It's back! Sekrit Santa 20.

[Swank]

I'll go through it again! Very sorry...

Nothing to be sorry about. Most of the story is in the 'present', with Barry recounting an incident from his youth.

 

[Provincial]

@emrosenagel , I would rather read the whole story, if that is an option.

 

[AnRoinnUltra]

Thanks for the story @Swank -it was an easy story to get into and the world built itself naturally. The Rudy character threw me a bit. Tessa had never been away from home but the advice from Rudy prompted her to head away -seemed like a vampire style turn came over her what with the lack of appetite and sudden healing powers.

Would you be okay with posting a before & after the correction spoiler when everyone has read it?

 

[emrosenagel]

@Provincial I’ll give the recipient until tomorrow to give me an ok, and then if I get nothing I will post it! I know the excerpt didn’t really give much about the story, sorry about that.

 

[Swank]

Thanks for the story @Swank -it was an easy story to get into and the world built itself naturally. The Rudy character threw me a bit. Tessa had never been away from home but the advice from Rudy prompted her to head away -seemed like a vampire style turn came over her what with the lack of appetite and sudden healing powers.

Would you be okay with posting a before & after the correction spoiler when everyone has read it?

You mean you would like me to explain exactly what is happening and who everyone is?

I could wait, or put it inside a Spoiler banner.


And thank you for the praise. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

[AnRoinnUltra]

what is happening and who everyone is?

That'd be great if you were okay with doing it, might be good to leave it a week or so till everyone has a chance to catch up -thanks again.

 

[Swank]

Explanation of the story I wrote, for those who have read it and have questions:

It is about 100 years from now, and Tessa is 16 and lives in a farming community that plants crops in the wet lakebed of one of the shrinking Great Lakes. There has been global catastrophe and the resulting famines, disease and war has brought the population down to 2 billion or so. Tessa's community and the region in general is very practical, and has adopted the practice of not marrying until both spouse have sexual experience to bring to the marriage - something I lifted from the culture of Guam.

There isn't a lot of travel, but there is enough for interesting news to go from village to village. Tessa leaves to go to a village in the foothills of Kentucky a few hundred km away to meet with Barry. Her bike is made of 100 year old parts, but there is enough chemistry being practiced that vulcanizing repairs to old tires are possible. She takes seeds of one of their more unusual and successful crops with her as barter/money.

Barry's adopted village has benefitted from the notoriety and trade of his presence, so he has stayed there for awhile after a lot of traveling. He is over 80, but looks 25. He was born just before the global disaster, which included a huge earthquake centered near Chicago (yes, there's a fault there). As a teen, he met a woman from some secretive agency that must have sat out the initial parts of the disaster trying to find scientific solutions to it, but had limited success. One of the things developed was a life extending virus that also helped people remember and concentrate better. She chooses Barry, based on his intelligence, to infect him via sex, and then explains how he should use this gift, since there were still too many people at this point for everyone to live. Then Barry falls into a brief coma from the virus and she disappears in her nuclear powered armored car.

Decades later Barry decides that the population and culture in North America is stable enough to start spreading the virus, mainly via his 'job' as a de-virginizer of marriageable ladies. Somewhere in New England he encounters a your woman named Rudy, and Rudy decides afterwards to stick with him and goes around advertising Barry and finding places for them to set up shop. She is in her 40s, also looks 25.

Most of the time Barry infects people and then sends them on their way without telling them anything, and they eventually just infect their new spouses, limiting the spread of the virus. After meeting Tessa he decides to tell her everything he knows and allows her to make bigger choices about what she does with her new gifts. He does this with blood contact rather than sex. Rudy also gives Tessa pointers on living nomadically. Tessa thinks it over, has sex with and inn keeper's teen son - infecting him - and sets out toward the part of the continent she thinks needs the most help.

Thanks for your interest.

 

[AnRoinnUltra]

Well done @Swank -there was a lot going on there, had it mostly right but the backstory helps a lot.
Thanks

 

[THX1138]

Hi @Swank, finished your story, loved it. Would like to read a longer version, or more stories written in the same universe.

Or both. In fact, preferably both.

Actually, come to think of it, I felt pretty much the same about @THX1138 ‘s “Dolphin” story. It could happily be expanded into a science fiction/police procedural crossover novel.

Maybe, yes, maybe....

 

[AnRoinnUltra]

attach my stories

Thanks @Provincial, am reading these slowly -'For want of a nail' ...man that escalated quickly, I did not see that coming, not one bit of it, loved it, great stuff

 

[Provincial]

Anyone want to read mine and comment on it? I'll pm it to you. So far even the giftee has taken no interest.

I'll respond to either story name or my name.

Have you checked that the giftee received your story? It might have gone astray.

 

[Provincial]

I will confess as the one responsible for Jimmy Jolly's Christmas Wish, based on the prompt from @Provincial.

I'll admit that when I first saw that in the thread, I hoped I wouldn't get it, and then of course I did. But I'm really pleased with what it inspired. Thanks for getting me out of my comfort zone!

Um, sorry for the boring subject matter, I was just trying to avoid asking for something outlandish and difficult to approach. Normally I would ask for something unusual in order to stimulate someone’s creativity, e.g. a police procedural about an elephant taxi service, but it sounds as if everyone hates that kind of request.

 

[THX1138]

Um, sorry for the boring subject matter, I was just trying to avoid asking for something outlandish and difficult to approach. Normally I would ask for something unusual in order to stimulate someone’s creativity, e.g. a police procedural about an elephant taxi service, but it sounds as if everyone hates that kind of request.

Not really. You have done some of the Three Leg Improves. How would a police procedural about an elephant taxi service be any different from doing one of those?

 

[genelewis]

Um, sorry for the boring subject matter, I was just trying to avoid asking for something outlandish and difficult to approach. Normally I would ask for something unusual in order to stimulate someone’s creativity, e.g. a police procedural about an elephant taxi service, but it sounds as if everyone hates that kind of request.

Not boring! More like, tricky to do justice to, especially since I gave myself the challenge of incorporating all three prompt options, plus trying to write a character with autism without being stereotypical. I'm sure it could be better, but I appreciate the challenge!

 

[Provincial]

Thanks @Provincial, am reading these slowly -'For want of a nail' ...man that escalated quickly, I did not see that coming, not one bit of it, loved it, great stuff

I didn’t think it fair that Jo Zebedee hadn’t received a story, so I wrote that one in the three days before the deadline Vicky S. had agreed to before guessing began. It was a case of squeezing as much into the story as the time permitted!

I did pretty much the same with For Where Your Heart Is, for Dan Jones, which was written with three days notice before the original submission deadline, and for the same reason - except that it turned out Dan had actually received a story, and ended up with three.

 

[THX1138]

@Provincial I read your three stories, nicely done! I really enjoyed First Contact!

 

[AnRoinnUltra]

For Where Your Heart Is

Deadlines must suit you -just finished First Contact also (ALF was a blast from the past).
Fair play and thanks, great stories

 

[Luiglin]

Just for clarity:

The Dolphin of Table Rock Lake was for Swank.

Chopin's Music Box was an additional last minute one I did for Dan.

I enjoyed this workshop very much as it helped me to develop a short story/novel writing style, at last!
Also, this whole experience has been very enlightening and humbling for me.

 

[Provincial]

@Provincial I read your three stories, nicely done! I really enjoyed First Contact!

That’s the only one I took my time on! Thank you!

 

[Luiglin]

Not sure how I posted that quote above.

Are we now revealing what we wrote?