2008 Short Story Competition Final

[Scheherazade]

Please vote for the story you like best to determine the winner of 2008 LitNet Short Story Competition.

Discussion of the stories, to avoid influencing the outcome of the poll, are not allowed.

If contributers would like to ask questions, they should email us at [email protected].

Please note that the authors agree to keep their identities secret when they enter the competition.
Those who breach this rule will be disqualified automatically.

Good luck, everyone!

Competition Rules
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Note: This poll will close on January 1st, 2009.

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[Scheherazade]

Such a close competition! Please keep voting!

[eyemaker]

and now the "tie" continues.. All stories have two votes..more votes!

[Scheherazade]

and now the "tie" continues.. All stories have two votes..more votes!

This is really exciting!

[eyemaker]

It will surely be Scher! The thing is, we need more votes for this competition

[mosimo]

Come on people out of respect for these people's creations the least you can do is vote. Read the stories!!! They are worth it.

[Scheherazade]

We are half way through the final now.

[Jozanny]

Come on people out of respect for these people's creations the least you can do is vote. Read the stories!!! They are worth it.

I do not think it is fair for me to participate because I publish my work and was, or is, depending on how I judge my current circumstances, an accomplished writer. My standards are higher, or at least very different, from most members who use the Writing Forum, though I admit the cash prize excited my greed--depending, again, on the way one looks at it, from the time I became active on LN, I had nothing perfect enough and short enough to compete. Most of my fiction is over 5,000 words, and seemingly aims for the median novella, when I actually take the time to work on them. Ironically, all of my short fiction under 2,500m is published.

[Scheherazade]

I think Mosimo was simply asking more people to vote, not more people to submit stories (which is too late for this year's competition anyway). Whether one is accomplished writer or not, one can still read the stories and simply say which one they have liked better by voting.

As a side note, Jozanny, you would be surprised by the high standard of some of the stories that are submitted throughout the competition; they might give many "accomplished" writers a run for their money in my opinion - as an unaccomplished reader, of course!

Another possible way of looking at all this is that as an established writer, you might be a good judge, especially at the final stage of our competition, to decide which story should be the overall winner.

[Jozanny]

I think Mosimo was simply asking more people to vote, not more people to submit stories (which is too late for this year's competition anyway). Whether one is accomplished writer or not, one can still read the stories and simply say which one they have liked better by voting.

As a side note, Jozanny, you would be surprised by the high standard of some of the stories that are submitted throughout the competition; they might give many "accomplished" writers a run for their money in my opinion - as an unaccomplished reader, of course!

Another possible way of looking at all this is that as an established writer, you might be a good judge, especially at the final stage of our competition, to decide which story should be the overall winner.

My post was perhaps poorly expressed, since I am in a temporarily insanity driven spiral which no off-topic rant would alleviate (and aren't we glad Jozanny isn't going to rant profusely!), but perhaps I will be better able to participate as a voter during the next cycle. One minor trait I share with Henry James is need of word length, which is out of fashion in the digital age, but I like a judicious 12,000 words to get at least a relevant psychology of character.

2k pieces seem to explode out of me, go bam bam bam, and get revised very little, but they come far and few between and need to depend on pacing more than anything else, at least for me--which is why I don't know if I'd ever have anything for the forum's deadline cycle.

I wish the finalists luck.

[DickZ]

My post was perhaps poorly expressed, since I am in a temporarily insanity driven spiral which no off-topic rant would alleviate (and aren't we glad Jozanny isn't going to rant profusely!), but perhaps I will be better able to participate as a voter during the next cycle. One minor trait I share with Henry James is need of word length, which is out of fashion in the digital age, but I like a judicious 12,000 words to get at least a relevant psychology of character.

2k pieces seem to explode out of me, go bam bam bam, and get revised very little, but they come far and few between and need to depend on pacing more than anything else, at least for me--which is why I don't know if I'd ever have anything for the forum's deadline cycle.

I wish the finalists luck.

I would hope you could vote in this cycle rather than in the next, Jozanny. For this cycle, we need voters.

For the next cycle, maybe you could submit one of your stories - and hopefully you'll be feeling better by then. You are a great writer and your works would be greatly appreciated by some of us. We know you write professionally, and deserve to be doing just that. Maybe you could just dust off something you've already written and submit it.

And I sure hope your crisis passes soon.

[Jozanny]

And I sure hope your crisis passes soon.

Thank you for that. I'd break down in tears for a genuine display of kindness from a real person, of late, and I suppose I cannot really explain that without trying but so many members patience, so I won't. The loaner Jazzy bemoth and I are getting along, tentatively, and I was able to take my first shower since my Quickie's funeral before Thanksgiving. My power chair is everything, legs, car, independence, and at 46, after I get my new one, I need a better safety valve for future breakdowns, or else. My sister is not pleased that I've added my PTSD to her own. This is why I am in no condition to lend myself to voting this cycle. I apologize to anyone I might have irritated by explaining.

[Jozanny]

I realize the word *breakdown* may be cause for confusion, but a good analogy might be a person on a tight budget whose car is absolutely crucial, and then the automaker says "sorry, we aren't going to honor the warranty".

Medical supply companys do this to power chair users who do not have the economic wealth to thwart them on a daily basis. They go in and out of bankruptcy with more frequency than the airline industry, except, unlike 20 years ago, I cannot just find another company to do the repairs under my insurance provider, and I am thus caught in some crosshairs, which in turn is breaking me down worse than it used to, hehe! If it wasn't so corrosive the irony of it would be amusing.

It is amusing, except for the fact that I cannot trust the loaner just yet to get me safely out of the house, and back.

[Captain Pike]

I do not think it is fair for me to participate because I publish my work and was, or is, depending on how I judge my current circumstances, an accomplished writer. My standards are higher, or at least very different, from most members who use the Writing Forum, though I admit the cash prize excited my greed--depending, again, on the way one looks at it, from the time I became active on LN, I had nothing perfect enough and short enough to compete..

There is no rule (I don't think) prohibiting published authors from submitting work here for the contest. I think it might say somewhere that we shouldn't have published stuff elsewhere which we submit here for the contest, but I don't think that rule is really worried about too much.

Personally, I wish more people would post stories, seasoned authors or green horns, or at least VOTE on the ones that've been submitted!

Come on, now you got me Jonesing for your work.
_P.

[Jozanny]

Come on, now you got me Jonesing for your work.
_P.

If I can survive my latest cripple-crack up phase, there is always next time. I haven't been working at all Captain, so it may be depression and anxiety will force me to rest on my laurels as a not so well noted has-been. I am frightened of THE SYSTEM, in a vague, grandiose, Kafkaesque sort of way, screaming into my own head that I don't want Schiavo's fate or anything like it, with my own fear more withering than my physical condition itself.

My mother used to say, "Can't you just live your life?"

And I suppose it was a worthy retort. If I get from point A to point B, in getting a new Medicare power chair without entirely losing my marbles, I will have to learn to game the system better to hang onto my independence a wee little longer...

Really, if my vote has the possibility of influence, I want to be calm and clear-headed enough, since I know these contests are important, just as the ones I enter are important to me.