Discussion thread -- October 2015 75-word Writing Challenge

[Dan Jones]

Thanks for the mentions, Holland and Juliana!

 

[Culhwch]

Cul – Не толькі выдатны непаразуменне, што можа прыйсці, калі два выгляду сустрэцца з розных мовах, але ёсць таксама цяжкасці, якія прыходзяць, калі сувязі паміж узроставымі групамі. Даволі няёмка на самай справе.

Wait, what'd you say about my mother?

 

[Mad Alice]

Thankyou for the review, Tim!

- Oranges and lemons, say the time for a birth announcement or perhaps, more importantly, the warning sound, for many reasons that sounded the bells of pure language (or perhaps a holiday - you know, with dragons)

Very lovely!

 

[TitaniumTi]

Wow! Is it my imagination, or is the quality of entries improving each month? I could have voted for just about all the entries. As I had only one vote, these were my choices:

Long list
Relativity
Love Letters
Love Found, Fades and Fails
The Ministry Of Language and Linguistics
Brocas's
The Carillon
Cheers To The Universal Language
History, redux: Chapter 1
The problem with multiple AI’s and interstellar pirating on a shoestring.
We One

Short List
Digital Communication
Alien Bride
Laughter Trumps All
Graffiti Gongorism
Out Of The Mouths...

Vote
Little-read Writing Hood; or Words in Play

 

[Glen]

Thanks, so far, for I count five nods and one raised hand. I raise and tip my glass to you all.

This was an exceptional month of stories, and I think we need to send up a few skyrockets for Culhwch for picking an inspiring theme. Thanks.

My personal favourites:

• Luiglin - even the title is funny
• Victoria Silverwolf - I don’t know what this one is about but still like it.
• Travis Woodward - I like the idea.
• LittleStar - well executed. pulls us right into the heart of spoken language
• Ashyleyne. B. Watts - lol. That’s amazing. Reminds me of old sci-fi mags. *
  
• Droflet - never judge an alien race by its physiognomy (and thanks, btw, for almost voting for me :0))
  
• Cat’s Cradle - wonderful. dense with info. takes award for best use of title.
• Bowler1 - rofl
• chrispenycate - best verse in the universe
• Mad Alice - tonal DefCon red
• Venusian Broom - machine code
• The Judge - rofl. Best use of the phrase “metaphoric conceits”.

* *** VOTE WINNER!!! VOTE WINNER!!! VOTE WINNER!!! VOTE WINNER!!! ***

 

[Droflet]

Another mention. Really wasn't expecting anything this month so many, many thanks, Glen.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Congratulations everyone -- this is a terrific group of stories. I have a solid top-five list, and after that culling to a reasonably-sized honorables list was remarkably difficult...that list, as presented here, may not actually be 'reasonably-sized'. But here we go:

Honorable mentions:
Victoria, Travis, HazelRah, Ashleyne, Mr. Orange, Tim James, Robert Mackay, Phyrebrat, TitaniumTi, willwallace, Mad Alice, HareBrain, Ursa

Top five:
Glen - this set the tone for the challenge very nicely. A great take on the genre/theme pairing. Very moving, with a number of terrific lines.
Kerry - dark, and wonderful. One of those stories that seem to contain many more than 75 words.
DG - terrific world-building, and a dark look into a rather ominous-seeming future. Nicely done.
JoZ - there is a sad sweetness to this story that I found quite moving.
Starbeast - this story seemed so honest/real, to me. With that last line, I absolutely saw the speaker in my mind, saying the words.

Vote: DG My favorite this month! (And perhaps a juggernaut in the making??) Best of luck in the voting, all!

Thanks so much to Victoria for the mention! I truly appreciate it!
And thank you, Glen, for the mention, and the very kind words. My stories are getting progressively weirder, and I'm just hoping for mentions now; I appreciate, greatly, the extra thoughts you posted.

edit--my notes are nearly indecipherable...I missed a name from my honorables list - HB.

