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Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic

As much as I bashed my head against this particular theme, I was really impressed by the variety and quality of the entries it produced. Just like in the original blurb/mission statement. There are some seriously talented people on this site, and I'm looking forward to discovering whom I should be adding to my watchlist based on their entries. I thought I had a good short list of stories to vote for, but some of the last-minute entries are so excellent, now I'm not so sure. Good thing we have a week to decide.

I know this, though:

groan

brains

groan

brains

groan

brains

I was listening to my H5N1 playlist while reading a bunch of the stories, and I think a meta-MFC of songs based on/inspired by the WFC entries would rock almost as much. C'mon -- Ed Hulver: the Musical. You know you want to.

--
"later" meant either "when you walk around the corner" or "oatmeal."

Or did I FAIL IT?

_{"When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him." - Thomas Szasz}

I mean, not that I wrote "Ed's Dead". Or "Has Anyone Seen Kelly?". But I wish I had.
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_{"Nature is such a fucking plagarist."}

Let me make my complex, nuanced pitch for those two works.

In the often vapid and lifeless genre of "little people" fiction, some visionary writers are able to fuse our post-colonial concerns with a meta-ironic sensibility, re-inventing a the language in a supernova of wit and craftsmanship that blends the seriousness of high modernity with the knowingly innocent cynicism of post-modernity.

But that's neither here nor there.

"Bouncing" and "Diaspora" both kick ass and deserve more votes.

Stalker :)
--
Cheese is not a hat. - clock

HAND, KTHX

_{"When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him." - Thomas Szasz}

Yay!
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Taken out of context I must seem so strange - Ani DiFranco

I just hope you don't have lupus like poor Flannery.

ed's dead

-2, fucking boring AND fucking moralizing

How the little ones died

I'm pretty glad it wasn't puppies that died in this story.

Temple

-1, doesn't discuss the cute chick enough

Doubled Duplicity

Has women in swimsuits, and a possible zombie.

Ed Hulver and the Little People: A Vignette in the Daily Ritual

TOTALLY AWESOME! FRIGGIN' INTENSE! Could only be better if it had hot dogs!

Has anyone seen Kelly?

HOT DOGS!

Ed Lives

ZOMG!

The Man in the 20th Century House

Vampires are not NEARLY as good as zombies.

You're not Ed Hulver

+1, implies boobies; -1, boobies are IMPLIED

Songs of the Redeemed

Apocalypse not due to zombies! Inexcusable!

A shot in the dark

This story would be better if zombies ate the guy instead.

1. The Hill. A joke, right?
2. Ed's Dead I liked this one. Whoever said it's reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor has a point.
3. How the Little Ones Died Interesting and engaging. The eyes are following me around, I think.
4. Temple Interesting take on the Little People theme. +1 cute asian chick.
5. Doubled Duplicity. I quite liked this one, though I still have no idea what it's about. I voted for it.
6. Ed Goes PNG. Interesting joke.
7. Vignette meh.
8. George and the Fairy. I liked the intimate look at death. Hate the non-ASCII characters.
9. Diaspora. I like this one a lot. Voted for; nice conceit that's carried right through.
10. Has Anyone Seen Kelly? I liked this one a lot, too, though more info about how the magic worked and why it ultimately failed (the salt ring) would have helped.
11. Menagerie Um, huh. A joke gone bad.
12. Lord. Like hulver said.
13. Bouncing off the Walls Day in the life of a bowling pin??!?
14. Ed Lives Too much in the way of zombies; gratuitous toss-in of little people.
15. Dear Master Started out really strong, kind of went into a help of empty clothes after that.
16. The Fall and Rise of Ed Hulver ummmkaaay... I've been at trade shows, and it captures the atmosphere nicely.
17. The Man in the 20th Century House Nicely creepy. Voted for this one.
18. You're Not Ed Hulver I'm pretty sure I've read this before someplace.
19. Songs of the Redeemed Lots of jargon, correctly used (as far as I can see). Um, I find several days later I don't recall what it was about.
20. A shot in the dark Creepy. I think the main character's nuts, personally.
21. 2:03 Should be made into a proper story.
22. The Endless Wheel Nice spy fic. I liked it a lot.

