each such company’s officers, directors, employees and agents, as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings and children) and household members of each such individual (collectively, the “Released Parties”) from and against all loss, liability, damage, injury, claim or cause of action related in any way whatsoever to this Promotion, these Official Rules, or the rights, consents and licenses granted to Sponsor under these Official Rules, including without limitation, violation of any agreement or obligation; infringement of any right of publicity or intellectual property; threatened or actual injury, loss or damage to any person, including sickness, disease, death and disability; defamation or portrayal in a false light (intentional and unintentional); invasion of privacy; and damage to or loss of property, arising out of such Entrant’s participation in the Promotion or receipt, use, non-use or misuse of any prize. To the maximum extent allowed by law, in no event will Released Parties be responsible for any damages or losses of any kind, including indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive damages arising out of this Promotion. Some jurisdictions may not allow the limitations or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages or exclusion of implied warranties. Check local laws for restrictions regarding these limitations or exclusions.
Entrants waive any right to claim ambiguity in these Official Rules. The Released Parties are not responsible for: (a) technical failures of any kind; (b) incorrect information, whether caused by Entrants, any internet or email service provider, any promotional or advertising agency, printing or computing errors, or by any of the equipment or programming associated with the Promotion; (c) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Promotion; (d) technical or human error that may occur in the administration of the Promotion, the processing of entries or the announcement of any potential winner or prize; (e) any injury or damage to persons or property, including without limitation, computers, phones and tablets, that may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, by Entrant’s participation in the Promotion or access to the Promotion materials; (f) the receipt, use or misuse of any prize; or (g) any other errors in any materials, information or announcements associated with the Promotion. If for any reason an Entrant’s entry is confirmed by Sponsor to have been erroneously deleted, lost or otherwise destroyed or corrupted by Sponsor, Entrant’s sole remedy is another entry in the Promotion, subject to availability and provided that the Promotion Period has not then expired.
EACH ENTRANT WAIVES CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE § 1542 (AND ALL SIMILAR LAWS OF ANY STATE), WHICH READS: “A GENERAL RELEASE DOES NOT EXTEND TO CLAIMS THAT THE CREDITOR OR RELEASING PARTY DOES NOT KNOW OR SUSPECT TO EXIST IN HIS OR HER FAVOR AT THE TIME OF EXECUTING THE RELEASE, AND THAT IF KNOWN BY HIM OR HER, WOULD HAVE MATERIALLY AFFECTED HIS OR HER SETTLEMENT WITH THE DEBTOR OR RELEASED PARTY.” EACH ENTRANT REPRESENTS AND WARRANTS FULL UNDERSTANDING OF, AND ACKNOWLEDGES THE SIGNIFICANCE AND CONSEQUENCE OF, WAIVER OF CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE § 1542 (AND ALL SIMILAR LAWS OF ANY JURISDICTION).
9. LICENSES FROM ENTRANT. To the extent allowed by law, each winner irrevocably and unconditionally grants to Sponsor and its affiliates the worldwide, royalty-free right and license to edit, publish, reproduce, promote, post, display, market, and advertise the Story submitted by such winner, and such winner’s name, social media handles, image, and likeness, in all media, including without limitation Tractor’s print, digital and website publications of Tractor Beam, in the original format or as part of an anthology or compilation. Such rights are exclusive for 12 months from the initial date of publication and non-exclusive thereafter in perpetuity. All rights, consents, and licenses granted to Sponsor under these Official Rules or the Release will survive the termination of this Promotion.
By uploading, submitting or posting any written material related to this Promotion, regardless of whether such written material is selected as a winning entry, Entrant grants Sponsor a non-exclusive, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to exploit, reproduce, copy, modify, publish, transmit, display, distribute and create derivative works of the written material, and the likeness(es) of all persons referenced in the written material, using all mediums or distribution methods now known or later developed, including on any social media platform, in whole or in part, individually or as part of a compilation, for any lawful purpose whatsoever, with such license extending to, without limitation, all trademark rights, copyright rights, performance rights and all publicity and privacy rights of any kind, worldwide and in perpetuity. Entrant agrees that Sponsor may make the written material available on the internet for public access and information, and grants Sponsor permission for such internet publication and use. Entrant waives all moral rights and the right to inspect or approve any use of the written material by Sponsor and its licensees, including any added written or electronic copy. Sponsor may, but is not obligated to, include Entrant’s name as a credit in connection with any use of the written material. Entrant agrees that Sponsor is not obligated to use any of the rights granted to it by Entrant in these Official Rules.
All rights, consents and licenses granted to Sponsor under these Official Rules or the Release will survive the termination of this Promotion. Such consents and licenses may only be revoked in writing, and the mere ending of this Promotion is not sufficient to revoke such consents or licenses.
10. Right to Modify or Cancel. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Official Rules will not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event any provision is found invalid or unenforceable, these Official Rules will otherwise remain in effect in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or unenforceable provision was never included. Sponsor’s failure to enforce any provision of these Official Rules does not constitute a waiver of that provision.
To the extent permitted by law, Sponsor may cancel, suspend or modify the Promotion or any part of it, in any way, if Sponsor determines in its sole discretion that the Promotion is not capable of executing as Sponsor intended, or that any error, omission, fraud, technical failure, tampering, computer virus or other factor, technical or otherwise, beyond Sponsor’s reasonable control, impairs or may impair Sponsor’s ability to properly conduct the Promotion. In such event, Sponsor may, but is not obligated to, award any applicable prize by using the Criteria to select a winner from among the eligible entries received up to the time of the cancellation, suspension or modification of the Promotion. Inclusion in such judging pool is Entrant’s exclusive remedy under such circumstances.
In the event of an inconsistency between these Official Rules and any information contained in any Promotion-related materials, including without limitation, a Promotion entry form or any point-of-sale, radio, television, print or online advertising, these Official Rules will prevail and govern.
11. Disputes; CLASS ACTION WAIVER. Except where prohibited by law, Entrant agrees that: (a) all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or related to this Promotion or any prize will be resolved individually, without any form of class action, and Entrant consents to the personal jurisdiction of the appropriate federal or state court located in Kootenai County, Idaho for such purpose; and (b) all claims, judgments and awards will be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering this Promotion, but in no event attorneys’ fees. The Promotion and these Official Rules are governed by and will be construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Idaho, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of laws rules that would cause the application of the laws of any other jurisdiction.
12. Privacy. By entering this Promotion, Entrant agrees to Sponsor’s manner of collection, use, retention and disclosure of Entrant’s Personal Information submitted or obtained in connection with the Promotion. Personal Information collected from Entrant is subject to Sponsor’s privacy policy, which can be found at drinktractor.com/privacy, and may also be disclosed in connection with a public list of Promotion winners or participants, or pursuant to any license granted to Sponsor by Entrant under these Official Rules or the Release.
