2013 Halloween Challenge

[Graeme]

Okay, I've now read through all the stories and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed them all. There's a mixture of stories set at Halloween, and stories that have a Halloween style themes (ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and general horror) and even some that are both!

I don't want to give out spoilers in case a reader hasn't read any of the stories yet, but here's a quick summary of my reactions:

Little Dog, Big Dog: I would have liked to seen this one as a novella or even a novel! There's so much more that I'd like to see.

I Can't Tell You: Really cute and now I know what I've got to look forward to as my boys get older.

The Mask: How quickly we forget... but I'm sure my generation would've been the same about things from previous generations.

Halloween Outing: Another cute story with some great reactions from the students.

The Freak: Something different, but one that raised a smile at the mistaken assumptions involved.

Life After Death: My first short story in three years and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Waiting: A challenge to work out what was going to happen... and I only got it partially right.

My Halloween Wish: Wow. Just... WOW!

The Drawbacks Of Being A Monster: Welcome to AD, Cynus. You've made a great first impression!

Case: Black: The start of a new novel, but the horror story being told is perfect for the Halloween theme.

Well done to all the authors, and I hope everyone else enjoys them as much as I did

[colinian]

I enjoyed all of the Halloween Challenge stories, I enjoyed reading all of them, so 'nuff said. Go ye and read all ten of them. You won't be sorry.

Colin

[Lugnutz]

The bar has been raised with this challenge. There are some remarkable stories in this one.

[Nick Deverill]

Extraordinary - a one word complement to all. One of them, "My Halloween wish" could so easily be the start of a serial novel, but loses nothing by being a short story (well, shortish, it's quite long at over 18,000 words).

As said above, the bar has been well and truly raised. If you've not yet read them, shame on you!

[dude]

Well, I have to agree with all of you ...We always kinda have fun with Halloween at AwesomeDude and this year things seem to have been elevated a couple of notches!

But what could you expect from a site with some the most talented authors in our community as well as a year-round color scheme on both the mainpage and in our forums that just screams HALLOWEEN?

Anyway, consider this a public Thank You to all our authors who do such a great job in providing great stories year round and also to our devoted readers who take the time to spread the word about the AwesomeDude site's stories and authors and also to those of you who continue to support the site with your donations.

The stories are now up... so if you haven't read them... then I urge you to do so! If you'd like to comment on any or all of the stories, we invite you to use this space.

Not a member yet, Just go to the top right corner of the AD Forums and sign up. You'll be able to make your views known and join our ongoing discussion.

.Mike

[Cole Parker]

I posted this in the other Halloween thread and suppose it should have gone here:

I've now read all the stories. I think the quality of these has set a new record, and I'm quite proud to be in such skilled and creative company. You guys did great! Usually this sort of challenge ends up with some pretty ordinary stuff. Not this year! Not here!

C

[colinian]

Warning! Warning! Spoilers here! If you haven't read all of the stories in this year's Halloween Challenge, you probably should stop here and finish reading them.

Little Dog, Big Dog

James has written a ghost story that's set on All Hallows Eve. I can't remember reading a Halloween story that had dogs as principal characters. Jamie's imagined reasons the dogs were living at the old mansion lead to his meeting with the resident of the house.

I Can't Tell You

This is my story, and it's about communication. I wanted to show how adults and teens often don't communicate; when the adults do communicate the teens often don't pay attention to what they’re being told; and how teens often don't communicate clearly with each other.

The Mask

I've seen 'Phantom Of The Opera' and the image at the top of the story gave it away; my guess is that most everyone reading this post has seen either the musical or the movie, so this isn't much of a spoiler. What's important in this story is what happens to Jeremy and Josh at the party.

Halloween Outing

Billy is in middle school. It's Halloween and the kids wear costumes to school. Billy decides to wear a costume that other kids will recognize as someone who's gay. And...

