Contest July-August 2020 Short Story Contest Reading Thread

No. Not too long before the contest there was a discussion about Kroak's mummified Skink attendant. Who was the Skink attendant? Why did they bother mummifying the Skink attendant? Why not give Kroak a living attendant? Does the little Skink mummy have any powers?

I believe the authors vision is that Uxmac's spirit was placed into Kroak's mummy's assistant mummy to keep tabs on him.

A quick lesson in Old One lore. Uxmac is the messenger god. The Old One's equivalent of Hermes. Uxmac is said to either be the only Old One that never truly left or is predicted to be the first Old One to return. Either way the lore fits with the mummy story.

There is a lot of lore open to interpretation for Uxmac. Unlikely most of the rest of the Old Ones, Uxmac does not have magical items or sacred spawnings in his name.



In other news, the town in which I live is a literal disaster area. I have been staying with my mother for about ten days but I have recently returned home.

Clan Moulder and Father Nurgle were battling for control of what used to be my refrigerator. Me and my friend entered battle to reclaim what was mine.



I have power and water in my apartment building, 91% of my town has power now, but only about 20% of my town has WiFi (I'm borrowing a friend's WiFi right now). The workers are still focused on clearing the roads and restoring electricity (and providing hot meals and ice to those without power), so restoring Internet is not a huge priority.

In short, my access to the Internet is haphazard at best.

You may have to deal with me announcing the winner of the contests and author identities late.

 

8 authors and, up til now, only 10 voters.
One of the voters who isn't also an author it's me.
Kinda depressing...

 

Don't know what, but we'll think to something

 

With this moral burden upon my shoulders, i humbly present you:

The brief and unsatisfying analysis by Killer Angel​

August is a horrible period (for me) to find the time for a real review. It's easier when i'm working.
So, i will talk just a little about the stories, and more about the main feature of them: the theme.

The Engine of Chotec.
The idea itself is pretty cool, and the final image of the cibersaurus riding a Dread Saurian, furtherly empowered by an artefact of the Old Ones, is a great image.
I fear there's little idenfitication between the reader and the protagonist, which could explain the position of the story in the pool. A pity, because the struggle of the wounded saurus was very well depicted.
The Theme: it is decisely covered by the story, so it's good. It's not a new tech per se, and it's more a magical device (or anyway, when tech is sufficiently advanced, it seems magic), but i liked it. I could have voted for it.

A Kroxigor Dream.
Solid story, unusual theme, featuring a kroxigor with a very mysterious past (to say the least), then a weird friendship between kroxigors, with action driven by dreams… dreams and hopes, all shattered in the end.
A very emotional piece, i can see why it's in the upper positions, however...
The Theme: is there a technology? A tech advance? Apart to a couple of vague hints to "Xlanhuapec's growing industrious needs" and later a "magical artefact", i fail to see what should be the main theme, so, as much as the story is good (which absolutely is), i couldn't vote for it.

The Long Game.
Cool story. The end times, and a transiction not to AoS, but to a much more distant future…. 40k.
I'm not saying the theme called it, but it was not totally out of the blue. I liked the story very much, especially the first part, with the memories of the protagonist about its losses, and the forced indifference by the skinks (they cannot even respect the suffering of a lone saurus, not when all the future of the lizardmen race is at stake… mourning is a luxury not affordable during the great escape).
Now lizardmen are really dinosaurs in space, with a weird and high level of technology, so The Theme is 100% on spot.
But despite the common enemy, i cannot see a (even unspoken) "allegiance" between spacelizard and imperium. Blood will flow.
I could have voted for this story.

Getting ahead…
oh men, the pun in the title (after the reading of the story) was BRILLIANT. I could have voted for this, only for that.
As always (regardless the authors that write them), the stories within the now belowed old west setting, are brilliant, well written and full of humor.
The Theme: of course there is tech (trains, dynamite…), functional to the story and to the plot resolution. Smartness and tech win over old magic power held by dumb monsters. If i can say something negative about it (can I? i'm just being fussy here), the setting is already enstablished, so it has been an easy route for the author, as tech is already included. I was almost going to vote for this story.

The Machine.
By far my fav. piece. The theme is 110% fullfilled, and that alone is a big plus in my book... plus the story is very enjoyable: there's brilliant humor, fast-paced action, dismembered ratmen, a mad but likeable skink inventor, an imperturbable slann, comedy, a frog and an automated fruit juicer…
It took my vote.

The knowledge of Tlaxlan.
To write stories about settled fate is always difficult, but this one does it in a good way, and The Theme it's a central part of the story. Knowledge gave new devices, to further advance said knowledge. But devices brought excessive knowledge and doom to the city.
It's a cool story, developed in a fascinating way. We breath the sense of apathy and we all foresee the inevitable bad ending. Do we possess a part of the power of Tlaxlan's inhabitants?
I could have voted for this story.

Wrapped and Seated.
Unusual and brilliant piece, intertwined with one of the greatest event in lustrian history…. the fall of Itza and the "rebirth" of Lord Kroak. The Theme is not developed in the story, but it's what takes it to the conclusion. The tech of the Old Ones overcomes (or interacts with) the magic of the skink priest, and the spirit of an Old One (Uxmac, nonetheless) transfers into the undead skink attendant of Lord Kroak. One could wonder how much of the actual power of Kroak is his, or if it's just Uxmac that watches and protects the children of the Old Ones. Brilliant piece, and the choice of Uxmac is perfect.
It was an original idea and so well thought, that it took my vote.

Of scales and sigmarite.
As with "the machine", we have brilliant humor, fast-paced action and dismembered ratmen. All things we like, here on LO.
The Theme is respected: nothing says that tech advancements must be made by lizardmen (seraphon, in this case) and the advancement has been developed by a skaven scientist… but this kind of attempts at developments, is kinda one of the main feature of skavens, so (as with "getting ahead…"), the author took an easy and already enstablished route with this, albeit the tech is indeed very strong in the story, so it still fits perfectly.
In the end, the "easy route" doesn't diminish the goodness of the piece, which is a very well written story. I could have voted for it.

 

Well the winner is Infinity Turtle! Progress is slow on metadata thread but I'm pretty sure Infinity Turtle has the high percentage of wins. 9 entries, and I believe 4 or 5 victories.

The DarkFourth maintained his lead for most contest entries having entered 18 of our 23 contests. Me and @Y'ttar Scaletail hold second place with 15.

Thank you to everyone who entered I enjoyed every piece.

Story One: "The Engine of Chotec" by @DeathBringer125

Story Two: "A Kroxigor's Dream" by @Paradoxical Pacifism

Story Three: "The Long Game" by @Lizards of Renown

Story Four: "Getting Ahead in the Railroad Business" by Scalenex

Story Five: "The Machine" by @Infinity Turtle

Story Six: "The Knowledge of Tlaxtlan" by @thedarkfourth

Story Seven: "Wrapped and Seated by @Imrahil

Story Eight: "Of Scales and Sigmarite" by @Y'ttar Scaletail


I give the Scalenex Cup to a Kroxigor's Dream. The Knowledge of Tlaxtlan and The Long Game had higher body counts but a Kroxigor's Dream had more personal suffering which hit me in the feels.