Round fourteen (one more!) of head-to-head challenges with Fiction 59 (59-word stories) pressed us to write a modern day tall tale. Well, once upon a time…
| The battle between Godzilla and Superman raged for interminable weeks, each having materialized inexplicably from their respective country’s tortured psyches. Yet both cowered in abject fear at The Unspeakable Horror that emerged from the crushing depths, summoned forth by the misguided faculty of Miskatonic University. It was then that Americans realized a crippling two-party gridlock trumps a non-benevolent dictatorship. |
- As far as “new” American tall tales go, I considered comic book heroes and modern fiction to be the tale tales of the current era. I chose to mix comic book, movie, and book figures into my story.
- Many tale tails worked to explain the existence of something, typically a geographical feature or some such. The idea fell out that it instead explained something political.
Same ol’, same ol’? RESULTS
Mine was submission #2 in this time around — the judges’ comments:
MATTHEW: Whoa, matchup serendipity. Two stories of the Zilla/American Hero variety facing off. Story 2, did you mean to say that two party gridlock trumps dictatorship? Because your story seems to suggest that the Cthulhu mythos wins here. Maybe you meant to imply that Americans would’ve preferred the two-party system. Well, never mind…I still found myself enjoying story 1 better, because it made me laugh out loud. And it was…a love story. WINNER: #1
ANDY: I appreciate the effort, #2, and the prose is great, I just wasn’t moved enough by the concept. I don’t want to take too much away from your piece, as it shows the signs of excellent writing skill, and clearly a good amount of effort. The concept of Paul Bunyan falling in love just tickled me a bit more, and I guess that’s the difference maker. Winner: #1.
Novak – Oh, you’ve got me laughing out loud #1. That’s awesome. Also, two godzillas? What are the odds? #2, I wasn’t quite sure what you’re going for. The last line reads like the moral of a fable, but the rest of the entry doesn’t set it up quite right. #1 wins.
WINNER: Ian Pratt
I barely have a ghost of a chance next week…
"é rayhahn, rayhahn" 