Angels: Ahh, now that was good stuff. Best one so far by a large margin. I actually didn't like the many "fast forwards", like "three weeks later" and stuff, but it was integral to the story, of course. Anyway, the crafting is perfect, no confusion, very good character depth, interesting. Yup, all very very good.

Part of the problem with We'll Meet Again is that it is written in the context of something else. Plus it doesn't really have an ending.

Same with Poland. It's set during the Eurowars, which isn't very shadowrunnerish. Plus it's a horrible copy that clearly hasn't been edited.

angels good short story told in an interesting way i could already happily read a longer story with those characters but perhaps it works better as a short.

I liked that you took a look at racism within the sr world in inhuman without it being the main focus of the story (though a heavy theme), i haven't read much of the sr fiction, but racism seems to have been mostly neutered in 4th so far as i could tell. How do you all handle racism in games? I guess a lot of groups don't want to touch it, it can be sensitve but the oppurtunities for RP, certainly the darker the world the more likely it is too crop up.

ok getting off topic and rambling now.

Ok, I finally finished them all last night.

Overall, I must confess to enjoying all of them. I just enjoyed spending a little time in the Shadowrun world (I rarely get to play). Sure, some had typos, misplaced words and other anomalies, but writers can't (repeat CAN'T) edit their own stuff. That's what editors do, and these stories weren't edited.

As to the concern that some of these "aren't really stories, just descriptions of events," I say hogwash. This is not an academic exercise. Grammar, punctuation, spelling, and even adherance to conventions is not, or should not be, a criteria. Speaking of criteria, here is the only criteria that was provided:

• SR setting - not the impossible by SR rules
• Pre-2065
• Length - long enough to tell the story, short enough to withstand ADD.
• Must be fresh fiction, not posted somewhere before.

That's it. It should be pointed out that not all of the stories actually adhere to this list. One mentioned Augmented Reality, commlinks, and AR gloves, for example... technicalities that could easily be removed without affecting the story whatsoever (probably why tisoz let it in anyway).

The Samaritan - Hadn't seen this one before but apparently it's been around. Nice read, but it seemed a little silly for Razz et al to be singing such praises in this manner.

Better Run, Runner - Razz and the gang (sans The Samaritan) show up again in this story presumably by the same author. Totally different feel, though. Liked this story alot and appreciated the narrative regarding the drug's effects. It's hard to get that sort of feel from just reading the rulebook. Of all the stories I think I probably had the best time reading this one. Keep it up. Can't wait to hear what jams Kim, Razz, Big C, and the others get out of next time. And for me, that's what this is all about.

Another Night in Poland - Reads like it was written by someone with armed forces experience. Or at least someone who reads alot of military fiction/nonfiction. Liked the story. Flavor seemed more technical than action-oriented... didn't get my juices running.

Curtains - The transition from memory to current events was unclear the first time I read it. Had to back up and re-read some to get things straight. The presence of 2070 technology was a little jarring, but in the end didn't impact the story at all. Not sure why it bothered me so much that it was there in the first place, other than that I specifically remembered the guidelines were pre-2065 stories. Bothered me that we don't have any clue what actually happened to Graveyard, other than that Aztechnology was being held accountable for her death. The cryptic Citizen Kane-esque "I still can't feel my pinky" left me wondering what reference to not feeling pinkies I had missed earlier in the story. I went back and found it. Perhaps more should be made of the pinky numbness when first encountered, as I had completely forgotten about such a detail by the end of the story. It's hard to relate to the main character's desire for suicide. This story didn't grab me.

All Good Things... - Seemed a little clumbsily constructed. Perhaps I felt that way due to it's brevity. Perhaps I just disagreed with the author's interpretation of spirit totems. Not having read any of the published Shadowrun novels, and not having played in games where spirit totems interacted with players in this way, I was left with a "what the hell" kind of feeling. Ok, that and also the fact that I don't see how a bug can point a leg at anyone, much less how someone could tell such a thing was happening from across the friggin room. It's also very unclear what the title is referring to. Is it the end of the world? The end of his relationship with Morrigan? The end of his life prior to this new committment to discover the uberplot that Wolf eludes to? I think this one needs some work.

We'll Meet Again - Maybe it was getting late but I found this one very confusing. A lot of pronoun usage with no clear antecedents. A lot of name dropping and acronyms that must mean something to someone who recently read System Failure, but not me. =) Did I mention that I found this story confusing? Ok, specifically I guess I found the facts of the backstory confusing. I think this one needs to be rewritten for a longer length. Oh, and am I missing the last paragraph or something because it just friggin ends. =)

Angels - What to say that hasn't been said? This is arguably the most well-crafted piece of the lot. Clearly a lot of thought and time was invested in this effort and it should be applauded. Perhaps it was the baby boiling that turned me off. Perhaps it was not understanding why Deke just didn't get a pain editor. Or perhaps it was how the Maulers seemed so over-the-top and Firefly Reaver-esque. Hell, even the ghouls in Redmond must avoid these fraggers. A little too "boogeymanish" it seems. At least the Reavers had some backstory reason for being psychotic "rape-em-to-death-and-wear-their-skin" nutjobs. Just my opinion. In the end, I appreciated the craftsmanship but not the story.

