October Flash Fiction Voting Thread

**PeteMC** · October 25th, 2012, 11:51 AM

Okay folks, voting time. We’ve got an impressive nine entries this month, so I reckon you can vote for your two favourites.

Our entries this month were as follows:

Slynt – Sleepy Dead

Norm – An Evening With Victoria

Aiasminor – My Soul to Keep

Noumenon – Must be in the fifties

Wulfen – Evangelina

PeteMC – Punch and Judy

Glen – Dollhouse

Fung Koo – Champions

Funky mosquito – The Dunbar Dolls

<EDIT> I can't count so I messed up the timeout on the poll, voting will CLOSE ON 30th OCTOBER so we can have a Halloween winner.

**Wulfen** · October 26th, 2012, 01:14 PM

These are all such good stories, tough to vote, as always! There's not a single one I didn't like.

**zachariah** · October 26th, 2012, 02:02 PM

A lot of good reading this month, all authors can pat themselves on the back. My personal favourites were:

Evangelina, for the clear and compelling picture it drew in my head of an ultra-violent future sport, and a very believable human emotional attachment to an inanimate object.

An Evening With Victoria, for being unselfconsciously funny about a very silly situation, and pulling off a psychotic narrator who I could still sympathise with.

**Slynt** · October 27th, 2012, 03:11 PM

All right, been reading them all and I'm pretty sure which two I find the best this month, so avoting I will go (PeteMCs story and aiasminor's, I've forgotten the titles. Stupid brain)

**tmso** · October 27th, 2012, 03:41 PM

Oh - I'm so glad the voting deadline is next weekend. Now, I'm off to go read all your excellent stories!

**tmso** · October 27th, 2012, 04:15 PM

Originally Posted by PeteMC

<EDIT> I can't count so I messed up the timeout on the poll, voting will CLOSE ON 30th OCTOBER so we can have a Halloween winner.

What? It says right there on the top of the poll - Nov 4th!! How dare you?

I'll try to get them all in, but no promises...

**norm** · October 29th, 2012, 04:38 PM

I've read them all, now I'm just trying to figure the other part- what to comment on and who to vote for.

This is a hard one. How to decide; process of elimination perhaps? I’ll call ‘em as I see ‘em, no sugar coating:

I’m not voting for Evangelina. . . I think. It’s really well written, but I guess it just doesn’t have enough actual storyline for my liking, nothing I can really sink my teeth into. Interpretation of the theme is maybe a little too loose.

Must be in the Fifties; I enjoyed it. I actually didn’t question the whole Celsius/Farenheit thing until you mentioned it( being Canadian the use of Celsius just made sense to me.) Well written, well developed setting, decent dialogue, good pacing and build up. Amusing. Nothing about it that I didn’t like.

The Dunbar Dolls; I enjoyed this. It feels almost like an excerpt from a larger story though and not really a self-contained flash fiction piece. The pace in which the story is revealed would be excellent for something bigger- but here it just gives us a taste without letting us know what we’re reading. I feel this lacks too many important details to really grab me. Do I vote for this? Maybe.

I’m not voting for Champions. It felt a little too hazy for me, I didn’t really get a clear image of what was taking place or why. Didn’t really grab my interest.

I’m not voting for My Soul To Keep. I didn’t care for the repetitive style, I found it very hard to get into.

I’m not voting for Punch and Judy. I didn’t find the dialogue exchange between the two characters all that interesting, or the characters themselves. One minor thing threw me off: When Judy touches something ‘cold and sticky’ it felt ambiguous; I was thinking it was something spilt between the cushions and not a solid object like a knife.

I’m not voting for Sleepy Dead. As others said, it felt a little too imbalanced, I didn’t get a good sense of what happened at the end.

I’m not voting for Dollhouse. The idea was interesting, but somehow I feel it could have been better implemented. As it is, I don’t get much story; just scene setting. A guy who knows nothing about who or where he is or why, has to seek answers of course. But with this we only get the questions, without a hint of understanding as to what it all means. It confines my imagination, it doesn’t give me a direction to think in, doesn’t give me any possibilities to consider. By the end of the story I’m left in the dark. There’s not much intrigue.

So my votes go to Must be in the Fifties, and. . . I think Dunbar Dolls. Or Evangelina. No, Dunbar Dolls.

**Noumenon** · October 29th, 2012, 06:36 PM

Thanks to this month's boss for this - I didn't realise we got two votes apiece until after I picked one, but my second vote will be counted if it's mailed in here: Evangelina.

**PeteMC** · October 30th, 2012, 04:21 AM

Just a reminder that voting CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT (yeah yeah, I screwed up posting the poll....).

**tmso** · October 30th, 2012, 09:12 PM

Midnight in what time zone. By my clock, I still have a bit less than 5 hours.

**tmso** · October 30th, 2012, 09:52 PM

Darn it. Only two votes?

I wanted to vote for An Evening with Victoria, Punch and Judy (excellent), and Evangelina. But, since our ogre-leader has only given us two votes this time, I voted for Punch and Judy and Evangelina.

Well done, everyone!