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Message: <blockquote data-quote="alsih2o" data-source="post: 2060596" data-attributes="member: 4790">Macbeth vs Maddman75 Piratecat-Macbeth:I’ll start by pointing out that there’s always been a general prohibitionagainst using the photos as photos within the satory; here Macbeth does sonot once, but twice. The second time (the girls with entwined hair) isespecially egregious.  I don’t think this is in the (otherwise excellent)FAQ, though, so I won’t penalize for it.  Photo use of the girls is weakeven if you discount that guideline. The rest of Macbeth’s photos range fromexcellent (the pugs in uniform that inspire the story) to okay (the Dr, thegirl on the beach). I also noticed some typos, which start to count againstan author by the second round.The story itself is very interesting in scope and theme.  I like the twiston the classic story of man-monsters. Surprisingly, though, it wasn’t aspowerful as I expected it to be. I think that’s because there aren’t anymajor revelations or any real character development for the fairly 2-Dnarrator. I expected that at the end the narrator would realize that gettingall of his friends killed and killing all the guards and the doctormight have some ironic impact in his quest to become less human; that doesn’t seem to have happened. I still really like the fact that the Dr hadcomplex motivations in his quest to make the animals human and let them copewith the real world, and that this is what brought about his death.All in all not Macbeth’s best work, but a solid story with an interestingtheme.Maddman75:Pulp! Pulp is a forgiving genre, because what might normally be consideredimprobable or sloppy plotting – erupting volcanoes, ancient tombs – happento fit right into the typical pulp story.The story starts off more slowly than it should, partially because too muchtime is spent on backstory. This might be the sort of tale that is beststarted in the middle of action, then heading back to cover who’s who in aflashback or as it moves along. Almost half of the words occur before thegroup ever leaves England. That shortchanges the heart of the story,especially when we could be introduced to people on the fly.This story doesn’t reach as far as Macbeth’s does, but it does a better jobachieving what it is reaching for. It’s trying to be a rollicking adventure,and I think it handles that nicely. I would have liked to see moreconversation and more action.Photo use was good, although nowhere is it explained why Klaus is in a photowith another dog-creature.  I liked the use of the seagulls, and I reallyliked the evil twin.  Again an illustration is used in the story as a photo;we need to put that in the FAQ.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Judgment:[sblock]The two stories are quite dissimilar. That makes judging more difficult.Although Maddman’s story wasn’t shooting for any theme as complex as Macbeth’s, his photo use was better and he managed to capture the feel he waslooking for. Macbeth’s story didn’t resonate with me, and an ambitious storylike that needs to in order to achieve its goals. I award my vote toMaddman.[/sblock] Alsih2o- Macbeth- I feel I am decently well read but I still don’t like reading things that insist or assume that I read certain other things. I know vaguely of Dr moreau, mostly through references in other writings. I have read Animal Farm but I don’t want to have had to read it to enjoy what you are giving me. Pictures as pictures is a no-no for me as well. If a picture is a picture it better have been something else as well.  And yet I like this story. I like the theme. I really enjoy it when you open the door just a bit more. The meeting strikes me as the strongest point.  But that door gets closed t me again at the storming of the compound. I wanted more than the charge at the door and then the action being summed up as everyone dying but our narrator. There is a lot of good stuff here to explore. You have left me feeling that I didn’t get quite enough without making it feel as if the tease was part of the thrill. Maddman- Pictures as pictures! Yargh! This one does lead into the story more but STOP IT! The standard Explorer/IndianaJones/KingSolomonsMine world here is solid. A little on the fantastic side, but look at where we are. J An intro of some minor action to explain everyone and their ‘powers’ may have worked a lot better, this stalls a little at the intro and sweeps a little too quickly through the ending. But it works.   I like the “Favor for a favor” bit, I would like to see that echo someplace else, it would really punch the story up a bit. Strong stuff Maddman, better than the first round. Judgement: [sblock] Macbeth and Maddman really went different directions here. The picture as picture thing gives me a rash, but I am forced to look past that as both of oyu did it. Maddman gets my vote this round.[/sblock]Maldur- Maddman vs MacBeth Macbeth has the more "original" story(IMHO), but I like the potential interaction between the three characters in maddmans story.Judgement: [sblock]My vote goes to macbeth, the story was stronger, but if maddman would leleborate a bit more, and create a "larger"story wtith this crew, it could be really nice.[/sblock] Decision- [sblock] Maddman advances in a split decision. 2-1[/sblock]</blockquote>

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