*Voting is now closed.* (Results will be posted soon!)
I've added a "Reader's Choice" award to the prize pool! This chapter is here to provide a place to submit your ballots. Please only comment in this chapter if you'd like to vote — otherwise, leave your comments on the submission chapters or the final chapter.
Here's how it works:
You may choose up to three submissions that you think are the best contest entries. (Honorable mentions and shout-outs are also encouraged, but won't earn any points.)
To vote, leave a comment here with the entry numbers and/or chapter titles. You may also PM me if you wish to vote privately.
Rank them starting with your favorite. Your first choice is awarded 3 points; your second choice is awarded 2 points; your third choice is awarded 1 point.
The Reader's Choice prize will go to the story with the most points which has not already won an award.
Who can vote?
Voting is open to the public — except for me and the judges, our favorites are winning prizes already
Contestants are ABSOLUTELY encouraged to vote! To keep things fair:
1) You may not vote for your own entry.
2) Every contestant who votes for at least one other entry will get a 3-point bonus on their own submission, as well! That way, you don't hurt your own chances by participating, and you help yourself a little bit by reading through the others and finding your favorites.
Guess I'll go first:
1. 15 - Coy to the bitter end, I see
2. 14 - Praise the Eternal Sun
3. 16 - Did you hide, U Low Kene?
I'm impressed that so many writers saw things I didn't, or intuited things I never considered. And while I'm no good judge of poetry, the stories told by those three entries all managed to impress me greatly.
1. 11 - Shame! Shame!
2. 15 - Coy to the bitter end, I see
3. 23 - Dawn has yet to break
Honorable mentions go to numbers 1, 17, and 21. It wasn't easy to pick from this pool.
#1 -- 4. "The old stallion calls me," for maximizing (IMO) completeness of answer with lyrical beauty; probably the best complete textbook Left/Right solution compared to horizon's guidelines. Full marks.
#2 -- 13. "Blackest mirror laps on sand," for an interesting, credible, and quietly, sadly appealing relationship that hadn't occurred to me; and a beautiful exploration of what the Nightmare's job actually looks like in practice.
And at the risk of sparking a screaming fit on the part of the author...
#3 -- 7. "I figgerured out murderpone," for throwing the rules out the window and making me laugh while doing so, from the title on forward.
Honorable mention to 12. "The waters of Myinnkyun’s harbor" for a spot-on Cold in Gardez impression. This will be comforting to the author if he is in fact Cold in Gardez, because there is a quiet satisfaction in being told you exemplify yourself. If it's anyone else, you may want to meet with Gardez about gainful employment as his understudy and/or body double.
So:
My ballot'll be:
1. #14
2. #16
3. #21
I liked quite a lot of these--#11, #15, #12 & #23 stick in my admittedly faulty memory--and I look forward to seeing how this all shakes out in the end!
Mike
Narrowing this down to three is really hard, but I'll go with:
1. #16
2. #8
3. #15
Honorable mentions go out to #9 and #1
My ballot:
1. I the dreamer/I the dream (#9) - I liked this best as a piece, and I felt like it did a good job resolving the central mysteries
2. Did you hide, U Low Kene? (#16) - I liked this pretty well as a piece, and I felt that this also tied things together pretty well
3. The old stallion calls me (#4) - Again, solid piece and solid mystery solving
With honorable mentions going to #8 (Honorable Li Kao), #10 (I never meant for this to happen), #11 (Shame! Shame!), and #15 (Coy to the bitter end, I see). There were a number of valiant efforts here, and the zergling drone one made me laugh, which I'm sure was the writer's intent.
Democracy! I suppose I'll vote so:
1. "'Honorable Li Kao.'"
2. "The old stallion calls me"
3. "The gems glitter like blood in the sand"
And honorable mentions go to:
"Shame! Shame"
"The waters of Mykinnkyun's harbor"
"Coy to the bitter end, I see"
For all being excellent in their own rights but now really fitting with the overall vibe of the original story to me. That was really the hardest part of choosing my top three; I liked several, but if I'm voting for what I think should theoretically be the canon last chapter of the fic, then it feels like I should choose something that blends in. Which is hard to do out of this body of work, because obviously Horizon writes like Horizon does and nobody else does that really. Anyway.
It's amazing how primitive I feel, with a limited internet connection. Despite moving house, though, I've managed to read the entries, and here are my picks -
1.) "Shame! Shame" for pushing the concept of 'add random line breaks' even farther than I thought possible, and telling a good story with it.
2.) "Coy to the bitter end, I see" for it's excellent repetitive structure, the pervading bleakness, and the frame that extends beyond the explanation of the mystery.
3.) "I ask you sister, tell me true" for the flawless (as far as I could tell) rhyme scheme that jangled and nearly jarred, but managed to intrigue me anyways.
I thought "The old stallion calls me" was very strong as well - I thought it carried on the 'add random line breaks' most strongly in the spirit of the original, but I pre-read that one, and didn't feel comfortable voting for it here. And "I figgured out murderpone" was really funny, which is worth a lot - but it mostly was just a joke.
Argh. I hate choosing.
Right.
1. #4, "The old stallion calls me", for solving pretty much everything and doing so with powerful verse and awesome use of structure.
2. #19, "I ask you, sister, tell me true", for a galloping rhythm that's a joy to read, and some wonderful Celestia-and-Luna back-and-forth.
3. #15, "Coy to the bitter end, I see", for its great poetics and tangible sense of bleakness.
Honourable mentions:
#11, "Shame! Shame", for that structure, and still having the poetics to back it up
#12, "The waters of Myinnkyun’s harbor", for beautiful prose and its haunting Lost Cities vibe.
