Powers & Irish Times Short Story Comp

indough

according to the terms and conditions there will be 50 stories published rather than 40

c68zapdsm5i1ru

MOONlit wrote: »

Bella bella, the one about the cats was on list 17, since removed as you know. However I googled an authors name from that list, which im fairly positive was the author of the cats story, Brendan sayer. The only one I could find is the person who wrote a history of orchids in Ireland book. So I just googled the book now to recall the name.

Thanks Moonlit. I will have a read of it.

MOONlit

I agree with that guy 83. Only thing there though is, if my recollection is correct, some of those 29 stories were a little on the dull side in comparison with some of the good ones on the long lists 1-16. But of course thats subjective.

echo beach

Off topic but did anybody enter the Arena Flash Fiction competition on RTE Radio 1?
They are to announce the winner on the 15th. A week before closing on April 30th they had over 300 entries and there is only one judge so unless they also have some sort of shortlisting it will be a tight deadline for him.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

MOONlit wrote: »

I agree with that guy 83. Only thing there though is, if my recollection is correct, some of those 29 stories were a little on the dull side in comparison with some of the good ones on the long lists 1-16. But of course thats subjective.

Hmm, I've read the cat story and it's a bit gruesome, but clever and well written. I much prefer the ball of wool one though.

In fairness, no matter what story wins there will be lots of people saying 'they picked that one? There were far better ones on the long list'. There's always going to be a huge level of subjectivity in a competition like this.

MOONlit

Of course. Also the real craic will be if a class act story wins - but but but - it has the the word 'powers whiskey' in it , then, people will say it simply won because it mentioned whiskey.
I reckon they should have made a statement about the 'whiskey' question at the beginning, as people seem to have just got so confused about that. iI was such a huge thing the previous year, many presumed it was an implied stipulation. Actually the sponsors treated it like it was the elephant in the room.I must try and read the ball of wool story again.Whot wrote it?

c68zapdsm5i1ru

It's by Killian O Hanlon.

I agree it should have been made clear whether Power's needed to be mentioned or not. When you only have 450 words to play around with it's actually quite a big deal if you have to shoe horn in a couple of sentences about people sitting around drinking mellow golden whisky. I took a chance and left it out.

Madammoiselle

My story mentioned powers a few times, I would've had a way better chance last year. Oh well! Not long to go now before the short list is revealed.
I agree with the earlier statement that when the winner is announced it will probably be slated by comments of how other stories were way better. It's all down to a matter of taste & what the judges are looking out for. There is some great stories in the long list, also some stories that suck big time, who knows what kind of story will win. Only time will tell..

c68zapdsm5i1ru

Still no update. I wonder have they finished long listing? There's been nothing now since Thursday afternoon.

Madammoiselle

Hopefully we will have an update tomorrow. There will be plenty of updates this week I would think. The last of the longlist, then the shortlist & then the winner on sat! :-)
The suspense is a killer!

MOONlit

just read the ball of wool story by (Killian hanlon - but without the O ) in list 14.

That means at least 3 of the names on the 'Short list' were already on the long list. So the idea that 17 was another long list doesnt add up.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

I think all of the names on longlist 17 were subsequently spread around the other longlists, rather than just posting up section 17 again with the short list heading removed.
I hope the organisers play fair and don't just scrap the original short list (if that is what it was) and come up with a totally new one to cover up their error.

