Discussion thread -- June 2016 75-word Writing Challenge

[sinister42]

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

Thanks for the finalist status!

I'll read & put up my own votes sometime later today, I promise.

 

[johnnyjet]

Nice variety, many interesting & unique variations on the theme. Again, very difficult to narrow these down to favorites. Congratulations to all.

However, after much winnowing:

My Long List, Short List and **** Favorite ****

To Produce a Pagan Mass – chrispenycate
MPD - Zen Dragon
We Are Not What We Do For a Living – Cascade
**** Automation - Victoria Silverwolf ****
Timing Issues – cab
Single Perpetrator - Ashleyne. B. Watts
Cuckoo - DG Jones
Merlin's Raspberry Unicorns: Only $1.98 – Starbeast
The Necromancer's Black Mass - Cat's Cradle
Flynnfection – Ihe
Production Lines - Allen Teasdale
The Curse of Plenty – Shyrka
Griselda's Twenty-Third Husband – Wruter
Hugh - Cory Swanson
A Weighty Problem – StilLearning
Old Gods and New Magic – Parson
Shortcut to Rest – HazelRah
Smithy for a Martyr – Phyrebrat
Fowl Play - The Judge
Nana's Secret Recipe* - TheDustyZebra
A Mother's Wish – ratsy

 

[johnnyjet]

Thanks for the Short Listing, HazelRah! That's pretty awesome for my modest entry.

Also I just noticed I made the challenge a 5-way tie for first place now! Tight race!

 

[Cory Swanson]

Another short list! I just like the fact that people are connecting with old Hugh. He deserves it!

 

[sinister42]

Good ones this month (as every month). Shortlist:

Cab
Mr. Orange
DG Jones
Ihe
Shyrka
Mosaix
Culhwch
Ursa Major

Vote:
Starbeast. Pffffffft.

 

[LittleStar]

Good month, i liked the mix of fantasy wth something more SF associated. Good choices

My short list is as follows:-

Cory
Hazelrah
Cullwch
Ratsy
Nixie

And my vote is going to Phyre. I really liked the feel of this one, really caught me.

 

[Shyrka]

Thanks everyone for the kind mentions. "Biting satire"? Go me!

 

[HazelRah]

Thank you @chrispenycate for the vote! I only just noticed

 

[Parson]

Thanks for the mention @Cat's Cradle it is a nice pick up on a Monday morning.

@DG Jones your vote and especially your review of my story were truly appreciated. Thanks so much!

 

[Shyrka]

My hastily-cobbled together shortlist is as follows:

@Ihe
@Kieran Song
@sinister42
@Coast
@DG Jones
@Wruter
@ratsy

I umm-ed and ahh-ed for a while over my vote but eventually @chrispenycate's archaic rhyme won me over with its alternate take on the subject (one of a few) and deliciously dark imagery of arcane experiments conducted deep within the bowels of the earth.

 

[chrispenycate]

Thank you @chrispenycate for the vote! I only just noticed

Yeah, sorry about that, it wasn't intended to be a stealth vote, but my 'short' list is such a confused mess I couldn't just post it, and I wanted to be certain the vote was registered.

 

[sinister42]

My hastily-cobbled together shortlist is as follows:

@Ihe
@Kieran Song
@sinister42
@Coast
@DG Jones
@Wruter
@ratsy

I umm-ed and ahh-ed for a while over my vote but eventually @chrispenycate's archaic rhyme won me over with its alternate take on the subject (one of a few) and deliciously dark imagery of arcane experiments conducted deep within the bowels of the earth.

Merci for the shortlist!

 

[Starbeast]

Okay, here we go again. My usual blah blah.
Honorables: Beasty

Thanks for the Honorable Mention. You made my day Droflet.

Short list.

Starbeast

Nice to meet you Cory Swanson. And thank you for the Short Listing. You made made day.

Coast, thanks for liking my story.

I've been a little scared that recent events may make my story seem insensitive. I'd like to apologise to anyone who takes offense.

No worries Lady Ashleyne. The same thing happened to me. A while back, I wrote a horror tale in December (I was the only one who wrote a violent story that month), and then a very tragic event happened. My gore tale went "belly-up" and floated down the river. I just shrugged and thought, "ah well, bad timing".

