I wanted to sing the praises of Steve Toltz and his first novel (and his second – Quicksand, for that matter) but so many other people have done so already that the idea seemed a bit pointless. Here’s one of those other people. https://musingsofaliterarydilettante.wordpress.com/2010/12/24/a-fraction-of-the-whole-by-steve-toltz/

Another competition. Another failure.

This time the format is 1000 words over a 48 hour period.

Round 1 is in two parts. Contestants are separated, as usual, into heats with the winner of each heat scoring 15 points, second place 14 points, third place 13 points …. and so on down to 1 point. After two challenges the top five point scorers in each heat progress to Round 2. I don’t know what happens in Round 2.

My first challenge was Horror/A prison/A hairdryer. No problem.

Here is what popped out …..

Waiting for the Sunrise

The ending was a tad ambiguous and, as a horror story, it wasn’t all that horrific ….. BUT …. it did score 12 points. So …. an uncharacteristicly promising start.

My second challenge was Mystery/A Wetland/A locked safe.

With a few points on the board I thought I could take a few risks and try something a bit different. And so this is what happened ….

The Burundian Diamonds

2 points. Bugger.