@Ponderable
For me, the great mystery of murder is less the 'how it happened' aspect, than the motivations involved in such an extreme act. Murder when committed as a crime of passion is often thought to be irrational and uncontrollable, but I doubt this, and I tried to conjure up scenarios in which a crime of passion is indeed committed but for which there could be rationally understandable reasons operating as well, though not necessarily conscious reasons.
#13 Sleepwalker
This one got under my skin. It could be a good novel. Murderous child….wow!
I figured if it gave me the creeps to write it, which it did, it would probably give someone else the creeps to read it.
My story was loosely inspired by a well-known horror story by Henry James, "The Turn of the Screw," which has been filmed several times, the best one probably being "The Innocents" starring Deborah Kerr. The story concerns two children and a governess who tries and fails to cope with something beyond her comprehension. The children are possessed by the spirits of two deceased lovers who re-enact their love in the bodies of the children. It is a profoundly disturbing tale.
In my version of the story, there is no element of the supernatural. Instead, I explored how children, angered and traumatized by the untimely and ghastly death of their mother -- death by consumption is agonizing and slow--, might, by incremental degrees, come to engage in something truly heinous.
#5 Letter from a hanged man
A very moving story of a man who came to see much clearer when crisis happened than decades before. Well done. However the story is missing a bit of logic to me: If he let the murdering grandmother live, how did she work out what happened. How could she let him be convicted of murder? I would very much hear about her side of the story. Plus if Emily grew up with the knowledge that here own grandfather has been hanged for murdering her mother, and somehow coped with that…why re-traumatize her? I think this story woud work very well as part of a bigger ensemble…
In Letter from a Hanged Man, I wanted to explore the thoughts and motivations of someone who would let himself be executed in place of someone else, for a crime he did not commit. What anyone else in the story might have felt or done was ancilliary; I wanted to concentrate on how a man faced with the gallows at dawn might express himself.
#1 A perfect murder
This one was a study in vengeance. A well planned vengeance, that goes to the extreme. The teller of the story was a bit too political for my liking. The murder story inside a murder story was well crafted. It was too horrendous for me. So it made my personal long list, but got no vote.
In A Perfect Murder I wanted to explore the motivation of someone who would set someone else up for murder, even at the cost of her own life. An entire family is devastated when it loses a child to violence, and so I can imagine a similar scenario to the one I depicted, where loss and vengeance combine with ice cold calculation. The enraged mother of a murdered child once shot the defendant in cold blood right in front of judge and jury; quite understandable, in my view.
This story was also, in part, inspired by a bizarre incident which occurred in Germany some years ago, the case of the willing victim. A man contracted with a person to be killed by very unpleasant means. The case drew much media attention at the time, not least because the defendant's attorney pleaded that it was not murder since the 'victim' wanted to be killed. And so, in my story, I tried to conjure up a situation in which a person would allow herself to be killed in very unpleasant circumstances, and that it would still be an understandable, if extreme, thing to do, for example, if she could not bear to live with the loss of a murdered family member and see the murderer go free.
Such is the mystery of the crime of passion.
My thanks to all who read and voted. A writer knows no finer appreciation.
@moonbus
I remember a study of the fantasy material surrounding suicide which resonated with the powerful themes in your story. A common fantasy being to watch your own suicide as if you were a separate observer, able to see the look on your tormentors face as you die in front of them. Very much about the revenge theme captured in your excellent writing. In fact there is a theory that to complete suicide under those circumstance you must be in a dissociative state to the point where you lose touch with the fact you will not be able to see the impact. This has been linked to the observations of train drivers (unfortunately many will see completed suicide in their working life). Incredibly a large number reported the person looking them in the eyes and smiling triumphantly.
Well done to Moonbus, well writ and a well deserved first place. I actually put 'Letter from...' in first slot, but whatever, very much the person in form this year. Mine was 'A Secret Forever', which due to the magnanimity of certain of you and a bit surprisingly to be honest made a poor second, points - wise.
Writing for me is about the enjoyment of the writing and the entertainment/stimulation of others, and I think collectively we've done a jolly good job, so a collective and socially distanced slap on the back for us is called for, I feel.
See y'all next year....
@moonbus saidI guessed (to myself) earlier today that the winning entry was yours; something about how the story’s strata led you to what was an inevitable denouement which was somehow still surprising just made your name pop into my head.
@Ponderable
For me, the great mystery of murder is less the 'how it happened' aspect, than the motivations involved in such an extreme act. Murder when committed as a crime of passion is often thought to be irrational and uncontrollable, but I doubt this, and I tried to conjure up scenarios in which a crime of passion is indeed committed but for which there could be rati ...[text shortened]... he crime of passion.
My thanks to all who read and voted. A writer knows no finer appreciation.
That and your use of “ninnyrhymes”, which could only be yourself.
Well done and congratulations.
@indonesia-phil saidA Secret Forever was my second choice. I love whodunnit-stories and you made sure it would remain a secret. Thank you for your contribution.
Well done to Moonbus, well writ and a well deserved first place. I actually put 'Letter from...' in first slot, but whatever, very much the person in form this year. Mine was 'A Secret Forever', which due to the magnanimity of certain of you and a bit surprisingly to be honest made a poor second, points - wise.
Writing for me is about the enjoyment of the writing an ...[text shortened]... ve and socially distanced slap on the back for us is called for, I feel.
See y'all next year....
- Joined
- 14 Mar 15
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@moonbus saidCongratulations sir! This year was certainly the year of the Moonbus. All 3 were splendidly written.
@Ponderable
For me, the great mystery of murder is less the 'how it happened' aspect, than the motivations involved in such an extreme act. Murder when committed as a crime of passion is often thought to be irrational and uncontrollable, but I doubt this, and I tried to conjure up scenarios in which a crime of passion is indeed committed but for which there could be rati ...[text shortened]... he crime of passion.
My thanks to all who read and voted. A writer knows no finer appreciation.
🙂
@ghost-of-a-duke saidAnd now, if you would kindly just roll over and be dead in our running chess game, I'd be much obliged.
Congratulations sir! This year was certainly the year of the Moonbus. All 3 were splendidly written.
🙂
@lemondrop saidThey do have many talented story tellers on here, competition is tough.
the ghost will rise again
I hear next years topic will be about the haunting
-VR