Inhuman - Another well-crafted story I just didn't care for. It was also a little confusing and portions had to be re-read a few times. Not sure if it was a word choice issue or if it was just late and my mind was too fuzzy. It also sucks when the bad guys really, really win.

Just my thoughts. =)

Oddly enough, now that I've finished reading them all, the system won't let me vote. Says I have voted already. I remember clicking the button to "see the results only" but that must have disqualified me somehow. Well crap. Oh well. =(

looking at the results without voting counts as a null vote. it makes sure that your vote isn't affected by seeing what everyone else voted for.

Inhuman: Uhm, good story. Great story. I'm really pretty confused though. I got the general drift of it, but for a reason I can't pin down I could hardly follow what was going on at all. I have a suspicion it has something to do with sentences that are too long, but I'm not sure. Anyway, it's very well written, but, yeah, confusing.

My top 3 are Angel, Inhuman and Jungle Fever.

Jungle Fever lost me at, "Kaplow, kaplow!"

To me, writing out sounds is like writing foreign languages into a story: Don't.

Especially because, just like the last contest thread, someone does the latter only to have someone who speaks the language tell them they fucked it up.

Well, it's good to know that I'm not the only one who hits something in a story and just can't get past it. =)

Hey all! I've been busy with GenCon since last Wednesday and feel kind of sick today, but I wanted to see if people were open to a suggestion. It is kind of obvious from the poll that one story deserves a win. That author has already received his selected book when we met at GenCon (I wish it wasn't while I was busy GMing a game and could have visited.)

I am pleased with the quality and quantity of the entries this time and think there should be at least a second place winner and perhaps a third. If you agree and would like to help determine that outcome, I am thinking of opening another thread without a poll, but where posters could list their first, second and third place choices, as well as any comments about merit that may sway or influence the judge (me) as to why one is more deserving than another. You would be giving up some anonymity, but those that have given desired feedback already, have pretty much done so already.

I would leave Angels in this second vote for purposes of those of you that voted for other stories to win. I am thinking of counting a first place vote as 3 points, a second place vote as 2 points and a third place vote as 1 point and the top 3 totals win. I am wondering if there will be certain drop offs in points between stories and am hoping the top 3 stories have a sizeable lead over the rest. If there is a cluster of 4 top stories, I may be swayed to award even a 4th place finish. If they all wind up in a close cluster, I will likely revert to my usual ways of deciding for myself what I like while open to comment and persuasion.

Sound Good?

Not sure I'm understanding you exactly, but it's your contest! LOL =) Seems like a good idea to keep everything in this thread, though, but that's just me.

I'd vote for Inhuman to be the second-place winner.

In the context of the first contest:

1. Angels
2. Inhuman
3. There is no 3.

For the second round:

1. Inhuman

Angels [ 13 ] [59.09%]
Inhuman [ 3 ] [13.64%]
Curtains [ 2 ] [9.09%]

Wouldn't this be the winners as far as the number of votes go.

Angels and Inhuman are my top two picks. Another Night in Poland gets my vote for third.

Here is a link to the more winners thread.

It will make tabulating the vote easier for my lazy self.

Hey, Tisoz, any idea when the authors'll be posted for these puppies?

Authors credited.

Ah, but if one totally sucks then you actually INCREASE the liklihood that your other one will be voted for! =)

Hey, if I had other stories in the hopper I might have sent them in also. I think there was some discussion about multiple entries early in the contest and it wasn't a problem.

I'm still waitiing to see if there was a second place awarded. If someone has been awarded second place already, and is reading this, please say something. =)

Critias, your story was really, really good. Very original story construction and exposition, and you did a great job of creating the Barrens. It's a wonder none of your submissions was ever accepted by FanPro. :.(... (The periods are tears)

You should set up a dedicated fiction page. I heard you submitted a crapload of stories, and I'd like to see some of them.

Can't open it...

Can't open it? Shadowland itself? (a) do you have an account? (b) do you have javascript enabled?

Or is it a "I can't open that particular folder, after logging into Shadowland," which is a whole different ball o' wax?

Well, regardless, I guess I'll post a thread with a bunch of fiction links, later today or something. I could PM it to you, but I'm an attention whore at heart so I'd rather have other people read 'em, too, in case they're interested.

Folder. Can't open the folder...

Huh. That's weird. I double checked the privs and they're all a-okay for "default access" to read. If you're on SL right now, come to genchat (click on the horrible gaping maw mouth button, third from the left).

It works!!!