WRiTE CLUB 2019 - Preliminaries - Round 8

HUMP DAY! It also means that we've passed the mid-way point in our preliminary rounds, and something tells me we've yet to see our best writing. What do you think?

Recap
For anyone just discovering us, WRiTE CLUB is a tournament-style competition that runs during the eight weeks prior to the DFW Conference (who is also a sponsor) and it provides writers the opportunity to compete against one another for a chance to win a host of prizes, topped off by a free admission to the following year’s conference. Our writers have submitted 500-word writing samples under pen names and they'll be appearing in head-to-head in “bouts”, with the winner of each match determined by you the reader—by voting for your favorites. Bout winners keep advancing until there are only two remaining and that’s when a panel of celebrity judges, who include well know authors, agents, editors, and other publishing folks, choose the ultimate champion.

Even though the contest is sponsored by DFW, anyone can vote (as long as you have a Google sign-in or verifiable email address), and when you do, we encourage you to leave a mini-critique for both writers. Oh, I forgot to mention that the voters have a chance to win a $60 Barnes and Noble gift card. Each time you vote in a bout your name will be placed in a hat and at the end of the contest, one name will be selected to receive the prize. And as an added incentive to keep readers coming back for more, we're upping the ante. Readers who place a vote in EVERY bout will have their names placed in a second hat and the name selected from that pool will win a $40 Barnes and Noble gift card. Double the chances of winning!

Even though there will be a different bout every day (M-F), the voting for each bout will remain open for seven days from the date I post it to give as many people as possible to have a say. Voting for today’s bout will close on Tuesday, May 14th (noon central time). To help keep up with which bouts are open, you can follow along on the WRiTE CLUB Scoreboard updated right HERE.

It’s that simple. The writing piece that garnishes the most votes will move on to the next round where they’ll face a different opponent. In case of a tie, I’m the deciding vote. I can do that because, like all of you, I do not know the real names of our contestants either (my wife processes all the submissions).

A few more rules –

1) One vote per visitor per bout.

2) Although our contestants are anonymous, voters cannot be. Anonymous votes will not count, so if you do not have a Google account and are voting as a guest, be sure to include your name and email address.

3) Using any method (email, social media, text, etc) to solicit votes for a specific contestant will cause that contestant's immediate disqualification. It’s perfectly okay, in fact, it is encouraged to spread the word about the contest to get more people to vote, just not for a specific writer!
4) Although more of a suggestion than a rule - cast your vote before you read other comments. Do not let yourself be swayed by the opinions of others.

That’s enough of the fine print…like the man says –

For the eighth bout, we have Donald LeClaire one side of the ring representing the Crime (Humor) genre.

Cooper nudged Travis and said, “There he is.”

‘He’ was R J Middlebury, bank manager. Cooper had spent the last month casing the bank and studying the man’s routines. Middlebury was the dullest person Cooper had ever known. The man even drove the most non-descript car ever manufactured, the 1983 Plymouth Caravelle.

Middlebury was attempting to clean a small stain on one of his tires when Cooper and Travis, now masked, appeared to either side of him. “Good morning. We’re here to rob the bank,” announced Travis.

Middlebury cast a disapproving look at the smudge. Turning, he looked between them and said, “Yes, yes. Come inside. Mind the step.”

Cooper puzzled at the bank manager’s blasé reaction to the heist. Middlebury held the door open after disarming the alarm. Travis went first and straight to the security office. Cooper shadowed Middlebury as he performed his customary routine readying the bank for the day. When he finished, Middlebury sat at his desk. Cooper checked the time and saw they were ahead of schedule. The vault’s time lock opened precisely at 8:15. During Cooper’s bank surveillance, no one, save Middlebury, had ever arrived before 8:30. Plenty of time to get in and get out.

“No need to be a hero. We’ll be out of your life forever in a few minutes,” Cooper said.

Middlebury shrugged. “I’m not dying for this bank,” he declared.

Travis reappeared, a smile indicating he had bypassed the security system. As he did, Middlebury looked up and announced, “There is something you should know.”

Cooper suppressed a smile at this act of defiance. Folding his arms across his chest, he said, “Oh, really?”

Nodding Middlebury continued, “I received a call this morning from the bank president. Government regulators have shut down the bank, effectively immediately. They’ll be here at 8:30 to make it official.”

“You expect us to believe that?”

“It’s not a question of belief, but fact. The bank made a lot of risky loans that went bad. We’re undercapitalized and now shut down. Last night the FDIC sent in a team. They overrode the lock and emptied the vault.”

