Discussion thread -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE May 2014

[Jo Zebedee]

Thanks for the mention, Farntfar, and double thanks for the vote, Joan.

 

[JonH]

I wasn't going to do a shortlist, but... So a few mentions first to:

Hopewrites – great last line.
Mr Orange – liked the idea.
Jastius - fun voice.
Ursa – loudest groan!

Vote goes to:
Chrispenycate's poem

 

[Bowler1]

Thank you Mr Orange for the kind mention.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Finally, I made it! A really long shortlist, and a respectable collection of shorter listings as well.

It was a hair-pulling decision, but I talked myself into voting eventually.

Bowler1 -- Stag Night
AFW -- I Need Your Help
JonH -- One Chicken - Two Chickens
farntfar -- We Are Discovered
Aun Doorback -- Manipulators from Mars
Serendipity -- Invasion
StilLearning -- If at First You Don't Conquer Earth...
mosaix -- Alien Invasion Gets Panned
*Juliana -- Lost in Translation...*
martin321 -- The Winnower
Mr Orange -- The Extinction of the Anaerobic Extrasensory Lunamole
johnnyjet -- And They Are Us
DEO -- Just Desserts
Culhwch -- Omega
Ursa -- No Sorcery Please, We're Aliens
TJ -- War of the Words
paranoid marvin -- Lebensraum

 

[Perpetual Man]

I do believe I owe a quick thank you to Cul for the stealth vote, and another to Farntfar for the mention.

 

[hopewrites]

D'oh. I almost forgot again. Thanks for the reminder Alchemist, I'm going there soon.

yeah when that poll goes up I know I'm late for this voting (if I havent done so already)

Oh my. I thought you said you were crushed by an ATM. I was imaging your little cat feet sticking out from underneath an ATM machine.

Whew. I'm glad you're not a squishy cat.

oh me too!
I'm pretty nimble though, the ATM would have to get up pretty early to get the drop on me.

Hopewrites – great last line.

Thanks Jon!

 

[Parson]

Farntfar, thanks so much for the short listing.

 

[chrispenycate]

Hmm. Last day, not that many votes yet.

According to the (not always accurate) chart:- Aun Doorback, BenSt, cornelius, hopewrites, jastius, Kylara, mosaix, paranoid marvin, StilLearning, Teresa Edgerton, The Judge, Tywin and Ursa major submitted but have not yet voted.

Yes, I know how difficult the voting is, and how time consuming, but still…

Many thanks, JonH, for your vote; you are relatively new here, so possibly don't know about the tradition of not voting for Chrispy. This is not mere superstition, it's based on observable evidence of what can happen should he win (though personally I found the selection of stories generated excellent. It's supposed to be challenging, is it not?)

 

[Tywin]

Here I am, gotta hurry.

Listed:
Springs – The Last Truth
Cat’s Cradle – The New World
Victoria – Bury my Heart
Juliana - Lost in Translation, or The Man Who Doomed TheEarth
Alchemist – The End of Civilization as we Know it
Remedy – Mother’s Denial
TDZ – Clean Sweep, Area 51 - Vote!

 

[farntfar]

My pleasure Perp and Parson.
They were both great stories.

And my thanks to TDZ for the listing.

 

[Aun Doorback]

OK my vote's in now - Again, all who entered deserve a credit. In the end it came down two, for me; Victoria and Stormcrow - Both were brilliant stories and haunted me.


Stormcrow get's my vote, as I could see that happening

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Quote:
Originally Posted by hopewrites
Thanks (6 pgs later) to CC for the mention.
I'm positively crunched for time atm, but will attempt to make an effort at voting.
Oh my. I thought you said you were crushed by an ATM. I was imaging your little cat feet sticking out from underneath an ATM machine.

I thought it was springs that had the Time ATM. The one where you can withdraw extra time, as needed.

 

[stormcrow]

"For me....?"

Thank You for your vote Aun! That's really made my day.

 

[johnnyjet]

Thanks for the listing, TDZ! Much appreciated.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Thanks for the shortlistings Farntfar, tdz, jonnyjet, Storyteller and A Fare Wells.

Thanls for the positive write up Victoria.

Thanks SB for the insipring words and making it onto the finals board.

And special thanks to Serendipity and Remedy for the votes.

Culhwch snatches my vote with the perfect entry.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Thank you, johnnyjet for the mention.

Time is growing short! I think I better get out there and vote.

 

[Juliana]

Thank you very much for the vote and the listing, TDZ and Tywin.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

And here are my lists, long, short and **vote**:

Karn
Perpetual Man
chrispenycate
Luiglin
Hex
Victoria
hopewrites
Starbeast
David Evil Overlord

**alchemist**

It was very close between Victoria and alchemist -- two very different stories, which I liked for very different reasons -- but somehow the punchline in alchemist's lingered in my mind for several days, and that gave his story the edge.

 

[Ursa major]

All sorts of alien stories almost succeeded in invading my list. Here are the more or less successful ones:

Honourable Mentions:

• The Last Truth by Springs
• For the Love of the Game by ratsy
• Lost in Translation, or The Man Who Doomed The Earth by Juliana
• Omega by Culhwch

Runners Up:

• All’s Wells That Ends Wells by Perpetual Man
• Pulp covers by chrispenycate
• Lebensraum by paranoid marvin

Winner:

• The End Of Civilisation As We Know It by Alchemist

(In the above, each category is ordered by time of posting.)

 

[Ursa major]

The poll is now closed and we have a winner.

Congratulations, Alchemist!​