Check out IFComp 2009, the competition for short text adventures. You can vote for stories, and more importantly, read them! Via Nick Monfort on Grand Text Auto. (Grand Text Auto is worth subscribing to! Just about every post is relevant to our class.)

Ah, the IFComp. This TA has fond memories of entering a game about a lobster and an angry chef back in 2003, and placing an honorable fifth. http://aaronareed.net/gourmet/
nice, aaron! i thought you might have something to do with this. “Examine the lobster.” love it!