The poll is now closed and we have a winner:
Congratulations, reiver33!
DISCUSSION THREAD -- December 2012 75-word Writing Challenge
- Thread starter TheDustyZebra
- Start date
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Congrats, reiver!
Congratulations, reiver33!
Thank you, TDZ and HareBrain for the mentions, and
Congratulations, reiver!
Congratulations, reiver!
Congratulations Reiver 33, a spot on vampire story.
T.E. -- Ratsy -- Spurring Patty thanks so much for the short listing.
Although this wouldn't be my choice of genre, there were certainly a lot of vastly different takes on it.
Abernovo -- I felt compelled to put your story on my short list. As the later votes should have proved, your story was most certainly a contender!! Well done.
T.E. -- Ratsy -- Spurring Patty thanks so much for the short listing.
Although this wouldn't be my choice of genre, there were certainly a lot of vastly different takes on it.
Abernovo -- I felt compelled to put your story on my short list. As the later votes should have proved, your story was most certainly a contender!! Well done.
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- Jun 13, 2006
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Congratulations to Reiver with a well deserved win.
And a quick thanks to TDZ for the last minute mention.
And a quick thanks to TDZ for the last minute mention.
Boneman
Well-Known Member
Well done Reiver - phew, these competitions run close, don't they?
Congratulations, reiver! Excellent story. 
Thanks to TDZ for the listing.
Thanks to TDZ for the listing.
Warren_Paul
Banishment this world!
Congratulations, Reiver!
No, don't be nice! The challenging ones make the best stories.
My suggestion: "Monkey Pirates" and "Illuminated manuscript".
My suggestion: "Monkey Pirates" and "Illuminated manuscript".
Ah-hem, you'll have the chance to make up another category soon, I'm sure.
I'm still recovering from tudor punk. Hard, Revier, make us clear out the December dead cells. 
Congratulations reiver!!!
It's about time to explain my entry, St. Nicholas in a Pickle: A Confession.
The inspiration was the legend of the pickled boys, in which St Nicholas on discovering that a butcher had killed and pickled three boys, restored them to life. (I encountered this tale many years ago, when our school choir sang Benjamin Britten's St Nicholas Cantata, which includes a section about this mythical incident.)
With a slightly wider genre, I would have gone with St Nicholas being a precursor of Victor Frankenstein (given that the boys were not whole when they were pickled and so needed putting back together). However, the three boys could certainly be the original undead and, as they must have been exsanguinated during butchering and pickling, they had a reason to obtain human blood.
That left only the problem of a saint creating vampires. Without the benefit of mail or email (communication methods that use addresses), all poor St Nicholas had recourse to was prayer. Sadly for him (and the boys), the Devil heard and responded, turning the pickled boys into three undead (for his own nefarious reasons, plus his own evilness) and forcing St Nicholas to provide a cover story for their activities.
However, because the Devil had tricked St Nicholas (not to mention the boys), and also impersonated God, his fee couldn't be unconditional. (Nor could it be waived: he had restored some sort of life to those boys.) St Nicholas achieved what he could: restricting the activities of the undead to one night a year, when they replace their vinegar-tainted blood with the fresh stuff.
Even so, St Nicholas feels the need to confess: because of his grandstanding (a mere human - not, though, a were human - bringing the dead back to life) many have been killed over the centuries; not to mention many good boys and girls getting no presents.
The inspiration was the legend of the pickled boys, in which St Nicholas on discovering that a butcher had killed and pickled three boys, restored them to life. (I encountered this tale many years ago, when our school choir sang Benjamin Britten's St Nicholas Cantata, which includes a section about this mythical incident.)
With a slightly wider genre, I would have gone with St Nicholas being a precursor of Victor Frankenstein (given that the boys were not whole when they were pickled and so needed putting back together). However, the three boys could certainly be the original undead and, as they must have been exsanguinated during butchering and pickling, they had a reason to obtain human blood.
That left only the problem of a saint creating vampires. Without the benefit of mail or email (communication methods that use addresses), all poor St Nicholas had recourse to was prayer. Sadly for him (and the boys), the Devil heard and responded, turning the pickled boys into three undead (for his own nefarious reasons, plus his own evilness) and forcing St Nicholas to provide a cover story for their activities.
However, because the Devil had tricked St Nicholas (not to mention the boys), and also impersonated God, his fee couldn't be unconditional. (Nor could it be waived: he had restored some sort of life to those boys.) St Nicholas achieved what he could: restricting the activities of the undead to one night a year, when they replace their vinegar-tainted blood with the fresh stuff.
Even so, St Nicholas feels the need to confess: because of his grandstanding (a mere human - not, though, a were human
- bringing the dead back to life) many have been killed over the centuries; not to mention many good boys and girls getting no presents.
How did this happen?
I can't access the Chrons at work following a change in internet usage policy so had no idea until I woke up a few minutes ago.
'Moscow-7' alludes to the 7th of January, which is Christmas day (or one potential) when using the old calendar. I wrote this quite quickly, falling back on a pre-existing character of mine; ‘Greta’ is Greta van Lears (ask Boneman) who keeps cropping up. The strange thing is I don’t read vampire novels.
In terms of January…given my age I might go a bit retro.
And my thanks to those who voted for my story, I’m just glad it appealed to your corrupt and festive natures!
I can't access the Chrons at work following a change in internet usage policy so had no idea until I woke up a few minutes ago.
'Moscow-7' alludes to the 7th of January, which is Christmas day (or one potential) when using the old calendar. I wrote this quite quickly, falling back on a pre-existing character of mine; ‘Greta’ is Greta van Lears (ask Boneman) who keeps cropping up. The strange thing is I don’t read vampire novels.
In terms of January…given my age I might go a bit retro.
And my thanks to those who voted for my story, I’m just glad it appealed to your corrupt and festive natures!
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