Secret Author Stories Contest 2024 Talking Topic

[kbois]

17 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

 

And one Behind The Walls, don't know what I would classify that as. 

What else does the SA's have in store for us? And how many more?

I think Behind the Walls is a classic love story. 

[Gary L]

5 minutes ago, kbois said:

I think Behind the Walls is a classic love story. 

For me it is one of my favourites of this edition so far.   I totally agree, @kbois x

[CassieQ]

25 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

The last two stories have been...interesting reads to say the least.

Though I would hesitate to call them stories, more like first chapters of a much larger narrative. As neither of them work as a standalone story. Off the Rails tells you the story isn't over, though the SA put The End at the last sentence. Take Me To Your Leader also doesn't work as a standalone story. Not with 5700 words describing in great detail how Bryce acquired the skills he will be needing on his adventure through space. Reserving only the last few paragraphs to drop the bombshell so to speak. 

For those of you keeping track...

We have five sci-fi/fantasy stories

Two Christmas Stories

One serial killer story

One road trip story

And one Behind The Walls, don't know what I would classify that as. 

What else does the SA's have in store for us? And how many more?

That's 10.  So one's missing.  Several I would classify as romance. 

[Gary L]

8 minutes ago, kbois said:

Doxie owners are a weird lot. 

Time to invest in doggy stairs. 

On order…… saw a great set, with storage in each step. Perfect…. But somebody didn’t like the colours - and it wasn’t the dachshund 😱😱😱😱

[Mancunian]

7 minutes ago, CassieQ said:

That's 10.  So one's missing.  Several I would classify as romance. 

I'd call Ceramic Dreams a self-discovery story or a tearjerker, add that to the list and it's up to eleven. 

Edited August 4, 2024 by Mancunian

[kbois]

27 minutes ago, Mancunian said:

I'd call Ceramic Dreams a self-discovery story or a tearjerker, add that to the list and it's up to eleven. 

I count 11 so far too. 

Several sci-fi, love stories, tear jerkers and a wild road trip for good measure. About par for the course for this eclectic group. 

Edited August 4, 2024 by kbois

[Gary L]

For me Ceramic Dreams is in a class of its own, amongst some v good writings.  

[kbois]

9 minutes ago, Gary L said:

For me Ceramic Dreams is in a class of its own, amongst some v good writings.  

Ive got three frontrunners for favorites. 

Christ, we've gotten a ton of rain today. Since far 5.5 inches and more on the way. The canal we're on is getting close to full. One dock across the way is partially submerged. Thankfully their boat is up on a lift. 

I might need to look for my arm floaties. 

[CassieQ]

I want to know what the second Christmas story is. 

[Gary L]

3 minutes ago, kbois said:

Ive got three frontrunners for favorites. 

Christ, we've gotten a ton of rain today. Since far 5.5 inches and more on the way. The canal we're on is getting close to full. One dock across the way is partially submerged. Thankfully their boat is up on a lift. 

I might need to look for my arm floaties. 

My goodness. I really hope the levels drop asap…. Here it has been so dry we don’t have any mosquitoes yet this summer which is v welcome in one way.   And still some people deny climate change…… Spain is the most endangered country for desertification ( yes, the word exists) in the world.  But of course there is no problem for watering golf greens…. 
 

ok rant over, I do hope you and your neighbours are safe. 🤗

[Jason Rimbaud]

13 minutes ago, CassieQ said:

I want to know what the second Christmas story is. 

Isn't Take me Too Your Leader set during Christmas Break?

26 minutes ago, Gary L said:

For me Ceramic Dreams is in a class of its own, amongst some v good writings.  

Ceramic Dreams is my least favorite of all thus far. And I agree, it's in a class of its own.  

I guess when I listed out all the stories, it struck me weird that we had more sci-fi/fantasy stories with this theme. That's all I was really pointing out in my tiny brain. But like someone said, there are multiple ways to classify most of these stories thus far. I was just so excited at the different way SA's decided to interpret this contests theme with most of them going sci-fi route. 

There are some really good writers on this site, can't wait to see what's next. It's kind of made my morning the last 11 days. 

[Lee Wilson]

50 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

Isn't Take me Too Your Leader set during Christmas Break?

So was Die Hard, but it’s hardly considered a Christmas movie.

[CassieQ]

56 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

Isn't Take me Too Your Leader set during Christmas Break?

