LNH: Limp-Asparagus Lad Special #3: Vocabulary Story Challenge

[Tom Russell]

_Wow._

I don't mean any offense to any of the other participants-- whose
stories have all been amusing, entertaining, and inventive-- but I
think this was (so far) the most polished and accomplished
Vocab-Challenge Story.  I think it also bears the distinction of, quite
possibly, being the longest Vocab-Story so far, and perhaps the
shortest Saxon Brenton has ever written. ;-)

The reason why I say this (the part about it being the most polished
and accomplished) is that it holds its own as a story and as a piece of
prose.  It has a beginning, middle, and end, and it would be
satisfying, to my mind, even if the reader was _not_ aware of the
constraint.  Saxon claims that there are some awkward turns of phrase,
but the only thing that really sticks out as odd or incongruous is

>      Krodd turned and ambled away to find a comfortable spot away from
> the muffled efforts of the still struggling Legionnaires, passing some
> menswear as he did so: underwear, overcoats, a luridly coloured tie and
> a new season vest.

I think the pacing is nice and smooth, that the story is funny, and
that Saxon does avoid many of the "coping mechanisms"-- such as
frequent scene changes and similes-- that have allowed the rest of us
to preserve their sanity.

And so I shall dub Saxon Brenton's story not a Sanity-Destroying
Version of the Vocab-Story Challenge, but rather, a
Double-Sanity-Destroying Version.

I'd be curious to know how many hours it took Saxon to create this
epic.  My first one took four, my second was written over the course of
several days, probably totalling close to six or seven hours.

I think he's certainly set the bar higher.  If I ever hope to top him
at my own game, I'll think I'll have to put in a good month. :-)

Glad I was responsible (in some way) for half, numerically-wise, of
Saxon's RACCie eligibles.

==Tom