Contest July-August 2023 Short Story Contest Voting Thread

That's a tough lineup to decipher.

I can narrow it down to three. Maybe even go with a gut instinct on a top two... or I could be completely wrong.

I really hope he is okay.

 

Here are my thoughts, it helped me to cast my vote as well:

Spoiler: Story one: Future yet to come

A classic expedition to the New World. Leaning on the knowledge about glyphs of one guy, that none of them really seem to know. In the end the interpretation of the glyphs proves to be poor, to say the least. This raises the question how reliable Pieter really is or, rather, was.

At first I thought that Pieter might be the ‘hiding in plain sight’ part of the story: the hissing and nobody knowing what he looks like. Made him a Lizard in my mind.
The hidden treasure was a fun aspect to the story, but not really in plain sight for me.

Small note: the story did not read very smoothly due to some grammar issues.

Spoiler: Story two: The NIGHTBRINGER

Well what have we here? A little 40K into the mix. I really liked the development of the story, following both characters and their actions. The build up was good, but had a very abrupt climax in my opinion. The concept of chaos influencing the ‘intelligent’ through the source of their intelligence is great and I would have liked this story to be longer.

Spoiler: Story three: Unnoticed Presence

An AoS story with not very much action going on. The description of the situation and surroundings is done to great detail and the protagonists are given some good distinctive characters. Interacting with a dwarf asks for an direct and patient approach.
The theme is implemented literally, which I like.

My only drawback is the minimal inclusion of our beloved lizards

Spoiler: Story four: Avant-Garde

What a colorful and flamboyant story this is. A lot is happening and reveal after reveal of imposters. Then the ‘hiding in plain sight’ takes a different level when the protagonist gets aware of being in a Avant-Garde play. Next the author ups the ante by placing it all in a dream.

A very fun read, full in on the comedy.

Grrr, !mrahil

 

Now imagine if I had been forced to choose between a Chaos Dwarf story and THE NIGHTBRINGER story. As luck would have it, fate has spared me from such a cruel torment.

Agreed! That was very well done.

There is no escape from NIGHTBRINGER Chaos, it marks us all.

 

I mean, I could re-purpose my Chaos Dwarfs bit and review which stories have mention of the NIGHTBRINGER and which ones don't and how mention of the NIGHTBRINGER is good.

 

That would be nice.
And some more votes...

Grrr, !mrahil

 

Story One:

‘That belongs in a museum!’

Sorry, couldn’t help meself. There’s certainly some Indiana Jones vibes with this piece interlaced with some very in-depth descriptions and pretty well written characterization. Although I feel for the latter the author could/should have developed this a lot more. You only get snippets of the named adventurers and it leaves a tantalising taste...without ever getting to enjoy the whole dish.

The pacing and environment were exquisite however, the pace slowly down perfectly where it needed to. Meanwhile you could almost hear the warble of the birds and the swishing of leaves in the breeze.

The twist was mayhaps a little obvious and the overall concept has been done a lot but I did enjoy the little bit of philosophy and hope at the end.


Story Two:

Question-thing: Is this meant to be set in the 40k universe due to the presence of C’Tan shards or is it meant to be Fantasy but highlighting the potential connection between the two universes (or that they even exist in the same one?)

Regardless, I really dig the layout of this piece, flipping between POVs of the acolyte and teacher, with each POV titled after them. It’s not a form seen that much, so really gives this piece a nice uniqueness.

The meat of this story is a very well written paranoia horror showing the descent of the main character into madness (though part of me for a few moments wondered if there would be a twist reveal that he was right.) The mystery and built up suspense leading to the reveal was masterfully done.

There’s a few odd spelling mistakes and areas that could be improved with a little more proofing, but this is just a minor complaint to an otherwise very enjoyable piece.


Story Three:

Hey, a bonifide AoS piece! And in Ghur too! My Astral Templar Knight-Azyros thanks you!

Description was very detailed and on point to the point of being vivid. The pacing whilst slow oozed depth and mayhaps a little baited tension. The reveal at the end was a very nice touch and does really fit in with the stoic statue-like nature of the Seraphon.

