This topic is reserved for the three judges who have committed to reviewing each short story that was submitted in the original topic. Scores will be tallied on a 1-10 scale, 1 being complete crap and 10 being literary genius.

NLY - 8
I'm surprised you managed to get so much emotion out of so few words.

Gnasher - 7
I'm sure something pretty scary happened in this one, but I am confused as to what. Perhaps that was part of the mystery?

Bonanza - 6
Completely weird and sounds like every "save the world" story ever at the same time. Impressive.

Staffy - 7
The story sounds so defeatist but also reminds people to accept who they are.

Nex - 8
Way inventive! I liked the way you crafted this one. Bravo.

NLY - 7
The ending seemed a little passive to me.

Gnasher - 8
The story was complete, but the pacing was a little off.

Bonanza - 8
A little far fetched... maybe another line or two would really help.

Staffy - 7
You seem to be missing the climax. (maybe you lost it when you got married?)

Nex - 9
Good. Some different grammar and it'd be polished.

Edit: That's what I get for copying my template from ixzion...

Don't be like that, Duel. You knew the word limit and deliberately surpassed it.

Yeah, like barely. :V

So, is your entry a sign that the word-limit should increase some?

*burts into the thread panting heavily*

Am I late?

*looks around, clears voice, and fixes tie*

...

Well, firstly... I am not the best writer in the world (with is a huge understatement). So for me to judge someone else's writing seems a little awkward. That aside:

N.L.Y. - Thought it was good enough to read through until the twist at the end, which was really awesome. Though if I were in his situation, I probably wouldn't have ever come to that conclusion. But for as good as it is and being the story out of the entires with the fewest words, I give mad props.

9/10


The Gnasher - While very interesting, I really am left wondering what the heck happened. Maybe there's some kind of movie based on the concept that would have been better had I seen the movie before reading this or something. But still for a "5-minute effort" I thought it was really good. Also, good job hitting 200 right on the nose.

8/10

Bonanza - This sound strangely like a Power Rangers, but instead of saving the world from a planetary which and her puddy patrollers, they are saving the United States from poor money handling. So lulz for that. Actually, this whole thing could have been used as dialog for the theme song... you know, throw a few scenes in, speak a sentance, few more scenes, ect. "Little did they know that each person had been chosen to save the economy: Financial Rangers."

6/10


Staffy - Reading it, I was looking forward to see what kind of ending it was... to see where this was all going. But it litterally ends the way it starts. But the writing it's self wasn't bad, so I can't count off for that all too harshly.

7/10

Guarionex - A game, yeah right. This was definately a LSD trip before anything else. But it definately kept me interested the whole way through. I'm still trying to figure out what a square ball is though. And btw, I am really curious what the game wasy though...

7/10

Duel - Disqualified for purposefully going over the limit.

1/10

The scores have been tallied, and here are the standings:

First place (tie!)

N.L.Y and Guarionex: 24/30

Second place

Gnasher: 23/30

Third place

Staffy: 21/30

Fourth place

Bonanza: 20/30

[i]N.L.Y. and Nex, since you guys tied, each of you will be able to choose the new theme for the next short SHORT story contest. Kudos!

I might suggest raising the limit of words to 250 or 225. Each story had little fat to cut and could have greatly benefited from an extra line or two.

^ Agreed. My story was about 220 words when I finished it originally.

Thanks for the support, by the way. I hope we can continue doing this, I found it fun.

Okay, thanks for the suggestions, people.

I totally didn't see this coming.
So... as stupid as it sounds, I'm not sure what you mean by theme. Like space theme, pirate theme etc or simply the topic about what to base the next story on, or what?

Space pirates it is!... oh, you were asking a question. Never mind.

I would assume the theme could be anything like:

People (The prince of the internet!)
Places (The alley behind a bar)
Things (The bone necklace of Toku Orkan)
Emotions (The saddest story on earth)
Time (The year 2082)
or anything else that you'd be able to write multiple stories on from various points of view. Something that links all the stories together, even if they contradict each other and have nothing in common. ... but that's just what I think a theme is.

Basically, Nex, I need a "topic" or "subject" for which the next batch of short stories are based...or you can listen to what Spoom said. Same thing.

That umbilical cord is obviously leading to a mobile bathroom.
That's an interesting theme, all right.