Middlebury saw the suspicion on their faces. “I have no reason to lie,” he assured them. “After twenty years of loyal service, I’m now unemployed thanks to the stupidity of my bosses.”

Travis looked at Cooper. Cooper looked at his watch. It was 8:15. The trio heard lock disengage. Travis raced over and strained to open the multi-ton door. The vault interior was as bright and clean as on the day it had been installed, thanks in part to the complete absence of anything remotely resembling currency.

“That is wrong,” Travis stammered in disbelief. “This is… it’s un-American. It shouldn’t be allowed. I’m going file a complaint about this.”

“Time to go,” Cooper declared.

Middlebury heard Travis grousing about the injustice of it all until the back door closed. Alone in the bank, he said out loud, “For the record, I thought you were very professional.”

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On the far side of the ring, we have Hijinks Aplenty who is representing the Short Story genre.

Everything was done to the letter: The candles were made of black wax, the pentagram flawless, the invocation properly pronounced. You’d checked, double checked, and independently verified that the summoning would take place below a genuine hanging tree where a witch met her fate. And it’d worked! So why deny your request?

“Is it my soul?” you ask.

“No,” the Devil waves his well-manicured hand. A glinting amber ring that you’re sure wasn’t there a moment ago reflects the firelight. “Your soul is fairly attractive… for one who hasn’t accomplished much. That’s normal. The already accomplished rarely seek a deal with me.”

You think on that for a moment. There must be something you’ve overlooked. Your spine snaps as it hits you.

“Rattlesnake blood!”

“Hmmm?” the Devil hums. He’s wandered to the tree and is idly prodding the bark, which crumbles to ash below his fingers. The amber ring sparks with each tap.

“You’d have preferred rattlesnake blood. I knew it! Rooster is pedestrian.” You beat a fist against your thigh. You should never have listened to HisDarkestNight on that community forum.

The Devil scoffs, an amused curl to his lip. There’s a sizable hole in the tree now. You look to the large branches overhead and take a hasty step back.

“Your ritual was fine. I try not to judge. Nor make pageantry out of it.” He snorts and sends a meaningful look to the star-encrusted sky. A dark gray fedora has appeared on his head.

“I don’t understand.”

“Look, times have changed.”

The tree creaks a groan. The Devil smoothly strides to you and pats your shoulder.

“These individual contracts aren’t efficient anymore.”

“Efficient?” you echo.

“Exactly! Time is a competitive advantage these days, and my time has become a bottleneck. Much as I enjoy personalization, I am no longer accepting unique requests. We have an online catalogue now that will suck your soul out right through the screen, once you’ve made a decision on which terms best fit your goals. You do have access to the internet, don’t you?”

You stare for some time. A pocket watch slithers out of the vest he didn’t have on. Swallowing, you eke out, “Yes.”

“Splendid!” The Devil shakes your hand and turns to go. He pauses, smoke curling up from his feet. Using two fingers as pincers, he snatches up the candle flames, popping them into his mouth like candy.

“Mm, French Vanilla. Good choice.” He flicks a business card at you, says, “I look forward to your future business,” and vanishes in a spurt of fire.

The gold etchings on the card sparkle in your recovering eyes as you blink at it. The Devil’s voice suddenly whispers against your ear, “Oh, and I wouldn’t stand just there.”

A deafening crack rends the air. You flail, backpedaling before curtaining your face with your hands. The tree crashes down. Heart galloping, you tumble to your backside, branches framing you.

You resist the urge to thank God.  

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Leave your votes and critiques in the comments below. Again, be respectful of your remarks and try to point out positives as well as detractions.

Before we sign off I wanted to address the issue a few readers are having with not being able to post comments, or having those comments show up as UNKNOWN even though they have a Google Account.  There are several things at play here. First, if you are using the Safari or Chrome browsers they have a known problem with Blogger and you have two choices. Switch to Firefox as a browser (I've never had a problem using it), or change the setting on Safari as illustrated below.

The other problem is Blogger not recognizing you when adding a comment and therefore designating you as UNKNOWN. This could happen if the reader is a Blogger user themselves and they have not changed their settings since Google + went away.  To do this, follow these steps:

Go to Blogger dashboard.
SETTINGS
USER SETTINGS
Set User Profile = Blogger (instead of Google +)
Save

Hopefully, that will resolve everyone's issues and let the votes/comments reach our contestants. If you missed the first two bouts because of one of these issues, remember the bouts remain LIVE for a week so you can still go back and let your choice be known.

We’ll be back on tomorrow for another exciting bout. Please help all our writers out by telling everyone you know what is happening here and encourage them to come vote.

This is WRiTE CLUB—the contest where the audience gets clobbered!