Hi FoLCs!
This is Kerth Quiz # 2- Best Short Story (11-50k)
Instructions are blatantly copied/linked from last year’s Kerth Quizzes (or even further back than that).
SPIFFY DISCLAIMER THINGY! All the stories featured in this quiz qualify for the Best Short Story Category, but this quiz is not a stamp of recommendation for nomination. There are other stories which qualify for this category, but this quiz only covers 10 randomly chosen ones.
Recommendations for other eligible stories are *very* welcome and encouraged!
QUIZ RULES: Two points for getting the story and author from the quote; one point for getting it from the excerpt. Specify which is which, or you'll automatically get one point instead of two. (Also, don't forget to mention which number you're answering.) Open hard drive and archive, *don't* forget to snip the excerpts in your replies, and don't forget the spoiler space when you post in the replies thread. Plus, shiny gold stars for those who recognize their own stories (which, sadly, is harder than it looks, but mostly in the Epic and Long Story Categories though).
The DEADLINE for entries for this quiz is Sunday, January 17, 2016, by 11:59 p.m (Pacific Time Zone).
Please post your answers
HERE .
Good luck!
Susan
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QUOTE #1:
Is it even possible for one person to feel this lonely, this disconnected, this crushed in mind, body, and spirit?
QUOTE #2:
In two days he should come to the offices of Merton, Wallace and Hannah at 10:30am. There, the Last Will and Testament would be read out of one Lois Joanne Lane.
QUOTE #3:
Because confidence is sexy and blondes have more fun, but I am a brunette and if he sees my roots he’ll know that no amount of hair dye can mask pain.
QUOTE #4:
He’s unlike any other man, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
QUOTE #5:
My mother always said I’d grow up to either be a psychic or a used car saleswoman.
QUOTE #6:
As they sat down to dinner, Lois looked around at her family and friends and said, "We have so much to be thankful for."
QUOTE #7:
All I can do is to offer a silent promise not to fail them as I love you and care for you — from the moment I first saw your tiny face until my last breath.
QUOTE #8:
There were indents in the sink where his hands had been moments before. Finger shaped indents.
QUOTE #9:
Clark reached into the Book Nook bag and removed a large oblong blue covered paperback entitled, Knits for Newborns.
QUOTE #10:
“You think I’m this Flash guy, who just happens also to be Superman, Robin, and an erstwhile Batman?” Barry roared with laughter.
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EXCERPT #1:
Blissful silence. Or, as silent as it can get, here in the vacuum of space. I guess there is no true silence — even here, though sound does not travel out beyond the reaches of the world’s atmosphere, I can still hear the beating of my own heart and my ears ring slightly as they strain to capture any stray, nonexistent sound.
EXCERPT #2:
Steeling himself against the flood of emotions he strode back over to the sofa and picked up the letter. It only took a second to fold it up and slide it back into the envelope. Now, all that was visible was his neatly scripted name, Superman.
And that’s all he was.
This letter was for someone named Clark. Someone who had died over sixty years ago.
In another sixty years would the pain be still so strong? Would he be able to read that letter without crying? He didn’t think so.
EXCERPT #3:
And I should be content with that answer, because comers and goers stay and then leave, but Clark is a goer and comer, so he’ll leave but then stay. But I don’t want the past or the future, the going and the coming. I want the present. I want his presence. Because he told me he loves me and I told him I love him and it happened tonight on my bed and I want to hold onto those words and that emotion and his body and if he walks out the door I’m terrified that he’ll take that love away with him like every other man has.
EXCERPT #4:
He’s unlike any other man I’ve ever met.
It’s not hard to see why. I mean, have you seen what he looks like? Have you seen the way his uniform defines the delicious hardness of his muscles as it stretches oh-so-right over his body? Have you noticed the regal way that heavy cape cascades from his shoulders down his back — a royal, crimson waterfall suspended in time? And don’t get me started on his looks.
EXCERPT #5:
It was fun to be able to read people’s minds when I was growing up, even though it mostly seemed to be my relatives whose minds I could see into. Great-Grandma said that trait was passed down from Great-Grandpa, who came from a country where everyone could read everyone else’s minds. (Of course, Great-Grandma also claimed he could fly. Sometimes she could be a bit senile, even though her body worked just fine until she died at the age of 110.)
EXCERPT #6:
Clark had the deep fryer set up on a stand over a propane fire. That was going to be the trickiest of all, because you had to guard against hot spots and an improperly thawed turkey because any ice (water) can cause geysering when it flashed to steam. If there was an oil geyser it could ignite. Clark made sure that the bird was properly thawed by using his heat vision on it and was able to lower it into the oil without incident.
EXCERPT #7:
I don’t care what your origins are — extraterrestrial or some Earthly, human experiment. It doesn’t matter to me how you came into our lives — had you grown inside of me, or had you been handed over by an adoption agency, or had you crashed landed in a field after streaking across the night sky in a brilliant ball of flame. The fact is, you needed Jonathan and me. But even more so, I think, we needed you.
EXCERPT #8:
“Remember, after we cleared Laderman’s name, you said you hadn’t told me your biggest secret? Well, I figured it out.” Wielding her chopsticks expertly, she transferred her last bite of rice to her mouth. “So who is she?”
“Who is who? Lois, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he told her. Picking up the empty plates, he strode into the kitchen and started washing up. She followed him into the kitchen and leaned against the counter.
“Well, that’s your secret, isn’t it? You’ve got a girlfriend.”
EXCERPT #9:
“Why tell Jonathan ... oh, Jor-El! But if the New Kryptonians gained possession of Metal X. If any of them are secret followers of Zod …” She left the rest unsaid, the thought was almost too awful to contemplate.
He continued speaking, “We should consider it, the research facilities on New Krypton are better than anything Bernie and Abrihet have on Earth. There should be a chunk of the stuff there anyway, just in case of emergencies. Let’s talk about it with them after they come home.”
EXCERPT #10:
“So, after things didn’t work out for either of his heroes, Clark did what he normally did when the going got tough, he ran away. He couldn’t be Dick Grayson or Clark Kent, or Superman or Batman or some kind of birdman, because that would be too obvious if Lois wanted to track him down. So, he created a new super identity and a fresh start in Central City as the Flash.”
