Discussion -- October 2011 Challenge

[High Eight]

Originally Posted by Perpetual Man

High Eight – This is one of those stories that is simple, straightforward and does the job, but offers just enough to allow the reader to grab hold of it and let the imagination billow. I’m sure there are countless interpretations that come from this one simple piece and that is the miracle of these little stories, that so many different things can be drawn from so few words, and here it is done so well.

Thanks very much for your lovely review, Perp. You made a fat old man happy!

[Culhwch]

Just in case anyone missed it, the poll is now up:

http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum...challenge.html

[Perpetual Man]

Crikey, a mad dash of stories right at the end there, shall have to catch up with the comments in the next few days.

And a vote from Chel, so thank you very much, as always greatly appreciated.

[mosaix]

An early vote . Thanks, southron sword.

Not been around much these last couple of weeks, now is the time to settle down and read this month's entries and also try and think something up for the 300 word challenge.

[Perpetual Man]

RSliwinski – I think that any story that centres on a child’s unsettled and recurring nightmares is a good start, there is something primal in such a thing that really reaches to the core. But to have the all clear given only to find the real cause might actually be parents – well, that is a horrific concept, monstrous parents takes it to just another level.

anhalo – the world of this entry seemed to come across as cold and sterile, clinical in the extreme, a nightmarish society that was controlled and listless in the extreme. Dehumanised, identity erased so that even name’s become numbers. And the final twist that something bad happens when the person is no longer useful. Just looking in on the world is bad enough. I would not want to live there.

mosaix - almost a cyclical feel to this one, by introducing the coffin in the opening line we get the connection between Life support Pod and coffin, but the story cleverly twists back on itself with someone trapped in the pod, with nothing but a horrific period of entrapment before death. A true nightmare, and nicely constructed. (Note: Coffins are not as comfy as they look! )

TDZ – A real cracker, this one (ahem), a different look at the nightmare theme again, in some ways it felt slightly askew, just like a real dream, but at the same time the underlying real part of the story made it somewhat unnerving. It’s easy to get worked up about an upcoming event so it intrudes upon your dreams and there’s always that relief at waking and finding that is all that it is... The Ho ho ho! nails it.

Mike1366 – It’s amazing how many people can come up with a different interpretation of the month’s theme and this is another excellent idea. A message coming in from a distant outpost, sounding horrific, with little or no hope. There is little you can do except listen and wait for the bitter end. How nightmarish is that? Great idea.

Ursa – As always well thought out and a great idea, not sure if there were puns this time around, if so they went over my head. Really liked the idea though, someone suffering nightmares, is actually not. Rather a long slow possession, that can only end with exorcism, leaving the spirit or whatever to jump to another victim, and the cycle starts again. But what really seemed to work for me was the feel that the possessor finds it just as much a trauma as his victim.

TJ – Ahhhhhh! This one put a shiver down my spine. I wonder where it was going, thinking it was getting a bit... naughty, then we got to the uhh climax and everything went south. Expecially for the young lady. Oh it was delicious, and I hope she was...

Teresa –And a nice little bit of verse to finish the month off. In this instance not only is the person in the nightmare hunted by something nasty, but is hunted by the dream itself, recurring night after night. It made me wonder just how long the protagonist could hold off the impending assault, sooner or later, one night that sword arm might fail....


Now to start whittling down the consistently superb entries in an attempt to come up with a vote.

and thanks to Mike1366 for the vote. Most humbly accepted.

[Talysia]

Once again, it was a very tough month to pick a winner. Although I read the entries as they came in and reread them this afternoon, I was still only able to whittle my shortlist down to seven. They were:

Cul - The Nightmare Merchant
Mouse - Living and Loathing
hopewrites - Trapped
nixie - A Change of Heart
Bob S. Sr - Closing Time
Perpetual Man - Don't Read This
mosaix - Death Is Not An Option

Eventually, I managed to narrow it down to three: Cul, PM and mosaix. Deciding between them was incredibly difficult! By a hair's breadth, though, my vote went to Cul.

Well done everyone!

And thanks for the vote, Karn - that was a lovely surprise.

[Mouse]

Thanks for the shortlisting, Taly!

TJ! You've written a story featuring sex, again! And you say I'm obsessed?!

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Of course, Tal. I had been considering yours all month, but I had to go through one more quick review of them all.


The reason I went with yours is because imagination is quite an important attribute to me, and mine runs away so often I have to put fliers up for it. But all in all, the nightmare material you included is what cinched the deal for me. Dream demons usually consist of succubi/incubi, but you went with the non-sexual path, which is really a nice, fresh take on it.

[TacticalLoco]

Jinkies Scoob! Just a bit late again.
Sorry for now being around much, life has been very full.
Mostly good stuff though. And yes, my literaries I hae been writing.

Just for fun here is my late nightmare entry...

Nightmare!

Daemon horse, breathing fire, flailing steel hooves! She lives in the dark tunnel of your sleeping imagination and finds you there. You glimpse the light of morning escape as the terror urges into your dream corridor, charging along an inescapable path.

You run. Everyone runs from her swift horror. She sees you, and you both scream loud and long. Those screams are the last thing you know when pulled under the Nightmare’s brutal wake.

[mosaix]

Thanks for the short list Talysia.

[springs]

I was torn between Alchemist and Perp's and a few others, in the end went for the one which stuck in my head the most, and I couldn't reread Perp's again, of course.

[Perpetual Man]

Talysia and Springs thanks for the mention and the short listing, it's always a kick to get a mention.

And Hopewrites many,many thanks for the vote

[The Judge]

Originally Posted by Mouse

TJ! You've written a story featuring sex, again! And you say I'm obsessed?!

Well, I've got to try and get votes somehow...

Actually, I'm pleading not guilty since I didn't include any sex. I just wrote the story in a way that people would think that I had. (Try re-reading it. Ain't no sex there. No, sirree.)

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Originally Posted by The Judge

Well, I've got to try and get votes somehow...

Actually, I'm pleading not guilty since I didn't include any sex. I just wrote the story in a way that people would think that I had. (Try re-reading it. Ain't no sex there. No, sirree.)

There wasn't any, actually, but it had the undertones to it, a sort of semi-eroticism that left much more to the reader's imagination without being tawdry. You were a consideration for me but Talysia's just called to me more.


Are there any repressions within you, TJ?

[The Judge]

Repressions?! Good lord, I can't even write an Elf-dream without being accused of having repressions.

Anyhow, I prefer to think of myself as wholly-erotic but without tawdriness.