Utah's picture
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Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry June 13, 2014 - 5:02am

Makes him feel so good, so bad.

Strange Photon's picture
Strange Photon from Fort Wayne, IN is reading Laurie Anderson lyrics June 13, 2014 - 7:24am

Considering the two of us combined have received as many votes as the winner, alone, from JR's just closed contest, it still isn't the best news I could get. 

Strange Photon's picture
Strange Photon from Fort Wayne, IN is reading Laurie Anderson lyrics June 13, 2014 - 5:28pm

Ok, punks... y'all are really starting to anger HappyFunDave...

Renae Gee's picture
Renae Gee from Australia is reading All the words! June 13, 2014 - 5:47pm

I read, I voted.  Wow.  I had a really hard time choosing.  I enjoyed both stories.  I really love how the prompt was interpretted by both authors.  The ways of the imagination are amazing.

Thanks guys :)

Utah's picture
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Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry June 13, 2014 - 6:37pm

Somebody is closing the gap on somebody else.  More people should vote.  Or maybe people should stop voting.  Tough to decide...

Strange Photon's picture
Strange Photon from Fort Wayne, IN is reading Laurie Anderson lyrics June 13, 2014 - 6:44pm

*shrug* That's all I have to say about that.

You want a choc-olate?

justwords's picture
justwords from suburb of Birmingham, AL is reading The Tomb, F. Paul Wilson; A Long Way Down, Nick Hornby June 13, 2014 - 9:50pm

SP: Hey, relax, it's Friday the 13th!! and a Full Moon as well. Double trouble.

 

One more time: to SP and Utah, awesome work guys. I await more masterpieces!

Strange Photon's picture
Strange Photon from Fort Wayne, IN is reading Laurie Anderson lyrics June 14, 2014 - 5:57am

What's really scary is this IS me relaxed.  :)

R.Moon's picture
R.Moon from The City of Champions is reading The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion; Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schimdt PH.D; Creating Characters by the editors of Writer's Digest June 14, 2014 - 7:04am

Grigori and I have a total of ten votes. Ughh... what happened to the days when a battle could garner an easy 25 votes? Those were the days, I say, as I rock on my rocking chair out on the porch smoking tobaccy from a corn cob pipe while my little shit of a grandson plays Xstation or Playbox or whatever the hell it's called and he hasn't heard one goddamn word I've said. Actually, none of that is true. I've never smoked tobaccy from a corn cob pipe. Maybe the wacky tobaccy, but never regular ass tobaccy. I never call it tobaccy, so I'm going to stop now. And I'm not even sure what this post even means, but I assure you, it's nothing to do with wacky tobaccy. Fuck! Did it again. I'm gonna stop now. Have a super Saturday.

justwords's picture
justwords from suburb of Birmingham, AL is reading The Tomb, F. Paul Wilson; A Long Way Down, Nick Hornby June 14, 2014 - 3:40pm

@R. Moon: Hey, I already voted in your battle--unless we can vote often? :)  Wacky tobaccy; one of my in-laws was called Mr. Wacky-- well-deserved too. It has been a full-moon weekend; maybe that's the influence on your post.

@SP & Utah-- I second RG about ya'lls interpretations of the prompt-- excellent writing!!

re: ya'lls -- I am a Southerner, you know.

Utah's picture
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Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry June 16, 2014 - 5:40am

Congratulations, Strange One.  That was a helluva match.

Strange Photon's picture
Strange Photon from Fort Wayne, IN is reading Laurie Anderson lyrics June 16, 2014 - 6:24am

Hells yeah, baby. I think this was the closest of the four from last week, right?

It was such a good battle, I didn't even vote because I couldn't decide which I liked better.

voodoo_em's picture
voodoo_em from England is reading All the books by Ira Levin June 16, 2014 - 6:46am

Congrats SP :)

Strange Photon's picture
Strange Photon from Fort Wayne, IN is reading Laurie Anderson lyrics June 16, 2014 - 6:48am

Sank ewe. :)

Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland June 16, 2014 - 5:53pm

Congrats Strange Photon. Awesome battle guys. Very close. Why does it seem so long ago when I voted for these. I'm about 80% sure my vote ultimately swayed in Utah's direction. i did have some of the problem with his that Gordon mentioned. I was really confused the first couple pages about what exactly was happening and who was standing where. Wasn't sure if there were three people outside of the truck (two men and a lady) plus the truck driver in the truck, or if he was one of the men. After a couple reads I was able to work it out. I really enjoyed the ending to that one as well and that's why it got my vote. "I think it did"

I really liked Photons story too. The intrigue and the build up were fantastic, and it ended with a BANG! I guess I'd like to have known why he had a bomb inside him. Not knowing is fine too. It's a personal prefrence thing, but I tend to vote for stories with clearer endings and the ones that I think about the most when I wake up the next day after reading them. Both excellent stories though.