I would have thought the short list would have been announced in yesterday's magazine with the winner appearing in the magazine on the 19th.

heebeejeebees

BellaBella. I checked a few names from sec 17 using the search function and none of the ones I checked came up in the previous 16. BUT it sometimes SEEMED like they came up in the previous 16 because if the first name OR the surname came up, then that registered in the search. Plus, I thought you said you emailed the irish times and they said 17 wasn't the shortlist.

heebeejeebees

Plus - as there was no duplication of names between no 17 and nos 1-16, then it doesn't make sense that 17 was the shortlist because that would mean they had chosen the shortlist (and were just holding it back for some reason) before they had even posted longlist no 1.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

The names were added to the previous longlists retrospectively (about a day after shortlist 17 was posted and then quickly removed). I'm as in the dark as anyone about what is going on. Either section 17 was a short list in progress that was posted up in error and then quickly removed, or it was part of the longlist with 'short list' being posted incorrectly at the top. If it's the latter I don't really understand why they didn't simply remove the short list heading and just leave section 17 as it stood.

heebeejeebees

Ah! I see. So your story should now be listed somewhere in 1-16, right? Clearly, 17 was never intended to be the short list because that would mean the team had chosen the shortlist before they had even posted longlist no 1. Otherwise most of the names on 17 would have been duplicated in 1-16.

MOONlit

Well yes Heebeejeebees, but the fact is though, that Brendan Sayers is on list 7 with his 'cats' story, Sinead Mahon is on list 2 with her 'Dad in Solicitors office' story and one Killian Hanlon is on list 14 with his 'Ball of wool' story.
These 3 also appeared on list 17 with the very same storys.(I cant recall who else was on list 17 to check further)
It could be easily discovered whether their prior appearance on the earlier lists pre date the uploading of List 17,.or post date it. I would say that they were there from the beginning.

heebeejeebees

The way these things work is that the shortlist is chosen from the longlist. If something doesn't appear on the longlist, it cannot appear on the shortlist.

heebeejeebees

But that could just be a simple duplication, MOONlit. It would still mean that 26 of 29 stories just happen to show up in longlist 17 and nowhere else?

c68zapdsm5i1ru

heebeejeebees wrote: »

Ah! I see. So your story should now be listed somewhere in 1-16, right? Clearly, 17 was never intended to be the short list because that would mean the team had chosen the shortlist before they had even posted longlist no 1. Otherwise most of the names on 17 would have been duplicated in 1-16.

Exactly. My name appeared on list 17. The list was then removed and my name appeared nowhere. The following day I checked back and it was now on one of the previous long lists where it hadn't appeared before. I also recognised a few of the other names on list 17 and would have noticed them if they appeared before. They didn't but are now on various sections of the longlist.
None of it makes sense. As you say, if they were intended to be on a short list why were they not already on the long list and only added subsequently?

MOONlit

Sinead Mahons story was on list 2 from the beginning. I also am fairly positive that Brendan Sayers was there from the get go, but couldnt swear.
However the drama behind adding, sutracting and adding again your name on the site, Bella Bella ,for sure is something else alltogether and needs to be explained.I feel a sherlock holms moment coming on.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

Well, let me know if you come up with a likely explanation. The suspense is killing me!!

indough

You are reading way too much into a simple mistake. Just wait for the official announcement

DermoLogical

This is my first writing comp. I'm quite chuffed that I made the long list (despite an stupid typo) - I didn't even know there was a long list until yesterday.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

indough wrote: »

You are reading way too much into a simple mistake. Just wait for the official announcement

We are waiting. Just enjoying a bit of speculation in the meanwhile. We're writers. We're nosy by nature.

Dullard

Quite right. I think I am the winner, but the then my name betrays me! I am usually wrong.
Dullard

Wooly Woo

MOONlit wrote: »

I also am fairly positive that Brendan Sayers was there from the get go, but couldnt swear.

It wasn't, I did a search for him after list 17 was removed and he wasn't there. He is now though. By the way I think his story is horrible.

Madammoiselle

I think it's an awful story aswell. Clever but awful!

Wooly Woo

Oh no doubting it's clever and very well written. But I think a story about a woman who likes to smother cats and kittens to make ornaments out of them is something that would be best saved for a Halloween writing competition. Creepy is not the word. I don't really get how it fits with the theme either

Madammoiselle

Exactly! How is that "celebrating what truly matters"?? I don't understand it, I also don't understand how my name isn't there yet! Lol :-)