#22, "...and those are the dreams of the Myinn", for such a normal explanation of what happened, and so being twice as tragic for it.
And of course
#7, "I figgerured out murderpone"
for being THE MOST AMAZING THING I HAVE EVER READ.
First, let me say "Bravo!" to everyone who entered this contest. As a group, we all put together an amazing mixture of poetry styles and formats, not to mention some great prose, and even a visual depiction. These were all a treat to read in their own ways and, if nothing else, I think I've realized a few things about writing effectively along the way.
So, everyone step back and applaud yourselves for making art and (for at least some of us) trying new things too!
Now, as for my top 3, I'll go with:
1. #15 - Coy to the bitter end
2. #19 - I ask you sister, tell me true
3. #11 - Shame! Shame!
First: 4. The old stallion calls me - I loved the formatting, thought that it did a really good job of solving the mysteries, and the way it combines the rest of the dreams while being told in an epic (yet not melodramatic) manner makes it the best final chapter for the Last Dreams of Pony Island, in my opinion.
Second: 16. Did you hide, U Low Kene? - A rather unique narrator, strong conclusions for the events of the story and some very powerful writing. This is my second pick because I find it to be the most consistently impressing piece in the compilation.
Third: 11. Shame! Shame - The format, along with some very evocative lines and the reasonably good explanations leads me to select this one for my third of the top three.
Three different Nightmares, three different causes for Peridot's death. I'd say that's a good way to show how well the puzzle was written and the quality of the writers in the contest.
Honorable Mentions:
12. The waters of Myinnkyun's harbor - It gives an almost haunting feeling and you can really get a sense of the rich history behind the place with this piece.
15. Coy to the bitter end, I see - Rosetta made for a really interesting nightmare, and the context behind her report was likewise. Plus, it was one of the best mood-setters in the compilation
19. I ask you sister, tell me true - I can't help but like the conversation between the two sisters
23. Dawn has yet to break - Despite the stories being in a random order, I found this one did a very good job at establishing a sense of closure. Rather fitting for the last story in the compilation.
7. I figgerured out murderpone - This one was a gem. But zerglings and drones are two completely different subspecies, darn it!
1. 9: "I the Dream / I the Dreamer" (perhaps the easiest first place I've given to anything since HoofBitingActionOverload's Start Recursion)
2. 8: "Honorable Li Kao."
3. 15: "Coy to the bitter end, I see"
With honorable mention going to:
23: "Dawn has yet to break"
20: "I'd say I was sorry, Sunspot"
11: "Shame! Shame"
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An extra tip of the ol' hat for being the first non-entrant to chip in their opinion! Thank you for getting engaged just for the joy of the reading!
1) 15. Coy to the bitter end, I see
2) 16. Did you hide, U Low Kene?
3) 8. "Honorable Li Kao."
Tough choices all around. It was great seeing several explanations that I hadn't even thought of.
First: 15. Coy to the bitter end, I see for being an absolutely exquisite piece of poetry.
Second: 14. Praise the Eternal Sun for offering an explanation that was both well-written and mentally engaging.
Third: 7. I figgerured out murderpone for providing such an eloquent, masterfully-composed solution to the mystery. (And also for slapping me silly with such a completely unexpected change of tone. Dear goodness, I'm still laughing. A+)
Honorable mentions go to:
2. My father/ was a Night Guard
I love the idea of Hotspur being Peridot's son; it just adds such depth to the Nightmare's reasons for investigating the dreams.
4. The old stallion calls me
It reads like a dream, with just the right balance of information and emotion. Utterly fantastic.
9. I the dream/ I the dreamer
I loved the tone in this one— Potluck's anguish comes across strongly enough to be believable, but is still reserved enough that the reader gets a solid explanation.
One-hour warning. The Reader's Choice ballot box closes when the timestamp on this comment displays as one hour old.
I have tallied all the above votes, as well as one privately submitted.
Well seeing as there are now multiple prizes addressing what would be the best entry, I'm going to go and vote for the ones I enjoyed reading the most.
1) 7. I figgerured out murderpone - because someone actually went ahead and did it, and it's perfect. Nothing more to say.
2) 12. The waters of myinnkyuns harbor - would it work as a final chapter? Probably not; it shares little resemblance with the originals. The prose, however, is lovely in form, content, and cadence, and it subtly addresses clues and answers questions without ever breaking stride. Lovely work, author.
3) 11. Shame! Shame - similar to the above, what the piece lacks in resemblance to the original it makes up in sheer strength of form. Whilst it suffers from the notable discrepancies between it and the narrative Horizon layed out, this in no way detracts from the pleasure of reading it. Well done.
First: 9. I the dream / I the dreamer
Second: 4. The old stallion calls me
Third: 11. Shame! Shame
Honorable mentions: 7, 12, 14, and 23. I was tempted to make #7 my number one. It was too darn hilarious.
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Voting is now closed. Judges' decisions have been set and all of the above Reader's Choice ballots have been received.
Contestants may now feel free to identify themselves and talk about their entries! I'll label chapters with author names shortly. (edit: done)
It will take me a few hours to get home from work and type up the results post, but that's first on tonight's things-that-are-not-annoying-adult-chores agenda.
Commence crosstalk and responding to reviews!
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I see what you meant about Monarch Dodora. He deserves a win.
Also I find this appropriate.
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Thank you for your votes and/or honorable mentions! I'm glad you enjoyed #14
I'll be posting an explanatory comment on the chapter itself shortly…
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Thank you all for your votes! You made me very happy and slightly baffled.