Zach Caldwell Posted September 16, 2014 Report Share Posted September 16, 2014 Castle Roland's First Ever Halloween Short Story Competition Spooks - By Sandra Liatsos There's a goblin at my window, A monster by my door. The pumpkin at my table Keeps on smiling more and more. There's a ghost who haunts my bedroom, A witch whose face is green. They used to be my family, Till they dressed for Halloween. Tis the Season of Halloween Costumes, Bobbing for Apples, Black Cats and Trick or treating and Castle Roland don’t want to be left out in the chilly fall air. So with a little eye of newt and wing of bat we created our own Halloween Competition. Authors and Readers alike have fallen under our spell and created some delightful treats for our Forum Members. The Stories have been posted on a special sub forum, on the Castle Roland Community Forum(Link), Title Halloween Short Story contest submissions(Link(Workable title). The Stories have been listed in a numerical order with the authors name and title removed in a true blind vote process. Forum members are invited to read each of the stories and then vote for their favorite story between October 19, 2014 and October 28, 2014. Votes will be private, so no one will know who voted for which story. You will be able to check the poll from time to time and see how well your favorite story is doing against the others. The Story with the most votes will be posted at Midnight Eastern Standard Time October 30, 2014. In a special update that will include some Halloween tales of old from some of your favorite authors. All entries will be listed by Author and Title on the Home page and in the update email as well as the post on the forum will be updated to include the author and title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.B Posted October 19, 2014 Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 yay! Great stories all of 'em! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach Caldwell Posted October 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 Thanks AB. I hope everyone is having fun reading the great stories that have been submitted. A.B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Norris Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Ten really great stories! It is very hard to pick a best, let alone a favorite! A.B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 I agree this is going to be a tough one to choose from. With this many submissions we all have our work cut out for us, but I for one will not vote unless I do read each and every story. I know some may just sort of read the first few and then cast a vote which isn't being fair. I'd rather have people not voting if they don't read all of the stories. Some may not want to read all of them which is perfectly fine just so long as they don't cast a vote. The policy should be read as many as you want and have time for, but do not cast a vote unless all stories have been read. I plan on reading from number 10 going through to number 1 to give the later stories on the list a fair shake since most will be starting from number one. I am so excited about these stories. I've already perused some so now it is time to hunker down and get down to business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken barber Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO READ ALL THE STORIES BEFORE VOTING. VOTING ENDS AT MIDNIGHT EASTERN TIME ON OCTOBER 28TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Aarons Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 Anyone who comes here should read them all even if they don't vote. there are some very good quality stories here and all the authors deserve credit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GayActivist Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 To anyone who reads this. Do take the time to check out each of the stories. Each one is good in its own rights and fun. I seriously doubt anyone will be disappointed. Picking a favorite, well that was a bit rough but I finally decided. Good luck to all the authors. Thank you! ken barber 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 I agree everyone should take the time to read all the stories. I'm about a third of the way through so far and they are really fun to read. I understand some may not have time to read them all, but I encourage you to try because like it is mentioned above the authors have put in time and effort. I can already tell picking a favorite is going to be a bit tough, but hey, that's part of the fun. Also I want to say a personal thank you to all of the authors now who contributed because for me this is a real treat. I never read while I write and currently I'm on a little break from writing but hadn't planned on doing too much reading just to allow myself to recharge my batteries and take a step back, but there was no way I was going to let this opportunity to slip by because there are some really cool gems here. So to all you authors thank you so very very much for contributing. To all potential readers, get to reading, lol, and don't let this opportunity pass you by because there are some really good stories here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melodies Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 Wow, these stories were very fun to read. Great stories, all of them! A big thanks to all the authors for all your hard work. It was very difficult to choose a favorite. After reading all of them, I had it narrowed down to 3 choices, and it took me a while to finally choose. In the end, I had to go with story #8. Though each submission was a great read, it seemed that I was most easily absorbed by #8. Again, thanks to all the authors, I very much appreciate your work! -Melodies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 I just wanted to make a quick comment regarding story number ten. The last part of the story where X=6, you know the joke might of come off better if you would have said something like, "Does x really equal six because in German they say x equals sex," or something along those lines where you bring in the German pronounciation because six is sechs over there which sort of sounds more like 'sex' when the number six is said in German. I did like the play on words though which was a good way to end it. Damn, I'm halfway through all the stories and they are all just fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken