Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion
JANUARY 2020 - MICROSTORY CONTEST (COMMENTS ONLY)
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That was pretty fast, Tom!And you submitted a GREAT story this month. Not sure how you did that in only about 10 minutes, but my (New Years party) hat is off to you, dude. *snap* owww. Hre hre hre hre hre
The Bert and Ernie tie-in was clever.
-C
Thank you, C. Took more than 10 minutes, as I received email notification before the thread was posted. (The treasured rubber ducky bit pretty much made the idea inescapable.)Happy new decade to all.
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My resolution was to cut back on resolutions. (Am I just chasing my tail?)
My new year's resolution is to get a hat like Jot's.-C
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Tom wrote: "Thank you, C. Took more than 10 minutes, as I received email notification before the thread was posted. (The treasured rubber ducky bit pretty much made the idea inescapable.)Happy new decade to ..."
Yes, nicely done!!!!!
Justin wrote: "Tom wrote: "Thank you, C. Took more than 10 minutes, as I received email notification before the thread was posted. (The treasured rubber ducky bit pretty much made the idea inescapable.)Happy ne..."
Thank you!
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They were if you're a Homeland Security officer taking a bath in a Star Wars droid costume. : )-C
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Over in Seattle for a few days to visit my son. Gonna try to meet up with Justin tomorrow.
Jot wrote: "Mine's up. A little loose on the specifics of the theme/elements, but I have always felt that as long as they are in some way represented, it is the quality of the story that count most. Not to men..."I've always felt part of the challenge was in adapting the elements to sci-fi, whatever they may be.
Enjoy the Space Needle.
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I wrote one but it ended up 2000 words. Working on another
Mine's up. Lots of elements to weave together. Fun.
Nicely woven, Kalifer. Extremely interesting concept and a very nice ending twist.
Tom, Now that mine is up I read yours and also Jot's. Both quite good. I see you made the rubber ducky fairly integral to the story as did I.Making something as innocent as a rubber ducky an explosive murder weapon is in "The Man From UNCLE" series territory. I remember a short pen-sized device that they used that injected a wire in the target's skull and whisked their brain. The target would drop to the floor with his eyes crossed. Twas clean and gory, simultaneously.
Kalifer wrote: "Tom, Now that mine is up I read yours and also Jot's. Both quite good. I see you made the rubber ducky fairly integral to the story as did I.Making something as innocent as a rubber ducky an exp..."
Ah, those innocent 60's.
Kalifer wrote: "Mine's up. Lots of elements to weave together. Fun."Yes, nicely done Kalifer! I liked it!
I enjoyed yours very much, Justin. The narrative and dialogue were very effective. As was the world-building.
Hey thanks Tom! I was actually really struggling with my own criteria for this month, but I decided to model the story on my own border crossing experiences (to a lesser degree). My spouse is Canadian, so we often go up to Vancouver Island to visit her family and take the kids to camp up there. So we're often using the Blaine, WA, port-of-entry. Anyway, thank you for your positive comments, I really appreciate it!
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Well I was trying to make it challenging... I hope you had a good visit up here in snowy Seattle!
Ducky gets a workout: bomb, spaceship, warning device and now contraband. No wonder it's contraband if it can be all those other things.
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My story is up. . . better late than never.Here's one more application for the rubber ducky!
-C
C, Nice story. Well, a nice not-nice story. Trump could have used Davis on his visit to N. Korea.
Thanks, Kalifer!Maybe you'll win and make Trump a requirement for next month's story. Wow that would really be interesting.
-C
I see Davis was alone this time, C. 'Hope he hasn't divorced.
Kalifer wrote: "C, Nice story. Well, a nice not-nice story. Trump could have used Davis on his visit to N. Korea."Perish the thought, Kalifer. Donald wouldn't do that to his boyfriend.
Tom, No divorce. They have independent interests so his wife Ruby doesn't get aggravated and eat him.
C. wrote: "Tom, No divorce. They have independent interests so his wife Ruby doesn't get aggravated and eat him."
Smart. Any chance we might see her solo at some point?
Never say "never."But if she returns home for a visit, she might rejoin one of the 8 Supercolonies, and since they're all a bunch of nanorobotic elements, it's difficult to sort out what is whom.
