DISCUSSION THREAD JULY 2020 75-WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

Congratulations @The Judge and well done @holland !
And I have @johnnyjet , @Parson , and @Starbeast to thank for bringing my mention total to 5. With my vote from Ian, a spectacular month for me given my struggle with an idea. All I could think of at first was how to form a story around my car, a Honda Element. ;)
 
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Peter V said:
Congratulations @ The Judge for the pinnacle of groan inducing punning! (Not to dismiss the cleverness)

:LOL:
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If you think that was the pinnacle, you've obviously forgotten not only every Ursine story, but also my original Holmes and Watson (though I'm still kicking myself over the order of those two last lines) December 2016 75-word writing challenge -- VICTORY TO THE JUDGE!


EDIT: I've been so discombobulated by winning, I've completely forgotten to congratulate holland for what should have been a winning entry -- a very clever piece both in layout and idea.
 
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Congrats to The Judge, it was a close race until the very last hour of voting.

Thank you elvet, Perpetual Man, Parson, Victoria Silverwolf and Margaret Note Spelling for your votes!
 
Congratulations, TJ!! Loved the story, and looking forward to your choices for August. :)
Commiserations holland - it's a fine entry, and that was a close-close race.

Big thank you to Starbeast and The Judge for the listings; that was a scathing story, wasn't it? ;) I've been reading too much about world affairs lately, and will try to write a nicer story for next month.
Thanks so much, Ashleyne, for the vote (and sule too, as mentioned earlier)! Loved your flash reviews of the stories, and very happy to see you back in both Challenges this month. (ps - I promise not to nuke you, and the cult has disbanded.)

CarBear said:
Well that's the closest I've come to a vote so far! Thank you for the mention. :)
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You're welcome, CarBear! Keep writing stories like this one, and you'll be receiving votes aplenty. :)
 
Ursa major said:
With unalloyed joy, I present the full results of the Ursa jury (who've selected the entries in which their authors really showed their metal), with the stories in posting order within the categories:


Honourable Mentions:
  • What’s in a word by Luiglin
  • Lady in red by dannymcg
  • This Is How You Do a Science Fair Volcano by MikeAnderson
  • How to annoy the Wife. by Ambrose

Runners Up:
  • Science, Magic, Discover - The Full Monty by Perpetual Man
  • An Introduction by TheEndIsNigh
  • Phosphorus Argon Tantalum Yttrium - Oxygen Nitrogen by M. Robert Gibson

Winner:
  • Sherlock Holmes and The Adventure of the Four Elements by The Judge

​
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Thanks, Ursa. That's encouraging.
 
Well done @The Judge

Big thanks to @Marvin for the totally unexpected vote

Slightly smaller thanks for all the shortlistings and mentions

And normal sized thanks to everyone for reading and all your entries

* * *
Now, for those non-chemists among us, or those who couldn't be bothered to look up things, here's an explanation of my entry: Phosphorus Argon Tantalum Yttrium - Oxygen Nitrogen
I know that if you have to explain your story, then it probably hasn’t worked. However, I thought I might have been too obscure with this one so here goes…
The title: If you use the chemical symbol for each of those elements it spells: PArTaY - ON
Nitrogen twins and Oxygen: Two Nitrogen and one Oxygen = N2O = Nitrous Oxide = Laughing Gas.
Carbon: under very high pressures forms the compact allotrope, diamond.
Neon: Neon lights. I probably don’t need to explain this.
Gold and Silver: are known as precious metals, and as every good pirate knows, are important pieces in a treasure hoard.
Aluminium: when added to Bromine reacts violently, as this video demonstrates


Thank you
 
M. Robert Gibson said:
Well done @The Judge

Big thanks to @Marvin for the totally unexpected vote

Slightly smaller thanks for all the shortlistings and mentions

And normal sized thanks to everyone for reading and all your entries

* * *
Now, for those non-chemists among us, or those who couldn't be bothered to look up things, here's an explanation of my entry: Phosphorus Argon Tantalum Yttrium - Oxygen Nitrogen
I know that if you have to explain your story, then it probably hasn’t worked. However, I thought I might have been too obscure with this one so here goes…
The title: If you use the chemical symbol for each of those elements it spells: PArTaY - ON
Nitrogen twins and Oxygen: Two Nitrogen and one Oxygen = N2O = Nitrous Oxide = Laughing Gas.
Carbon: under very high pressures forms the compact allotrope, diamond.
Neon: Neon lights. I probably don’t need to explain this.
Gold and Silver: are known as precious metals, and as every good pirate knows, are important pieces in a treasure hoard.
Aluminium: when added to Bromine reacts violently, as this video demonstrates


Thank you
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I missed the title part, but I caught on with the rest.

