Discussion thread -- August 2016 75-word Writing Challenge

This series of weird stories was very hard to understand. There were some stories that I felt weird, but not stories at all. And a few clearly seemed lacking on the benevolent side.

Shortlist
Contender
Voted for

The part of the story that really stood out for me in

Luiglin: "Mr. Benevolent the Call me" was the benevolent emotion sucker. (Reminds me of using Leeches to cure someone.)
Starbeast: "Mercy from the Watchers in Space" was the angelic mushrooms. (Reminds me of Timothy Leery's thinking.)
StilLearning: "An Old Secret" was a perfect wast of 3 wishes. (Reminds me of the short story "The Rabbit's Paw.")
Moonbat: "A Piston of Existence" was a baby's gift of love. (Reminds me a bit of "The Gift of the Magi.")
The Judge: "Well Somebody has to Arrange the Matches" was a whole different take on following the light. (Reminds me of a Jewish grandmother.)
The Dusty Zebra: "Don't" was a villainous story explaining how a story bites the hand that feeds it. (Reminds me of how my sermons wind up being preached more to myself than to anyone else.)
 
Eeep! A vote? Benevolent, indeed. :D Many thanks, Parson!

For a change, I thought I would get my voting in early, so here goes:

Ashleyne -- The Spider Lady
Aun Doorback -- The Pit and the pent up son...
StilLearning -- An Old Secret
Glen -- untitled
Perp -- Not Nellie, the Other One (special mentions for "pachyderm paradigm" and also the hidden bit)
AJB -- The Ginger Bread Man
Phyrebrat -- Homo Supinus
*Moonbat -- A Piston of Existence*
Parson -- A True Ghost Patrol
TJ -- Well, Somebody has to...
The Big Peat -- A Furry Friend
Jo -- My Kinda Gal
 
I'm not a stickler for total adherence to the genre/theme choices...in part because I'm not always sure I absolutely understand, say, the genre (and I might be missing some nuance of a story because of my own limitations as a reader). I go for stories that appeal to me...and there are always too many of those to list. I'm not sure if this makes me a good, or a bad Challenger, but it's just who I am. So, of the many, many stories I liked this month, here is a list of the top...let me count...11:

Shortlist:
Sinister42, Coast, Cory Swanson, Wruter, Culhwch, Robert Mackay, Phyrebrat, The Big Peat.

Finalists:
Ashleyne: Seems a perfect genre for your terrific stories, Ashleyne! Bravo, Spider Lady!
AJB: What a wonderful, sad story! Our benevolent acts are not always rewarded. I'd sit with The Ginger Bread Man for drinks...though I do enjoy sweets with my coffee. :(
TJ: So sweet, and with a great reveal! A beautifully told tale!

Vote: AJB's story really hit me...by a thinly sliced wafer of ginger bread, my vote goes here!

Well done all, and thanks so much for the listing, Cathbad! :)
 
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Right, I had no idea what “new weird” was and so turned to wikipedia for something to inform my story, and subsequently my voting selection. There also seems to be, in my view, a few common threads in how the theme has been interpreted (myself included).

Here are my favourites of the month, and I have adjusted the font of one in a subtle manner to indicate my vote:

  • Coast - Comedy reveal.
  • Luiglin - I don’t generally read the stories in the comp until voting time arrives. That leaves me with a risk that my story, or parts of it, are similar to another already entered, and it might have happened this month. Sorry. And I’ve just as sorry if it isn’t similar and I’ve claimed it is.
  • Shyrka - An intriguing array of characters.
  • Droflet - “You god-damned, dirty drapes!”
  • johnnyjet - garbos cometh
  • StilLearning - Late reveal, or…is there a twist in the tale?
  • Culhwch - Oy!
  • Moonbat - !
  • Cat’s Cradle - funny with a laugh out loud (lol) final sentence
  • nixie - chitter, chatter
 
Cascade said:
Thanks for the reviews Shyrka and Victoria.

I'll admit that when we got from Saturday to Tuesday with no posts in the discussion thread I was a bit worried that we had burned out our erstwhile reviewers mid challenge. Glad to see it was a false alarm
Click to expand...

You're most welcome. Camping in a forest over the weekend interrupted the normal flow but I'm back to it now. It's this damn last minute rush that always takes time to process!
 
Glen said:
  • Luiglin - I don’t generally read the stories in the comp until voting time arrives. That leaves me with a risk that my story, or parts of it, are similar to another already entered, and it might have happened this month. Sorry. And I’ve just as sorry if it isn’t similar and I’ve claimed it is.
Click to expand...

No apologies necessary. Similar in one way but polar opposite in others.
 
Employment of Choice, @Robert Mackay – Faced with starvation, the subject of this bleak tale sacrifices their individuality for survival. But at what cost?