I do feel like I wanted a bit more from the Duardin and Human, they serve the role of narrators with some nice little moments of fun characterization. But I feel they could have been much more. Likewise, an extra proof read would have helped iron out this piece.

Nonetheless, this was a nice little look at the mortal realms and how the Seraphon can hide in plain sight.


Story Four:

Oh wow. Thank you, whoever wrote this piece.

It’s zany, utterly ridiculous, and so much fun to read. Its lack of seriousness possibly won’t help it garner as many votes as it probably deserves compared with some of the other deeper and more impactful entries, but I have got to say that I love what this author did with the prompt.

So we get the classic finale of a murder mystery where detective Poirot the Inquisitor reveals each potential murderer for their truth/role until finally revealing who the real murderer is...except each reveal becomes more and more absurd...until the fourth wall is torn down and what are left are poor players who strut and fret their hour upon stage and are heard no more. And then poor Liz wakes up.

I suppose a minor complaint is that the one lizardman was more a footnote than the focus, but speaking as a Skaven wearing a scale-suit to trick-trick you foolish scale-things totally trustworthy scale-thing, this didn’t dissuade me too much from enjoying this piece. Fantastic work!

 

Your call was answered

@Y'ttar Scaletail thanks for your words!

Grrr, !mrahil

 

With just 1 more day to go I think we can call it already.

Grrr, !mrahil

 

Not going to lie, the poetry duel has been a tense back and forth or parrying and thrusts that could go any way at any moment, no discredit to the writers in this compy but it has been intensely exciting.

 

Congratulations @Killer Angel with a win, again.
Great story, I loved the build up and characterisation, so it toke my vote!

Grrr, !mrahil

 

Was a very hard choice for me, but I went for 'Avant-Garde' as i'm a sucker for absurdist 4th wall demolishing comedy.

Many congratties @Killer Angel on a well deserved win-thing!

13,000 thanks to everyone who threw a vote-thing my way, to everyone who entered a piece (top tier writing once more!), and finally to @Scalenex for continuing to run these competitions.

 

Congrats on your epic win @Killer Angel . Very well played good sir. You have once again proven your standing as the most successful Lustria Online short story competitor of all time. Another tally in the old win column. Well deserved!

Your victory was never in doubt... you might say that "the Nightbringer knew”

 

That leaves you with a pair of questions:

1. Would it be in line with @NIGHTBRINGER 's personality to call upon the aid of @Mrs. NIGHTBRINGER to sow chaos throughout the short story competition and ensure a desired outcome?
2. Would @Mrs. NIGHTBRINGER be roused from her forum slumber and be willing to violate the integrity of the short story competition out of love for @NIGHTBRINGER ?

If you can definitively answer no to one or both of the questions above, your assertion is sound. However, if you have any doubt, even the faintest trickle of doubt, then there exists the chance that the math is unkind to you. While THE NIGHTBRINGER story won comfortably by 3 votes, two voters working in tandem can represent a potential 4 point swing (the loss of two votes for the story in question and an increase of two votes for a competing story). If such were the case, then the transfer of two votes could either flip the winners, create a draw or have no effect at all (depending on which of the three competing stories benefitted from the NIGHTBRINGER's blessing).

As luck would have it, my treasured wife happened to make a post on my Poll: ATLA - Choose 6 to protect you, the rest will try to kill you thread on August 26... which fortunately for this mischief I'm weaving happens to coincide with the voting window. So my theory cannot be fully discounted. I offer you nothing more than the possibility. Oh how delicious! Tzeentch plays such wonderful little games.

Well then...



By working to limit the power and influence of the NIGHTBRINGER, you only unwittingly foster its growth. There is no escape from Chaos, it marks us all.






Maybe the Nightbringer moniker is not quite the ideal fit for me... perhaps I should have taken on the name of his brother.

 

Anyone remember that time when THE NIGHTBRINGER won the short story contest?

 

A bold move by you. A bold move that paid dividends.

This should have tipped me off that the story was penned by you. Being the sportsman that you are, if it were someone else's story, it is highly unlikely that you would have suggested even the possibility of a counter-action/vote. I should have seen it but I was too distracted by the glitz and glamour of the mighty THE NIGHTBRINGER story.