Then again, I used elemental numbers and alternative elemental names in mine, so...
 
Congratulations @The Judge, a very well deserved win.

You asked for some of the more obscure entries to be explained. A Meeting of Minds was inspired by a recent, and rather grim, news article. The deaths of roughly 350 elephants, which were spotted in the Okavanga national park of Botswana by planes overflying the area, are being investigated because the elephants all still had their tusks attached and so were not killed by poachers.

Perhaps it would have been less obscure if I had made more of an effort with the title - Ele-Mentats: A Meeting of Minds, maybe. Probably not, however, and that is a failure of my writing, not of my audience.

BTW, thanks to @Bren G for the mention. I hope the story hasn’t been spoiled for you now!
 
Now, onto the mystery as posed to us by the devious mind of @Victoria Silverwolf, Death on Venus: A Solve-It-Yourself Mystery

A most ingenious puzzle, and one which had my little grey cells working overtime. However, I think I solved it...

The elements with the atomic numbers 15, 16, 18 and 53
are Phosphorus, Sulphur, Argon and Iodine
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table

Their atomic symbols put together spell PSArI

Psari is Greek for fish
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psari

Another Greek word for fish is ikhthýs
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ἰχθύς

Ichthys is a symbol of Christianity, also known as Jesus fish
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthys

Jesus was born in Nazareth
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus

Nazareth was the name of a rock band in the 1970s
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazareth_(band)

Nazareth's lead singer was Dan McCafferty
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_McCafferty

McCafferty is a traditional song particularly popular in Ireland
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCafferty

McCafferty was recorded by The Dubliners, who perform traditional Irish music
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dubliners

The Making of Irish Traditional Music is a book written by Helen O'Shea
goodreads.com/book/show/6135523-the-making-of-irish-traditional-music

Helen is the name of the most beautiful woman in the world
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_of_Troy

Helen of Troy eloped with the Greek hero Paris
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_(mythology)

Paris is the name of a city in France.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris

Therefore, the city to be attacked must be Paris.

Easy! ;)

PS I spent more time on this than I did writing my entry
 
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Super stuff TJ
I enjoyed your story the first time I read it and knew it would be a contender.
Didn’t get around to a shortlist this time out, but it def would have got an honourable mention.

As others have mentioned a lot of humour this month. I never seem to gauge the mood.

I‘m sure my story doesn’t need explanation, but you never know. It’s hard to read your own work as if seeing it for the first time, without all the context already in your own head.
I know @Trollheart didn’t understand it, while finding out how hard it is to review every story. I was going to point out @Parson review which actually revealed the subject - is that allowed :giggle:
As ever @Parson and @Victoria Silverwolf making reviews look easy!

Just in case, it was indeed a seeds journey, first on the air, then avoiding the fire (natural forest type, which I’m sure are vital for a thriving ecosystem,) then earth to set root in, and of course water is required at the end. I wanted to use the four classical elements. It’s not sci-fi or fantasy though, unless a seeds perspective counts as fantasy? And maybe was a tad bland. But with a couple mentions and an honourable right at the end (thanks guys) I’m happy.

Keep up the great quality everyone. Next month here we come.
 
Congratulations to The Judge.


And those of you to whom I give my thanks:

BT Jones, Cat's Cradle, Starbeast, and Joshua Jones for the shortlistings/honourable mentions

As ever, Victoria Silverwolf and Parson for the reviews, plus first-time reviewer Ashleyne.

And last but by no means least, Paranoid Marvin for the vote.
 
Well done The Judge, and an interesting choice of genre for the August challenge (I wonder what Holmes would have thought of steampunk?)
 
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