Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion
***JUNE 2016 MICRO STORY CONTEST - STORIES ONLY
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message 51:
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Dorthe
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Jun 29, 2016 08:56AM
Best bit is where the text says 'we're fucked' and Hitler says 'Kugel in dem Kopf' :o)
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I'll be able to speak German soon, if this group keeps giving me bits of Deutsch to look up!"Kugel in dem Kopf": Bullet in the Head!" (I suppose it'll come in handy in conversation one day ... especially if I want to be arrested.)
Dorthe, I must apologize--my own ignorance of Macedonian history and of parts of Roman history limited my appreciation of your story---a beautifully written one, as ever. Looking forward to your next ones!
And from me too, ditto what Paula said, Dorthe. I suspected there was a lot more to your story than I was able to 'get' and wanted to go and look up about it ... but life got in the way and I didn't get to it before the voting time. (Maybe some guidelines in the comments section, just to the real history, BEFORE the vote - like a little history lesson - would have been acceptable and just brought people up to speed ... as already had automatically occurred with other 'better known' histories that therefore had an 'advantage.' It wouldn't have been telling people how to interpret your story ... rather just making the history 'better known' ?)
I thought Dorthe's story was brilliant - my top choice - a really clever and well-constructed alternative history, right down to the Greek take on Roman names.
Many thanks to Jon, CLP and Andy G for the votes, and to the others who had my little story in their list.
My thanks to Paula, Dorthe and Carrie on their votes for that very non-SF, non-public figure story of mine. It was a true act of compulsion on my part to write it , and I appreciate everyone's reading it.Thanks also to Andy for putting up a story that inspired me to write my freebie tale, and to Gary for his comment on it.
And many thanks to Dorthe for her "two" entries - her story and her explication of it. Even in a month of general excellent scholarship and diligence, hers, not surprisingly, was outstanding. And I do appreciate her refraining from submitting it in Latin. Or Attic Greek for that matter. Or what Latin would have been if Alexander had lived to conquer all the world. None of which would have much surprised me from her.
Well I've just seen 'a line' I have to work into my story! Maybe a killer 'hook' about someone getting 'help' at a departure lounge when they're about to go 'on vacation' BTW I said that in an American accent :) I was up at the hospital to get some heart tests done (yes I do have one, they found out, Richard!) and there are volunteer helpers in the foyer to help people with this and that and where to go and have a chat or whatever ... a very nice gesture BUT, on the back of the volunteers' jackets is printed, what looks like (because of the way the cut of the jackets produces folds in the material that alter the last letter) the words "HERE TO HELL"
I went and apologized to the lady in the jacket that had caught my eye. I thought she would be wondering why I was laughing at her. But she said, also laughing, "It's been pointed out before! ... We're getting new ones that will just say "VOLUNTEER," but then she added, "I rather like this one, though!"
@Andy & Andy - thank you so much, both of you, I truly appreciate your praise. @Andy G: 'what Latin would have been ...' wow, there's a line of thought: would Cicero have bothered enhancing the Latin language by translating Greek philosophy, thereby inventing a whole new set of words and phrasings? Of course not; the Greek texts would have stayed Greek, and anything written for 'international' publication would be in Greek, as well - as were, in our timeline, the texts of the new Jewish breakaway sect in the 1st century CE.
There is, of course, also an irony in writing this story in English, that owes so much of its vocabulary to Latin - English as we know it could not exist in this world of Alexander's.
@Paula and Heather: thank you, too - I did ponder whether to post a commentary, but decided to leave it till after the voting. If the story doesn't stand on its own feet, regardless of historical knowledge, then it must fall. At the same time, I am aware of the enhanced enjoyment coming through background knowledge.
A dilemma ...
Dorthe, your story *does* stand by itself. Tom's and JJ's and Jeremy's as well. And yet, each of these makes me long to know more about its background--whether to deepen my awareness of the story's world, or because it's drawn me in. This is very good work by the story, not a fault even remotely.
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Not easy to get a vote of confidence from Richard. I'd say I'm doing something right. Thanks dude! :)
From Richard? If it were me, I'd be worried, lol :-0
