Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion
Please help me in congratulating Dorthe, the latest champion of the Science Fiction Microstory Contest
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Hey, congratulations, Dorthe! Back with impact!What was the penalty if you didn't win, lol?
And also to Jeremy, with his shaggy wolf fable!Quirky and original.
BTW there's a building in London that has been roasting cars and passers-by. Maybe why you don't see too many wolves in the City. Well, not the four-legged variety.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-...
@Andy, that building was the inspiration for my story. Roasted car side-panel doesn't taste very good either, I imagine.
Wow, what a great surprise! Thanks, guys. @Andy, just be glad you don't have to know about the penalty ... :o)
Well that's got my mind boggling, Dorthe
Nice story, Dorthe. And very good to have you back. And congratulations to you!And to Jeremy, congratulations too!
Welcome back again Dorthe!! I just re-read your story and thought I should have voted it higher. Wonderfully clever, like Andy's. Still, job done, aye? Congrats to Jeremy too - so funny, and clean crisp prose. Two of my finalists head to head - can't complain.
Congratulations, Dorthe,Really the perfect story structure ... which somehow also makes me feel that it could have been the basis for a who-dunnit (&, in the first place what-got-dun/what-might-have-almost-got-dun again/or will-get-dun-again, some time in the future) crime to be solved by on screen detectives of the calibre of Kurt Wallander or Jack Frost. Really, really intriguing with a nice, (usually) sub-lethal, level of laconic humour ... of the type that makes both Wallander and Frost stories such good mind and heart and soul fodder.
Brilliant story! Congratulations, Dorthe :)
Thanks again, everybody, for both the congrats and the welcome backs! I have next month's theme &c ready for you, so I only have to figure out how to start the thread :o)
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW, your story is brilliant, just brilliant.
Thank you, John :o) BTW back-at-you: can't help noticing names - are they your given or chosen names? Quill being, of course, the perfect pen name, and Appius ... well, that has some ancestry to live up to.
Very well-done, Dorthe. I am looking forward to taking a stab at April's story now that some of my personal life issues have settled down into a plan, and how my friend and I will carry out this plan.
"Hello, handsome, let me buy you a drink. Barista, another one of those for my new friend – no, make that two, it does look good. Never could resist green bubblies.
It's been a long couple of weeks, I can tell you that. Been travelling all over this world, and not much to show for it. And now I'm sitting here waiting in a bloody spaceport for the next ship homewards. Just like you, I guess.
But this drink is good, just the ticket. Well done, barista.
I did have a funny experience the other day, though. You see, I collect entertainments for a station on my home world. Ideas for entertainments, that is. Can't just take the whole thing as is, what with different species and genders and all that. The jokes don't translate.
I know, now you're gonna ask why not just download the stuff, go through it in the comfort of our own home world? You may not believe it, but it's actually cheaper sending an operative out there – out here – than running the equipment to get a decent long-range signal. Most stations only broadcast within their own systems, if even that.
Anyway, there I was, interviewing this local station manager, going through their programme. And this game show comes up. 'Truth Or Dare', they call it, 'TOD' for short. The participants are a mix of volunteers and criminals – or alleged criminals, I should say: they have this complicated game thing instead of proper law courts.
So, a participant comes in – murderer or mason, hijacker or housewife, nobody knows – and gets their neural implants hooked up to the system. The participant chooses a reward, and the game show host/ess names a punishment to match. The larger the possible prize, the more excruciating the fee, even up to capital punishment. Can you believe that? Ordinary people risking torment and death to win a prize.
Barista, get us another round of drinks.
Of course, it's gotta be the desperate who sign up for this, and folks with a secret death wish. Maybe those who think they deserve to be punished, but can't figure out how to go about it themselves. I mean, everybody is guilty of something. You can't lie, you can't win. One thing that really gets me, though, is how they can leave the punishment of criminals up to chance? The game has to be rigged, otherwise if the bad guys could walk away with a big bag of credits, where's the protection of civilians?
I'll give you an example or two, show you what I mean.
First, there's this female – think it was a female, at least, hard to tell with purplies – no offence. She names her prize, a fairy tale wedding including a honeymoon on the banks of Eurotas. The host/ess counters with branding in seven places on the body, nothing excluded. The crowd roars, the female goes a little bluer. The cards come up, all shown on the big screens; the female stops just in time, the dealer gets the same number – house wins. Truth Or Dare. So the host/ess asks what exactly happened a week ago with that sexy stranger, and the female goes almost grey. You can tell the wedding is off if that particular truth comes out, and if she chooses the torture, the wedding is off anyway.
Stupid. How could she have thought that incident was buried deep enough in her mind to not be found?
Next up is a shifty-looking character. Prize: complete immunity and a passport. Punishment: the gibbet. Cards are drawn, house wins again. Question: where are the diamonds? Character protests innocence, is led away, gibbeting is shown on big screens.
Now, I am beginning to wonder if the house always wins. Safest way to play it, of course, but it would give the game away, so to speak.
In comes the third participant, a handsome young thing like yourself, very calm and collected. Prize: two million credits. Punishment: decapitation. Cards are drawn, participant wins. No question, no truth. Participant walks away.
And that's where I'm thinking the game must be rigged. If this person was guilty or even accused of a felony worthy of capital punishment, they can't just let him off scot-free, with credits to boot. Can they?"
...
The handsome stranger in the bar stands up, thanks our host for the drinks, looks at his expensive chronometer. "Honestly couldn't say," he says and walks off, briefcase in hand, towards the departure gate.