The Freak

Leave it to Cole to write a Halloween story that starts with a pedophile who breaks out of prison and becomes a BOLO. What the heck is a BOLO? Well, my spoiler here is that BOLO, in police parlance, means "Be On The Lookout" — like for the pedophile. The question we have is will he find Bruce and Bobby before the police catch him?

Life After Death

Graham wrote that this is his first short story in three years. I think it's time for him to get down to business and write a few more short stories. Oh, I almost forgot about the spoiler. This is a ghost story.

Waiting

Another story partially given away by the image that appears at the top of the page. So, it's a just another vampire story. Yeah, right. If you think that you haven't read it yet.

My Halloween Wish

Here is a Halloween story that has just about everything: vampires, zombies, werewolves, prison camps, razor wire, bad guys, good guys, straight guys, gay guys, garlic, lots of screaming... well, maybe no zombies. But you are going to be screaming by the end of the story.

The Drawbacks Of Being A Monster

Earlier stories had a costume contest, and monsters of one sort or another, but the story that Cynus tells us has monsters that are completely different.

Case: Black

This is chapter one of a horror story. Chapter two is promised by Halloween. What will James Savik do with his monsters?

Colin

[Lugnutz]

The image for mine was supposed to be at the bottom of the story to not give anything way, but it also works on the top with the title in it. No worries, it's the content that brings you in, not a pretty picture.

[Cole Parker]

I was wondering why you always got the pretty boys, Lug. Now I see.

C

[Gee Whillickers]

What an absolutely stunning and impressive list of stories this year. I've now read, and thoroughly enjoyed, every last one of them.

James Merkin's Little Dog, Big Dog is an absolute gem of a ghost tale, not to mention a gem of a coming-of-age tale to boot. Extremely well done and excellent characters!

Colin Kelly's I Can't Tell You is a wonderful tale of the ever-present communication problems, not to mention jumping to conclusions, that teens are so wont to engage in. This story is perfectly done with just the right amount of humor. Excellent writing!

Lugnutz's The Mask is a wonderful story about the characters' growing relationship and the protagonist's need to live up to his father's memory as well as his own current needs and expectations. A real gem.

Altimexis' Going Out on Halloween is a perfectly written wonderful story about the precocious character's struggle to let others know who he is, and wrestle with the very real fears he has as a result of this. Absolutely excellent story!

Cole Parker's The Freak is an excellent short tale about two boys learning about themselves, each other, and certain tingling body parts. Very well done!

Graeme's Life After Death is a perfect ghost story that includes love, longing, romance, and redemption, all bundled up with absolutely excellent writing, scene setting, and characters. Bravo!!

Nigel Gordon's Waiting was a wonderfully dark and twisted tale of horror! Every line made me shudder, every word forced me to read more, right up until the perfect ending. Just excellent!

My Story, My Halloween Wish, was intended to show a bit of how quickly things can change, for the better or, sometimes, much for the worse, if people's fears are allowed to rule the day.

Cynus' The Drawbacks of Being A Monster is probably the best first story by a young and new writer I've seen here. What an entrance! An excellent tale, very entertaining and wonderfully romantic.

James Savik's Case Black: Part One is an absolutely wonderful start to a perfect James Savik story, and is leaving me hankering impatiently for more! Hopefully soon!

What an absolutely impressive group of stories, guys. I am so very pleased and proud to be a part of such a wonderful and talented group of authors.

Well Done!!

[Chris James]

I am happy to say that I just finished reading each and every story on the Halloween list. My best regards to each and every author for the fine performances. I think the challenge was well met and adds a dimension to the site we rarely see when everyone contributes. There are too many stories to enumerate a favorite, each one brings a new dimension to the holiday.

I always hate to pick favorites so I won't. But I can see the effort each author put forward when the pressure was applied. Even the newest member, Cynus, gave us something good to ponder. The addition of a fantasy author will be good for the site and I am for anything that encourages new readers.

So well done guys, perhaps I will find the time next year to pen something, but I doubt if it will be as good as what I've read this year.