FLASH CHALLENGE: November '07-ONE DAY RUNOFF

[kailhofer]

Following established precedent, there will be a one-day runnoff. You have until 10 p.m. central standard time 11/30 to cast your vote to break the 3-way tie.

Nate

[kailhofer]

I don't want to give away any results if you haven't voted yet, but I thought I was very surprising how the runoff vote is differing from round one.

Most interesting.

Nate

[kailhofer]

Congratulations to G.C. Dillon, winner of the November "Sequels-Only" Challenge Runoff for his entry, Mr. Megrim!

Kudos to Bill Wolfe and David Alan Jones, who tied with this month's winner in the first round of voting.

Thank you to all who contributed. Once again, you have come through with delightful tales that clearly made the choice difficult for the reading public. These challenges could not continue without your time, effort, and considerable skills.

Please feel free to comment on these stories now.

Nate

PS--Be looking for the next challenge December 9th!

[kailhofer]

Earlier this week I considered dropping out of this competition for good, because the voting is so narrow that (as I said in another post) it comes down to who has the most friends/family willing to log-on and click them ahead.

Upon reflection, I nixed that idea. The whole point is garnering readership and honing our short fiction skills. Rather than withdraw, I am going to make a commitment to participate every month and I encourage every writer who has ever contributed to Aphelion to do the same. Sometimes I have to work hard to quail the competitor in me and just enjoy the game.

It would be a good idea for the mafia here to perhaps send out invitations to authors who have published with Aphelion in the past. That will probably go far in drawing interest from writers and readers. For my part, I am going to invite a couple of aspiring writers I know in my hometown to enter the upcoming contest. It ain’t much, but it’s a start.

Honestly, I think there's been very little of friends and family "buying" the vote. Yes, I think it's happened, but out of caring for the contributor, not out of any maliciousness. Plus, they may well have felt the story was the best.

I've seen preliminary results for the votes on two different occasions, and I can honestly say both times that there were far more member votes than guests. Members decide the winners, really, in practical terms.

When someone wins this competition, they win the approval of their story and their skills in writing it. Plus, the approval comes from the same people who enter the competition against the winner. The vote is their way of saying that this work really was the best.

So, a hundred votes would be great, of course, but the 14-18 votes we usually seem to get may actually mean more.

Food for thought.

Nate

PS-the emails/messages/invitations thing has been brought up in the past, but I suggest you ask Rob about it in the Administrivia section. I'm sure he'll have a good answer for you about whether it's a feasible thing or not. (I'm not certain anyone outside these challenges reads these discussion threads.)

[kailhofer]

Here's some comments about the stories this time around:

"Phil Marlowe..." This one got my vote. I love surprise reveals. However, I have to say I liked the sequel a great deal more than the original that spawned it.

"Windows..." I'm so glad that Dan gave this challenge a shot (pun intended). To me it read a little different than your previous works. For lack of a better descriptor, it seemed more character driven. I liked it.

"Mr. Megrim" I wouldn't have known this was a sequel from the original if it wasn't stated outright, but you have an interesting character there. I wouldn't mind seeing more of his adventures. This was my wife's choice.

"The Tribulation..." I'd go along with your statement about needing to focus more tightly. The experience of the truck driver only, or the mayor, or the preacher... That would be better. Keep at it!

"Steampunk Willie" I had a hard time getting the full significance of the vial until I reread the original. The whole Earth is governed on the Moon? Or was it only New York? Took me a while to figure out what was going on.

"Samsara" I thought this was a strong entry. When viewed as a package, original story plus sequel, I thought this was the best by far. However, judging the sequels only against each other, I thought that Bill's edged yours out. Nevertheless, it was a darn good story.

Nate