# September 2014 Theme Voting



## Fin

Poll closes August 31st, at 11:59 PM.




Click here for the current time


----------



## Ariel

Goats was seconded!?!?


----------



## kilroy214

amsawtell said:


> Goats was seconded!?!?



Goddamn goats are becoming the bane of my existence.


----------



## escorial

voted


----------



## garza

Voted for aliens. It seemed the right thing to do at the time.


----------



## Diatsu

I really hope I don't have to write about alien mating rituals xD


----------



## Plasticweld

Diatsu said:


> I really hope I don't have to write about alien mating rituals xD



I agree with you completely, unfortunately, there are a bunch of writers.... I am not naming names who think that every sentence needs a noun, a verb, an adjective and an alien.


----------



## Jon M

I voted for _Ritual Sexin_. Because I'm a perv. And because it's the closest thing to another _Sex Tape_ challenge.


----------



## Gavrushka

garza said:


> Voted for aliens. It seemed the right thing to do at the time.



+1.

How I hope. Competition entries will make for some good reading.


----------



## bazz cargo

Storm in a teacup.


----------



## Fin

Forgot to make the votes public this time around. Sorry about that



amsawtell said:


> Goats was seconded!?!?




Judges of the previous month automatically get their suggestions thrown in the poll


----------



## garza

Ah, yes! Sex tape. That was a great prompt with endless possibilities. I reread my entry in that recently. It continues to make me laugh.


----------



## Dubhthaigh

Fingers crossed for _Under the red willow, _purely because the prompt is similar to the title of my favourit childhood novel- Under the Hawthorn Tree 

But alien mating rituals would yield fun reads


----------



## W.Goepner

There is a child hood joke about Alien mating I would like to try because I do not believe I can get it to 300 words but I will try. I hope no one else does it.


----------



## garza

If it's the joke I'm thinking of, it started circulating in the late forties after all the flying saucer stories. With some imagination, it can be stretched to over 600 words,a sort of outer space shaggy dog story.


----------



## W.Goepner

garza said:


> If it's the joke I'm thinking of, it started circulating in the late forties after all the flying saucer stories. With some imagination, it can be stretched to over 600 words,a sort of outer space shaggy dog story.



I don't know about shaggy dog, I know I would not want to shake hands with a known ET.

Also I have written it, it is just under 650 words.


----------



## Greimour

LOL, the race is close.

Honestly, I didn't want to choose any. Part of me was tempted to vote for alien mating rituals - purely because it's been there so many times. Alas I went with another and was surprised to see how the voting has _actually_ gone so far.

^_^


----------



## garza

W.Goepner - That's the joke. I experienced it the first time around 1948 at East Ward Elementary School in Gulfport and thought it hilariously funny. Pat Evans, the son of then Gulfport Mayor Milton Evans, introduced it to the rest of us. Somehow the school's Principal, Miss Bessie Milner, got wind of it. She was not amused and Pat was reprimanded. severely. Spinster school teachers have no sense of humour.


----------



## Gavrushka

'Under the Red Willow' takes the lead... Where is your sense of adventure? 

Damn, I was looking forwards to reading how the women of Bellerephon work them there tentacles.


----------



## Pidgeon84

Gavrushka said:


> 'Under the Red Willow' takes the lead... Where is your sense of adventure?
> 
> Damn, I was looking forwards to reading how the women of Bellerephon work them there tentacles.



Lol are we going to be writing hentai? :rofl:


----------



## Terry D

Gavrushka said:


> 'Under the Red Willow' takes the lead... Where is your sense of adventure?
> 
> Damn, I was looking forwards to reading how the women of Bellerephon work them there tentacles.



Where's the problem...

_The enviro suit was cumbersome, and, at the moment, seemed far too fragile as Wilton moved carefully over Meridian's smooth surface. All around him the 'red willows' swayed and danced in the non-existent breeze. Wilton knew, of course, that the thick, sucker-tipped 'branches' weren't willow boughs at all. They were the quivering, searching, crimson genitalia of the Meridianites and they could implant their parasitic offspring in any warm-blooded host. Death by pregnancy had already claimed half his crew and Wilton still had another ten clicks to walk before he was out of the love jungle.

Suddenly, somewhere behind him, a man screamed...

_


----------



## Guy Faukes

I would love judging "Alien Mating Rituals". C'mon guys... pretty pwweeaassee? :cry:

Ahh well, either way


----------



## W.Goepner

Damn Now I have to come up with a new one for under the red willow. I do not know why I subject myself to this torment.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

Entered my vote for _In a Dead Man's Drawers_​.


----------



## InstituteMan

Someone needs to vote for alien mating rituals before this thing closes. That topic is like a dream come true.


----------



## Gavrushka

InstituteMan said:


> Someone needs to vote for alien mating rituals before this thing closes. That topic is like a dream come true.