It's also tagged as sci-fi

[Jason Rimbaud]

13 minutes ago, Lee Wilson said:

So was Die Hard, but it’s hardly considered a Christmas movie.

I beg to differ with you.

7 Reasons Die Hard Is A Christmas Movie 

 

[kbois]

27 minutes ago, Lee Wilson said:

So was Die Hard, but it’s hardly considered a Christmas movie.

sigh. Now we can't be friends.

[Alexmugs]

I'm a little late to the party and aren't really familiar with all the authors as I've only been on the site less than a year. I love this concept but have no freaking clue who wrote what. I might have a sort of, far-fetched guess for a couple of the but other than that I'm clueless. I do have a couple of favorites- Behind the Walls is one, and Hide and Seek is too funny not to include. Ceramic Dreams was well written but too sad. 

Now that I've caught up on reading all of them I better go back and  comment. 

[Jason Rimbaud]

12 minutes ago, CassieQ said:

It's also tagged as sci-fi

One could make the argument that it is not a Sci-Fi story at all. Let me present my argument. 

Bryce is young, thrust into a high pressure situation at school. He's highly intelligent, but surrounded by peers who are more emotionally mature. There is a massive amount of stress on him to perform at a much higher level than normal for one so young. He's not eating right, he sleeps in brief naps as he navigates his degree and the trouble of connecting with much older people.

By the time he goes home, for "Christmas break", he's near the breaking point. Then he's thrust into a highly stressful road trip where he has to pull a trailer for the first time in his young life with a car he has never driven before. Our young protagonist is frazzled, his eyes are probably bloodshot, he has gas from eating snacks all day. So it's no wonder he can't sleep after a day spent with his amazingly large family. To try to destress, he goes out to the jetty to find solace.

He restless, the stress of having to buy Christmas presents for such a large family would drive anyone half insane. Trouble sleeping is a symptom of stress. He hears a humming or buzzing noise in his ears, a symptom of rising blood pressure. He starts to feel dizzy, a symptom of lack of oxygen to his brain, he sees a blinding white light, perhaps he had an aneurysm, the last thought he has before he passes out, UFO's and aliens. 

I propose, this is a not a Sci-Fi story at all, but a description of a Near Death Experience. It is a proven fact, that brains do all sorts of things when it's deprived of oxygen. The NDE is played out as an abduction story as Bryce isn't religious so he isn't seeing the usual religious imagery one normally associates with NDE. 

I think my half-hearted and not well thought out scenario proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, including the author who wrote this little Sci-Fi tale, that we can't just accept the narrator's faulty depiction of events that it is indeed aliens. We do not have enough evidence, as no one has ever been able to prove that aliens exist. 

We do however, know that Christmas exists, therefore, when the narrator informs us that it was indeed Christmas, we can accept him at his word. Thus, we can conclude this is indeed a Christmas story that might also be a Sci-Fi one, but until we get more evidence, it must be classified strictly, only, a Christmas story. 

Wow, I think I surprised myself how stupid what I just wrote sounds. But I'm in a silly mood so I'll allow it.

No matter how you classify it, it's an interesting take as a first chapter to what I hope will be a much longer narrative that will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it is in fact a Sci-Fi story about aliens.

But at this moment, it's only a Christmas story.  Brother's, Sister's, Siblings of GA, I rest my case. 

J (who hopes my argument will spur the author to continue, as I really want to know what happens next)

 

[Mancunian]

17 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

One could make the argument that it is not a Sci-Fi story at all. Let me present my argument. 

Bryce is young, thrust into a high pressure situation at school. He's highly intelligent, but surrounded by peers who are more emotionally mature. There is a massive amount of stress on him to perform at a much higher level than normal for one so young. He's not eating right, he sleeps in brief naps as he navigates his degree and the trouble of connecting with much older people.

By the time he goes home, for "Christmas break", he's near the breaking point. Then he's thrust into a highly stressful road trip where he has to pull a trailer for the first time in his young life with a car he has never driven before. Our young protagonist is frazzled, his eyes are probably bloodshot, he has gas from eating snacks all day. So it's no wonder he can't sleep after a day spent with his amazingly large family. To try to destress, he goes out to the jetty to find solace.

He restless, the stress of having to buy Christmas presents for such a large family would drive anyone half insane. Trouble sleeping is a symptom of stress. He hears a humming or buzzing noise in his ears, a symptom of rising blood pressure. He starts to feel dizzy, a symptom of lack of oxygen to his brain, he sees a blinding white light, perhaps he had an aneurysm, the last thought he has before he passes out, UFO's and aliens. 

