23 Jul 19
@ghost-of-a-duke saidI did the same.
Hey, nice job.
Yours was the only story that inspired me to go to google for more info. (To discover who Adolf Diekmann was). Love that it had a historical undercurrent.
Well done to all authors, it was very hard to split the stories.
@mike169 saidGreat. PM sent old chap.
@Ghost-of-a-Duke
I'm a painter actually. The writing that I do is mostly in a journal that I've been faithful to for 30 years now. This contest is a nice chance to do something that only takes 800 words but that's the challenge as well. Thanks for your kind words. Send me your email and I'll send you examples of my artwork.
23 Jul 19
@very-rusty saidThese writers have talent and courage too. Great!
Agreed! Some have a talent and the rest of us don't! π I am talking for myself of course when I say 'us', I'm using the term very loosely!
-VR
23 Jul 19
@caesar-salad saidApartment 4420 got the competition off to a great, and creepy start. I particularly liked the line:
Congrats, @moonbus!
@Ghost, thanks for the laughs with your entries!
@Ponderable, thank you for organizing this! It was nice to be inspired to write again.
Thank you to the other contributors, and thank you to all who voted.
Mine were "Apartment 4420" and "Young Man with Roses".
'Cameron slept soundly, too soundly to notice the hazy gray figure that watched him through the night.'
23 Jul 19
@ghost-of-a-duke saidCheers GOAD and you know I enjoyed Vincent, well enjoyed is probably the wrong word, it’s proximity to reality scared me crapless π±
I did enjoy Ghost Dog!
π
@mike169 saidI paint and write. Within a week my dismal attempts are binned.
@Torunn
I recommend that everyone who came to this thread try and write something. In many ways everyone wins. It's a great way to express something you may not know you have. Being creative should be a requirement for living.
I do enjoy both though and it makes me more appreciative of good art and literature.
24 Jul 19
@wolfgang59
Keep on doing both. They are both learned talents and you can only get better if you want to.
24 Jul 19
@ghost-of-a-duke saidI knew Stray Cat was a good story when I finished it. It has all the elements of a good horror plot: foreboding (nanny suspects something is wrong but is out of her depth to prevent the evil), innocence seduced and corrupted by evil in a pleasing disguise, a creepy twist at the end. Somewhat in the tradition of Algernon Blackwood, I think.
No surprise there old chap. Chatted with Paul a couple of days ago and I speculated you were the likely author of Stray Cat. (It made my top 3 of votes).
A worthy winner indeed Sir.
Still looking forward to hearing who wrote Hollywood Ending. (Have my suspicions).
I was much less sure of The Last Metro, as the only strange element is that the reader, but not the protagonist, realizes that the protagonist has just died and his consciousness is disintegrating as the brain uses up the last molecules of oxygen. Whether the other passengers on the ghost train are other people who died at the same time or are figments/fragments of the protagonist’s dying mind, is left unclear, and deliberately so.
Thanks again to all for taking the time to read.
24 Jul 19
@moonbus saidI want the next Prose Competition to start... now! π
I knew Stray Cat was a good story when I finished it. It has all the elements of a good horror plot: foreboding (nanny suspects something is wrong but is out of her depth to prevent the evil), innocence seduced and corrupted by evil in a pleasing disguise, a creepy twist at the end. Somewhat in the tradition of Algernon Blackwood, I think.
I was much less sure of The Last ...[text shortened]... ying mind, is left unclear, and deliberately so.
Thanks again to all for taking the time to read.