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Contest October-November Short Story Contest Voting Thread (Votes Close December 7th)

Which story did you like best (You only get one vote this time!))

  • Story One "A Critique"

    Votes: 1 5.6%

  • Story Two, "The Warrior's Art"

    Votes: 6 33.3%

  • Story Three, "The Never-Histories"

    Votes: 4 22.2%

  • Story Four "Like Father, Like Son"

    Votes: 7 38.9%
  • Total voters
    18
  • Poll closed .
NIGHTBRINGER said:
But, but, but...

images
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You make a compelling arguement, and your point is indeed most valid.

Let us pretend that I did in fact pluck that fruit from its low perch.
 
As promised, early reviews!


Oh my, this was a real surprise.

I think i've guessed the author, but to avoid any possible debate and negations, i will keep the guess for myself.

What can i say? it's undoubtely the less classic story of the bunch, we have not the typical narrative structure, but this one wins by a large margin the award for sheer originality of the idea. And brilliantly executed, moreover... the satire is perfectly on spot, the style appears truer than the source of inspiration.

Usually i keep my vote secret, at least 'til the last days, but this round i can say that this piece took my vote. I could just not resist.


Not gonna lie, at first i was taken aback... when i saw the first rudimental tries of Xi-Boc to explore art, i was expecting the story of a saurus with a weird sensibility, a sort of artist against all odds.

No wonder that after a while i was wondering if the theme was left abandoned behind by the plot. Then i slowly realized what was happening, and yes, no one can say that this piece was not covering in an excellent way the idea of "art". Not a case that the most famous work of Sun Tzu, general and philosopher, is called "the art of war".

Maybe the piece drags itself for a little too long? maybe not, after all we were witnessing a whole existence dedicated to the aim of perfection.

A pity the only internal struggle of our protagonist was shown at the beginning and when he was forced to fight in a civil war, as if his strife for excellence was due more to basic instinct, rather than active personal research.

Solid piece, anyway. Also in this case, i think i've guessed the author's identity.



Oh, really interesting piece, a whole subterranean filled with paintings and mosaics that tell different stories of an uncertain past.

The already interesting premise is suddenly and furtherly increased by the fact that i'm sure the author cleverly introduces subjects from older stories appeared in Lustria contests... (the nippon sauri, the relationship between the child and the kroxigor, and so on).

Is this place a depiction of the stories on LO, a place that is ever growing and that, if properly explored, will reveal yet-to-come worlds and narrations?

The Old World (WHFB) and the new one (AoS) are both fictional universes, that live only in our imaginations, so why there shouldn't be a connection, somewhere, between all the fluffs are written and the "official" lore? That would be a deeper level of consciousness, and the concept is intriguing, to say the least... this is probably my second fav. piece and again, i think i know who the mysterious writer is.


Ah, and when no one was expecting them, here they come the Chaos Dwarfs!

Was it a dirty trick to grab an easy vote? As noted by other forumeers, after the reading i would say no, not at all. The story is solid by itself and, even if i don't know that much about the lore of CDs, it seems clear that this one is rooted in it, and (more or less) I've managed to understand things i wasn't aware of.

Thew art is there and in this case it's a classic expression of it, a construct of war built with "love", dedication, faith and true passion. The dialogue between father and son at the very beginning reminded me about the dialogue between the Pope and Michelangelo in the old movie "The agony and the Ecstasy", and if not... that would be a very strange coincidence.

The presence of the lizardmen in this story was a late one (when i was really asking to myself what could have been the connection), but man, what a presence! A Dread K'daii should be a terrifying sight to behold.

Also in this case, and reasoning by exclusions, i'm positive i've guessed the author.
 
I am mighty curious to see if your guesses as to the authors are accurate.

I'm trying to remember if you said you had managed to send in an entry this trimester or not. If you had, then I like you say you think you have a good guess as to the author of every entry including your own. Very Tzeentchian of you. Very... Me and my own quirky humour. Exactly what I would have done if I could trust myself to actually be impartial. :p

I did at one point consider writing joke reviews that strongly implied that I was the author of every single entry just to troll people. Decided against it... But least because I can imagine stern words being leveled at me by the actual authors for acting like their work is mine.
 
I think I know the author of at least one of them. Also the voting is getting so close, aggggghh
 
pyro-dragon said:
I think I know the author of at least one of them. Also the voting is getting so close, aggggghh
Click to expand...

Which one do you think you've recognised? But obviously, don't tell me who you think wrote it.
 
J.Logan said:
I am mighty curious to see if your guesses as to the authors are accurate.
Click to expand...

That will be for a later time ;)

J.Logan said:
I did at one point consider writing joke reviews that strongly implied that I was the author of every single entry just to troll people. Decided against it... But least because I can imagine stern words being leveled at me by the actual authors for acting like their work is mine.
Click to expand...

Back in time it was not a so uncommon tactic, no stern words ever ;)
 
NIGHTBRINGER said:
How can you be so certain that the strategy succeeded in grabbing an easy vote?

:angelic:
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Well, to be fair that was not sure. In case of 2 o 3 stories involving chaos dwarfs, the quality would triumph, so you cannot know beforehand!
 
Killer Angel said:
In case of 2 o 3 stories involving chaos dwarfs
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Wouldn't that be a sight to behold. Then again, that would lead to difficult decisions. Having them spread out across multiple contests makes my job a lot easier and I can really get behind the singular Chaos Dwarf story!

!!!!!.png
 
@pyro-dragon
Sorry, i have deleted your post... the temporary result shouldn't be "viewed" without voting so i don't think it's a good idea, so early in this phase, to announce who's ahead (even if by a single vote).

Of course, if @Scalenex (the final judge for this competition) believes it is ok, he can restore your post. :)
 
Killer Angel said:
@pyro-dragon
Sorry, i have deleted your post... the temporary result shouldn't be "viewed" without voting so i don't think it's a good idea, so early in this phase, to announce who's ahead (even if by a single vote).

Of course, if @Scalenex (the final judge for this competition) believes it is ok, he can restore your post. :)
Click to expand...
No, it's fine. It's a good point. I completely forgot that it was invisible to people who hadn't voted yet
 
Great stories this round... tough decision to make.

I will have my reviews ready soon.

Grrr, !mrahil
 
My humble reviews:


A fun little story, nice read. I loved the idea of a critic's review of an ancient plaque as a work of art. Good visual description.


A story with a lifespan. The journey of a Saurus from spawnling to Old Blood-hood. I loved the many facets of Lizardmen life and culture, the moment with the paint and the pillar gave a wholesome feeling to me: his contribution, unasked for though, being redone.

His achievements in life were great contributions to society and his fellow lizard-people.

Great writing, it really felt like being part of the events in his life.


What secrets are unveiled. Great riches of history or be it alternative history. Great build up in suspense. Vivid scenery descriptions, I would have loved to be in that cave with them. I liked that scholars of different races brought together to decipher what these tapestries could be. Some of the tapestries described made me think of short-stories entered in previous contests, making me feel like the same author is behind this story ;)



An interesting piece for sure. At the start I felt it was written as a crowd pleaser (being more specific one person), though upon reading it through it really was a good story. The theme was touched on early as the smith made a work of art, but the incorporation of our beloved reptilians came late in the story. What a turn of events, great writing

Grrr, !mrahil
 
All i can safely say is that i'm truly happy for the solid amont of voters. :)
 
@Imrahil What shorts are you getting thoughts of in story 3? I caught the elf child and Kroxigor one, if just because I have that short story favourited on AO3 (unless there is another I need to read) and I think I know what the Nippon lizardmen is a reference to.
 
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