DISCUSSION -- The 75 word Challenge, April 2011

[The Judge]

What do you mean next time? There's still a week to go for the 300 worder. Get writing!


Thanks for the kind words and short-listing, Chel!

 

[slack]

Voted for Love Conquers All. Interesting story.

 

[mosaix]

Voted for Love Conquers All. Interesting story.

Many thanks, slack.

 

[cornelius]

A final five Thanks a lot, Chel

 

[nixie]

I got a vote, thank you I've not made my short list yet.

 

[alchemist]

Quiet here tonight. Everybody rolling around in agony from all the chocolate?

This month, I enjoyed stories by Paranoid Marvin, Hex, Harebrain, No One, TheEndIsNigh, TDZ, Precise Calibre, Parson and The Spurring Platty.

My shortlist comprised...

Cornelius
Chel
Ursa Major

And the votegetter is...

Ursa Major, for a parable of justice. If you're willing to take the risk of writing it, Ursa, I'll take the risk of voting for it.

 

[High Eight]

What do you mean next time? There's still a week to go for the 300 worder. Get writing!


Thanks for the kind words and short-listing, Chel!

Ooh, crikey!

I'm struggling with the theme, to be honest.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Thanks, Chel, for the final five, and alchemist, for the mention!

 

[Parson]

Alchemist: Thanks for the mention with such competition it is an honor.

 

[Lucky_Lola]

There were some really clever little twists on the theme this month that made my shortlist rather difficult. Honourable mentions to digs, moonbat, GreenKidx, mosaix, Hoopy and Ursa, but my vote had to go to Harebrain. Magical concept, wonderful thread of humour and an artful interpretation of the theme, well done. The image of Cthulhu's underwear will stay with me for a long time!

And thank you to my mysterious voter! Hopefully next month I can resist the urge to use a classical myth for the challenge and stretch myself a little more

 

[The Judge]

Hopefully next month I can resist the urge to use a classical myth for the challenge and stretch myself a little more

Oi! Some of us are making a career out of classical myth! (And in view of your story, you might be interested in this! )

 

[Ursa major]

And the votegetter is...

Ursa Major, for a parable of justice. If you're willing to take the risk of writing it, Ursa, I'll take the risk of voting for it.

Thanks for the vote, alchemist.

(And thank goodness for web anonymity....)

 

[nixie]

I'm completely stunned 2 votes

 

[paranoid marvin]

Thanks for the kind mentions ; and of course thankyou Chel for your vote.

 

[Boneman]

It's here again - decision time... can't you understand I'm a libran, and I have to weigh things up, and achieve some sort of balance? How the hell do I do that this month? My shortlist is longer than ever, and choosing a final five was almost impossible. (Which is why there are six of 'em.) And as for a final ONE...!

Shortlist:
Paranoid Marvin
Mouse
Hex
Hairbrain
Perpetual Man
MyGodItsRaining
The Dusty Zebra
Digs
OnebigPotato
Precise Calibre
Cornelius
Moonbat
TEIN
Greenkidx
Hoopyfrood
Ursa Major
The Judge.

Which is virtually a third of the entries. Any of them could have won, but I had to choose one, dammit. So I whittled it down to those that I felt followed the title of the challenge closest, and after a lot of weighing up I had a final six:

Digs
Cornelius
Moonbat
TEIN
Hoopyfrood
The Judge

So, my six votes this month are taken care of... we do have (almost) six bank holidays this month, including Easter, and following in the Christmas tradition, I'd like to leave it there...

But the one that just edged the others in the end was Moonbat. It fitted the title perfectly, especially TJ's question mark.

 

[cornelius]

Thanks for the mention, Alchemist. And another final six by Boneman! Thanks a lot

Since the voting has started, I think it's safe for me to add the other entry I've made. If this is off limits, feel free to clip it.


The Priestess twirled, laughing
Her heart light as a feather
Her dagger heavy with blood

Now, she would grow, to match the grandness in her soul
Because of Him
Her God, her Lover
And soon He would bless her
With an eternal kiss
Together Forever
Omniscient. Omnipotent!
But then
He Laughed

Agony grew, as her soul shrank
She wailed:
Never love a God!
But all who cared to listen
Had already died
By her blade

 

[Moonbat]

Woo Hoo!

Thanks Boneman. That has made my bank holiday weekend.

Not voted, or even shortlisted yet, will do as soon as I can.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Feeling a bit out of it at the moment, but really had to take the time to comment on the last few entries and as had gone before they were uniformly excellent.


BookStop - A well constructed and well thought out poem, that catches the theme perfectly. I think I interpreted many different ways as I was reading it, which makes it all the more fun.

RSliwinski - A strange beautiful piece, touching on love and loss, in this case denying something that is so obviously there. Perhaps because of the denial at the start it makes it all the more touching, the dance at the end.

Ursa Major - With the title I thought here come the puns, but it was a lot more than that, and an excellent study of faith and belief, and perhaps truths. Excellent.

HJ - An epic love story with an warm happy ending. Like BookStop's I felt there were so many ways that this could be interpreted which makes it a lot more enjoable.

TJ - Another one I really enjoyed, locking onto classic mythology, a well chosen one as well for this month's theme. Well constructed, well presented and enjoyable, what more could be asked?

So another month over, another outstanding batch of tales, and another hard decision to make.

I'm going to try and find the time to vote....

 

[nixie]

My short list, Pep, Talysia, Cul, Bookstop, Ursa and TJ.

Finally decided on Ursa

 

[Lucky_Lola]

Oi! Some of us are making a career out of classical myth! (And in view of your story, you might be interested in this! )

Be merciful, your honour! *Grins* I have a long standing history with classical myth, so often echoes of Greek stories come to mind with these challenges. My third year university playwriting project was actually a retelling of Orpheus, and I'd flirted with the idea for this month's comp, too.

Oh, and I very much like the poem