November 2020 - Science Fiction Microstory Contest (Comments Only)

[Justin]

Tom wrote: "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 titl..."

Thanks Tom!

[Kalifer]

Mine's up. I got a bit biographical and a bit of a rant.

[J.F.]

The rant is highly appreciated and, I dare say, appropriate. I've written before that I see sci-fi as fundamentally asking the question, "What is the role of human beings in a universe without gods?" By that I mean sci-fi began near the end of Enlightenment and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, when science and technology gave human beings awesome new powers, and with them, a great burden of responsibility. Whether a divine entity was involved is a question of faith but to me there is no question that we have this responsibility. We are stuck with our new powers and our creations and the effects of them and we had better start working on how to deal with it all.

[Tom]

J.F. wrote: "The rant is highly appreciated and, I dare say, appropriate. I've written before that I see sci-fi as fundamentally asking the question, "What is the role of human beings in a universe without gods..."

A very moving and insightful commentary, J.F.

[Tom]

Justin wrote: "Good on you Greg for getting all that work in. I envy your ability to DYI!

Tom, thanks for all the great reviews!!"

You're very welcome, Justin.

Honestly, I wish more of our members would review. I'm missing some of the excellent reviews we've had here in the past.

[Jot]

Whoops. My LibreOffice program has not been working since my last Mac update, so I wrote my story in a text editor. Problem is, I failed to check my word count. Turns out I used 801 words, so I am disqualified. I'll have to be more careful next month.

[J.F.]

Jot, I swear this has happened before without consequences and I would think you wouldn't want to throw out people's votes on a technicality. Just my two cents. Oh, and keep using that text editor.

[Alina]

Jot, I agree with J.F., do not disqualify yourself, it's an honest mistake, just be more careful next time!

[Jot]

No, it's cool. The rules are the rules.

[Jot]

If it were just a few words, that's one thing, but I had 51 extra words. Wouldn't be fair. If and when I make the contest into its own website, I would have the word count automatically listed.

[Alina]

I understand, I think I'd do the same if I were you (though I really wouldn't mind if your story stayed in the contest :). An automatic word count is a great idea!

[Jot]

Going to hold off until Thursday morning to announce the winner, just in case anyone else in the group decides to vote.

[J.F.]

Did you get my vote, Jot?

[Kalifer]

Congratulations Alina. A good play on the theme of machines considering biological life a threat to be exterminated.

[Alina]

Thank you, Kalifer :)

[Jot]

I got your vote and posted the details in the story thread. I had mistakenly posted my story with an extra 51 words and did not notice this until after the voting started, so I had to disqualify my story. Glad you liked it, though. I'm think it would be a good full-length novel, if I ever find the time.