Great job guys.

Strange Photon's picture
Strange Photon from Fort Wayne, IN is reading Laurie Anderson lyrics June 17, 2014 - 4:59am

I wonder why the only people commenting about specifics are people who admittedly voted for Utah... just curious on that one.  :)

Utah's picture
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Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry June 17, 2014 - 5:03am

Probably because all the ones that voted for your story were robot accounts that you created with a single binary funtion.

Strange Photon's picture
Strange Photon from Fort Wayne, IN is reading Laurie Anderson lyrics June 17, 2014 - 5:05am

That very well could be. Though, you'd think my robots would have the decency to voice their support, even if only to hide the fact that they're automotons programmed to do my bidding.

Utah's picture
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Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry June 17, 2014 - 5:11am

Fuck the patriarchy, man.  That's what all you man-o-sapiens think we women should be.  Voiceless robots.

WELL I SAY, NO MORE!

voodoo_em's picture
voodoo_em from England is reading All the books by Ira Levin June 17, 2014 - 6:02am

I voted for your story SP.

And Utah, I didn't​ get confused in your story.

Utah's picture
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Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry June 17, 2014 - 6:17am

That is because you are an intelligent, strong woman, Emily, undoubtedly misunderstood and marinalized by man-o-sapiens like Weird Light Particle or whatever phallo-representative avatar name he goes by today.

Raise up your angry fist with me and say, "Fuck the Patriarchy!"

Strange Photon's picture
Strange Photon from Fort Wayne, IN is reading Laurie Anderson lyrics June 17, 2014 - 6:32am

Marinalized??? Is that like marinated?

Utah's picture
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Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry June 17, 2014 - 6:38am

That is a direct reference to the atrocious working and living conditions of the oppressed women who live in Marin County, CA, mister man.  It's kind of a big deal.  Try reading some time.  But I guess we can't reasonably expect you to know that, absorbed as you are with ensuring that women are forever relegated to the status of second-class citizens.

Strange Photon's picture
Strange Photon from Fort Wayne, IN is reading Laurie Anderson lyrics June 17, 2014 - 7:08am

I can't lie, that does take up the lion's share of my time.

Grigori Black's picture
Grigori Black from US is reading Radium Girls by Amanda Gowin June 17, 2014 - 11:01pm

Wait, wait wait, WAIT! Since when are we elevating our property to the level of second class citizen?

 

R.Moon's picture
R.Moon from The City of Champions is reading The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion; Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schimdt PH.D; Creating Characters by the editors of Writer's Digest June 18, 2014 - 3:31am

What concerns me about all of this is how Utah's posts are sounding more and more like an Avery post. Whether this is good or bad, I will leave that for you to judge.

Utah's picture
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Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry June 18, 2014 - 5:23am

Well, now that Avery is gone (gone, but not gone, if you catch my drift; like in The Conjuring), it is now my responsibility to assume both personas.  Which is why I will joke with you.

And also sniff with disdain.

And leap upon you in the dark from a tall piece of furniture in the spooky house you recently acquired.

R.Moon's picture
R.Moon from The City of Champions is reading The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion; Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schimdt PH.D; Creating Characters by the editors of Writer's Digest June 18, 2014 - 5:32am

I have not seen the conjuring.

Utah's picture
Moderator
Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry June 18, 2014 - 5:36am

Clarification.

Also, you should watch it.  It should clear up any constipation problems you might have.

voodoo_em's picture
voodoo_em from England is reading All the books by Ira Levin June 18, 2014 - 6:13am

I'm going to go against popular opinion here and say, the conjuring: It's okay. Not bad, but not great either. I like the music box bit and the initial night scares but then it trails off in to the land of sub-par meh. Of course fear is subjective, so you should probably just ignore me.

Utah's picture
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Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry June 18, 2014 - 6:38am

Nah, I tend to agree.  But I found this scene scary.