[quote=Alzar]A Smouldering Academic
2082 words
[li]
I don’t even care anymore. Here’s to screwing with canon and messing everything up because this was written late at night and with only a picture of Correspondence rocks for inspiration. I don’t even care if i got the prompt wrong. I am utterly unrepentant.[/quote][/li][li]
[/li][li]Good for you.
[/li][li]
Seriously, good for you! Writing anything at all is the hard bit, and putting it up for others to see takes guts. Everything else is just quality, and that only comes from practice. You’ve done something to be proud of.
There’s still a chance I’ll get an entry of my own done. 20%, maybe 25% chance. I’ll look to you for inspiration.
edited by Professor Nym on 4/7/2014
Contest closes at midnight tonight! Any further entrants wishing to become exactly that have just over half a day left!
What timezone? I’m almost done, but I still have lectures today, and I want to add some polish before posting. Every hour counts.
The Forgotten Quarter
Wes Jones
2,437 words
…Why, in all likelihood the day would feature all manner of astonishing discoveries. True, many of those discoveries would probably be new varieties of scorpion rather than those of an archaeological nature. And of course discoveries of either kind would almost certainly be accompanied by more screaming than one might normally expect from archaeology. And any discoveries they did make might be stolen by devils. Well, maybe not the newly-discovered scorpions. Probably…
I hope I did that right…I’ve never used Google docs before.
00:00 GMT, but I’m not going to be that strict on the deadline. So long as it’s posted before the end of the 9th is fine.[li]
Boundaries, And Their Acquisition
Cochimetl
3238 Words sans title
A tale of experimentation, explosions, commerce, frustration, distrust and honored deals; Also included are several fatalities and an embarassing mishap, though not necessarily in that order.
Writing this was a fun experience. There’s truly nothing that gets my muse to kiss me like a deadline.
It did get a bit long, but I had to fit in the whole story somehow.
Contest is now closed, but in the interests of being fair I will accept any additional entries until midnight GMT today!
… So I did say I would leave it open until midnight today, but now I have had time to sit down and read all of the entries I feel that I should like to declare the victors sooner rather than later!
[color=#ffffff]The Results:[/color]
[color=#ffffff]1st Place [/color]- "The Sermon and How it Raises from the Ashes" by HinterDemGlas
An excellent piece that focuses on the nameless, faceless urchins of Fallen London, specifically the gang known as ‘the Sermon’, arsonists and fire-makers extraordinaire. The protagonist’s creative use of the Correspondence was inspired, and the means by which he enacts his revenge almost poetic. The story reads, in fact, almost in a Dickensian manner, although that might just be because I always associate orphans with Dickens. Thoroughly enjoyable, with some well-placed humour, and a solid closure. It’ll be a pity if this urchin-gang doesn’t end up with a cameo somewhere in the game proper! It certainly deserves a spot on the Bazaar’s skin.
[b][color=#ffffff]2nd Place[/color][/b] - [url=https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxD_AhNHsmtVZ09aYnRDODM4YUU/edit]"There is No Happy Ending for Fools and Ghosts"[/url] [i]by Melena Tempest (Helen Demeter)[/i]
A beautifully haunting piece about the Great Game and the dangers it brings, in which the Correspondence is the backdrop (and perhaps the motivation) for the tale. Some small issues of grammar and spelling aside, the story flows well, and the cutting back and forth between different times is done skilfully, without confusing the reader or breaking the flow of the narrative. I especially liked the scene at the funeral, when the man's thoughts begin to run away with him and the writing echoes that, and also the time he spends before the Bazaar, searching in vain (vane?) for a meaning or an answer in those black spires. The only thread introduced which I did not notice confirmed was the presence of the tattoos on the man's arms, but other than this, the story was well written, wonderfully self-contained, and well worth reading.
[color=#ffffff]3rd Place[/color] - "The Forgotten Quarter" by Wes Jones (hwango)
This is the sort of story the Bazaar longs for. The tale is of an archaeologist and a devil, and their endeavours to out-do one another in The Forgotten Quarter while researching the Correspondence. Archaeologically-inclined players may feel some sympathy with the protagonist, especially if, like myself and a Smouldering Academic, you lost your Correspondence Stones to Virginia. I enjoyed the chemistry between the two main characters and would wish to see more of them, especially together, but it is the nature of these stories that such desires tend to be confounded. A worthy addition to the obsidian skin, I think.
Congratulations to the victors! I wish to strongly emphasize that I greatly enjoyed all the entrants, and was surprised that so many bothered! To you I give a consolation prize: words!
"Stolen Correspondence" by Sam Powick
The subject matter, as I understood it, is the tale of a scholar of the University in his unusual and novel uses of Correspondence Stones, and the immediate fallout from those uses. I found the short story highly amusing, especially appreciating the clever use of game mechanics in the narrative. The mis-matched Lenguals were a stroke of creative genius, I feel! However, in the latter half of the tale I felt the author lost track of their thread, I became confused as to what was meant to have occurred, and although I was able to piece together the outcome, I failed to understand why it had happened that way. All in all, a very amusing piece that would benefit well from a little editing and clarification, because it’s a shame to let a clever idea go to waste!
