Some of your favorite stories in the Writing Challenge -- NOT for voting.

[HareBrain]

In fact, I hope that our frontrunners are already giving thought to the themes they would choose if they won.

In a desperate bid for last-minute votes, I hereby announce that I have already chosen mine, one I believe will lead to a return to economic prosperity for us all.

I should also make it clear that I don't really think any of you are bigoted old women.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Maybe if we have a tie we should vote on the tie-ee's chosen topics. That way they both get to win but have to suck up to us with gifts, freebies and exotic holidays in order to pick the next topic.

We could all have fact finding tours where we thoroughly investigate the possibilities of getting to grips with the story line. The price of fish in the southern Neptune oceans and the living conditions experienced in Splogwand's delta communities. I could do with a new car too. Mrs Tein's always going on about the need for dirty great wedges of filthy cash. (clean is just as acceptable mind)

 

[Mouse]

If I win, you can all come to Prague with me in June. (Although you all have to pay for yourselves, and make your own way there.)

 

[Boneman]

By Cul
Seems to me Boneman is volunteering to do the legwork...

Have you seen my avatar? He can't even stand up, let alone do any leg work... Unfortunately the complex workings of a computer are almost beyond me - ask the Judge, she had to show me how to disable widows and orphans... I didn't even know these sort of things lived in my computer...

 

[Wybren]

Someone's hand slipped and accidentally voted for me. Who ever it was, thank you, it made my day

 

[Sephiroth]

After much deliberation, I managed to narrow my shortlist to the following five stories:

Breaking Free (by Talysia)
Seduction (by Teresa Edgerton)
Family Matters (by Crystal Haven)
Living the Dream (by The Judge)
It's all in the Execution (by Ursa Major)

These were by no means the only stories I enjoyed, but in the end, they are my favourites. At least seven others were under serious consideration until recently, however.

In the end, I have decided to vote for Seduction, by Teresa.

The story is dark and lyrical, I love the use of language, and the seeming implication that she is escaping to something worse. I'm not at all sure I picked up the 'hidden depth' -- I think my understanding of what the story is about may be somewhat superficial -- but I found it the most thought-provoking of the five I shortlisted, all of which are accomplished pieces of writing.



I'd like to thank everyone who mentioned my entry as being among those they enjoyed, this month.

And especially to The Judge, for this:

very Shelley-Keatsy-Romantic.

This may well be the only time in my life I find myself being compared in any small way to two of the great Romantic poets, and you can rest assured that I shall make the most of it.

 

[Culhwch]

If I win, you can all come to Prague with me in June. (Although you all have to pay for yourselves, and make your own way there.)

If I win, I won't ban you all.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I might point out that if everyone with an entry were to cast a vote, as of now it is still mathematically possible for anyone to win, even if they haven't gained a single vote yet.

So if we get 42 votes (or more, if other Chroniclers join in), you can all meet me in the European capital of your choice (as with Mouse's offer, on your own ticket, at your own expense), if and when I ever go there ... which is not looking likely at this point.

And thank you everyone who voted for me. The checks are in the mail. (They'll bounce higher than a kite, but they'll make lovely souvenirs.)

 

[Mouse]

Ban me? Why?

I don't actually think I'll win. It'll be Seph or HareBrain, though Seph'll have to explain his to me after the comp's over! (Something to do with Pandora's Box?! Forum dunce here.)

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

I actually rather understood Seph's. Pandora's Box, after all, was a story all about escape.....

 

[Culhwch]

I thought it was a story about a box.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Hehe. Technically yes.


If I should explain it, Pandora was dropped off on Earth by the god Hermes, along with a special box that Hermes instructed not to open. Pandora disobeyed him and opened the box, thereby releasing all the evils and sorrows of the world. She quickly slammed the box shut but there was one last entity within it. The entity convinced her to open the box once again, and revealed itself to be Hope.



A nice little story I find, though why both Christian and Greek/Roman mythology blames the suffering of the world on females, I really don't know.....

