Discussion thread -- 75 WORD WRITING CHALLENGE January 2013

[reiver33]

I did consider dedicating my entry to Parson, but that might have been seen as currying (divine) favour...

 

[Juliana]

My short and shorter list:

Hex
reiver33
springs
Talysia
David Evil Overlord
Perpetual Man
mosaix
Teresa Edgerton
Boneman
The Judge***

My vote went to TJ, it just caught me from the go. Might have had something to do with the fact that I was on holiday at the time and found myself singing along to it poolside...

 

[Boneman]

Thanks Juliana!!

Please stop posting now, until you're back in the snow and rain and storms...

 

[Juliana]

Back home yesterday, Boneman. Drizzle, traffic and laundry. Was good while it lasted, though!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Thanks for the mentions, Starbeast and Juliana (bake brownies, that'll help. )

 

[Talysia]

Thank you for the shortlisting, Juliana.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Thanks for the shortlisting, Juliana, he said trying not to copy Talysia word for word

 

[Hex]

Woo! Thank you (verrrrrry verrrrrry much) for the votes, crystal haven, reiver and Cul.

And thank you for the mentions Juliana, Starbeast, Parson, TDZ, mosaix and Nixie

 

[johnnyjet]

Again, an excellent set of stories. Very difficult to narrow down. But ultimately, here is my so-called "short list":

1. The Love Bug - Hex
2. Finding Self - BigJ
3. BELOVED - springs
4. Time to Run - Abernovo
5. Spider - Talysia
6. Dancing Pigs - Aun Doorback
7. Unreliable Narrators - Victoria Silverwolf
8. Bootleggers Nation - Warren_Paul
9. Children of the Evolution - David Evil Overlord
10. Matryoshka Dolls - Perpetual Man
11. Come gather, round people - chrispenycate
12. The surgineer - digs
13. Of Course They're All Wearing Turtlenecks - Lucky Lola
14. The Cold Heart Still Beats - Scott R. Forshaw
15. Blind Date - Teresa Edgerton
16. Kids to feed - StilLearning
17. Pandora's Toybox - The DustyZebra
18. Jacked. Hacked. Cracked. - TheJudge

My short short list was Hex, Aun Doorback, David Evil Overlord, chrispenycate and The Judge. And my ultimate winner was Aun Doorback.

 

[johnnyjet]

Thanks for the nice comments, Perpetual Man, Starbeast & Victoria Silverwolf (nice name).

Thanks for the short listings, Bowler1, High Eight, and Starbeast. (Hope I didn't miss anyone.)

And a special thanks to EricWard for the vote!!!

 

[Perpetual Man]

Thanks for the mention johnnyjet, considering how much I missed squeezing in to the story these last rush of shortlistings have given me a cosy glow.

 

[Abernovo]

Thank you for that listing, johnnyjet.


Do you think one month, voting might get any easier?

Nah, me neither. Anyway, I hope not, because the quality is so high.

 

[Talysia]

All of these mentions and shortlistings are much more than I was expecting. Thank you, Johnnyjet.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I really do have a shortlist this month for once.

Talysia – Spider.
I liked this for the concept mostly; it’s a scary one. What also appealed to me was the uncertain status of the ‘she’. Was she a thing or a real she? At first it seems it must be a person as they’re employed by the government, but a project that takes decades to complete – and is already 50% through – well…that would take something with a long life-span; I liked that implication.

DOE – Children of the Evolution.
The monster image of the viruses (Word doesn’t like ‘virii’ and neither does my pretence-o-meter – but is virii correct pluralisation?) is a great one and a nice idea. In that virtual world, e-world, v-world – whatever you want to call it – why would things be anthropomorphic in the way they are in so many movies? This was one of two pieces that put me in mind of the Raw Shark Texts (which I loved reading - despite the multitude of bank pages) and the form of the virus really stuck with me.

Luiglin – Subarachnoid Space.
Another spider entry on my shortlist; it’s not that I have a thing for spiders but both these stories sucked me in. Talysia’s was the negative side of things, whereas this one was heart-warming, if bittersweet. It’s nice to see an entry that looks on the positive side of tech; misery is far easier to write, and even the bittersweet death of the spider is rather serene. There’s something about spiders that works so well with this genre.

Mosaix – The Colour Of My Days.
The sadness underlining this was wonderful. The last line is heartbreaking.

StilLearning – Kids to Feed.
I’ve never hidden from the fact I'm a monsterphile and I do love a good bit of sci-fi and horror, so this was a great serving that satisfied all my favourite subjects. It also reminded me of Raw Shark Texts but also you can’t read anything about tentacles these days without subliminally evoking Lovecraft. Sprinkle a bit of Matrix and Total Recall and you have a win/win/win/win story.

My favourite of these is The Colour Of My Day by Mosaix so that is where my vote went.

Thank you for the shortlisting, Perp, Stormcrow and Crystal Haven. And Boneman, wow; finalist status, thanks!

pH

 

[mosaix]

Thanks for the mentions / short listings , Nixie, Starbeast, Teresa and Juliana. And thanks for the vote Phyrebrat.

 

[Talysia]

Thank you for the shortlisting, Phyrebrat.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Thanks for the listing/mention, Johnneyjet.


Oh, and thanks for the vote, Bob! Sneaking in there under the radar. Would never have known if I hadn't looked at the poll. What an unexpected but delightful surprise.

 

[Bob Senior]

Howdy,
I was sad to see that I didn't get on anybody's list, short or otherwise, perhaps next month. (if I manage to post a story)
To the eventual winner: If the theme were something like "old dogs and children and watermelon wine) it would sure help. Genre? Old coot!

I did vote, for a story that is so much like the one that was bouncing around in my head it was spooky.
Bob

 

[Warren_Paul]

Howdy,
I was sad to see that I didn't get on anybody's list, short or otherwise, perhaps next month. (if I manage to post a story)
To the eventual winner: If the theme were something like "old dogs and children and watermelon wine) it would sure help. Genre? Old coot!

I did vote, for a story that is so much like the one that was bouncing around in my head it was spooky.
Bob

Great minds think alike, eh?

Genre: Old Coot? Sounds like it would make for an entertaining month.

 

[Starbeast]

Howdy,
I was sad to see that I didn't get on anybody's list, short or otherwise, perhaps next month. (if I manage to post a story)
To the eventual winner: If the theme were something like "old dogs and children and watermelon wine) it would sure help. Genre? Old coot!

I did vote, for a story that is so much like the one that was bouncing around in my head it was spooky.
Bob

Howdy-hey-there Bob. Sorry you're bummed-out, but you didn't post a tale pal. I even tripled checked (cause I'm a bit dyslexic).