Discussion -- November 2017 -- 75 Word Challenge

[Cathbad]

Congratulations Mosaix!

 

[johnnyjet]

Congratulations, mosaix, on your 8th win! What an accomplishment! What's your secret?

 

[Peter V]

Congratulations mosaix on another well earned win.

I would like to thank Hugh, Kerrybuchanan and The Dusty Zebra for the mentions, Pedro Del Mar, johnnyjet and Cat's Cradle for the shortlisting. And a big thank you to Littlestar for the vote.

 

[Luiglin]

Congratulations, mosaix, on your 8th win! What an accomplishment! What's your secret?

I've checked. Every single winning entry has been the same story but with different plot, theme, genre and characters.

 

[Ashleyne]

Congratulations, mosaix!!!

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Congratulations, @mosaix, King of the 75'ers!

 

[Cat's Cradle]

8 wins is amazing, with such strong fields over the years - congrats, mosaix!

Thank you for the question about my story. I am rushed tonight, but will post something tomorrow (or send you a PM). I'm a little worried if I explain my entry, some of the folks who voted for it may regret their decision.

edit: found the time now. Nervous, but - mosaix, please see the Improving our 75 Word Stories thread in about 5 minutes.

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

Congratulations Mosaix! 8th Win - Awesome!

Thanks for the mention Shyrka - much appreciated

 

[Parson]

Congratulations Mosaix! It was indeed an interesting story.

My story found its genesis in a song. Shelly West sang a song entitled "Jose Cuervo" whose hook line was "I had too much tequila last night" and key line for my story went: "Now wait a minute, things don't look to familiar. And who is this cowboy sleeping beside me? He's awfully cute, but how did I get his shirt on? I had too much tequila last night."

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Now that the circus has left town, it might be a good time to head over to the 100 word anonymous challenge and send me an entry by the end of November 30th.

November 2017 100 Word Anonymous Challenge

 

[Abernovo]

Congratulations, @mosaix! A worthy winner, and a consistently good writer.

Huge thank you to @Culhwch for the completely unexpected vote. Made my day.

 

[Starbeast]

Congratulations Mosaix​

Right, back after a week offline. So, thanks to Parson, Shyrka and Victoria for their wonderful reviews. I'll try to vote later but for now my thanks to Antimon for the vote. I never expect them. And for honorable or other mentions my thanks to Beasty, Pedro (there's only one, right?), Kerry, Parson and Suzanne. Always means a lot to me.

You're welcome Droflet. I'm so glad you could join us.

Droflet -- One Night in Dead End, Nebraska
*mosaix -- Poor Draw Leads to Boot Hill*
AstroZon -- Fashion Fortune
Starbeast -- Sideshow Sanctuary
HazelRah -- The Steal of the Show

Thank you Lady Zebra for the listing. You made my night shine bright.

Honorable mentions:
Droflet, Glen, Antimon, Starbeast, chrispenycate, Ajid, paranoid marvin, Suzanne Jackson, TJ

Thank you Cat's for the listing. I feel awesome.

Shortlist: Sideshow Sanctuary, @Starbeast
Come See, @paranoid marvin

You made me smile, Shyka. Thank you.

Thank you to everyone who mentioned my story, and especially to Parson, Mith, and Hugh for the votes!

You're immensely welcome, Teresa Edgerton. Stay awesome.

Wow, thanks for the votes Ashleyne and Luiglin, it really does make my day, my month even. And of course thank you for the shortlistings Starbeast,Kerrybuchanan,Teresa, Cats Cradle and The Judge

You are tremendously welcome bro. I'm very glad you could be here with us.

Congratulations @mosaix. A most deserved win. Also, many thanks to @Dan Jones, @Starbeast, and @johnnyjet for the mentions. Hopefully, @mosaix chooses to be a merciful taskmaster this month and pick something I have read before...

You're very welcome, Joshua Jones. Keep those entries coming.

Congratulations Mosaix.

Thanks everyone who mentioned, voted for me think this has been my best month.

You are extremely welcome, Nixie. It's always a pleasure to have you join us in the challenges.

Thanks, everyone.

