Woop woop etc, it's voting time! Here are my top tenuous from this month's pick of the pops...
@Luiglin - Luiglin's back on good old terra cotta, as Stan would say, with a witty D&D skit. My favourite little touch was the net curtains (one of two mentions for net curtains this month - is that a record, @The Judge?), but I'm afraid, like Peat, I can't let the dissing of Cleric slide.
@Cat's Cradle - It's a good job I read all the entries after writing and posting my own, as I might not have gone for my butchery of the English language theme had I read Cat's much more elegant use of the etheral, mountain voice. As ever, Cat's prose is strong and the tale's as delightfully grim as a fairy story.
@s.d. Ervin - So good I read it twice, and on second reading a lot of the little touches - the posters, the composites, the BeeGees! (because they're Stayin' Alive, perhaps...?) - brought it to life. Thematically it's actually really similar to my WIP, so maybe that drew me in more than it might have done otherwise, but I think it stands well enough on its own two feet. The naming of the ragtag bunch of survivors as the Minotaurs is a nice touch, and hints at some deeper psychological truth; that in times of desperation, we ourselves are the monsters at the heart of the maze.
@Phyrebrat - you know, I seem to shortlist/vote for you every 300-worder, so much that I now approach your entries looking for reasons not to shortlist it rather than reasons to do so, like a grumpy agent whose slushpile has metastasised to the size of a small British protectorate. But when you put up stuff like this I just...can't... help it... the voice of your Provost is immaculate; the idea is chilling; you portray, as ever, a very strong sense of geographic location; and there are so many subtle riffs on classical horror (The Fog, Lovecraft, James, and do I detect even a dash of Conrad? I think I do...) that the only logical conclusion is that it's perfectly original in its mixology. Killer last line, too.
@chrispenycate - A perfectly adroit blend of verse and prose, with a surprising use of POV at the end, and effective hints at a wider world disturbed and upset by violent conflict: the diaspora, the survivalism, the hermeticism, and the re-primitivisation of man, all deftly delivered with a flick of a word here or there.
@Venusian Broon - another super effective voice set against a strong, well-imagined theatre of the macabre. How you set so much development into so few words is admirable - there's a sense of a whole story being played out here, not just a little vignette.
@M. Robert Gibson - funny one, this. On first scanning I didn't think much of this, but on second reading I found it to be very amusing, again with some lovely flourishes (again with the net curtains!) and the absurdity of the bureaucratic jobsworths perfectly captured so as to be something from Brazil, or Pratchett. And where the hell did Bompers come from as an exclamation?! I must steal it. In fact it was all so well done that it became one of favourites for the month. But I must express my frustrations: if only you'd done a proper proofread and caught out those annoying little errors in syntax and punctuation! That probably would have bumped you up to a vote. Sorry to be a party pooper...
@The Judge - well written as always, and with a delicious kicker at the end. And I do love a world in which Stone Trolls read Shakespeare.
@LittleStar - Littlestar's entry is chock full of beautifully-written character portraits, and offers glimpses of a dark and spoilt world beyond the confines of the door. It also, alongside SD Ervin's story, is unique in showing the psychological perspective of being inside the door. Therefore, this becomes a rather bleak sketch of the perils of venturing beyond the safety of the doorway, but of the inevitability of doing so. The family's caught in another psychological truth: to stay put will result in death, while to venture beyond does the same, but all the same, you gotta do it. Symbolism of the strongest order.
@The Big Peat - This reminds me of the Wise Woman scene in Blackadder. And any story that does that has got to be onto a good thing. Here is a vote! Which I'm not going to give to you.
After much praying, caterwauling and breast-beating, I decided to award my votes to S.D Ervin, Phyrebrat (yes, I know), and Littlestar. Top Marks all round! Hurrah!
ETA: I've just noticed that everybody, but everybody, has received at least one vote, which is rather lovely (although also a bit Communist). Is this a record?
Hotdang!!!!!
Woop woop etc, it's voting time! Here are my top tenuous from this month's pick of the pops...
