October 2020 - Science fiction Microstories Contest (Critiques Only)

[J.F.]

To help polish our skills and present a flavour 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, and reading each story before 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 you 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.

Jot Russell

Contest Creator/Director

October Theme: The road. Oh how we must all miss it by now! It need not be just dirt or macadam or asphalt, but any thoroughfare that beckons, even the highways in the sky. As Tolkein said, it is that which "goes ever on."

Required Elements: something pointy; a sound.

[Paula]

Cool sock-it-to-ya ending in that story, Jot!

[Jot]

Thanks Paula. I guess John isn't as friendly to party crashing aliens as I hope we would be.

[Kalifer]

Good story Carrie, but I would at least substitute vinyl or concrete for linoleum unless this facility was built and never refloored since 1950.

[Carrie]

Kalifer wrote: "Good story Carrie, but I would at least substitute vinyl or concrete for linoleum unless this facility was built and never refloored since 1950."

Excellent point!!!!!

[Jot]

Some voting comments:

Paula:
1st place--Marianne's story--a extraordinary piece!

Tom:
1) "Return" by Marianne
Fascinating concept. Good imagery, action and story flow. Excellent climax.
2) "The Last Sortie" by Justin
Vividly realized setting and beautiful imagery. Strong dialogue and plotting. (The ending was a bit of a disappointment as it was too passive, lacking sufficient power and execution.)

[Marianne]

Many thanks.

[Justin]

Thanks Tom for the comment. It was not my strongest ending that's for sure. I found this story hard because everything I thought about was too similar to Dune. :) Getting swallowed by a giant sand worm seemed too cliché. Thanks again!