January Flash - Voting Thread ONE

[Andrew LH]

Thanks a lot to everyone who entered - fourteen stories! All contributors and enthusiastic readers have one vote on each board - so that's two votes altogether. Please do the writers the honour of reading all the stories before you vote. The first collection of stories are:

THE MAN WHO SLEPT FOR YEARS

THE GIRL WHO ATE WORLDS

THE GIRL WHO SANG ELF ANTS

THE CRAFTSMAN WHO LOVED A PRINCESS

THE MAN WHO ENDED EVERYTHING

THE CHIAROSCURIST WHO PHLEBOTAMISED LARCENERS

THE MAN WHO EMBRACED FATE

The story with the most votes wins - in the event of a tie we'll have a final head-to-head. Happy voting!

In the interests of clarity and full disclosure, the stories were compiled according to the date of submission and then split across two posts A,B,A,B style.

 

[Andrew LH]

I'm going to put my money where my mouth is. My vote goes to The Man who Ended Everything - I liked it more with each passing paragraph, even if it could use a polish. Big nods also to The Girl who Ate Worlds for the similar mix of the personal on a galactic scale, and The Craftsman for its characterful narrative voice.

 

[NilsDesperandum]

Enjoyed the Elf Ants and The Man who Embraced Fate, but my vote goes to Micky G's Craftsman

 

[N. E. White]

This is very hard this month. Usually have a very good idea of which story will get my vote, but for this bunch, it could very easily be each one (except mine, of course).

But, one it is - Elf Ants for being utterly unique.

 

[R.J.]

Well, that was a particularly strong batch of flash stories, I must say. Out of the seven presented here, I found four to be especially worthy of consideration, for different reasons.
Narrowing it down to two, I am left with The Craftsman who Loved a Princess, for its well-written POV and feeling like a full story, and...arf...this is so hard... well, The Girl Who Ate Worlds, then, for its colorful prose.

And now it gets really difficult, because these two stories are so different from each other. The Craftsman is closer to the type of story I personally like to read, you know, gritty and medieval with a touch of fantasy, but The Girl is the kind of story that opens me up a bit and makes me think.


Sigh.

Ah, dammit, I give my vote to The Craftsman.

 

[Wilson Geiger]

I gave my vote to The Man Who Ended Everything. A well done story amongst many well done stories. Very strong consideration to The Girl Who Ate Worlds, and The Craftsman Who Loved a Princess. Like Slynt said, Craftsman is right up my alley, but in the end I thought it lacked a clear fantasy element.

 

[Daddy Darth]

That was a tough tough vote - you all are too good! Micky's stuck with me the most though so he gets the nod today. Gonna have to way step up my game. Wow. Now on to the next whack o stories.

 

[Gustaf Hagel]

I´d almost forgotten how tough this was...

Though I like all of them, the final heads up is between the Elf ants and the phlebotomizing chiaroscurist. And emerging on the other side with my vote: The Chiaroscurist Who Phlebotamized Larceners (that name alone could win my vote but the story did stand very well on its own).

 

[mickyg]

The Chiaroscurist who Phlebotamized Larceners got my vote this month - it was remarkably well written, to my mind.

 

[norm]

Well, I've decided. The Man Who Ended Everything gets my vote. It's just a solid, solid piece. The Craftsman Who Loved a Princess was a close second.

 

[DailyRich]

My vote went to The Chiaroscurist who Phlebotamized Larceners. Accomplished everything it set out to do with style and skill.

 

[Andrew LH]

Thanks to all who voted, and to all participants of course (probably this means I've thanked the same people twice!). We have a draw, but seeing as it was my story which joined The Man who had Nothing to Write at the top, by act of fiat I hereby step aside and nominate Fung Koo as this month's winner!

 

[aiasminor]

I hope I'm not late. I vote for The Craftsman who Loved a Princess

 

[Andrew LH]

Sorry, aiasminor! But it's the thought that counts, in some kind of nebulous way...

 

[mickyg]

Sorry, aiasminor! But it's the thought that counts, in some kind of nebulous way...

*sniff*

Well done Fung Koo, a great story!