Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion
November 2020 - Science Fiction Microstory Contest (Comments Only)
Very interesting. There are a lot of different seasons besides the weather kind: sports, elections, fashion, TV (remember TV?), hunting, etc.
I am open to it being any season you can think of. I was primarily thinking of the changing seasons of the year, which are astronomically caused, when I posed the final theme.
Mod
Loved the story, Jeremy. Funny and beautiful and so original! Hmm, Lake Tahoe region meets Marin Co. (California), as it were. Or Italia (or Chilean?) lake district, ftm.
Nice one, Tom. Well paced, very involving.
Interesting piece, Justin!
Hopefully a good "interesting" and not a bad "interesting." LOL! Thanks Paula!
Paula wrote: "Loved the story, Jeremy. Funny and beautiful and so original! Hmm, Lake Tahoe region meets Marin Co. (California), as it were. Or Italia (or Chilean?) lake district, ftm.
Nice one, Tom. Well pac..."
Thank you, Paula.
Very unusual, Justin. And, very graphic.Marvelous concept, Jeremy. Very visual, very evocative.
Thanks Tom! If you get a chance and don't mind, I'd love to understand what you found unusual about it. Much appreciated!
Justin wrote: "Hopefully a good "interesting" and not a bad "interesting." LOL! Thanks Paula!"Yes, of course, Justin! Sorry I didn't make that clear.
Justin wrote: "Thanks Tom! If you get a chance and don't mind, I'd love to understand what you found unusual about it. Much appreciated!"Justin, I found it an unusually striking alien vision of an approaching wall of ice; an unusual image of firemen fighting ice with fire instead of the reverse. An unusual blend of gentle observations of nature at the opening, with hard-tech action further in. Also, an unusual blend of old-fashioned fire-fighting action, complete with crimson fire trucks, with a very alien landscape.
Thanks Tom, much appreciated! The nature observations are what I experience when I step outside to go for a run. I only run outside during the dark, rainy months here in Washington, on Sundays. During the week I'm inside my garage where it is warmer, dry and lit. So when I go out for that outside run, I really try to soak up autumn. The sun hit these orange leaves last Sunday and they just glowed as if they were golden. Absolutely beautiful. And the air is sweet and clean. So that's what I was channeling. Thanks again for your feedback, it's great knowing what your thoughts were.
Got something up. Blame cryptid TV shows ;)
I really loved Marianne's story! It has such an imaginative setting and such a magical mood, very original.I also liked Jeremy's idea, really unusual and entertaining.
Justin's firemen actually fighting ice with fire got me by surprise.
And Tom's story was well-written and managed to convey a lot of ideas in just 750 words.
Everyone did a good job, each story is unique, I hope there will be more! :)
Many thanks, Alina. I am surprised my fried brain can get anything down nowadays.
Why is your brain fried? I think it's a well-written story :)
Mod
Thanks, Jot :) I really like the idea of this contest, it's a lot of fun. I've put mine up there, so you are welcome to read it.
Justin wrote: "Thanks Tom, much appreciated! The nature observations are what I experience when I step outside to go for a run. I only run outside during the dark, rainy months here in Washington, on Sundays. Dur..."You have the soul of a poet, Justin.
Marianne wrote: "Many thanks, Alina. I am surprised my fried brain can get anything down nowadays."You do quite well, Marianne.
Alina wrote: "I really loved Marianne's story! It has such an imaginative setting and such a magical mood, very original.I also liked Jeremy's idea, really unusual and entertaining.
Justin's firemen actually..."
Thank you, Alina.
Alina: Complicated RL issues makes any creative attempt by me an assault on Everest right now.
I'm sorry to hear that, Marianne. I hope it will get better, hang on!
Thanks for your critique, Jot and Tom! As for the haziness on whether it was a good thing to turn on the machine, Tom, I did that intentionally, but I understand how not knowing for sure can be annoying :)
Tom wrote: "Justin wrote: "Thanks Tom, much appreciated! The nature observations are what I experience when I step outside to go for a run. I only run outside during the dark, rainy months here in Washington, ..."A poet and I didn't even know it! LOL! Okay, lame joke. Thanks Tom. I don't think I have a poetic bent in the least degree, but I appreciate the compliment!
