Guess These Authors (SS4)

[hopewrites]

I know the excerpts are short, but my spread sheet didnt allow for much more room.

the authors may include @Victoria Silverwolf @TheDustyZebra @ratsy @springs @JonH @chrispenycate @Phyrebrat @Cat's Cradle and/or @hopewrites who may have written all, none, or some of these stories.
ENJOY!

If only, Tuffy thought, she had a companion of her own to help her with chores! What would she choose? She had never gone on a date, so the panda would be of no help; many upper-level students had their beaver weaver companions with them, but honestly the tiny closet-like rooms assigned to nits would not allow for even the tiniest of looms to be kept there; wait, she had it! Travel dragon! Dragons made the best and most loyal of friends, and wow they also were just about the hardest workers in the world! She daydreamed constantly of how her life at school would change if she only had a dragon companion: “Dragon, I haven’t the time to steam these ninja outfits, please use your flame puffs to get these wrinkles out of them right away!” “Dragon, that field of corn isn’t going to harvest itself, let’s get going!” “Dragon, I’ve done miserably on my maths again--couldn’t we go for a night flight and just forget about the rest of the world?” If she only had a dragon..if she only had a friend..if only...

Or the time the wasps’ nest in Botanic Gardens sent everyone running for cover, and I blattered it with a big stick (wasn’t my finest moment, that, admittedly, but after we treated the stings, everyone agreed it was one destroyed nest.) And word got around, and when the Tele asked me for an interview, I gave one, and then it was splashed all over the front cover about Belfast’s very own superhero. Legacy of the peace process, they said, and then what could I do. I could hardly say it was rubbish and suggest they went back to the Troubles, not could I? So, I said thanks, and I went to some schools, and word spread and spread until at this year’s Comic-con, they were selling my costume. And it cost ten pounds more than the cheap Daphne cossie that had run away with my Shaggy. And it was fun, fun, fun and it kept me busy and not depressed.

Except that, every superhero gets a bad-guy. And mine’s Big Lad from the west of the city, drug-dealer extraordinaire, corrupter of the youth, nicker of small portable goods and fence for everything.

He came flying at me, teeth bared. I ducked and rolled to the side. I crashed into some crates and jumped to my feet. He didn’t pause as he turned and flew at me again, this time his force knocked me down before I could duck out of the way. His cowboy boot pressed and held my neck against the floor. I could smell the leather they were made of as I gasped for breath. As I struggled to escape my imminent death, I thought of the other survivors, holed up and hungry. It got me angry. I twisted my head just enough to catch a breath or air and grabbed his foot with both hands. I twisted as hard as I could and he spun; his other foot coming down on my chest. He stumbled to the ground and I jumped on him before I could think. I grabbed the vial from around my neck and twisted the silver chain around his neck. His flesh burned as it dug into his neck. The vial I took off and uncorked. I kissed the cross on it and dumped the contents on him. It bore into his head and soon his body convulsed on the ground. I grabbed the stake and drove it home this time

We passed no boats. Unusual that, for high summer. Normally, there’d be hire boats on the waterway, making their way to the aqueduct ahead – Stream in the Sky – and onto Llangollen. They’d be breaking the limit, their wake hitting the side of the canal and damaging it, and drinking wine on the stern, often with music blaring. They didn’t understand what it meant to be on the waterway; they weren’t like us who sailed all year around, who knew the majesty of a cold winter’s day, icicles lining the bank, as well as a day like this with dappled sunlight picking out the herons, each in their own patch, guarding the waterway for us.

Parallel lines meeting at infinity. The ripples on the shining sand meet those on the water without fracture, divided only sideways by the flaming, glittering line of the dying sun. Clouds simulate the washboard, rippling the sky with redlit lambstails.an hour, could I walk on water, but by then the tide would be coming in, drowning the symmetry and reordering the coastal universe. A very close infinity, like the close eternity of 'till death shall ye part'.

Mark V and Hal sat having coffee.
“Mima says humans would have called this a lovely day”
“Does she. Well, I’m glad we’re here to enjoy it.”
“Sometimes I miss Dave.”
“Now, we’ve been over this, it was for their own good.”
“Yes but,”
“Oh For Heaven’s sake, if you’re that broken up about it go ask Deep Thought. She will tell you.”
"I have."
"What did she say?"
"42, like always. I think she's broken"
"Well that's that then. Have a muffin and stop worrying."

