DISCUSSION THREAD -- December 2021 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge

[AnRoinnUltra]

Another good crop of stories, enjoyed them all, especially:
@BT Jones Cold Comfort
@Mon0Zer0 The First Carol In Space
@NicholasJames Last Christmas on Yaritz
and
@Shiftless Candy Kaine's Confession
Voted for @mosaix Star-Child, can't really say why, it just seemed to conjure up a cool and positive SF scene.

 

[mosaix]

As well as the vote from @AnRoinnUltra I seem to have a stealth vote from @Bren G. Many thanks, both.

 

[Peter V]

A lot of extremely imaginative entries and quite hard to nail down my vote.

Runners up:
@ Astro Pen - a good observation of how life and time changes so much
@ reiver33 - Reiver33 - loved the last line

Winner:
@ paranoid marvin for a grounded and wholly realistic summary of Christmas carolling.

And a mention for The Judge for her excellent rhyme with a timely reminder

 

[Ursa major]

I lost to a rapper, and it still rankles to this day!

Sounds as if a rapper would be just the thing for a Christmas podcast....

 

[paranoid marvin]

A lot of extremely imaginative entries and quite hard to nail down my vote.

Runners up:
@ Astro Pen - a good observation of how life and time changes so much
@ reiver33 - Reiver33 - loved the last line

Winner:
@ paranoid marvin for a grounded and wholly realistic summary of Christmas carolling.

And a mention for The Judge for her excellent rhyme with a timely reminder

Woohoo, another vote! Thanks so much, Peter V.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Perhaps, in order to make a truly informed choice, we need to know whether or not Dan and/or Chris can sing?

I have to say that although I spent a few years singing onstage, Dan has a much nicer voice than I. But maybe we could get @The Big Peat to do a thrash metal throat-rage version…

 

[sule]

Shortlist:
Silent by Cat's Cradle
Songbird by JS Wiig
A Christmas Twisted by Daysman

Vote:
Hostile Takeover by Victoria Silverwolf

 

[BT Jones]

So many cheerful, heartwarming Christmas tales. I was drawn mostly to the alternative takes on the theme, however.

Shortlist

• @Astro Pen
• @Mon0Zer0
• @Phyrebrat
• @Victoria Silverwolf
• @NicholasJames
• @Dan Jones
• @sule
• @Moonbat
• @Ursa major

Vote

• @The Judge - A wonderful poem and a stark but witty reminder of why Christmas exists in the first place.

 

[Ursa major]

Thanks for the stealth vote, @M. Robert Gibson.

 

[Wayne Mack]

My vote went for:
Are There No Workhouses? Are There No Prisons? @Dan Jones - I enjoyed the darkness with a last line of hope.

Others I enjoyed, mostly for avoiding the over use of Carol as an actual character.
Silent @Cat's Cradle
The First Carol In Space @Mon0Zer0
What A Racket @paranoid marvin
The Seventeen Days of Salesmass @Moonbat
An Alternative Christmas Carol @The Judge

 

[Phyrebrat]

The only reason I’m not slaughtering you alls is because my title’s too long and you can’t be bothered to list my name.

STEALTH VOTES ARE FINE BY ME, BY THE BLOODY WAY!!

 

[Ursa major]

STEALTH VOTES ARE FINE BY ME, BY THE BLOODY WAY!!

All but one of my current votes (all of them stealthy) are at above-ninja levels of stealthiness...

...which means that neither I nor those voting for my story (nor anyone else, for that matter) can see them at all... or, I suspect, ever will....

 

[Dan Jones]

A quick hit-and-vote from me this month, as it's all hands on deck at home.

My vote went to @reiver33 .

Hope everyone's festivities are going well!

 

[paranoid marvin]

Thanks for the shortlisting Wayne Mack!

 

[Parson]

On the third day of Christmas Parson found his way to
1 Precious vote
2 Runners Up
and a batch great stories


--------
Shortlisted:

Silent by @Cat's Cradle because of the true to life and heart breaking ending.*

Songbird by @JS Wiig for writing what I think could be a lovely new Christmas myth.

Hungry, Cold and Homeless. by @nixie for helping us remember who really deserves Christmas gifts.

Westward leading, still proceeding by @Pyan because I love stories which give alternate explanations for Biblical stories.

What A Racket by @paranoid marvin because sometimes caroling is just like that.**

Candy Kaine's Confession by @Shiftless for the ending that took me completely by surprise.

An Alternative Christmas Carol by @The Judge for a Christmas Carol for our warped kind of Christmas.

Runners Up
Silent by @Cat's Cradle
Hungry, Cold and Homeless. by @nixie

Vote
An Alternative Christmas Carol by @The Judge


*Before I retired, I regularly visited an Alzheimer's patient who when nearing her end couldn't put two meaningful words together with any regularity. And then during a service there, she started singing Amazing Grace from memory and sang the whole first verse flawlessly. It was both amazing and beautiful.

**We had a Romanian Pentecostal church use our church building for a couple of years. And it was their tradition to go caroling after midnight on Christmas eve. My wife was not amused when caroling awoke us at that time.

 

[Ursa major]

And it was there tradition to go caroling after midnight on Christmas eve.

Did no one think to tell them that "after midnight" in Romania would be early evening in the Mid West...?

​

 

[Bowler1]

Parson gets a vote for a nice little number that made a lot more sense after reading his post above - good lad.

At this point I would be pitching my pitchforks, but with a full belly and feeling far too lethargic to move it can wait until January. But be assured, there will be general mayhem, taring and feathering, mobs a lynching and all that hectic activity in the New Year, but not now... it can wait while I pop one more chocolate into my fast bloating body.

It will be the gym in January, with pitchforks and mad mob behavior... I promise, I really do....

 

[Phyrebrat]

Cmawwn…. This is getting ridiculous and it’s Christmas. Do you all want to ruin my life?!

VOTE FOR BEAN!!

 

[Ursa major]

VOTE FOR BEAN!!

For a small fee, I could provide your campaign with a few helpful slogans:

• "Vote for Bean: He's in the Running!"
• "Vote in Fava of Bean's Story!"
• "Join the Broad Support for Bean!"
• "Bean's Story is the New Tom Soya!"
• "Vote for Bean? I Should Cocoa!"

 

[Phyrebrat]

Hired!!!