@Luiglin - Luiglin's back on good old terra cotta, as Stan would say, with a witty D&D skit. My favourite little touch was the net curtains (one of two mentions for net curtains this month - is that a record, @The Judge?), but I'm afraid, like Peat, I can't let the dissing of Cleric slide.
@Cat's Cradle - It's a good job I read all the entries after writing and posting my own, as I might not have gone for my butchery of the English language theme had I read Cat's much more elegant use of the etheral, mountain voice. As ever, Cat's prose is strong and the tale's as delightfully grim as a fairy story.
@s.d. Ervin - So good I read it twice, and on second reading a lot of the little touches - the posters, the composites, the BeeGees! (because they're Stayin' Alive, perhaps...?) - brought it to life. Thematically it's actually really similar to my WIP, so maybe that drew me in more than it might have done otherwise, but I think it stands well enough on its own two feet. The naming of the ragtag bunch of survivors as the Minotaurs is a nice touch, and hints at some deeper psychological truth; that in times of desperation, we ourselves are the monsters at the heart of the maze.
@Phyrebrat - you know, I seem to shortlist/vote for you every 300-worder, so much that I now approach your entries looking for reasons not to shortlist it rather than reasons to do so, like a grumpy agent whose slushpile has metastasised to the size of a small British protectorate. But when you put up stuff like this I just...can't... help it... the voice of your Provost is immaculate; the idea is chilling; you portray, as ever, a very strong sense of geographic location; and there are so many subtle riffs on classical horror (The Fog, Lovecraft, James, and do I detect even a dash of Conrad? I think I do...) that the only logical conclusion is that it's perfectly original in its mixology. Killer last line, too.
@chrispenycate - A perfectly adroit blend of verse and prose, with a surprising use of POV at the end, and effective hints at a wider world disturbed and upset by violent conflict: the diaspora, the survivalism, the hermeticism, and the re-primitivisation of man, all deftly delivered with a flick of a word here or there.
@Venusian Broon - another super effective voice set against a strong, well-imagined theatre of the macabre. How you set so much development into so few words is admirable - there's a sense of a whole story being played out here, not just a little vignette.
@M. Robert Gibson - funny one, this. On first scanning I didn't think much of this, but on second reading I found it to be very amusing, again with some lovely flourishes (again with the net curtains!) and the absurdity of the bureaucratic jobsworths perfectly captured so as to be something from Brazil, or Pratchett. And where the hell did Bompers come from as an exclamation?! I must steal it. In fact it was all so well done that it became one of favourites for the month. But I must express my frustrations: if only you'd done a proper proofread and caught out those annoying little errors in syntax and punctuation! That probably would have bumped you up to a vote. Sorry to be a party pooper...
@The Judge - well written as always, and with a delicious kicker at the end. And I do love a world in which Stone Trolls read Shakespeare.
@LittleStar - Littlestar's entry is chock full of beautifully-written character portraits, and offers glimpses of a dark and spoilt world beyond the confines of the door. It also, alongside SD Ervin's story, is unique in showing the psychological perspective of being inside the door. Therefore, this becomes a rather bleak sketch of the perils of venturing beyond the safety of the doorway, but of the inevitability of doing so. The family's caught in another psychological truth: to stay put will result in death, while to venture beyond does the same, but all the same, you gotta do it. Symbolism of the strongest order.
@The Big Peat - This reminds me of the Wise Woman scene in Blackadder. And any story that does that has got to be onto a good thing. Here is a vote! Which I'm not going to give to you.
After much praying, caterwauling and breast-beating, I decided to award my votes to S.D Ervin, Phyrebrat (yes, I know), and Littlestar. Top Marks all round! Hurrah!
ETA: I've just noticed that everybody, but everybody, has received at least one vote, which is rather lovely (although also a bit Communist). Is this a record?
I believe so, though no official statistics are being kept on curtains, lace or otherwise.
Not a record, but only the third time it's happened, and it's been 3 years since the last time, in April 2015; the first occasion being October 2014.
When the voting's over, could you point out my little faux pas? Faux pases? (What the heck is the plural of faux pas?)
I think I know, but I'd like confirmation from a pro
Or should I post in the 300 word critique thread?
