Messages

Squirrel Squirrel Squirrel!

[kconan's]

Now that I've got my server back up, why not let THE PEOPLE decide who has the sexiest voice work?

kconan's Bully's soothing dulcet tones.

CaptainD's devastating blue-eyed RoboVac

I don't know how to start a poll so you'll just have to vote here.  The winner will feature both prominently and scantily-clad in an AGS fund-raising calendar, so do vote wisely.

What other deity has splashed onto the scene so successfully in the past 100 years?  If you think about it, a contest about quirky modern deities almost demands an FSM trophy.  The real lesson here is that you should always participate in the FWC just in case. 

[Sinitrena.]

As long as you learned something it's a worthwhile experience.

Finally was able to connect to Ol' Bessy (aka my server), so here's the hardware:

Golden Flying Spaghetti Monster for Sinitrena.

Silver Flying Spaghetti Monster for kconan.

Bronze Flying Spaghetti Monster for Sane Co.

...And a life lesson with the bitter after-taste of introspection, which is something like cola mixed with mouth-wash mixed with pickle brine, for SilverSpook.

[Sinitrena]

Many thanks for all the votes and the analytical discussions.  Personally I thought Spook's story was about the minor deity of Exasperated Masculinity being pursued like a druid in christian times by a mortal collective of social-media witch-hunters....

But I digress!  It is time for the tabulation of votes:

In first place, with an impressive 14 votes, is Sinitrena!  I'd give you a golden trophy but I can't access my server right now.... (Oh noes!  A minor internet deity has seized control and is posing as a young Russian widow who just needs help cashing her inheritance cheque! ).  This was my personal favourite this time around, so I'm glad everyone else thought so as well.  What I loved most was the tone whereby you really captured the essence of what the competition was about: minor, almost trivial powers juxtaposed to an inflated sense of purpose.  Theodoros must strive to comfort all children, but has nowhere near the means to achieve this task, and this is something he has to struggle with for all eternity.  Outstanding concept, special marks for novel gods like Kindulus popping up now and again, and bonus points for adding in tension with other minor gods for good measure.  Great work!

In second place we have kconan.  Again, I'd post a silver trophy for you, but my server seems to have been hijacked by a minor Nigerian deity Phishospam.   But for the time being, your reward of adoration from your fans for creating a vivid background world replete with sleezy used-chariot salesmen will have to suffice.

In third place we have Sane Co. with an impressively disjointed dream sequence and an equally obscure deity of rude awakenings.  I personally would have preferred more information on his exact responsibilities: were there other deities responsible for peaceful awakenings or half-awakenings?  But the weirdness of dream-land was well constructed and engrossing, so good work.

And that's everyone.  At least, everyone who placed....   As always I was mesmerized by the ultra-social websphere of SilverSpook's mind, but this time it wasn't quite as apparent how his story fit the topic, which I think hurt his chances.  Nevertheless there were some brilliant turns of phrase, some terrific energy as the main protagonist flitted through cyber-zaniness, and a fair stab at a decent enduring message (undeserved hounding in the pack-mentality social-media, although I think more work in showing how unreasonable/undeserving this instance was would have made the reader more empathetic of Trevor's plight).

Thanks everyone for your hard work and votes.  I enjoyed this round, but as always look forward to actually participating.  So I turn the hall-monitor-sash of contest-administration over to Sinitrena, and look forward to her upcoming topic in the next exciting instalment of...

...The Fortnightly Writing Competition!

abcdefg hijklmn pq rst uvw xyz

b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

abcdefg hijklmn opq rst uvw xyz

[kconan]

...And that's time, folks!  Four impressive entries this time around should make for an interesting vote.  Your participants, in order of entry, are:

kconan with his aptly untitled RETURN OF THE YUCKHOTEP
Sinitrena with her Lost Children.  Actually, I assume they're not her children, but that's her story.
Sane Co. with his/her/its Lumber of the BEAST
Silver Spook with his Questionable Existence of Trevor Something

Disclaimer: Some entries were untitled by their authors and have therefore been subjected to my titular editorial hack-jobbery.

Voting on the aforementioned shall commence forthwith and post-haste, and conclude at midnight Friday November 27, with votes tabulated at some point the next day to make sure we've given every time zone their fair shake.  The categories by which to judge the work of our sizzling scribes are:

Best Character: Probably the divine creation, but maybe some mortal he/she is tormenting perhaps?
Best Plot: Someone tries to resolve some sort of conflict in a gripping or entertaining way.
Best Tone: The reader is brought to empathize with the condition of minor omnipotence.
Best Background World: Is the setting more than just a blackened stage with a sole spot-light?
Best Style: Encouraging the composition of memorable turns of phrase, or bold new ways of combining words.
Most Substantive: The reader actually takes away something meaningful from their short time with your words.  Was a lesson learned or a message conveyed?

Let the voting begin!

Incredibly sexy voice work in this game!

Aw, shucks....  I've never had my nasal drone referred to as sexy before.   Wait, which voice work were you talking about again?

[24 hours left]

Nice to see this becoming a real competition.  A little more than 24 hours left, if there are any other takers!

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

  Since everyone working on this will be a parent, we can expect to deliver this game sometime after our children have turned 20!

....And we're right on schedule.  

Sorry to lose you, Spooks.  But remember, there's no minimum word count: I've seen many a high-quality short entry steal the show.  So if you are struck by inspiration at some point in the next three days, just write out the kernel of the story in a captivating way and see what happens.  

i ââ,,¢Â¥ tofu sundaes

Oooo!  Nice Afrikaner accent, cat!

Solution: For some posters it seems to be the number of dots in a post.  This includes periods, dots on i's and j's, colons ( : ), etc.  But not exclamation or question marks.  And sometimes for some posters it includes dots in their signature, time stamp and personal text.  I'm not sure about the exact rule, but if you count the dots often enough in different ways you can always find some combination that fits the official score.

A cat walks into a pub.

Thanks!  Also....

{ Ew! }

A cat walks into a pub.