Alina and Marianne, your stories both have that ethereal feeling that Paula's stories often demonstrate. It is a quality I admire and see in stark contrast to my own. I can't replicate it, but it is really different from how I write. Nice work both of you!
Thank you, Justin! Yes, your style is different but great as well. I could smell the mix of damp leaves, needles, cones and frost as I was reading it :) If Marianne's and mine are ethereal, yours is very real, in a good way. And as I've mentioned before, I really liked the idea of firefighters fighting ice with fire - it was astonishing and original.
Thanks, Justin. Most of my ideas come from dreams, so I think that is where the non-reality quality comes from.
Nice one J.F.! It gave me a good laugh. Maybe I shouldn't have laughed - but I did... Good work!
Hey everyone! I just wanted to announce that my latest sci-fi story collection: SUPERLUMINAL is now live on Amazon in e-book and paperback formats.Now, it's the same stories you've read from me here for the past two years - but if you wouldn't mind giving it a share or mention to friends, family and complete strangers I would appreciate it! It is on my Goodreads page, Facebook, LinkedIn, and of course justinsewall.com.
Thanks so much!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08...
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This is so cool, Justin! I shall be letting people know of it; remind me on FB and I'll share it onto my page there. Congratulations on getting this book out!
Congratulations, Justin. I'll be sure to spread the word. Interesting title, BTW.(I see your editor picked the same stock picture for the cover as my editor did for my novella "Star Dancer." Eye-catching, isn't it?)
https://www.amazon.com/Star-Dancer-To...
Paula wrote: "This is so cool, Justin! I shall be letting people know of it; remind me on FB and I'll share it onto my page there. Congratulations on getting this book out!"Thanks so much Paula!! Much appreciated!
Tom wrote: "Congratulations, Justin. I'll be sure to spread the word. Interesting title, BTW.(I see your editor picked the same stock picture for the cover as my editor did for my novella "Star Dancer." Eye-..."
Oh...damn. Maybe subconsciously that's why I used it. Well, now I'm a bit embarrassed. Like I didn't do my homework. I knew other books were called Superluminal, but it's not like you can do a cover search to prevent cover art duplication. Now I'm seriously thinking about changing the cover art.
There are other images from that artist that I liked but have probably also been heavily used on sci-fi covers as well.
Thanks for letting me know!!
I didn't think anything of it at the time, Justin. My editor just picked it out of a slush pile of available images. (She gave me a choice between that and 1 other image. I picked this one. Oh, well.)
Well...1) If I'd actually read your book yet, (purchased, but languishing) I'd have seen your cover art
2)I've found another image I'm happy with.
I want your book and my book to stand out. So I've gone with a more conceptual image versus a concrete image.
My apologies on both not reading your book yet, and duplicating the cover! :)
No apologies needed, Justin. I'm glad you're happy with the new cover image, and here's hoping both our books do well.I like your new image very much; psychedelic. (It does perfectly fit the title and the blurb line about speed.)
That's lot better book cover, Justin. I've been following the exchange with curiosity as I made my own book cover and revised it (basically same image but brighter colors for the desert) but haven't gotten around to updating it. Oh, and thanks for the kind review on my story, Tom. I was really nervous about posting such a strange yet topical story. You definitely grokked it.
Mod
Jot wrote: "Mine's up. Rehash from a prior story, but one that I like a lot."I thought it seemed familiar. I loved it, though. My review's up.
Looks like my writing time was crowded out by covid projects. I'm remodeling 2 bathrooms right now and got one done last month. If I finish them all, it will be 5 bathrooms in 5 months. (3 of mine, 2 at a friends condo).But, no story this month...
Well, you can go 1 month without a story, but bathrooms...well, you know.
Good on you Greg for getting all that work in. I envy your ability to DYI!Tom, thanks for all the great reviews!!
Theme: A change of season (could be those we are used to or something out of this world).
Required Elements: Ancestor(s); Gemstone(s).