barber Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 Wow voting is interesting. I am intrigued to see what the final result will be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firemedic15 Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 Great stories and a couple that could lead into a series! Bryan314 and ken barber 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Norris Posted October 24, 2014 Report Share Posted October 24, 2014 Shaping up to be a run-off! ken barber 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 Made it through all the stories and I think they are all fantastic. I had a tough time choosing and from the look of things the voting is spread out all over the place which reflects just how much fun they all were to read. Personally I want to say thanks to each and every one of you who have contributed these stories. Well done people and a joy to read providing a nice distraction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken barber Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 Wow a four way tie. Hope there are more votes still coming. Tuesday October 28 Midnight Eastern Time is the vote deadline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 I have now had a chance to read them all, again on the larger screen. They are all so enjoyable. The range of talent, thought and subjects that were looked at from just one theme is remarkable. Everyone should be very proud of what they wrote and shared with us. ken barber 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.B Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 my fav is #2 but they were all great congrats to the authors for their imagination! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 With it being such a tight race all around it just goes to show just how enjoyable it was for everyone. I'd have to say this was a big success all the way around for everyone. The Castle Roland team did a fantastic job of putting this together, the authors did a bang up job of giving us a whopping ten stories, and the forum members readers are coming through with reading and casting their vote. In my book this is a success and a fantastic job by everyone concerned. Well done to everyone. I'm not going to say which one is my favorite because this is supposed to be a blind vote, lol, but that doesn't mean others can share who they voted for, lol. Let me just say my vote could have been cast for at least four stories because it was so tight, and even the ones that wasn't in my top contention, I thought were very well done. There was one that I simply loved overall, but didn't like the ending feeling it had just taken one step too far and would have been better taking a step back, but it doesn't mean the ending was good. If it wouldn't have taken that one extra step it would have had my vote because I thought it truly was the closest to what I view as a Halloween story, but I still loved it despite the ending. Again, it was a good ending and all, and I was very torn about it, so I had to go back and reread some of the other ones and with gritted teeth cast my vote. It was a painful vote because there were so many good ones, but alas, we only have one vote, lol. If it was this painful, it meant you authors did your job, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken barber Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 So who is going to cast the tie breaking vote? Will it be you? or how about you? Or will it become a 5 way tie for first? 6? 7?8? 9? 10? The count down is on to have your vote counted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 Well certainly not me since I already voted, lol. I'm sure there are going to be a lot of readers perusing through the stories this weekend and will be casting their vote. I have a feeling like with most things we will get that last minute rush to have votes cast, and now that you've asked who's going to cast the tie breaking vote many are considering just how late they can push their vote to be the one to break the tie, lol. Too funny, but I'm glad it is a tight race because it truly shows the fantastic work with the authors touching on plot lines with a wide ranging audience. That just goes to show the depth of writing we have on this site, and I have to say you the administrators at Castle Roland should be very proud of having pulled together a wide ranging group of authors. To you authors out there thank you so much for this wonderful treat. It was perfect timing with my time off from writing because I don't read when I write so this was a very nice treat for me indeed. Well done guys, and I am so interested to see how all the votes pan out. I say if there is a tie we post the ones that tie'd. So now I'm rooting for there to be like a three or four way tie. "You can do iiiiiitttttt!!!!" Three way tie....three way tie...four way tie...four way tie....Yaaaaaaay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
profman Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 Wow, Wow, Wow. This is like way cool. Like many of the others I'm torn with my vote. I have to think on it some more and maybe go over some of my top three or four that I like. Thanks Hunter for the email reminder last night. I had almost forgotten the deadline is coming up and I hadn't finished all the stories yet. I'm sure like me many of us will be reading over the weekend. I hope other authors are reminding their readers as well because time just sort of got away from me. I get busy sometimes and forget. Anyway, I will have to decide here over the next day or two but I'm not sure because there were some pretty good ones out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken barber Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 And the tie is broken.....for now. Story 3 has the lead by one vote. But stories 6 and 8 are right behind by one vote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.B Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 Go story 2!!!! LongTom 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 You mean story 6 and eight behind by one, lol. Still plenty of time for voting to take place, but it is nice to see so many people actually voting. I'm sure the closer we get to the end a clear winner will start to pull ahead. That's usually how it happens. A.B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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