DISCUSSION THREAD- December 2018- 75 Word Writing Challenge :

@Joshua Jones .... The Red and Green Eyed Monster .... Joshua indeed did have a "wonderful, awful, idea." He tells us how poor decoration sense can be a capital offense.
 
And they keep floating in. It is only the 20th and we are over 40 stories.

@Tisiphone .... Big Black Boots To Fill .... The Fury gives us a new insight into how the Big Man is able to keep going like an immortal.
 
Santa swilled back a far too generous measure of watered-down Whiskey. Watered down with vodka. He wiped a steaming tear from his eyes and continued to stare at the screen before him.

Tisiphone – It was a good point, Santa realised, No one realised just how hard it was to do what he did. All the time preparing and getting ready to be able to do what he did. As long as the ungrateful whelps got their presents…

Bob – “Blasted Reindeer, think they’re so damn smart. One job to do all feckin’ year and then they strike. I can believe it to. I see them lallygagging around staring through the window! You miserable four-footed freaks!”

Vince W – Santa smacked his lips – “I can almost taste that. It is good. But it breaks the ancient covenant, girl probably did not even know what she was doing. Gives me an idea, though. Incentive I call it.”

Chris – “Hah! Simpler times >Urp< No arsin’ magic, just pulling sleighs to survive, see what vicious critters they are though. Not scared to take on a wolf or two. >Hic< Miserable, slovenly… but I love the all!”

Subtlety Lost – “All these scenes replaying before my eyes, there’s a lot of these that see the ‘deer get turned into food. Don’t matter whether earthbound or celestial counterparts, someone wants to eat the magic. It’s sick!”

Dan Jones – “So, we have another smartearse who thinks a play on words is clever. I’ll tell you somethin’ ‘Ron’ I see through it all you’re just a bully and a.. an ignoramus. Is that right, Betty? Big thing wades in mud and rivers. Tried to have them pull the sleigh one year, but the weight was all wrong and I fell straight up a their…”

“But, Santa,” Betty interrupted, “It’s nearly your bed time. You need to sleep, you will feel better in the morning.”

The big white bearded man rubbed a trail of snot across his black glove, threw his empty glass into the fire which hissed and spit with alcohol infused delight. The he upended the bottle and chugged it down as though it were little more than melted snow.
 
@Ivy Moser .... Aurora Borealis .... Ivy paints us a beautiful picture of reindeer at peace in a natural and spiritual setting.

Welcome to Chrons! That was a good story. I hope you write many more and enjoy yourself with one of the most helpful, yet weirdest groups you will every meet. Feel free to introduce yourself over on the Introduction thread.

@Mad Alice .... For In Cold We Wept .... Mad A sings a beautiful song of the solstice and the myth of the Deer mother.
 
The Red and Green Eyed Monster (Joshua Jones) - This is why you should listen when your neighbour tells you your Christmas decorations aren't happy.

Big Black Boots to Fill (Tisiphone) - Santa's job isn't an easy one, and if you don't believe me, ask his son.

Braaaaaaaaaaaaiinn-deer (David Evil Overlord) - Never tease a zombie, my grandpa used to say; and he was proved right on that fateful Christmas day.

Aurora Borealis (Ivy Moser) - Some reindeer magic creates something beautiful.

For In Cold We Wept (Mad Alice) - A Yule myth about the return of the sun to a dark world.
 
The Red and Green Eyed Monster (Joshua Jones) - This is why you should listen when your neighbour tells you your Christmas decorations aren't happy.

Big Black Boots to Fill (Tisiphone) - Santa's job isn't an easy one, and if you don't believe me, ask his son.

Braaaaaaaaaaaaiinn-deer (David Evil Overlord) - Never tease a zombie, my grandpa used to say; and he was proved right on that fateful Christmas day.

Aurora Borealis (Ivy Moser) - Some reindeer magic creates something beautiful.

For In Cold We Wept (Mad Alice) - A Yule myth about the return of the sun to a dark world.
Thanks for the review! It is really nice to see the perspectives of new reviewers alongside the perpetually excellent reviews of our regulars.
 