Can you introspect out loud? --CRwM

1. The Hill Too much setup for too little joke.
2. Ed's Dead The moral feels tacked on; I liked the middle part of this one best, actually.
3. How the little ones died I liked this one. Bringing it back around to the title and the theme of the story made it feel complete, but I wish the story itself had a bit more meat.
4. Temple Ending falls off the edge of a cliff. That's fine as a stylistic choice, but less satisfying to read. Some good imagery but it doesn't go anywhere.
5. Doubled Duplicity I liked the structure of the story with the intertwined storylines, and wanted to like the story as a whole, but the ending made me go "huh?"
6. Ed Goes PNG In-joke wrapped in a nonsequitur. As others have said, meh.
7. Ed Hulver and the Little People: A Vignette in the Daily Ritual At least no time was wasted getting to the punchline.
8. George and the fairy Good atmosphere, but the ending fell flat for me. Ed Hulver was billed as a cameo in the original blurb, though a lot of the stories used him as a fairly major character; in this story, Ed was a bit too incidental.
9. Diaspora Really excellent. It's a punchline that doesn't rely on reversing your expectations; it builds on everything that's come before rather than undercutting it. I liked the framing device with the recording providing backstory, as well.
10. Has Anyone Seen Kelly? Plotwise, the ending isn't remarkable but the echo of the "thick as thieves" gives it a nice rounded, complete feeling. Caps off a strong story.
11. The Mirrored Menagerie Of Adventurous Pixilates I figured out what was going on around "yellow estuary" so the ending didn't have quite as much punch for me.
12. Lord Ditto, I got the joke a few paragraphs before the end.
13. Bouncing Off The Walls The pun was fine, but I felt like I was missing something in the elaborate setup. Nicely written, but left me confused.
14. Ed Lives Maybe it's just me, but the extra beat in "I am" instead of "I'm" threw off the rhythm of that last line for me. But more importantly, it's just thrown in there. What if instead of the woman just telling him about the midget farm, she says Ed's been chosen for an important role that will help more zombies be resurrected. He heartily agrees, while she is leading him to his new post. Ed: "Anything to help, as long as it's got nothing to do with midgets, ha ha." Mysterious woman: "Uh, now you mention it ..." Door to midget barn (or whatever) opens. Hilarity more likely to ensue, IMHO, but YMMV.
15. Dear Master The letter form comes with a built-in sense of closure, but it seems like it would have been better to keep the letter itself short and sweet.
16. The Fall and Rise of Ed Hulver Good title, good opening; I wasn't feeling the ending.
17. The Man in the 20th Century House Where there should have been a punchline or some kind of resolution, there was a vampire ex machina.
18. You're not Ed Hulver I liked that this one ended on a positive note, instead of a jokey, tragic, or neutral one like so many others.
19. Songs of the Redeemed I know nothing happens. I liked the language and the atmosphere anyway. Cool way of incorporating Ed Hulver, unexpected but not coming out of nowhere. Also a lovely note to end on.
20. A shot in the dark Solid. Nothing wrong with this one, it just didn't grab me as much as some others.
21. 2:03 I liked it. The story had such a good rhythm it could almost have been written by blixco. I didn't care that it didn't make much sense because the protagonist was strong enough to tie it together, and I just enjoyed the ride. Coming back around to the beginning with the time felt like the rollercoaster car coming to a stop so you can get off and let the next group on.
22. The Endless Wheel I liked the writing and would have liked the ending if it went with a different story. In this case, I felt like it didn't answer the question it raised (or I just didn't get it), so it felt incomplete.

'The Endless Wheel' was mine.
If television is a babysitter, the internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up.

The plot occurred to me almost immediately upon reading the guidelines.

I was in an altered state of consciousnes.

The alignment of the stars was outta whack.

I checked tea leaves and used yarrow sticks with I Ching.

Fed my datura plant.

Leveled my desk because I THOUGHT it was eskewed.

Stood on my head because I was sure blood had drained from it.

Wore my Tin Foil Aluminum Hat for several days and even slept in it.

I read Nostradamus and saw the prediction of the Writing Contest in the book.

Shaved WarKat.

Shaved her....um nevermind.

Gave money to Indians on the bridge going to Juarez.

Talked to a number of Pixilates and interviewed one of their gang members.


_{"When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him." - Thomas Szasz}