DISCUSSION THREAD -- May 2020 -- 75-Word Writing Challenge

This was a very hard job. I never did quite get a handle on the genre, perhaps because I am repulsed by most horror stories. But I also have to say that I didn't feel as though I truly understood a lot of the stories. Anyway, here is my short list.

Hooters by @Luiglin because the title sent me in an entirely wrong and embarrassing direction.

Fun in the Snow by @nixie because Robin?! wins.

The Park Ranger (A Campfire Tale) by @elvet because this is a first class ghost story which could easily be told.

Ninox strenua by @Culhwch because of the lovely twist at the end.

In the end I voted for Ninox strenua because I love it when the intended victim is anything but.
 
Parson said:
This was a very hard job. I never did quite get a handle on the genre, perhaps because I am repulsed by most horror stories.
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@Parson
Speaking of horror and parsons - check out the movie!

FB_IMG_1590350663749.jpg
 
I voted for @Hugh and "Little Do You Know". Inspired (though not, one hopes, by real life), and disturbing without being nasty. Sometimes you have to allow for the fact that an entry has been obviously compressed from its ideal length, but I got the impression here that even if a hundred more words had been allowed, the result would have been exactly the same, and I still would have voted for it.

(I see @Phyrebrat has voted for it too, which will surprise TJ not one jot.)
 
Sorry to have to tell you this, but my help actually worked: Wiktionary (and, perhaps, other dictionaries) record "ump" as a word (as a short form of "umpire").
 
Ursa just taught be a lesson on how to be helped with realizing it and to succeed without knowing you've succeeded.
 
My vote went to @Luiglin for "Hooters". I liked the "American Gods" overtone.
I hadn't actually noticed the title till others commented on it: (perhaps fortunately) the term did not feature in my own adolescence.

Runner up @M. Robert Gibson for "Approaching Menace" and his ridiculous take on the theme.

I'm afraid a number of stories went way over my head. Here are the ones that I liked, in no particular order:
@Maya13 "When the Night Comes" : the first three lines enthralled me.
@BigJ "Gambling for Your Soul", though I didn't understand why a violet haze needed to fall across the moon.
@Skeeve "Night and fog on Kepler 1649c.". I needed to read this a number of times before I got it, but the imagery always caught me.
@Bren G " Letting Go" . Lovely.
@Ashleyne "Beware". Aargh!
@HoopyFrood "Night Lies". Another that took me a while, but remarkable.
@mosaix "Graveyard Shift". Surprisingly believable.
@dannymcg "Spotted Owl". Frighteningly true to life. Kafka would have loved it.
 
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My vote went to The Night Owl; the story was intensely creepy and well told. While there were a lot of great stories in this batch, I want to give an honorable mention to Security Log - Guard 227:Hanover and The Park Ranger (A Campfire Tale) for standing out just a little more.
 
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