I was considering threatening phone calls to other forum users to inspire them to vote, but I don't suppose my squeaky ickle voice is up to the task, so I nominate you to do it.

Although I'm no longer particularly active on the forums, it's a pleasure to read the competition entries, especially if it's all about Canis Major copulation!


----------



## Deleted member 56686

There's still time. Only 13 more votes needed for Look at the Goats.:biggrin:


----------



## Theglasshouse

Voted. I casted my secret vote.


----------



## godofwine

InstituteMan said:


> Someone needs to vote for alien mating rituals before this thing closes. That topic is like a dream come true.



A dream come true for whom? I am pretty damned imaginative, and I have absolutely nothing for that. But, damn. It seems like that's going to win. Damn.


----------



## InstituteMan

godofwine said:


> A dream come true for whom? I am pretty damned imaginative, and I have absolutely nothing for that. But, damn. It seems like that's going to win. Damn.



I guess this goes back to the sex in fiction discussion. I have eleventy-billion ideas for alien mating rituals. Some I could even post here . . .


----------



## Gavrushka

InstituteMan said:


> I guess this goes back to the sex in fiction discussion. *I have eleventy-billion ideas for alien mating rituals*. Some I could even post here . . .



And, when collated and published, it goes by the title 'Cosmic Kama Sutra'.


----------



## InstituteMan

Gavrushka said:


> And, when collated and published, it goes by the title 'Cosmic Kama Sutra'.



I expect that it will be a huge seller in the seedier resorts on Muelfarr 2.


----------



## Ariel

"Dating" is a mating ritual.  "Alien" can refer to another, foreign culture. These stories could be an outsider's view of our dating rituals, the courtship rituals of birds, or the complex bee-dance mating ritual of the bee-people on whatever bee-planet you're putting them on.  Those are three ideas that I literally just spat out.  It's not a difficult concept to write a story about and it doesn't need to include sex.


----------



## Ari

Aw, it won.
Amsawtell, it still leaves you empty if you don't want to write romance. Birds or bees or people, tis all the same really. 

Skipping this one to write about Crow Rustling instead.


----------



## Ariel

Then turn it on its head.  Make the ritual less a romance and more something else. You're all talented and intelligent writers.  Just because the challenge is difficult doesn't mean you can't do it and give it your own spin.


----------



## Gavrushka

amsawtell said:


> "Dating" is a mating ritual.  "Alien" can refer to another, foreign culture. These stories could be an outsider's view of our dating rituals, the courtship rituals of birds, or the complex bee-dance mating ritual of the bee-people on whatever bee-planet you're putting them on.  Those are three ideas that I literally just spat out.  It's not a difficult concept to write a story about *and it doesn't need to include sex*.




I'm crushed!

I think there is huge scope with this prompt and, yes, I'd have to agree that a literal/shallow interpretation could be missing a trick. - A lot of fun could be had if it was awash with interspecies misunderstandings, where a simple handshake for one party could mean a gesture of intimate intent to the other.

More than ever, I look forward to reading this month's entries, as I am sure the most able amongst the entrants have a real chance to shine. How I wish I'd been judging.


----------



## Dubhthaigh

Oi, aliens :| 
Despite the fact I'm a generally happy person, I seem to be incapable of writing anything that does not have serious dark overtones.
I'll be interested to see if I can turn out something half respectable for this one!


----------



## garza

There was a period of anxiety when the red willows appeared to be about to win. I've never seen a red willow and my research indicates they grow in places I've never been. I can't write about places where I've never spent time. Nor can I write about people I don't know. Thanks, everyone who voted for 'aliens'.


----------



## InstituteMan

amsawtell said:


> Then turn it on its head.  Make the ritual less a romance and more something else. You're all talented and intelligent writers.  Just because the challenge is difficult doesn't mean you can't do it and give it your own spin.



This just _might _be my super secret strategy for my entry. I just hope that I am sufficiently talented and intelligent to pull it off. I may have to write up some of my other many ideas inspired by this, the very best LM prompt I have experienced so far. Seriously: Alien. Mating. Rituals. The possibilities are endless.


----------



## T.S.Bowman

Had the second place prompt actually wound up winning, I may have tried my hand again. 

This one...I have nothing.


----------



## Bishop

This was... never supposed to happen.


----------



## InstituteMan

Bishop said:


> This was... never supposed to happen.



Oh, come on, Bishop! You were BORN to write this stuff! I'll even give you the first sentence: 

"Zulpherians smell terrible when they are sexually aroused, at least as far as humans are concerned."

Now, on your mark, get set, write!


----------



## W.Goepner

You know I wrote mine befor the voting was finished and figured the Red willow would be a satire I would have to grope at. I still would like to see it in a future challenge.


----------