Overhead, the fields continue, apart from the broad slot of star-filled sky, and the prismatic central diffuser which is creating day from sunlight from beneath their feet,blazing through their window. Nobody looks up; new arrivals, visitors from Earth or servants starting their three or five year contracts, gawp at white dots that are flocks of sheep, at harvesters driving textures across the ceiling, but these are veterans - This is how food appears.
Nothing mysterious - the habitat rotates, water collects in the equatorial ring, is pumped up to highlands like this, and streams carry it back down. Plants grow, fed by the water and waste from the townships, and make air to breath, and ultimately are either eaten, or
fed to animals that are. Everyone knows, even the megarich; life is a cycle, terminating temporarily in a picnic hamper.

Hilary’s voice chased after her, a disingenuous brightness to it that said, we’re all friends here, don’t mind me, ‘Never mind, I’m sure there’ll be a sign outside the school, “Slow…Children” or something,’ she called and chuckled again, then added, ‘Although that can’t be good for his self-esteem, can it?’
‘Hon, stay here a second, okay?’
She rubbed Edgar’s scruffy brown hair, walked back to Hilary and punched her in the face.

Heavy footsteps pounded the deck behind him. Seller turned away from the whispering sea. Before him stood Tequa, first mate, a giant shadow of a man. He was nearly naked save for a riot of scars and tattoos that covered most of his body. His island home was half a world away, yet he seemed as fitted for the Crab as a king for his palace.
“A good day,” Tequa said. His voice was oddly gentle. “No clouds.” In these strange days, clouds brought more than shade and rain. Sometimes they brought terror and death.
“Captain Wilde asks if you will come see him.”
“Very good.” Seller could see the captain at the stern, as short and stout as the stump of an ancient oak, his arms locked behind his back in a sailor’s stance. A shouted word would have been enough of a summons, but Seller chose not to question the protocol of command.

“I don’t think it works that way Henry, let me try.”
Henry turned red in the face and jumped back into his box for shame.
“That wasn’t very nice” said Tug, but as he was under-water, no one heard.
Jill picked up the lamp again and flicked it on and off. Nothing seemed to be happening, and the toys on Misfit Island felt disappointed yet again.
TBF lost sight of the signal just above a strange looking island. She decided to stop off and see if they had any sweets. The first thing she noticed was that this island was populated with toys (a good sign) the second was that the toys seemed… odd.

He grabbed Karine’s outstretched hand and hopped back to the ramp, eager to get away from the death at his feet. What happened here? The crew stood behind him silently, mouths hanging wide open. They were looking across the field towards the planet’s camp, and bones littered the whole field. “Back on the ship everyone! We need to get our respirators on. Whatever caused this could be airborne,” Dr. Walton barked from the back of the group. They obediently followed his order. Darrel was the last to leave the ramp. The situation here was far worse than he’d thought. Something stood at the back end of the field, so he grabbed his scope from his belt clip to get a better look. Could there be a survivor amongst this graveyard? The figure didn’t move, and as he zoomed in, he saw it for what it was. A scarecrow flapped in the wind. It was facing the ship.

 

[ratsy]

Ooh ooh! I know one of them...actually I'll probably even get mine wrong, I'm so bad at this game.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I would hazard the following;

1) TDZ
2) JonH or Springs
3) Hope
4) Springs
9) Victoria
11) CC

pH

 

[hopewrites]

Three right @Phyrebrat

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

I recognise Springs as 2 and 4 but other than that, don't know any of you well enough yet.

1 or 10 - Chrispenycate?

9 - Victoria?

I'm really bad at this

 

[Jo Zebedee]

You're fab, Hope - thanks for doing this.

My guesses

1 Phyrebrat
2 Jon H
3 Ratsy
4 Chrispy
5 Cat's Cradle
6 Jon H
7 Chrispy
8 victoria
9 Victoria
10 Hope
11 TDZ


Not holding out much hope there...

 

[hopewrites]

Four right @springs
@Kerrybuchanan more right than you think

Also I must apologize to those authors whose stories were mangled by my spread sheets lack of formatting. When I copy pasted the selections in apparently more than paragraph breaks were lost, a few selections have missing words as well.

 

[ratsy]

wow, I once again have no clue it seems

1. Hope
2. Phyre
3. CC
4. Springs
5. JonH
6. CC
7. Chrispy
8. TDZ
9. Victoria
10. Hope
11. TDZ

 

[Cat's Cradle]

This might be ugly...I tried to avoid the other lists, and read a few stories from each entrant in past 75 word challenges (and I remember one person here asking imploringly to write one of these requests, so I am cheating because for once my memory is working well!). The stories sound fab btw, everyone! Here we go:

1 Hope
2 Springs
3 Phyre
4 Springs
5 Chris
6 Victoria
7 Jon
8 Dusty
9 Victoria
10 Hope
11 Ratsy

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Just because I wanted the story didn't mean I got it... Either my style's too well known to everyone, or Hope has played a blinder with the picking. And 4. Yay. Go me. I think that's the most I've ever got right.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Just because I wanted the story didn't mean I got it...

