Messages

Congratulations to Pete, that is great!

Ah Tordels, you are making me wince you poor fella with a poor fella.
Get well soon.
Minky

Yeah, single image as usual.

Now James THAT is class.

Everyone sees Judge Conroy (with his convincing Brit accent) go to shoot Armitage at close range, so no-one else tries to do it. Then they see Armitage pointing  a gun he can't possibly use, and are wrong footed long enough for Armitage to aim and fire. The alternative would have been for Joyce to try to turn and fire and hope he got them all.

Yup, plus the deniability/don't cause another International incident. Reckon that explains it nicely. Looking forward to tomorrow - hope Babs gets the Texan Maggie Thatcher in a headlock!

Not sure if this has ever been done or considered?

I wondered if it would work as a one-off sometime for the art comp and short story comp to use a chosen month's entries (not necessarily the same month) as the brief/starting point/inspiration for that month's competition?

So for example, if the short story comp was based on March's 'Swords & Sorcery' then we could have stories inspired by Mongrol the Ogre, Nemesis vs Slaine, Tharg the Mystical, Knight Dredd, the savage axe of Ukko and so on.

Similarly, if the art comp were to take it's inspiration from the "Twothy TV" stories we could get pics of Steptoe & Son with Tyranny Rex, Johnny Alpha in the Spaced flat, Dad's Army featuring Rogue and just about every idea from Echidna's TV listings: Jerry Springer "I'm a Mutant... and My Dad's Nelson Kreelman!".

I thought it might bring a bit more attention to the short story comp as well as getting the old creative juices going across the board.
So what do you think as a general idea? Good plan or a stinker?

Cheers Sharky & Echidna!

I do a lot of talks, presentations and seminars so I write for them but never any fiction. I'm with you Echidna, it did seem like having a worthwhile idea was the hardest part of the lot. I will try and contribute from now on.

Minky

I love reading the short story comp and don't want to see if fold due to lack of interest, so I thought it was only fair to have a stab. It took me ages to find an angle, I've never written anything before, but after a few re-reads of Case Files 5 I thought of something. Sorry. 

Flashback

"Dredd, you're late." Psych Judge Bandura looked up from his screen as the Senior Judge strode into the room. "As usual," he added under his breath.

"Ran into a Futsie out of Batson Block. Some of us have real judging to do," growled Dredd.

"Yes, well, let's try and get you back to peak effectiveness, shall we?" Bandura forced a tight smile and gestured to the consulting couch.

Ignoring the couch, Dredd pulled a chair into the corner of the room, facing the door.

Ready for the silence, Bandura prompted, "So, it was during the war –"

Dredd exploded. "Drokk it, just give me the damn pills and let me get back to work!"

"As you know, those meds have become less effective as you've got older. We can't increase the dose without starting to weaken your...your drive, aggression, and so on..." Bandura's sentence tailed off, withering under Dredd's condemning gaze. He rallied, "It is not unusual as we get older for memories of traumatic experiences to resurface."

Dredd continued to glower from beneath his helmet.

"Bottom line, Dredd – this is impairing your operational performance. Chief Judge won't authorise even a minor brain burn. And those damn boots were so tight they were damaging your feet. Talk it out or get suspended from duty. It's your choice."

His knuckles white as he gripped the arms of the chair, Dredd's head dropped.

"It was during the war..." His gravelly voice lowered as he followed his memories back to the darkest of times. "We used the stolen Strato-V to fire the twister into the lower levels of the Sov silo. We had to burn the tunnel 2K within 90 minutes to stand any chance of catching them with their guard down."

He paused briefly, shaking his head.

"It was hot. Hellish. Hotter than Hestia. The only light was from the lasers reflecting off the fused glass. We took it in shifts, but when we weren't using the lasers there was nothing to do, nowhere else to look."

Dredd faltered and took a breath.

"Ocks was the first to strip off. Said he'd rather risk a las-burn than die of heat stroke. The others followed him. She waited a bit longer, but –"

"She?" interrupted Bandura with mock innocence. They had both revisited this memory many times.

"Anderson, Drokk you!" shouted Dredd, glaring at Bandura.

He hung his head again and whispered, "Anderson. There was sweat running down her naked back; her hair was brushing her shoulders under her helmet. I couldn't stop looking. Then she lifted her arms to take her helmet off and...and she heard me. Even with my double zero she heard my thoughts.

"She smiled and half turned towards me, projecting her voice into my head. 'Sure, Joey-Boy – just for you, I can leave my hat on.'"

The big man, his tale complete, shook with barely suppressed sobs of shame and regret.

Jimbo that is brilliant!

That is totally awesome S-M, fantastic work!

Wotcha Bloke, good to have you aboard.

Found this difficult to judge, all good stuff, I think it will be influenced significantly by our memories/fondness for each show.

1. Sharky: The Grease & Grime Warp
2. IAMTHESYSTEM: Don't tell him, Rogue!
3. Zippocreed: Devices and Damnations

Wotcha Geezer, welcome aboard.

How south are we talking here? There are 2 of us here in Southampton, you'd have to be on the island to be more south than that really.

I'm similar with the Meg. Had a sub for 1 year ages ago, now it is a luxury indulgence! While I'd rather go without cereal than my weekly prog.

Minky

Brilliant Shark and Joe, setting the bar high already. Great stuff.

Progless too. Did anyone get it?