Beaten to the punch! · 4:35am Jan 31st, 2018
Every so often, there's a weird sort of parallel evolution in entertainment. Wherein two nigh-identical concepts arise completely separate from each other, at roughly the same time. It's the sort of thing that gives us Go-Bots vs. Transformers. Or A Bug's Life vs. Antz. Or even Babylon 5 vs. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
(DS9, for the record, is the best Trek. I never got into B5 though).
There's probably a proper term for this, but I'm not gonna delve into TVtropes to find it.
Whatever you want to call it, I find I've fallen into the same situation. For even as I still plug away at Murder Most Equestrian, I stumbled across RB_'s Who Dunce-It? Which, honestly, may be the better story on account of the fact that it's got a tighter written mystery, it stars Rarity, and it's actually, y'know complete. And yet my story's got more likes & comments-- which isn't much, honestly, but still!
Go read RB_'s story, is what I'm saying.
Really, I'd think there'd be more pony murder mysteries by this point-- have I just missed them, or what? I vaguely recall seeing some noir-ish pastiche fics with Applejack as a Private Detective or something.
As for me, I'm juggling work on Murder Most Equestrian along with a shameless comedy fic for Aragon's comedy thing. The latter ... isn't quite coming together, but I figure I can have SOMETHING out by the Feb 2 deadline. So, uh, yay?
Two things:
About Aragon's contest. You've got to enter the prompt you're going to use before the deadline, too, so don't forget to let the judges know how you plan on completing the code phrase. And apparently they're extending the deadline at least through this upcoming weekend, so more time for folks to write!
Mike
Noir, you say? Lemme tell you about Starlight Over Detrot.
4785922
You have picked a corker of an example, Starlight is about as Hardboiled Noir Detective as you can get... and a great read for those willing to dive into a running story which I think is in the top 20 longest stories on the site. Do not let the size put you off, those chapters will disappear quickly as you get drawn deeper in. Great characters, competent writing, strong worldbuilding and a far reaching plot make it a real 'page turner'. That said, while it does not revel in excessive descriptions of violence, it is not for anyone who can not handle a bit of descriptive damage.
4785883
They're extending the deadline? I didn't see any announcements on Aragon's blog.
4786028
The last post of the original contest announcement says they're extending it.
Mike