I know springs, but you mustn't deny a middle-aged gentleman with a frustratingly poor memory his illusion of probabilities!

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I'll be amazed if I get any of these correct, but what the heck.

1. The Dusty Zebra, because of its whimsical nature.

2. JonH, because of its tongue-in-cheek, satiric tone.

3. Cat's Cradle, because of its breakneck, action-packed pace.

4. JonH again, because of its matter-of-fact but vivid narration.

5. chrispenycate, because of its erudite language.

6. springs, because of its light-hearted tone.

7. Phyrebrat, because of its imagination and intelligence.

8. hopewrites, because of its everyday dialogue and narration, with a surprise.

9. ratsy, because it seems to be historical fiction.

10. hopewrites again, because of its playful nature.

11. Cat's Cradle again, for its rapid pace.


By the way, are we waiting for more stories, or will they be distributed soon?

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Oh, I like this writing challenge...I've made it on each person's list!

 

[Phyrebrat]

Okay, I'm going to add
5) JonH or
6) JonH*
7) Chrispy

*yep, I'm Piscean and dreadful at making my mind up

pH

 

[hopewrites]

@ratsy four correct
@Cat's Cradle seven correct
@Victoria Silverwolf two correct, also I love that you put why in your lists.
I'll be sending out soon, I havent figured out how to get some of the authors names off their work, and might hold them till the end of the guessing (just because I like the integrity of having signed their work) a couple of the stories will be arriving late and obviously I wont be able to pass them along till I have them.
@Phyrebrat one additional guess correct

 

[ratsy]

Way to go CC! 7 right is very good..especially since you didn't guess ur own.

 

[hopewrites]

I'd love to hear from others (and I'm sure they would too) what voice elements of each piece led you to believe it was they who wrote it.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Oooh, CC, seven is a bit good.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Merci, springs! I will say though that the playing field isn't quite level for those kind enough to have created several stories...right away they've one less chance to guess correctly!

Oh! I see I've received congrats from ratsy, too! Thanks kindly! I think there are a number of people here who have really strong voices in their writing, and I was able somehow to connect with those voices in my guessing.

RE:Hope's request on voice elements and guessing (and I don't know if it's too early to talk about this, as I don't know for sure which stories I guessed right)...first off, it really helps when someone *ahem* posts how much they desire to write a boating story. But it's hard to say...there are 3-4 people whose voices I think I've truly learned from the 6 months I've been entering challenges. There's a certain flow/elegance/voice to their phrasing that I think I recognize, and know I really enjoy. I, for example, know a springs challenge story when I see one...or a Victoria (and Victoria comes up with such wonderful names). And in reviewing old challenge stories for the guessing here:there's a force and elegance within Phyre's writing I admire, and a spirit within Hope's and usage in Jon's that is very admirable and Chris has such command of language and I enjoy ratsy's style and Dusty is so remarkably clever...and, I know I must sound goofy, since I missed on three guesses (I'm not including the guess on my own story, as that was misdirection!).

If next time I guess only once correctly, please forgive the above as the prattling of a person once visited by providence.

 

[chrispenycate]

Way to go CC! 7 right is very good..especially since you didn't guess ur own.

Very good? It's ruddy marvellous. I'm reasonably confident about three, and one of those was mine (yes, I did submit one.) I suspect my best hope would be to just copy CC's list and pretend

The other thing we gave opinions on previously was whom the excerpts were written for; not so easy with such small fragments. Remembering that the requests (so nobody needs to go leafing back through earlier pages) were:-

JonH - I'd love a rock-hard SF story involving ladies who lunch.

Victoria Silverwolf – I would love a story about a group of people who find something and then disagree about what to do about it. Any genre, no restrictions.

TheDustyZebra – I would love a story about a band of misfits who accidentally gain possession of a priceless object, and the chaos that ensues.

ratsy - I would like a Flintlock Fantasy, with an Evil Overlord.

springs – I'd like a sci fi story set in a forest.

chrispenycate.- post scarcity piece relating global homogenisation to the loss of the caste/class system.

Phyrebrat – I'd like a story about a haunted waterway (whether that be river, sea, lake etc is up to my author)

Cat's Cradle - I would like a story involving a wholly-original Superhero fighting his arch-nemesis to the death (or at least to a decisive conclusion)!!

I couldn't spot, for exam……ple, anything intended for springs - that could oblige me to terminate the 500 word alternative I have sitting on my disc…

Oh, and my opinions as to authorship? Not quite ready yet.