Discussion thread -- June 2016 75-word Writing Challenge

[Cat's Cradle]

I'd say no worries, Ashleyne. IMO the story is fine.

And thank you to Vaz and Coast for the wonderful listings!

 

[Vaz]

Same, Ashlyene. The story is good IMO.

 

[Phyrebrat]

My list:
Chrispenycate
Cascade
Victoria
cab
DG Jones
Wruter
Cory Swanson
J5V
LittleStar
Culhwch
nixie
TJ

Favourites:
Cory Swanson
LittleStar
The Judge

Vote
Cory Swanson

Many thanks for the votes Cathbad and coast!

I'll write more when voting closes

pH

 

[Cory Swanson]

Wow! Thank you phyrebrat! You're not too shabby yourself!

 

[Perpetual Man]

What the ?????

Just checked in for the first time in days and realised that not only had I fallen behind with the comments, but we're rapidly approaching the end of the voting period.

There are a lot of expletives I could be using about now, so I'll just smile politely and thank everyone who has listed my story.

 

[HazelRah]

I had a sudden panic that voting closed tonight, but I was wrong. I had more time than I thought.

Long list:

Zen Dragon
Nixie
Wruter
J5V
Cascade

Shortlist:

TDZ
Johnnyjet
LittleStar
Culhwch

Special mention to Ihe who missed out on the vote by an indecisive whisker.

Vote:

Cab

 

[Cascade]

I had to cut some very good stories to get down to a manageable shortlist of:

Vaz
Parson
Phyrebrat
Cory Swanson

My runner up was:
Coast

Who just missed out, behind my winner:
DG Jones.

 

[Cory Swanson]

Cool. Thanks for the mention, cascade!

 

[Parson]

Thanks for the mention @Cascade

 

[Dan Jones]

Ooh, big high fives, Cascade! I do love the smell of votes in the morning.

 

[mosaix]

Don't think I've seen anything like the current voting pattern before. 15 votes in total and only one story with more than one vote - and that's got two.

 

[Luiglin]

Just about to read through again. I'll avoid looking at the current votes and see if I can make it more awkward.

 

[Dan Jones]

Don't think I've seen anything like the current voting pattern before. 15 votes in total and only one story with more than one vote - and that's got two.

15-way vote-off, anyone?

 

[Luiglin]

Ah, I've added to the one vote brigade as I went for Mosaix's cunningly lazy goblins.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Don't think I've seen anything like the current voting pattern before.

A lot of stories and a lot are very good, I'm flummoxed.

 

[mosaix]

A lot of stories and a lot are very good, I'm flummoxed.

Welcome to the challenges, Ray. It's not just the writing that's challenging.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Fun challenge! Great theme and genre choices, StilLearning!
As always, it was very difficult culling for my lists, but here we go:

Shortlist:
Vaz, Cascade, Victoria, Coast, Ihe, Parson
Finalists:
Ragandar, Sinister42, TDZ
Vote:
Dusty. I loved this!!

Looks as though anyone could win! Perhaps a dark horse candidate with zero votes might come through still, and win with three! Best of luck all, CC

 

[Dan Jones]

Here's my top ten:

@Ragandar - a pontification on the semblance of the self and the yearning for one's own identity in the brutal, dehumanising (or de-orc-ising??) environments of mass effort. I am not a number!

@Cascade - a sweet meditation on how the menial and humdrum can appear to squash the most colourful of souls, but actually has no hold on our glorious selves once the clock-out bell rings.

@Coast - a clever scientific twist on a fantasy set up. I liked the idea of physical units made flesh. Nicely done!

@Ihe - Very witty take on the genre. Reminded me a bit of Rimmerworld!

@Shyrka - A biting satire that hits at the heart of the diminishing value of manufactured tat. We're all Dark Lords now!

@Wruter - Ah, the curse of the lovelorn addict. In an extension of Shyrka's tale, here even the swell and ebb of the human heart is commodified to be squandered recklessly. Melancholy and witty.

@Parson - epic in scale and deeply thought provoking, this considers conflicts between the old ways and the new. The threat of extinction from the twin prongs of famine and demographic decline are dealt with n understated ways. Alone among the entries in championing manufacturing as a force for good.

@Phyrebrat - we impart pieces of ourselves into that which we make, be it swords or scions. This piece captures the ongoing sacrifices the ordinary folk make in times of war, and how these sacrifices are borne by future generations.

@Culhwch - Completely and utterly splendid in its silliness. Python would be proud!

@TheDustyZebra - another satire, this about diminishing resources, diminishing quality and the "varying" promises manufacturers make with respect to the performance of their own products.

Well, a toughie this month. There were some real gems on the production line this month, but one of them gleamed out with extra iridescence. My vote went to Parson, for a staggering entry.

 

[Vaz]

Thank you Cascade and Cats for the short listing.

 

[Mr Orange]

just went to see who had made the jump to two votes, only to find out one of them was me!

many thanks @mosaix for the stealth vote!

now i just need to find the time to votes myself. which i will do.