View Poll Results: Please vote for the story you like best by December 31st.

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  • You Ooze, You Lose

    7 11.48%
  • Playing the Piano

    6 9.84%
  • Kim and Me

    19 31.15%
  • The Story of Remembering

    9 14.75%
  • Forever Young

    20 32.79%
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Thread: 2011 Short Story Competition Final

  1. #106
    Registered User Darcy88's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by soundofmusic View Post
    Really though, Mark, it was incredibly well written...totally sick of course, scarier than the bible, bloodier than any of the Saw movies...Thank God you are a sane man; I'd hate to think what you could do as a serial killer...
    Hahaha. So true. And I did not make the Prometheus connection until reading qimissung's comment below. Perceptive I am. I have to say that though I voted for Forever Young I was greatly impressed with every entry and am now shaking in my boots, intimidated at the thought of possibly challenging any of these awesome writers for the prize next year. I don't know if I have it in me to muster such audacity.

  2. #107
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    Congratulations Mark - and indeed to the runner-up (whoever he or she may be - the story I ended up voting for). It was such a close run thing this time.

    H

  3. #108
    Registered User SilentMute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mona amon View Post
    Congrats, Mark!

    Can we have the names of the writers of the other stories?
    Oh, I don't know Mona Amon. I think that is like unmasking a super hero.

    Quote Originally Posted by soundofmusic View Post
    Yes, I do want to know who wrote Kim and Me (then I want to know who the slutty sister is and if she is on litnet
    Sometimes I wonder about you, mum.
    I don't care if the glass is half full or half empty, I'm just glad to have a glass.

  4. #109
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    Congratulations Mark.

  5. #110
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    Good stuff, Mark. I wish I knew who wrote Kim and Me. And all the others, of course. I kinda knew it was you with Forever Young because of the questions and style of presentation. There were just a very few others that could have been, except for the temper necessary to write it without reactionary foreigneerings. Good stuff, again.

  6. #111
    sound of music soundofmusic's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Darcy88 View Post
    Hahaha. So true. And I did not make the Prometheus connection until reading qimissung's comment below. Perceptive I am. I have to say that though I voted for Forever Young I was greatly impressed with every entry and am now shaking in my boots, intimidated at the thought of possibly challenging any of these awesome writers for the prize next year. I don't know if I have it in me to muster such audacity.
    That is perceptive. No, actually I hadn't drawn that connection. I, on the other hand, was married to two huge sci fi readers and television watchers, so I picked up all the bits that had landed in the twilight zones, outer limits, and other episodes. Of course, Mark took it much further than, as Califoni mentioned, our American sensitivities would stomach or phathom...still, it is an amazing story and I had nightmares all night after reading it...actually, I stopped after the dog came...enough said...understood

    Quote Originally Posted by SilentMute View Post
    Oh, I don't know Mona Amon. I think that is like unmasking a super hero.

    Sometimes I wonder about you, mum.
    Always good to keep a bit of variety in the household; did I ever tell you that people on litnet once thought you were my second identity

    Quote Originally Posted by cafolini View Post
    Good stuff, Mark. I wish I knew who wrote Kim and Me. And all the others, of course. I kinda knew it was you with Forever Young because of the questions and style of presentation. There were just a very few others that could have been, except for the temper necessary to write it without reactionary foreigneerings. Good stuff, again.
    Yes, I figured, you want to date the sister It is an odd thing about us "foreigners"; we are too sensitive to write books about the stuff we wouldn't blink at doing. ON the other hand, other countries tend to write about things they think about doing but always stop short of the action.

  7. #112
    Clinging to Douvres rocks Gilliatt Gurgle's Avatar
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    Congratulations Mark!
    I straddled the fence between the top two for some time, but eventually dropped down on the side Forever Young.
    Nice piece.

    .
    "Mongo only pawn in game of life" - Mongo

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKRma7PDW10

  8. #113
    www.markbastable.co.uk
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    Thank you very much to all sixty-odd who took the time to read the stories and vote. That was a damn close-run thing, and I'm delighted to have won by a nose, whilst being fully aware that - when it's that close - it's practically a toss-up. If the voting had carried on another day, I could just as easily have been one behind.

    Can I just address this 'professional writer' thing? First, I guess it depends what you mean by professional. I've never made a living from writing - I've always had a 'proper job'. And I haven't written anything for money for over a decade. I might try to go back to it this year. But the point is, these days I write on a whim.

    So it might be more relevant to say that I'm a published writer. Thing is though, being published doesn't necessarily make you a shoo-in for this kind of game. I know many published writers who'd struggle to write a story for this contest, just as I know many unpublished writers who are naturals for it. So I don't think I'm at any advantage in the contest because I've been published. I think being published and doing well in the contest are both effects of the same cause - which is that I wrote something that readers liked.

    The question really, I suppose, is do we want a new rule saying that the competition is open only to unpublished writers? The organisers could easily make such a rule - the only slight problem would be defining 'published'. But in principle, it's easy to do.
    Last edited by MarkBastable; 01-03-2012 at 09:38 AM.

  9. #114
    running amok Sancho's Avatar
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    Well, El Sancho votes that Mark stays. I know these forums are not a democracy, but I’m going to vote anyway, so I vote he stays.

    I mean you can’t kick the championship team out of league – that would cause a race towards mediocrity, or as Hunter S. Thompson put it, “A downward spiral of dumbness.”

