It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #46 · 8:54pm Feb 2nd, 2022
It's February. We all know the big holiday for this month. Half of us are sick of it already and half are trying to make fancy dinner plans. Fortunately, it also provides an easy out for theming story picks!
Top of the card today is one that has a fascinating backstory to it: Kaleidoscope by TheDriderPony.
So a bit of story context here: In late November of 2019, Quills & Sofas ran a contest-slash-publicity stunt as their team of writers dropped a story bomb. They coordinated posting times and simultaneously dropped about two dozen stories: all were titled Kaleidoscope, with the same cover art and the same short description. The stories themselves were all different (though taking general inspiration/theming from the image), but on the surface appeared identical.
It was a disaster. A number of people freaked out, thinking something had broken because it appeared the site's new release queue had kept spitting out the same story over and over. Others thought it was a poorly done prank. In general, it was terribly received and the stories (despite being from a lot of big names and quality writers) were mass downvote bombed where only about half even hit a 50/50 vote ratio.
Now I can't comment too much on the thoughts behind it as I wasn't/am not a Q&S member, but the end results are fairly public. (And I'm sure there's at least one group member reading this who can correct me if I got any of the details wrong.)
Anyway, this story pick is my favorite out of that mess.
Derpy flees through a pummeling rainstorm. She runs because she has to run - she has to escape. The monster is coming for her as it does every night. Every night at six PM sharp, it comes for her. Every night, she flees. She fights. She struggles. Sooner or later, one of them will break. And then the clock chimes.
And before you start making too many assumptions, I will note that the genre tags on the one are Dark/Thriller/Comedy. So expect a twist on things.
And the twist is what I love here. So much of the story builds up Derpy's situation as dire - and it is! - so when things finally come to a head it's just that perfect mixture of ridiculous, relieving, and terrifying. It plays to all three genre tags well and it's a great demonstration of how to mix normally incompatible genres into a coherent, fun end product.
Plus I'll echo FoME's comment in there and say that I just love the characterization of <NAME REDACTED>, which just makes it a joy.
On the flipside, today's other selection is The Secret of Dinky's Father by Mockingbirb.
In the Crystal Palace's mailroom, a package shifts and shakes. Out of it pops two ponies - a pegasus and her unicorn daughter. Summoned to the Empire and to the Castle in secret, they demand a meeting with the Princess and Prince in response to a mysterious letter that the young filly received. And the contents of the letter reveal a most dangerous truth: who little Dinky's father truly is.
This story comes in two chapters, and I'm kinda split on them.
The first one - the meat of the story - is excellent. It sets up an absurd situation, ratchets up the silliness, introduces just enough seriousness to contrast, and then ends it on a great laugh. It's wonderful farce comedy that addresses a common fandom question with irreverent fun. The whole thing's great.
The second chapter, though, turns back around and completely shifts the tone. Much more serious, much more dramatic. And... honestly, I don't like it at all. I think it spoils a good comedic piece, which is a shame.
Fortunately, I also think the first chapter's good enough to counter that. It's hilarious. But I advise taking the second chapter with a little restraint and your own judgement.
New or catching up? Try Recommendsday: The Index for your story needs!
Oh geez, the Kaleidoscope. I remember that kerfuffle. I also remember that I enjoyed most of the entries I read from it, though it has been a while since I've revisited any of them. Drider's was one of the entries that I never got around to, but given your recommendation, I'll certainly give it a look sometime soon!
(While we're on the subject, shoutout to Winternacht, a participant in the Kaleidoscope who's sadly since deleted their account; IIRC, one of the other entries had an allusion to Nazi Germany, and Winternacht, despite having nothing to do with that particular submission, received harassment over it simply because they happened to be from Germany. Two of his horror oneshots survive on FiMFetch, and if you ask me, they're both pretty good!)
Haven't heard of The Secret before, but I suppose I'll have to read that sometime as well!
The Kaleidoscope kerfluffle is a classic example of how something that seems like a good idea in a closed group of people, is not necessarily a good idea when exposed to reality. Mind, what really got to me was less the lack of forethought in that group of friends - although I was baffled by how anyone thought it was good idea - and more the lack of comprehension that I witnessed in the group’s Discord afterwards, ranging from “why are people reacting like this?” to “people are wrong for reacting like this!”
Also one person (not one of the authors) tried to use it and my reaction to it (one post in each story linking back to my post in the first story outlining - rather politely - why this had been a bad idea) to continue a grudge match that, admittedly, I had started, but which had also gone dormant for months and which I was happy to leave dormant since I regret it.
Also a different person (again not one of the authors) thought that I orchestrated the entire downvoting campaign. As opposed to it being, y’know, a natural reaction to spam and a judgment of the stunt. That was kind of fun, at least, made me feel like a James Bond supervillain.
Anyway, I don’t hold the incident against any of the authors (particularly not Rainsilent, the only one I know of who actually seemed to get why people were mad). I’m happy to read, and have read, any of their other stories that catch my eye. We all make avoidable mistakes, and the lesson’s been learned, I’m sure.
My fancy roast groundhog dinner is in the oven as we speak.
(reads stories)
No wonder I feel like I've been doing Valentine's Day wrong. My experiences don't match any of that at all.
I had never heard about the kaleidoscope kuffufle. To my mind it seems like a really clever idea. Arty. Tiny bit pretentious but ever so clever and creative. What a shame it didn't land.