Homo Supinus, @Phyrebrat – An organisation with unknowable motivations offers the chance to shuffle off the cage of the flesh in exchange for ‘everlasting’ life. Just don’t miss an installment.

A Piston of Existence, @Moonbat – Desperate to save her mother from a literally heart-rending fate, a baby girl makes a supreme sacrifice.

Benevobot, A Short Circuit, And Jeffery, @Cat's Cradle – A robot dispenses small change and a friendly word to those around until a malfunction makes it give out too much. They say money doesn't buy happiness...

A True Ghost Patrol, @Parson – An interstellar trading vessel uses an unusual warning system to avoid the dangers of faster-than-light piracy. It’s spookily accurate...
 
Debut at the Griss Fell Benevolent Society Concert, @Ursa major – At first glance, this story appears to be about a new band playing at a musical gathering but a deeper look reveals a rich seam of genre references.

Well, somebody has to arrange the matches, @The Judge – Whilst many may have - in the heat of the moment - wondered whether traffic signals hate them, surely none have suspected that they have entirely different motivations?

The Beaten and the Free, @HazelRah – A stablehand wrestles with his conscience. Should he free his charges at the cost of his job or continue and suffer the guilt of their confinement.

Seester? @chrispenycate – This complex rhyme paints a picture of a world where the populace rebel against the names they have been given.
 
Parson said:
This series of weird stories was very hard to understand. There were some stories that I felt weird, but not stories at all. And a few clearly seemed lacking on the benevolent side.

Shortlist
Starbeast: "Mercy from the Watchers in Space" was the angelic mushrooms. (Reminds me of Timothy Leery's thinking.)
Click to expand...

Thank you for the Short Listing Parson. You made my day. Originally I was going to go with broccoli, but mushrooms won the coin toss.

Bowler1 said:
NNnnnnnnooooooooooo. The Bear wasn't last to post.

NNNNNNNnnnnnnnnoooooooooooo. The world is ending....I'm very good at this high drama stuff, I should consider switching to acting!

Once more....NNNNNNnnnnnnnnnooooooooooo.
Click to expand...

You should audition for the NEW Star Wars movies.



WEIRD GOOD BENEVOLENCE
(or Why did I dream about Shopping Cart Elves?)
Yeah. Last night I had this bizarre dream that these little six inch Elves were attending shopping carts for people by warming the push bars, keeping the basket clean, but still remaining in the basket of the cart while a patron would fill it with groceries. I suppose this is what happens when I stay up late while re-reading the stories and making my Short List. I even shook my head when I awoke this morning and said, "What the heck was that all about?"



Micro List

DROFLET - AUN DOORBACK - STILLEARNING - DG JONES - BOWLER1 - PHYREBRAT - CAT'S CRADLE



Winner

GLEN



​
Speciall thanks @Victoria Silverwolf and @Shyrka for reviewing the stories.


And...a big WELL DONE to everyone who entered the challenge.
 
Dulahan - thank you for the nice comments, always appreciated.

Cathbad - I'm glad, your stories are always the darkest. They're horrible! :D

My picks:

sinister42
Shyrka
WinterLight
DG Jones (do you have a license for these puns??)
Bowler1
TheDustyZebra
The Judge

My vote was a toss-up between:

Ashleyne B. Watts
Victoria Silverwolf

With Ashleyne B. Watts edging it.
 
HazelRah -- A mechanical steed to a dilemma might lead.

chrispenycate -- Denying one's name leads to a new kind of fame.

nixie -- The six-legged nation requires integration.

Mad Alice -- In a palace of tomes a mythic heroine roams.

The Big Peat -- Little lost pet is evil? You bet!

Jo Zebedee -- Not a trophy wife, but an imprisoned life.

__________________________________________________________________

I am not really qualified to judge this, so no short list.

I'll only say that I voted for "Volant" by sinister42 which seemed to capture both the newness and the weirdness in the correct balance.
 
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Here's my brutal shortlist. It's brutal because I found myself bewildered at some of the stories, unsure of what they meant, others had me looking for a theme of benevolence. It's a shame because there are at least five or six I could add to my shortlist but I just couldn't see the benevolence. (I know, right, me saying that! :D )

So: shortlist, faves* and vote
Luiglin
Johnnyjet
Winterlight
StilLearning
Glen
AJB*
TDZ*
Jozeb*

pH
 
I think 3 mentions makes this my most successful one yet already. Thank you to Nixie, DustyZebra and Cathbad.

My shortlist

Ashleyne. B. Watts
Luiglin
Aun Doorback
StilLearning
Mosaix
The Judge

Italics for those I wish I could vote for as well, bold for the one I did.
 
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