Discussion -- November 2011 Challenge

[Parson]

Well I've done my homework and made my vote.

Short list

Paranoid Marvin
tisiphone
Aun Dorbach
Hair Brain
Perpetual Man
MoonBat
Mosaix
Storm Feather.

Shorter list
Paranoid Marvin
MoonBat
Storm Feather

Vote goes to Storm Feather a really nice story from the Dog's eye.

 

[Starbeast]

Starbeast - A nice simple set up and then the epic finale as the werewolf takes on those that are the truly bad guys of the piece.

I love the way you describe our tales. Thank you Perpetual Man.

Short list: Starbeast, because the fall and the redemption came in one great telling, and I'd like to see it as a longer story.

Me too. Thanks for the mention Boneman.

Well, I guess I better narrow my choices down and pick a winner amongst the many great story tellers.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

I just want this month to pass so we can get a new challenge out, hehe. Oh, I'd much rather forget my brutally over-edited entry and just try to focus on something new, if possible.


Sorry for not getting a vote, I am barely able to think about anything other than breathing and keeping hydrated still. Not because of a fever, but because I have to inhale through my mouth. Makes a very dry, very sore throat.

 

[Perpetual Man]

GrizzGreen711 - thanks so much for your words. It was great to read them on a cold Monday, as were Parson's short listing. So thanks for that too!

 

[Boneman]

And a far cry from being on a listing pier.

I think my pier's in danger of falling into the sea - listing further over, courtesy of Highlander - many thanks!!

 

[PolarityMan]

Many thanks for the vote Phyrebrat! That's made my day!

 

[alchemist]

I just want this month to pass so we can get a new challenge out, hehe. Oh, I'd much rather forget my brutally over-edited entry and just try to focus on something new, if possible.


Sorry for not getting a vote, I am barely able to think about anything other than breathing and keeping hydrated still. Not because of a fever, but because I have to inhale through my mouth. Makes a very dry, very sore throat.

Hang in there. Take a load of paracetamol...sorry, acetaminophen... and you've got 10 hours left to vote. Then it's the Christmas challenge!

 

[Ursa major]

The Christmas challenge?


Does that mean we can't post our entries, but have to deliver them personally, by means of a chimney?

 

[Phyrebrat]

I'm a sucker for a story, I don’t care for rules, spelling, split infinitives etc so that is how I approach my vote…

Shortlist

reiver33 - Lombards of Gehenna – as I said in my initial discussion post, I liked the tones of this in terms of colour temperature and really transporting me into the environment. It’s such a sensory piece for me.
Hex – Selkie – a melancholy tale that gave me the visceral response I look for in fiction (if sadness can be termed ‘visceral’) and for the apple tree.
Chrispenycate – I blame the parents- This is interleaved with darkness and sinister overtones, regardless of the last line. ‘Shadowed’ and ‘caught’ carry a big sense of omnipresence and I like the horror of a child’s peril (Did I just type that? It’s not the way it sounds!!!). There is a lot that is suggested in terms of back-story and I like that I can imagine my own ‘play world’ around the characters mentioned.
Alchemist – I Know – Misery and anguish, the Human Condition in words! Love it!
PolarityMan – The Building Builder – I can’t pass up those odd Magritte-like postcard prints (usually by German artists) of a man flying through the sky with a suit and bowler, or of a rock mass, floating in mid air with sea beneath it, and so on. When I read this it made me picture those prints and come up with an instant mythology of The Builders in my mind. It also sparked of Samuel Beckett my favourite playwright. It was so quick and clear that it felt quite profound, actually!
The Judge – Redeemed By Love – I really enjoyed Rime of the Ancient Mariner at school. I always wondered about the wedding guests at the start of the massive poem. This gives it all so much gravity - and wrapped up so nicely in suggestion and mythology.


The definition of redemption has been quite mutable in these stories and we have all played with the contrast as far as the English language allows us to, for example; redemption as atonement, and redemption as in exchanging a voucher. In some the redemption may be suggested or implied as opposed to overtly stated, and depends on our perception, using our own moral compass to orient us against whether we think the redeeming act is ‘sufficient’ for whatever is being atoned. For me, that story was The Building Builder. It was proverbial and relevant to the biggest infraction and smallest alike. So… my vote went to PolarityMan. In the end it was a push and pull between The Judge, Chrispenycate and PolarityMan

 

[The Spurring Platty]

My shorter list...
hopewrites - Plea
Hex - Selkie
Abernovo - Stepping Up
Phyrebrat -- The RMS Iceberg
Harebrain - A Tale Told Beneath a Thorn Tree
Nixie - Exodus
Boneman - Survival of the Fittest
Stormfeather - A Cautionary Tail ('tail'... chuckles)

My vote went to Hex. I really got the sense of guilt and remorse of the character, of looking back over 17 years and having regret. To be freed from that burden by granting freedom was very well done. Having redemption achieved from both a physical offering and an emotional offering was brilliant.
I also appreciated the folklore I've rarely been exposed to.

Thank you Moonbat, TheEndIsNigh, and Hex for the mentions.
Extra super thanks to Polarity Man for the vote! That made my Monday.

 

[Phoenixthewriter]

Short List -
Moonbat
Stormfeather
Ursa Major
Culhwch

All four of these I found equally interesting or at least intriguing to the point of remembering them, enough to make my top 5 at least.

Ultimately my vote goes to Southron Sword. I just found the response at the end humorous. I pictured a manically wide sinister smile as he says it too, perhaps an overly large cleaver in his hand to boot.

 

[HareBrain]

My short shortlist:

Reiver33
Hex
Phyrebrat
Ursa Major

Since I can't split my vote, it goes (just) to Reiver.

Thanks to those who mentioned mine, and to hopewrites, Quokka and Cul for the votes.

 

[nixie]

Thanks to Mith, The end is nigh, Moonbat and The Spurring Platty for the mentions.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Hang in there. Take a load of paracetamol...sorry, acetaminophen... and you've got 10 hours left to vote. Then it's the Christmas challenge!

Actually, NSAIDs won't be doing for me here. Not only has this cold affected my breathing but it seems to have hit my left eye as well.


Beyond all that, I'll see what I can do for a vote, but I don't know if I'll be able to read through all the entries well enough.

 

[paranoid marvin]

The Christmas challenge?


Does that mean we can't post our entries, but have to deliver them personally, by means of a chimney?

That's right, but there's bound to be a clause stuck in there somewhere.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Oh , and thanks for the short listing Parson (or should that be Father?)!

 

[The Judge]

Another good Challenge. My short list:

alchemist -- I know
HareBrain -- A Tale Told Beneath a Thorn Tree
Hex -- Selkie
Perpetual Man -- Twice Redeemed
reiver33 -- The Lombards of Gehenna
Ursa major -- Defective Goods

While I liked all my short list, I'm going with the story which I loved the moment I read it -- and so I've voted for Hex's lovely Selkie.


Thanks for the kind words, Phyrebrat, and big thanks for the vote Abernovo!

 

[Perpetual Man]

Thanks for the short listing TJ, as always greatly appreciated.

 

[Ursa major]

Another wildly varied bunch of good stories, of which the following were the best (according to the Ursa jury, that is):




Honourable Mentions:

• Sire by Quokka
• I know by alchemist
• Son of Empire by Culhwch
• A Cautionary Tail by Stormfeather

Runners Up:

• Redemption by Glen
• the Cust-Ogre is always right by Moonbat
• The Queue Jumper by TheEndisNigh

Winner:

• The Lombards of Gehenna by reiver33.

 

[Ursa major]

Thanks for the shortlistings, Phoenixthewriter, Harebrain and The Judge.