DISCUSSION THREAD -- September 75 Word Challenge

[Scott R. Forshaw]

Another great month with some fantastic stories, each of them of extremely high quality. Once again, well done to everyone who entered.

My Short List:

Starbeast
paranoid marvin
Dante DiBenedetto
Brev
HareBrain
crystal haven
Phyrebrat
alchemist
FeedMeTV

My Top Three:

Starbeast
Dante DiBenedetto
FeedMeTV

And My Winner:

Dante DiBenedetto

Congratulations, Dante!

Edit: Thanks for the short listings, Nixie and Phyrebrat; you've both made my day!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Ty for the mention eric ward, feed me tv and crystal. After a long drive it made me smile.

 

[Parson]

Got to jet.... but....

shortlist
Teresa Edgerton.... Pun city!
Ratsy ..... Evolution's worst nightmare
Still Learning .... Survival of the fittest.
Chrystal Haven .... Child Endangerment to warm a parent's heart
Rosethorn .... Practical jokes rule!
Bone Man ..... Pun Again.... Groan.

Top two: T.E. and Chrystal Haven

Vote: Chrystal Haven, I know this feeling too well, really had to laugh.

 

[ratsy]

A shout out to Phyrebrat and Parson for the mentions...and to my mystery voter who brought me to a total of 2 votes!! woohoo

A lot of really good ones this month but here is my "short" list

starbeast
paranoid marvin
johnnyjet
crystal haven
joan drake
alchemist
Ursa Major (Couldn't not add this one...just couldn't)

And my vote went to a deserving Dante DiBenedetto - Faux Max for remembering you don't have to out run a bear...as long as your not the slowest

 

[alchemist]

Thanks to ratsy and Scott for the mentions, and even more thanks to Abernovo and Phyrebrat for the votes. They're very much appreciated.

I've got my list of 9 ready. Now to whittle.

 

[Ursa major]

Thanks for the mentions, crystal haven, and the short listing, ratsy.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Shortlist:

Glen, for his steampunk velociraptors.
Springs, for her digital tyrannosaur.
Hex, for cramming zombies into a dinosaur story.
Starbeast, for that quite unexpected Cretaceous Inquisition.
Tisiphone, for reminding us to always RTFM.
Crystal Haven, for the joys of parenthood.
Phyrebrat, for Schrodinger's Compsognathus.
Parson, for his poem about poo.
Kylara, for more joys of parenthood.
TheDustyZebra, for dinosaurs as pre-packed meals available at your local supermarket.
Ursa Major, for Badger's Drifting towards a Dinah Shore.
Kiffinyjean, for referencing so much classic sic-fi in so few words.

And the vote goes to...Paranoid Marvin, and his home security system.

 

[crystal haven]

Thank you so much for the votes, Nixie and Parson. I'm really thrilled.

And thank you for the short listing, Scott R. Forshaw, Ratsy, and David Evil Overlord. It's great just to reach a short listing. I'm really pleased you enjoyed my story.

 

[Boneman]

Thank you so much to Crystal Haven, Nixie and Parson for the excellent short-listings.

It's really difficult to reduce it down to even a short list, and finalists but here goes:

Abernovo
Luiglin
Ratsy
The Judge
Mosaix
Memory Tale
Stephen 4444
Nixie
Brev
Grinnel
Culwhch
Feed me tv

I guess I'm guilty of choosing those that made me smile, but I tried to include the storytelling element as well. Very difficult choosing between the finalists - any of them could have won, but in the end I chose Feed me tv.

 

[Highlander]

Thanks for the review Perp man - Yes I think we are all agreed that they were stoopid.

Thanks too for johnnyjet and FeedMeTV for the short list mentions - they really make my day!

Just got to knuckle down and read them myself and hopefully vote... (backhanders, brown envelopes etc all welcome)

 

[Parson]

David Evil OverLord thanks for the short listing. Even if it was for the poo!

 

[Perpetual Man]

Right that's the lot!

kshRox – I particularly liked the cheeky marsupials this time around, There was something strangely knowing in the way they acted. The fact that Rexy was drooling on Trice was almost sinister in a funny way, and hey, there was a shopping trolley, nothing wrong with that at all!