Thanks to mith, Dan Jones, nixie, hugh, Teresa, johnnyjet, CC, Luiglin, Shyrka, TJ and UM for the shortlists / mentions.

A special thanks to Talysia, Suzanne, TDZ, Starbeast, Droflet, Phyrebrat, Victoria and HazelRah for the votes.

Way to go bro. Outstanding story, my friend. Wow, eight wins! Keep up the awesomeness.

​

MY STORY: I was inspired by a Carnival of Horror that came to my town, when I was a kid. It was extremely creepy with, gory attractions of life-size wax figures in disturbing scenes of torture (even a man eaten by giant spiders), mutant animals that looked like monsters, a woman who could turn into a werewolf, a magician that would behead people with lots of blood, AND, real bottle babies (a.k.a. pickled punks). I thought they were fake mutations in jars, UNTIL, a couple of weeks later, it made the front page of the local newspaper and all of the unfortunate babies were taken from the carnival and given a proper burial. Later, in my twenties, I was on a radio talk show, and I spoke about that Carnival of Horror. I'll never forget that experience when I was a child, at that shocking carnival.

Facts of Interest:

1. When the word, "RUBE" is shouted at a carnival (or circus, etc.), that is the code word for trouble. Like an unruly person (or persons) who is threatening the crowd or performers.

2. "TALKER", is the proper title for the person who speaks to the crowd, letting everyone know what's in the show. Not, "Barker". A common mistake.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I’m horribly envious of your childhood carnival experiences @Starbeast. That sounds like a fantastic experience. Interesting to hear the facts about rube & Barker, too.

pH

 

[Ursa major]

As it's "tell us your inspiration" time, mine was the name of a novel (now a series of novels) written by a panel member at the recent BristolCon, Stark Holburn:

Nunslinger.​

 

[Hugh]

Coincidentally this was in the paper today:

Hunter Barnes's best photograph: the bar for off-season sideshow performers

There's a great photograph:

Here's the first few lines:
I’d always wanted to do a book on small carnivals. So when a documentary maker told me about Gibsonton in Florida, I immediately bought a plane ticket. The town was built for people from the carnival industry, to give them a place to live off-season. It’s divided into zones for animals and circus acts: you can have a carnival ride on your front garden and a giraffe in your back. It was close to Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus and was once a village for little people, who we used to call “dwarves”. The people considered “giants” had their own encampment.

I’d seen an interview with a guy named Ward Hall, who owns the World of Wonders, the last travelling sideshow in America. The interview was from the 1980s and he was looking old then, so I wasn’t sure he’d still be alive. But I tracked him down and we talked. He invited me out to his house and took me to Showtown.

Showtown is the bar where all the old guys from the sideshow go to have a coffee in the morning. It smells of burgers, fries and beer. My first thought was how cool it would look to shoot somebody at its window. When I asked the woman, she said: “Honey, I’m cooking.” So I asked: “What if I go outside?” She said: “All right, but have that camera of yours ready.” She stuck her head out and shouted: “This what you’re looking for?” I took two frames.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Well played Mosaix!

 

[Dan Jones]

Congratulations Mosaix, great story, great win! And 8 wins is a pretty awesome achievement. I hope it’s going on your CV!

 

[Shyrka]

Congrats indeed, Mosaix.

Regarding inspiration, as I mentioned in the improving thread, a lot of mine came from the Carnivale TV show from a few years back.

 

[Parson]

Not having HBO I had never even heard of Carnivale, but I think I would have liked it.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

It's very grim fantasy, Parson. (Not grimdark, but bordering on horror.) And the villain is a preacher possessed by a demon. So you might not like it. Also, there are only two seasons, and the story ends abruptly and on a cliffhanger. That said, I did watch it all the way through those two seasons and was disappointed there wasn't a third, and I'm not in the habit of continuing to watch things I don't like, so I have to say I found a certain fascination to the story, characters, and setting even though it did depress me. (Also, it referenced a lot of things that my parents had experienced or known when they were young and had told me about as I was growing up, so it rang true on several levels.)

I don't have HBO either. I watched it on my Kindle. If you have a Fire you could try an episode or two from Amazon Instant Video and see if you like it.