Betty watched the overly rosy faced man and wondered just what could be done, he neededsomething reaffirming, something to make him believe again, or Christmas was not going to be what it was meant to be for countless youngsters.

Parson – A man of god was a good starting point, Betty figured, and indeed nothing nasty happened to any reindeer, instead it was a contrast in celebration between the has and has nots. A good message, although, she reflected it was possible Santa would not see it that way. “Bloody selfish rich bas… hic.”

Teresa – And wonder of wonders a tale of magic and hope and beauty that caught the feel of the season. When life seems hard there is all the chance of something out of the blue giving the chance of enlightenment and escape. “Probably taking him off somewhere to eat him.”

scarpellus – Christmas is cancelled. But not without the hope that it might return. Life and aggression replace peace and goodwill for all men, war and strife. “Arse! Betty get me the green stuff.”

Hugh – A warning perhaps, mused Betty. There was a time when reindeer spirits were guides and could lead people to salvation, to mystically remove the darkness from their souls. It seemed the corrosion was more modern a modern possession. “Feck it, Betty! Where’s the green?”

Jondo – Such wonderous and great creatures, it was a shame that people forgot how special the reindeer were. A beast of the cold, the tundra, the winter, but also a harbinger of the warmer days to come. “Probably going to eat him. Forget about the feckin’ green, I’ll get it meself.”

drmatterl – a horrendous battle that saw that replaced a terror with light. A time of change and upheaval, for the better. Epic, one might say. "Humans probably deserve him more than me."

Artoriarius - Reality. Something born of Terror. Lost and alone in the snow, a mystery being set in place, even as the hope of survival was eaten away until death remained. Only the chance passing of a stranger might have changed things. “Only a hand… a hand in the ice…”

Betty started as the smell of aniseed reached her from the other side of the room. It seemed that he had found his ‘green’ Was this it?

Was Christmas undone?
 
Last edited:
I suspect we'll all be in and out of this thread over the next week, with voting and all, but I want to echo Calliopenjo's sentiments, and wish all Writing Challengers, all Chronners (and the whole troubled world) a very happy holiday season.

I'm not sure if there's an official Season's Greetings thread, but I wanted to thank Brian and the community again for providing a safe, and sane place to spend time with other good people. CC
 
The reindeer milled about together. Christmas was getting closer and the magic that imbued them was becoming active. Already they were able to do skip through time, short burst of impossible speed, all building toward their big night. A night that might not be as big as they hoped. “Oh crapadoodledo,” Rudolph reported, he’s on the green.”

Nix – “There you go, something that is both mystical and filled with warmth, quite literally, that has to bring a bit of light to his morose mood.” “Hurph, a white reindeer? Don’t remember them.”

Stormcrow – “Sweet mother of…! Reindeer blood sacrifice, the secret of Santa’s magic! It’s Christmas, not Friday 13th for goodness sake. Uh guys, don’t like the way he’s looking at us through the window….” “Gurgle, blurgle. Now I’m a monster? Merry feckin’ Christmas!”

M. Robert Gibson – “This is interesting, I think it might have caught his attention, reality TV can be good for something. Modern light entertainment, wordplay and tradition songs mixed together in a head melange…” “Humph. A good Christmas is a lost cause.”

Aun Doorback - “This is more like it, a poem, nothing dark and gloomy, perfect Christmas fare, with a simple but pure message! Look he’s stirring is that hope in his eyes?” “I think I remember…”

Peter V – “Eee… clever seasonal update of classic mythology, but it’s centred around deceit, this might go any way.” “Arse. Scientists! Excluded, not seasonal. Breaking in uninvited equally unseasonal. Ba>BEEEP<s”

Scookey – “This has to reach him. Dark times, with hope and a chance of betterment and the reclaiming of strength and lost magic. It fits the situation perfectly.” “Feck it, what were they captured for in the first place?”

Despite everything, it did not seem to be going so well. He sat there in his faded red suit, mucus filled beard and smeared glasses, a glass of ‘green’ in his shaking hands, with tears running over his face. An old man. Not Father Christmas.
 
@Perpetual Man - As ever; thank you for your spirited review!
Been away a long time but it's nice to be back now and picking at the occasional carcass of an idea again ;-)
 

Back
Top