BM – I had a great vision while reading this one, seeing an old man surrounded by grandchildren as he delighted them with his tricks. Of course that was funny enough in its own right, but making the old man a dinosaur just added something to the story, and the punchline was a real winner.

James – A really clever story that made me smirk. Not only does it show that there are some things that science really should not mess with; but also how the simplest of errors, leaving out something as insignificant as a dot could change the world forever, and possibly for the better. (And it had a shopping trolley).

Kiffinyjean – Not only does the title of this one perhaps contain a hidden message to the fellow who set this challenge, but the story itself contains some excellent oneliners. I can honestly say I do not know which line I preferred the most, they were all great! A fine way to end the challenge for the month!


Well done everyone, when I set the challenge I wanted it to be a little different/trickier and give everyone a harder time, but I should have known better as always the quality was universal and everyone did themselves proud.

Take a bow one and ll, you deserve it.

Funny thing though, everyone seemed to keep well away from the image I had in my mind when I set the challenge - even me. I'll actually mention that when voting closes.

 

[Perpetual Man]

And straight back in with my shortlist:


Luiglin
AJB
MemoryTale
Reiver33
Starbeast
PM
Scott
TEiN
Stormcrow
Dante DiBenedetto
HB
Crystal
Cul
Ursa
BM
Kiffiny

Those in bold make it into the shortlist, meaning that Crystal and PM battle it out tooth and claw for the vote. In the end by the thinnest of evolutionary markers, PM gets the nod.

 

[Ursa major]

Thanks for the shortlisting, Perp.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Thanks ratsy and Scott for the shortlistings and Perp and David for the votes, you've really made my day!

 

[FeedMeTV]

Very chuffed indeed, Boneman, thank you

 

[Hex]

My shorter-than-short list, savagely reduced:

Glen (how could the first story be so utterly perfect?)
Teresa
reiver33
Brev -- you made me laugh out loud. That says something awful about me.
HareBrain

It was a struggle to choose (AJB's was really funny too, and springs' and crystal haven and alchemist and... must stop... oh, one more: I liked Abernovo's as well. Right. Stopped).

In the end, I went with my first love. For the sublime use of exclamation marks and an exotic vision of an alternative future... Glen.

 

[Glen]

Another enjoyable read this month. Even more enjoyable for me this month to see the comedy genre. Humour is something I like to include in my writing - its part of life so I reckon it should be part of our stories. Great then to see a glorious lack of earnestness in this month's stories.

Dinosaurs were a great topic for humour. I certainly enjoyed the possibilities the theme and genre opened up for me. I now regret not trying for the shopping trolley, but felt it was out of keeping for my Victorian velociraptors. For a while I was keeping a running tally of puns (I got to 6), toilet humour (8), and I should also have kept a tally of references to short arms and meteorites/extinction.

I enjoyed all the stories, and how difficult it has been to be a judge this month! But someone has to win my vote, and so here are: the winners, a short excerpt, and their categories.

paranoid marvin - "Snap him up before he snaps you up!" - Best ad of the year.
HareBrain - "Andsdroppedov" - Best use of cosmonaut-sounding name.
chrispenycate - "Pink Floydal" - Best made up rhyme.
crystal haven - "I’m rapidly warming to the idea" - Best subtle humour.
alchemist - "Its time was now." - Best use of cinematographic shorthand.
FeedMeTV - "smelled faintly of kippers" - Best use of comedy detail.
Aun Doorback - "Qwillion" - Best use of the words "Qwillion" and "Shopping Trolley"
James Coote - "Ah..." - Best comedy sci-fi short story about dinosaurs. Included a shopping trolley. Made me laugh.

 

[Glen]

Hex! Thanks indeed for the vote, and for the praise! "...sublime use of exclamation marks..." Music to my heart!

You are much more practised than I in the "I Gotta Vote" dance, however I will try it out myself as I head off for a celebratory light ale.

Cheers

 

[kshRox]

Thanks for the comments perp.
Yea, those darn primates & marsupials can be downright annoying!