Nice variety, many interesting & unique variations on the theme. Again, very difficult to narrow these down to favorites. Congratulations to all.

However, after much winnowing: My Long List, Short List and **** Favorite ****

Merlin's Raspberry Unicorns: Only $1.98 – Starbeast

Thank you Johnnyjet for the Listing. You made my day.

Good ones this month (as every month).

Vote:
Starbeast. Pffffffft.

Heh heh. Thank you Sinister42, for the Golden Phffft award, I will cherish it always. You made my day shine so bright I got burned by the sun. But seriously, thank you very much for the vote.



Getting these Listings and wonderful vote from SINISTER42 made forget about being passed over for a management promotion. And after being trained for weeks, then nothing said to me about it. AND suddenly seeing two others get the position doesn't ruin my positive attitude. Always look on the bright side of life, right. Or as I like to say........

"When life squeezes lemon juice in your eyes, just scream out a happy song".

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Thank you to everyone who's mentioned my story, and even bigger thanks to CC and Droflet for the lovely votes! Such an interesting range of stories for this theme.

@mosaix I'm pretty sure that statement rings a bell -- "gee, we've never had fifteen votes for fifteen different people." But I'm not going to go back and find the last time we said that.

*sinister42 -- Reboot*
Vaz -- Meal Ticket
Mr Orange -- A Quacking Story
HazelRah -- Shortcut to Rest
mosaix -- Now Yer See It...
Mad Alice -- Remember Me

 

[sinister42]

wooooo a vote?? Thanks!

 

[Starbeast]

SHORT LIST: Honorable Mentions - Finalists - Vote
____________________________________________________________

Chrispenycate
Victoria Silverwolf
Luiglin
Mr Orange
Ashleyne B. Watts
DG Jones
Droflet
Ihe
Allen Teasdale
Perpetual Man
HazelRah
Mosaix
WordSpinner
Culhwch
The Judge
TheDustyZebra​

 

[Droflet]

Thanks so much for the honorable, Beasty.

 

[Starbeast]

You're very welcome Droflet. My favorite line in your story was, "...if you can’t trust a goblin who can you trust".

 

[Mr Orange]

thanks for the listings @Starbeast, @sinister42 and @TheDustyZebra

and what's this? another stealth vote? many thanks @Perpetual Man!

that's two stealth votes.... hmmm... i'm begninning to think people are hesitant to acknowledge they voted for such a brilliant/terrible/fowl (delete as appropriate) pun...

 

[chrispenycate]

So, my 'shortlist' contained:- Bowler, mosaix, Parson, Perpetual Man (who might have done better had I not spent time trying to decode his typo 'at out gates'), Phyrebrat, Ragandar, StilLearning, Zen Dragon and Wruter. There might have been one or two more; my preparations got horribly messy. While Canard à l'Orange is all it might be quacked up to be.


We're only hours from the termination of voting (well, several hours but not days) and: Allen Teasdale, Ashleyne. B. Watts, Bowler1, cab, Culhwch, Eric Zeigler, Heijan Xavier, Ihe, J5V, Kieran Song, Mad Alice, Mr Orange, Ragandar, ratsy, Ray McCarthy, reiver33, sinister42, StilLearning, The Judge, Ursa major, WordSpinner and Zen Dragon hadn't yet given their judgement when I wrote this, and nobody who had not submitted has voted (rare, possibly the first time this has occurred)

I'd like to thank:-
Calliopenjo:- Chrispenycate-Something to get the mind working.
nixie:- Shortlist Chrispy
Parson:- Chrispenycate-- To Produce a Pagan Mass -- Listed because Chris created a poem that takes graduate school reading skills to even begin to understand. (Sorry, Reverent, but even had I taken editing time to improve it, nothing says it would have been more comprehensible. Just me)
Phyrebrat:- My list: Chrispenycate
Starbeast:- Finalists Chrispenycate
Vaz:- Short List Chrispenycate
Victoria Silverwolf:- chrispenycate -- The intricate way in which each word in this thoughtful poem relates to the others emphasizes its theme of a mystical blending of faith and technology.
Wruter:- Shortlist: chrispenycate - for their mentions, and :- Shyrka @chrispenycate's archaic rhyme won me over - for the vote. (Somebody explain why we don't).