 

[Culhwch]

...and I think we need to send up a few skyrockets for Culhwch for picking an inspiring theme. Thanks.

All credit goes to holland for that one!

 

[Ursa major]

Many thanks for the vote, TitaniumTi.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Most enjoyable reading through this months - especially as I thought I wouldn't have the time after all the various upheavals moving...

So mentions of those that I like immediately - Glen, Cat's Cradle, Bowler1, Kerrybuchanan, Hex, Robert Mackay, johnnyjet, Culhwch and Ursa Major

The ones that required a bit more thought and made a short list:

Vaz - Loved the scale of your story in such few words.
Droflet - This is how the first human (or is it mens?) encounter with aliens will really go down, I'm sure.
Mr Orange - LOL on reading this one, brilliant.
Jo Zebedee - Why are your stories often so poignant? Well I love a bit of a blubber...
Phyrebrat - A brave attempt to try and get something non-human into human words, worked for me.
HareBrian - Almost voted for this, reminded me of a tad of Ink and Incapability, definitely an whiff of Blackadder.
The Judge - It's a bit hoary such a concept, but I couldn't resist it. Echoes of Sirens of Titan for me!
Parson - Along with Droflet, another probably scarily accurate forecast on any human-alien interactions.

But only one vote. And normally I don't respond well to verse, but Chrispenycate, well, you wrote something that spoke to me in more ways than you can imagine. Thank you!

 

[Droflet]

Thanks so much for the mention, VB. Always greatly appreciated.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I voted earlier, here's my list.

Victoria Silverwolf - there's something really lovely about giving the natural world, physics, science and all that stuff sentience. I must admit I'm a bit of a hippy at heart so suns declaring their unconditional love for us really stuck with me.
Travis Woodward - This reminded me of Silent Running, Wall-E, and perhaps elements of AI. It was a bittersweet tale and if you know me you know two things; I like bitterness, and I like bittersweetness
ratsy - I'm trying to say why I liked this without referring to the final line. I can't. So, that's why I liked it.
Venusian Broon - It's rare for me to go for humorous entries - not that I don't think Chronners are funny, I just mean the darker ones normally force them, but these crazy computers really tickled me.
Harebrain - For the genius of sinister words. Love it!
TJ- Another funny entry. I was expecting something dark from you for some reason - language seems such ripe ground for a hardship narrative. I also thought you held back the punchline rather artfully until the...well, punchline.
Ursa - For mindboggling smartness.


My Top Three

Kerry Buchanan - meetings with remarkable trees. See comment above for Victoria... Living on the edge of Epping Forest in London, and making time to walk through there as much as possible this has given me more food for thought. Sentient trees/plants is something I've played with myself - not in the Prince Charles way, of course, just my writing. This was one of my top three.

Glen - My paternal grandmother had Alzheimer's and when I moved to London my landlady's handyman, Carson, kind of adopted me as a surrogate son. His wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a few years ago and watching him cope with its insidious MO and watching his childhood sweetheart disappear before his eyes has been a heartbreaking experience to witness. Reading this really made me think of the tragedy of Alzheimer's and marvel at what a wonderful allegory or metaphor you've created here.

DG Jones - The first time I read it, I was reminded of the madness of the bureaucrats in Terry Gilliam's Brazil. I loved the dark absurdity of limiting words - like lobotomising someone's ability to exist in a talking world. I sometimes feel like this dark agency has visited me when I'm searching for a word I just can't find.

In the end, after a lot of indecision, I went for DG Jones' story. It's just too weird and absurd not to vote for.

pH

 

[Dan Jones]

Big thank you and thumbs up to Cat's Cradle and Phyre for those lovely votes, and also for the mention TitaniumTi - I am most grateful

 

[Starbeast]

Short List

Starbeast

there were many fine entries this month, and whittling them down to a short list was very difficult. After much consideration, I had to go with this Kafkaesque nightmare.