I propose, this is a not a Sci-Fi story at all, but a description of a Near Death Experience. It is a proven fact, that brains do all sorts of things when it's deprived of oxygen. The NDE is played out as an abduction story as Bryce isn't religious so he isn't seeing the usual religious imagery one normally associates with NDE. 

I think my half-hearted and not well thought out scenario proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, including the author who wrote this little Sci-Fi tale, that we can't just accept the narrator's faulty depiction of events that it is indeed aliens. We do not have enough evidence, as no one has ever been able to prove that aliens exist. 

We do however, know that Christmas exists, therefore, when the narrator informs us that it was indeed Christmas, we can accept him at his word. Thus, we can conclude this is indeed a Christmas story that might also be a Sci-Fi one, but until we get more evidence, it must be classified strictly, only, a Christmas story. 

Wow, I think I surprised myself how stupid what I just wrote sounds. But I'm in a silly mood so I'll allow it.

No matter how you classify it, it's an interesting take as a first chapter to what I hope will be a much longer narrative that will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it is in fact a Sci-Fi story about aliens.

But at this moment, it's only a Christmas story.  Brother's, Sister's, Siblings of GA, I rest my case. 

J (who hopes my argument will spur the author to continue, as I really want to know what happens next)

 

I hear your argument, but I disagree. I believe that it is a Sci-fi story. Maybe the SA has written more than one story. We don have another Sci-fi story based in England that mentions a pod in Australia that is manned by a hologram of human appearance. It is from a distant and now dead planet called Thera that was inhabited by beings identical in every way to humans, even down to DNA, claiming a belief that humans and Therans are from common ancestry. Therefore I argue that either the author has written two stories, or two authors may have colluded, and created an overlap between the stories. Maybe they are Therans and communicated via mind speak, known to us as telepathy. I rest my case M'lud. lol. 

Yes, I'm in a silly mood too.

[Alexmugs]

I do hope we are done with the sci-fi category. It's not my favorite. 

[Jason Rimbaud]

5 minutes ago, Mancunian said:

I hear your argument, but I disagree. I believe that it is a Sci-fi story. Maybe the SA has written more than one story. We don have another Sci-fi story based in England that mentions a pod in Australia that is manned by a hologram of human appearance. It is from a distant and now dead planet called Thera that was inhabited by beings identical in every way to humans, even down to DNA, claiming a belief that humans and Therans are from common ancestry. Therefore I argue that either the author has written two stories, or two authors may have colluded, and created an overlap between the stories. Maybe they are Therans and communicated via mind speak, known to us as telepathy. I rest my case M'lud. lol. 

Yes, I'm in a silly mood too.

In your haste to refute my poorly thought out premise, you missed something extremely important. I can dismantle your argument using your very own words. 

If Thera truly is where Earthens (what do we call ourselves anyway) come from, and we have a common ancestry, then Theran's aren't aliens, which would render your argument mute, in regards to either story being Sci-Fi and dealing with aliens. 

I think we can safely reduce the number of Sci-Fi stories from five down to three. Take Me To Your Leader is a christmas story, so that makes two thus far in July. And Hiding in Plain Sight is nothing but well meaning visitors trying to help Earthens save themselves, so its a fantasy.  

J (who needs to lay off the caffeine apparently)

 

[Mancunian]

3 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

In your haste to refute my poorly thought out premise, you missed something extremely important. I can dismantle your argument using your very own words. 

If Thera truly is where Earthens (what do we call ourselves anyway) come from, and we have a common ancestry, then Theran's aren't aliens, which would render your argument mute, in regards to either story being Sci-Fi and dealing with aliens. 

I think we can safely reduce the number of Sci-Fi stories from five down to three. Take Me To Your Leader is a christmas story, so that makes two thus far in July. And Hiding in Plain Sight is nothing but well meaning visitors trying to help Earthens save themselves, so its a fantasy.  

J (who needs to lay off the caffeine apparently)

 

You may need to lay off the caffeine, but I think I've had a dose too many of Oramorph, lol. 

[kbois]

43 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

One could make the argument that it is not a Sci-Fi story at all. Let me present my argument. 