"Fire" by Lucinda Diaz
In which a scholar of the Correspondence reaches the logical end of her study. The ‘voice’ of the observer, with its many adjectives and descriptors, leant an almost Master-like air to the piece, as if it were one of the enigmatic space-bats themselves providing the narration. Although clearly not Mr Pages, since I didn’t need a dictionary for any of the words! A very strong descriptive piece that may be slightly disturbing to some readers. The description of the Correspondence itself, on its smouldering lead plaques, I especially liked.
"Unfinished" by Teresa (dismallyOriented)
Another haunting piece that examines the reality of a story when it is told again and again, with only the characters changing. By the end I could almost imagine the Bazaar smiling as it penned another ending to this tale it had collected, one it had seen before, in another place and in another guise, but every time it was new. It highlights the nature of Londoners as pieces in a greater game (both literal and metaphorical), and questions the nature of death and time. When next I see the Comtessa in nightmares or memories, I may think of her a little differently, and perhaps wish something could have been different. The Correspondence is a background, a waiting presence that drives the tale. The ‘emet’ to the golem. A chilling piece that will remain with the reader.
"Noman’s Friend" by Laburnum
A sombre piece that examines the nature of life and death through an icy lens that smells of rotting fish. I myself didn’t invest in a Noman at Christmas, so much of the content of the tale (which mostly serves to add narrative to the Noman content) was new to me. The Correspondence does not feature much, only briefly mentioned in passing during an examination of the nature of lacre. It is a sorrowful story, but as in life, it’s better to focus on what we have, and not what will be.
"A Smouldering Academic" by Alzar
Short and direct, this piece illustrates most players’ experience with the Correspondence, right up to the eventual unintentional journey to a place that Is Not. There does seem to be an innate problem with attempting to understand the language of the universe, although it is odd that it generally manifests in attempting to set your hair on fire.
"Boundaries, and Their Acquisition" by Cochimetl (Curious Foreigner)
The protagonist here is a gentleperson to whom all of Fallen London may aspire. It is quite summed up in the simple phrase: “Archibald! Fetch my halberd, will you? I’m going out!”. Spirifage and exotically named clothes colonies populate this tale of unorthodox research, with an ending of the sort I greatly appreciate. An enjoyable and rather more light-hearted story than the other entries.
Well done to you all! I think some real authorial talent was uncovered, or perhaps brought back into the light, through this. I shall certainly seek to host another contest at some point in the future.
[li]
Thank-you for a great contest and good feedback! I must confess I was unsure of how my piece would end when I began, which is never a good state of affairs. :)
Now I feel that warm and fuzzy feeling around my solarplexus that comes with somebody appreciating the things crawling out of my skull’s hollows, down my arms and into my laptop’s well-greased keyboard.
Thank you, M. Armand D’Alterac, for elaborating on what you liked, and thank you for doing the same for the other stories, thereby significantly increasing the probability somebody stumbling over this thread will read them.
They deserve it.
Congratulations to the winners! Thank you to the organisers for making this happen, and to the other writers, all of whose pieces I very much enjoyed. Mr D’Alterac, the feedback is much appreciated - thank you for taking the time.
edited by Laburnum on 4/10/2014
Oh wow! Thank you so much. I’m really happy you enjoyed it and this is just really really neat. Congratulations to everyone else for joining in on this because the other entries here have been amazing to read.
Thanks for the review, Armand. Glad you liked it! And congratulations to the winners–I seriously enjoyed the entries. That goes to everybody else too. You all write really well~
Wow, congrats to the winners! And thank you so much for the compliment and review, Armand, it’s really nice knowing people read and liked something!
I had no idea the winners had already been selected until I got a message about it. Thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed mine!
Ah, I missed this. Unfortunate Real Life taking all my time. Armand - if you did not happen upon this set of Fallen London based fiction, you might be interested! http://fallen-london.livejournal.com/
Additionally, check out the tag !ebzwrites, where people post little stories with Fallen London content.
What fun! I would definitely take part in a similar contest for the visual arts.
Oh, it seems I got something in the mail. Something suspiciously unlike an invoice…
Please don’t tell me its rats come on they don’t make rats that flat
Oh, looks kind of serious. Is the Empire -the British one- in need of my services? Again?
it’s rats isn’t it
MY EYES THE FIRE FEELS SO GOOD
The stitchwork rats seem benign (the bats less so, look at that shank). This may or may not be the best thing I ever pulled out of an envelope (IT IS).
And here it is, mounted in the best place(sneaky advertisement for Fallen London included, when do I get Fate for that?)
That package actually arrived yesterday, but I had some software problems when trying to post this. I solved parts of these problems by resizing the images and lowering the quality… which resulted in the strange oil-painting-filter-like effect noticable everywhere. Damn witchcraft.
Thanks to Armand D’Alterac for this awe-inspiring prize!