Thank you Lady Victoria, for the Short List mention and for your review. You made my night.

I fear I was in the mood for a smile when I read last night, and my shortlist was Victoria, Kerry, Juliana and Starbeast with the two comedy entries (Ju and Beastie) competing for the vote. In the end, Starbeast edged it.

You made my evening Jo Zebedee. Thank you for the vote, you stunned me. Wheeeeeeeee!

Congratulations everyone -- this is a terrific group of stories. I have a solid top-five list, and after that culling to a reasonably-sized honorables list was remarkably difficult...that list, as presented here, may not actually be 'reasonably-sized'. But here we go:

Starbeast - this story seemed so honest/real, to me. With that last line, I absolutely saw the speaker in my mind, saying the words.

Vote: DG My favorite this month! (And perhaps a juggernaut in the making??).

Thank you Cat's for the wonderful comment. I'm proud to be in your Top 5. You made my night.

 

[Starbeast]

Short List of Favorites

Glen - Victoria Silverwolf - LittleStar - Ashleyne B. Watts - Drof - Cat's Cradle - Bowler1 -

Juliana - Mr Orange - Ratsy - Chrispenycate - DG Jones - Jo Zebedee - Tim James -

Robert Mackay - TitaniumTi - Willwallace - StilLearning - Mosiax - Johnnyjet - Moonbat -

Venusian Broon - TheDustyZebra - Culhwch - HareBrain - The Judge - Ursa Major


Winning Story

"Love at First Smell"




​

A special mention for TIM JAMES. When I wrote my story, I was thinking, "I'll be the first to write in a different language. That will add spice to my tale." BUT, after I posted, I looked into past posts in the latest Discussion Thread, only to discover that the mighty reviewer, Tim James, was already way ahead of me on that same idea. I chuckled as my excitement deflated.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

TDZ - Denean bi espezie hizkuntza ezberdinetan topo egin arte etorri ahal gaizki ulertu zoragarriak dira, ez bakarrik, baina adin-taldeen artean komunikatzeko etortzen diren zailtasunak ez dago bat ere. Nahiko lotsa benetan.

"When two species are poorly understood in different languages until we can come up with are wonderful , not only between age groups , but there is also the difficulties that come to communicate . Quite embarrassing really ."

That's it exactly!

 

[Droflet]

Many thanks for the mention, Beasty.

 

[Dan Jones]

Big thanks for the mention, Beastoid

 

[LittleStar]

My short list this month is as follows:

Victoria Silverwolf - I have two things I have come to think about poetry over the last few years, one of which is that I don't think words need to be understood to have meaning and to be moved. I'm not the best at picking up intricacies, but I still loved every word you used, and I felt them. (I'll get to my second point about poetry after the voting closes )

HazelRah - This is a really sad tale of misunderstanding. I love the calmness of the image of wiping away her frightened tears, ignorant as to why she is scared. Comforting her comes first, soothing pain above everything else.

Kerrybuchanan - Such a simple premise of words as power. But such a lovely way of telling it.

Mr. Orange - HA! I laugh everytime I read this story. I very nearly voted for your curry story last month, and this one is even better. I don't often strike a chord with the comedy stories, but you've managed it, and get my vote for this month!

D.G. jones. Another knockout story. Such a great premise and great execution. You're becoming a 75 word stalwart! If Mr. orange didn't make me laugh quite so much, this would have easily taken my vote. Well done.

Jo Zebedee - a very poignant tale. It seems like a common theme to my enjoying stories this month, but sometimes we don't need language, we don't need words to understand the meaning behind them.

 

[Bowler1]

Thank you Starbeast for the vote much appreciated. I wasn't sure how the toilet humour would go down.
The mentions I've received too are much appreciated.

My mentions are Travis Woodward, Juliana, Kerry, Ratsy (well with a RAY GUN you were always going to get my attention), A Fare Wells, Mosaix, Culhwch, and THE JUDGE. Last but far from least is The Bear and vote winner for me again I think.