    Also, I like reading his stories. And I don’t know about you guys, but every once in a while I get a burning desire to write something, and then I go at it until it’s down on paper, in some sort-of form or other(coherent or not), and then the pressure is off and I can go on with my life – mow the grass or change the oil in the car or something. I think a lot of us are like that and it’s nice to have a thread where we can throw our stuff out there and get a critical assessment of it.

    Enough of that. Hey Mark, I found this really cool picture that could serve as illustration to your 2010 story:



    Death of Icarus, by Brueghel, 1558

    If I’m not mistaken, that’s your protagonist’s leg sticking out of the water in front of the ship.
    Last edited by Sancho; 01-03-2012 at 09:26 AM. Reason: I needed to shrink up the picture
    Uhhhh...

  10. #115
    www.markbastable.co.uk
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sancho View Post
    Well, El Sancho votes that Mark stays. I know these forums are not a democracy, but I’m going to vote anyway, so I vote he stays.

    I mean you can’t kick the championship team out of league – that would cause a race towards mediocrity, or as Hunter S. Thompson put it, “A downward spiral of dumbness.”

    Also, I like reading his stories. And I don’t know about you guys, but every once in a while I get a burning desire to write something, and then I go at it until it’s down on paper, in some sort-of form (coherent or not) or other, and then the pressure is off and I can go on with my life – mow the grass or change the oil in the car or something. I think a lot of us are like that and it’s nice to have a thread where we can throw our stuff out there and get a critical assessment of it.

    Enough of that. Hey Mark, I found this really cool picture that could serve as illustration to your 2010 story:



    Death of Icarus, by Brueghel, 1558

    If I’m not mistaken, that’s your protagonist’s leg sticking out of the water in front of the ship.
    Thank you.

    Yes, the painting is the subject of a poem by Auden, which was in turn alluded to in my story. The title comes from the poem, and three or four lines from it are slid into the narrative. And the setting described in the story is, in effect, the landscape shown in the painting. So it's a story about a poem about a painting about a story.

    I figured some people would know the painting and some would know the poem, and some both, and that they'd be tickled by the allusions. But the idea was to make the story work as a standalone - and I rather liked the idea that some readers would come across the painting or the poem later and think, "Hang on a minute..."

  11. #116
    running amok Sancho's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MarkBastable View Post
    So it's a story about a poem about a painting about a story.
    Well said, thanks for the explanation. Figuring out what went into the creative process is sometimes as interesting as the final result. Also thanks for the links.
    Uhhhh...

  12. #117
    Not politically correct Pendragon's Avatar
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    Congratulations, MarkBastable! A nice little story, but my heart went another way. Congratulations to all the finalists, each of you deserved to win. But in the end, there can be only one... The Litnet has spoken! Again, congratulations, Mark on well deserved win!
    Some of us laugh
    Some of us cry
    Some of us smoke
    Some of us lie
    But it's all just the way
    that we cope with our lives...

  13. #118
    Registered User SilentMute's Avatar
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    It is hard enough to get people to read the rules we have, so I don't think that adding more would be helpful. Besides, when you have so many rules, contests can be rather a drag. And I don't know how the moderators could enforce them anyway. For instance, I've been published--but in very obscure magazines and in one equally obscure collaboration.

    The only way I could see that someone could have an unfair advantage in this contest is if they have several identities on LitNet that vote for them, or they tell their friends to vote for them.

    However, I don't believe that happened here. I believe everyone liked Forever Young, and I can't blame them--it was a fine story.

    I am curious about the author of Kim and Me too, but I understand wanting to remain mysterious. After all, the problem is that if people start recognizing your writing style, it could go against you. Of course, it might help too. It would depend on the person.

    So, what I really want to know is...when are we starting the next short story competition? And are the rules going to be the same?
    I don't care if the glass is half full or half empty, I'm just glad to have a glass.

  14. #119
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    Well, given the anonymity of the internet, we're all just assuming the other authors aren't 'professional' or 'published' authors. Maybe the author of Kim and Me is a very bored Joyce Carol Oates come to troll us on these forums.

    So we can't possibly regulate that. But what's more important is that if we implement that rule anyway we can single Mark out and drop a lil' bit of hate on him. And that would be very cathartic. We could just rephrase the new rule for convenience's sake: The competition is open to all forum members with 100 posts or more and who are not MarkBastable.








    J

  15. #120
    Pièce de Résistance Scheherazade's Avatar
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    I have to start by saying that I am rather disappointed to see that a thread which remains open to congratulate the winner of 2011 Competition has turned into an inexplicable display of bitterness.

    This competition is open to all members who have accumulated 100 or more posts. If we are to consider adding limitations on participation and voting, should we also consider banning native speakers because ESOL speakers like myself can very easily claim that those who are native speakers have an unfair advantage over us? How about writers voting for themselves? Or friends and family voting for them?

    It would be impossible for us to "police" all these criteria and, demonstrating mutual trust and honesty, we will be able to carry on with minimal restrictions on the stories and contributors.

    As it was mentioned above, the only thing we object to is members creating multiple accounts (which is a bannable-offence on its own as well) to be able to vote repeatedly in the competition, which is the reason why the voting cannot be annonymous. I am glad to add that this has happened only couple of times since the competition started.

    I would also like to remind that I am not at liberty to reveal the identity of the contributors. If they choose to do so, they will, I am sure, come forward themselves.

    I hope my post will lay some of the issues raised to rest so that we can now offer Mark the congratulations he deserves and look forward to reading more stories both by him and other members who are willing to take the challenge in 2012.
    ~
    "It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
    ~


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