Bryce is young, thrust into a high pressure situation at school. He's highly intelligent, but surrounded by peers who are more emotionally mature. There is a massive amount of stress on him to perform at a much higher level than normal for one so young. He's not eating right, he sleeps in brief naps as he navigates his degree and the trouble of connecting with much older people.

By the time he goes home, for "Christmas break", he's near the breaking point. Then he's thrust into a highly stressful road trip where he has to pull a trailer for the first time in his young life with a car he has never driven before. Our young protagonist is frazzled, his eyes are probably bloodshot, he has gas from eating snacks all day. So it's no wonder he can't sleep after a day spent with his amazingly large family. To try to destress, he goes out to the jetty to find solace.

He restless, the stress of having to buy Christmas presents for such a large family would drive anyone half insane. Trouble sleeping is a symptom of stress. He hears a humming or buzzing noise in his ears, a symptom of rising blood pressure. He starts to feel dizzy, a symptom of lack of oxygen to his brain, he sees a blinding white light, perhaps he had an aneurysm, the last thought he has before he passes out, UFO's and aliens. 

I propose, this is a not a Sci-Fi story at all, but a description of a Near Death Experience. It is a proven fact, that brains do all sorts of things when it's deprived of oxygen. The NDE is played out as an abduction story as Bryce isn't religious so he isn't seeing the usual religious imagery one normally associates with NDE. 

I think my half-hearted and not well thought out scenario proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, including the author who wrote this little Sci-Fi tale, that we can't just accept the narrator's faulty depiction of events that it is indeed aliens. We do not have enough evidence, as no one has ever been able to prove that aliens exist. 

We do however, know that Christmas exists, therefore, when the narrator informs us that it was indeed Christmas, we can accept him at his word. Thus, we can conclude this is indeed a Christmas story that might also be a Sci-Fi one, but until we get more evidence, it must be classified strictly, only, a Christmas story. 

Wow, I think I surprised myself how stupid what I just wrote sounds. But I'm in a silly mood so I'll allow it.

No matter how you classify it, it's an interesting take as a first chapter to what I hope will be a much longer narrative that will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it is in fact a Sci-Fi story about aliens.

But at this moment, it's only a Christmas story.  Brother's, Sister's, Siblings of GA, I rest my case. 

J (who hopes my argument will spur the author to continue, as I really want to know what happens next)

 

Sounds like you are defending your thesis. 

[Jason Rimbaud]

3 minutes ago, kbois said:

Sounds like you are defending your thesis. 

A poorly written one to boot.

J

[Lee Wilson]

14 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

In your haste to refute my poorly thought out premise, you missed something extremely important. I can dismantle your argument using your very own words. 

If Thera truly is where Earthens (what do we call ourselves anyway) come from, and we have a common ancestry, then Theran's aren't aliens, which would render your argument mute, in regards to either story being Sci-Fi and dealing with aliens. 

I think we can safely reduce the number of Sci-Fi stories from five down to three. Take Me To Your Leader is a christmas story, so that makes two thus far in July. And Hiding in Plain Sight is nothing but well meaning visitors trying to help Earthens save themselves, so its a fantasy.  

J (who needs to lay off the caffeine apparently)

 

So, you don’t consider the pod technology or the additional brain capabilities based on science? I’ll give you the no aliens argument, but there’s plenty of science in this piece of fiction.

I think the word you were looking for is Earthlings. Often used in science fiction.

Edited August 5, 2024 by Lee Wilson

[Jason Rimbaud]

4 minutes ago, Lee Wilson said:

So, you don’t consider the pod technology or the additional brain capabilities based on science? I’ll give you the no aliens argument, but there’s plenty of science in this piece of fiction.

I think the word you were looking for is Earthlings. Often used in science fiction.

I can promise you I spent more time trying to remember what the *insert explicative* people from earth were called than my argument I presented. How could I have blanked on earthlings? 

I only read Hiding In Plain Sight once, but did they get higher brain function due to technology or evolution?

But since you are going to make me die on this hill, I'm going to soldier on. 

Oxford defines science fiction thusly 

1. fiction based on imagined future scientific or technological advances and major social or environmental changes frequently portraying space or time travel and life on other planets. 

I propose, that in the case of Theran's, they had been on Earth a long time, thus it wasn't set in the future so can not be classified as Science Fiction as Oxford defines it. Is there science in Hiding in Plain Sight or is it just evolution? 

My argument for Take Me To Your Leader stills stands, however lopsided it may be.