 

[Parson]

A nice little story I find, though why both Christian and Greek/Roman mythology blames the suffering of the world on females, I really don't know.....

Not really true of the Christian understanding. True, Eve was the first to disobey God in the Christian story, but any reading of the entire Bible will find that in every other place the story is mentioned it is called "Adam's sin." It is instructive to remember that "Adam" in Hebrew is translated "man." And that when "Eve" was named it was because she was to be "the mother of humanity."

A more nuanced view of the Christian understanding of suffering would say that suffering is a result of the evil in the world which is ultimately defeated in the work of Jesus Christ. Christians live in the already and the not yet. Sin and Death are already defeated, but the end is "not yet."

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Parson:
.... A more nuanced view of the Christian understanding of suffering would say that suffering is a result of the evil in the world which is ultimately defeated in the work of Jesus Christ. Christians live in the already and the not yet. Sin and Death are already defeated, but the end is "not yet."

the end is "not yet"

"Is Nigh"

Semantics?

 

[Mouse]

If I should explain it, Pandora was dropped off on Earth by the god Hermes, along with a special box that Hermes instructed not to open. Pandora disobeyed him and opened the box, thereby releasing all the evils and sorrows of the world. She quickly slammed the box shut but there was one last entity within it. The entity convinced her to open the box once again, and revealed itself to be Hope.

I did know the Pandora's Box story (but not the bit about Hermes, so thanks, Karn!) but what I didn't understand about Seph's poem were some of the words, I think. I did read it again a couple of times after I posted that I didn't get it, and I think I do understand it now. Is it written from the viewpoint of something inside the box?

It's just words like 'curcumduct,' 'eldritch' and 'percolate' that I have no idea what they mean. (Percolate's something to do with coffee?! I don't drink coffee, I'm guessing it has another meaning!)

I hardly ever understand poetry anyway, it tends to go over my head.

I'd just like to add that all the stories in the challenge are insanely well-written, even if I don't always understand them, I can see that. It surprises me when someone even mentions mine, let alone is nice enough to vote for it!

Me:

(pic from Mouse Dunce Sketch)

 

[Culhwch]

Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Got it now. Thanks, Karn. Very clever, Seph, and well written.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Ok, since we're discussing things we don't understand, I'll throw mine out there and then duck. At least I know there are a couple of other people who also don't understand it, as I haven't gained any information from discreet queries.

What the heck is the secret stuff in Harebrain's story? I know there's something I'm missing, but I think it is something British and it went right over my head. I finally figured out (I think) that "pants" is just an exclamation, not part of the secret stuff, but I'm still not even entirely sure of that. Help!

 

[Mouse]

I don't think there's anything secret in HareBrain's is there?! I've missed it too, if there is. I haven't got the hidden thing in Parson's one.

(Yeah, 'pants' means the same as 'damn' pretty much!)

 

[The Judge]

I'm 100% sure there's nothing secret in HareBrain's. The story basically: a man is in a burning building with no hope of escape. He decides to have a last drink and takes up an old never-before-opened bottle, which in fact contains a genie who offers him, his supposed master, his one remaining wish, the other two having been used already. Being greedy the man insists on three wishes because he wants more than simply to escape so (instead of demanding three more wishes as his one wish which any woman would have done) he says he isn't the genie's master and is therefore entitled to three. On the basis he isn't his master, the genie is under no obligation to him so leaves. The man is therefore condemned to die by his own greed -- but the genie has escaped its bottle. "Pants" has a dual meaning of something which isn't very good eg "That story was pants" and as an exclamation of disgust/annoyance, perhaps a little stronger than "damn" but not as strong as "sh*t", but is something of a younger person's word.

Mouse, look at Parson's use of alliteration in each line and that will spell a word. The title isn't part of the hidden message, by the way, that's the name/title of the character in the biblical parable to which the story refers, Dives and Lazarus.

 

[Mouse]

Cheers, I'll go and have a look at it again and see if I can get it!

edit: Ah, yay! I see the word!! Clever. (I still don't actually understand the story though.)