: )
-C
Enjoyed your story C! I like your Davis character and it's been fun seeing him appear in different stories. I see a "The Chronicles of..." book in your future!
Thanks Justin! My trilogy "The Axe Series," available on Amazon Books, includes Davis as one of three story protagonists. The story covers his early days in 2025, (coming up quickly), where he runs a beer distribution business and later succeeds as a high tech entrepreneur on the order of Elon Musk before working with the Resolvers. The books are "The Way of the Axe", "Forging the Axe", and "Burying the Axe." Ruby appears in the third book.
Glad you are enjoying the character. He's a fun one.
-C
I am traveling but got a story up. Next month: one parameter/prompt/requirement!
Enjoyed your story, Jack. 'Bit hard to follow at times, but great world building, action, and dialogue.
Thanks, Justin, Tom. Got back last night around midnight. Tired, but I got it in.
Managed to get something up. I think I hit all the requirements.
As always, Marianne: Welcome Back. You are a breath of fresh air.
Thanks, Tom :)
Quack! Quack! mines up. Inspired by seeing a decoy at a thrift shop. Not the tightest story I've done, it was challenging to get all those feathers into the story.
Greg and Marianne... absolutely brilliant both of you! Greg, you might change your character's resolve to a New Year's resolution to meet the criteria fully. Otherwise I loved them both!
To help polish our skills and present a flavor of our art to other members in the group, I am continuing this friendly contest for those who would like to participate. There is no money involved, but there is also no telling what a little recognition and respect might generate. The rules are simple:
1) The story needs to be your own work and should be posted on the goodreads (GR) Discussion board, which is a public group. You maintain responsibility and ownership of your work to do with as you please. You may withdraw your story at any time.
2) The stories must be 750 words or less.
3) The stories have to be science fiction, follow a specific theme and potentially include reference to items as requested by the prior month's contest winner.
4) You have until midnight EST on the 22nd day of the month to post your story to the GR Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion. One story per author per month.
5) After, anyone from the LI Sci-Fi group or the GR Science Fiction Microstory Discussion group has until midnight EST of the 25th day of the month to send me a single private vote (via GR or to author.jotrussell@gmail.com) for a story other than their own. This vote will be made public once voting is closed. Voting is required. If you do not vote, your story will be disqualified from the contest. You don't need a qualifying story to cast a vote, but must offer the reason for your vote if you don’t have an entry.
6) To win, a story needs at least half of the votes, or be the only one left after excluding those with the fewest votes. Runoffs will be run each day until a winner is declared. Stories with vote totals that add up to at least half, discarding those with the fewest votes, will be carried forward to the next runoff election. Prior votes will be carried forward to support runoff stories. If you voted for a story that did not make it into the runoff, you need to vote again before midnight EST of that day. Only people who voted in the initial round may vote in the runoffs.
7) Please have all posts abide by the rules of GR and the LI Sci-Fi group.
8) For each month, there will be three discussion threads:
a) Stories - For the stories and the contest results only.
b) Comments - For discussions about the stories and contest. Constructive criticism is okay, but please avoid any spoilers about the stories or degrading comments directed towards any individuals. If you want to suggest a change to the contest, feel free to start a discussion about the idea before making a formal motion. If another member seconds a motion, a vote can be held. I will abstain from voting, but will require a strong two-thirds majority to override my veto.
c) Critiques - Each member can provide at most one critique per story, with a single rebuttal by the author to thank the critic and/or comment to offer the readers the mind set of the story to account for issues raised by the critique. Critiques should be of a professional and constructive manner. Feel free to describe elements that you do and don't like, as these help us gain a better perspective of our potential readers. Remarks deemed inflammatory or derogatory will be flagged and/or removed by the moderator.
9) The winner has THREE days after the start of the new month to make a copy of these rules and post a new contest thread using the theme/items of their choosing. Otherwise, I will post the new contest threads.
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This Month's Theme:
A New Year’s resolution gone horribly wrong. It may be serious, funny, world-ending, etc.
Required Elements:
A droid sidekick for the protagonist
Some form or fashion of Customs/Immigration/Border Patrol bureaucracy (not trying to be incendiary here)
A treasured rubber ducky