DISCUSSION THREAD -- September 75 Word Challenge

[Luiglin]

Thanks for the review as always Perp ... once voting starts I'll post the entry that time forgot aka the discarded one.

 

[chrispenycate]

Thanks for the review as always Perp ... once voting starts I'll post the entry that time forgot aka the discarded one.

Once voting finishes!

 

[ratsy]

Thanks for the reveiw Perp! I am just glad that you considered it funny. Sometimes it's hard to think if others will appreciate ones humor.

I wouldnt mind posting my "discarded" one after voting too Luglin. We might have to start "Discarded 75 Word Story Thread" on September 28th at midnight!

 

[Luiglin]

Once voting finishes!

My bad ... that's what I meant to type.

 

[Hex]

Thank you, Perp! Very glad you decided to write reviews this month.

 

[StilLearning]

Seconded on both counts. And I'm just glad you understood mine, I looked at it this morning and cursed myself for not saving it for a three hundred word challenge where I could make it clearer!

 

[stormcrow]

Mine's up. Hope you laugh!

Now to settle down and read the couple of dozen already here! Hurrah!

 

[chrispenycate]

Another funny one (well they are meant to be),

actually, they are supposed to be "in the style ofhumorous science fiction". Not that wide a field; I see Douglas Adams, Robert Asprin, Harry Harrison, Spider Robinson, Sheckley, Sladek… who am I missing? Oh, several TV series, like Red Dwarf (I'm pretty well sure that was intended to be; some others might have been intended to be serious) and movies.

But I don't think the joke punchline of Clarke's "Neutron tide (as an example) puts him in the running; and most of the amusing writing in SF, which does have a regrettable tendency to take itself seriously, is not jokes but satire – and squeezing that into confined spaces is not proving easy.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Seconded on both counts. And I'm just glad you understood mine, I looked at it this morning and cursed myself for not saving it for a three hundred word challenge where I could make it clearer!

Ahh, but the rules allow you to expand a 75-word story into a later 300-word story (assuming, of course, that a relevant picture comes along). You just can't go the other direction. Or simultaneously.

Since one of the demanding aspects of the 75-word Challenge is to create a story which is readily comprehensible in so few words, entries for those Challenges may not re-use a story which has previously appeared in a 300-word Challenge. Entries for the 300-word Challenges may re-use stories wherever first appearing, but only when voting in any previous Challenge has finished.

 

[Luiglin]

You could add in Pratchett if you class the Gnomes trilogy as sci-fi and of course his prototype discworld novel Strata. Agree though there are not that many successful humorous sci-fi authors. The Grant Naylor Red Dwarf novels are not bad but not a patch on the TV stuff.

Other than that the only other sort comes in comic form mainly I believe 2000AD based rather than American. All of the main writers and artists have done comedy series ... Alan Moore and Alan Davis with DR & Quinch, John Wagner and Ian Gibson with Robo Hunter, John Wagner/Alan Grant and artist Massimo Belardinelli with Ace Trucking, Alan Grant went on to write Lobo for DC, and recently Robbie Morrison and Simon Frazer created Nikolai Dante. There are more but those are my favourites - all good sci-fi comedies, either direct or satirical, well written and illustrated.

 

[nixie]

I think Nixie is starting to be eligible for one of her own face shaking slaps.

Checks for TE or TJ, I wasn't bringing it down honest, just didn't come across the way I pictured it

 

[Dante DiBenedetto]

I went for cringes and giggles. Hopefully I pulled it off.

You guys crack me up. Definitely some good stuff so far.

 

[Abernovo]

stormcrow, that's brilliant. I love the play on words/sounds for alien archangels and the final line was perfect.

nixie, I like it. Not sure how you pictured it, but I thought it came across marvellously: monster wants to be friends, human scared - the absurdity of life.

 

[Tisiphone]

Had a bit of trouble with the formatting, but posted! (How can I keep indenting to remain when I post - can anyone advise?)

Good entries so far

 

[chrispenycate]

You could add in Pratchett if you class the Gnomes trilogy as sci-fi and of course his prototype discworld novel Strata.

And I forgot Eric Frank Russell. (I suspect almost everybody else has by now. Ofog.) Still, lots more supposedly funny fantasy authors than SF.

But I think I've got it. No, not the submission; oh, I've got one next best thing to ready (seventy seven words) but the technique. Filk, It's a long term SF tradition, is generally amusing and, best of all, I can do it.

Now all that remains is to find a song to lampoon, a story, and write it.

A spacesuit made for two dinosaurs?

 

[Perpetual Man]

TJ – A rather interesting title, followed by a great little story, little being the operative word. The idea of the dinosaurs coming back is always a good question, but the twist here is that they are slightly smaller than we remember. It is a story where for me there is no one funny moment, the whole thing comes together perfectly to give a chuckle every time you think about it.

Mosaix – This is one of those stories I just did not laugh at, but it kept making me chuckle hours after I read it. The fact that there is a kind of underlying truth is just a bonus, when discussing the possibilities that lie ahead, who would really consider totally extinction? It seems like a lot of time and effort to build a device for something that may never happen when you could be having fun...

AJB – There are a lot of little moments of humour running through this one, but there is also something else, and that is the fact that we can never really know just how the dinosaurs lived, how they reacted to thing. We can guess and estimate from their remains, but in the end only time travel would reveal that things we consider truths might not be reality.

MemoryTale – The first time I read this one I groaned, but only for that moment where the penny dropped. It’s a fun little story that might just play with the notion of military intelligence or the lack thereof. But more importantly there is the play on words/names. Sarah Topps. Brilliant.

Reiver33 – This story for some reason was an excellent example of why I love this site and particularly this competition so much. It is something different to all that has gone before, in many ways quite simple, but the creativity in it means that it is littered with little nuggets, that are both amusing and serious, clever and intelligent. Just how incredible is that?

 

[Perpetual Man]

Sorry for the double post, but while on the subject of humorous SF, as some of us were (and if anyone mentioned him I apologise) let's not forget Chrons very own Toby Frost...

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Filk, It's a long term SF tradition, is generally amusing and, best of all, I can do it.

Now all that remains is to find a song to lampoon, a story, and write it.

A spacesuit made for two dinosaurs?

A shopping trolley built for two, no doubt!

 

[Brev]

Sorry... but saw the theme and couldn't resist.

 

[stormcrow]

Thanks Abernovo! That's praise indeed! Really glad you liked it -

A'Rark could something of a folk anti-hero; gave me a grisly chuckle!