Congratulations, Ursa! That's one very emphatic win!!
Apologies for not doing my usual shortlistings and thanks last night. We were out gallivanting all evening (a lecture on the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Hampshire, though it was mainly about Hyde and Titchfield Abbeys, with Thomas Wriothesley -- aka Call-me-Risly -- as baddie-in-chief) and before and after there were a couple of things that came up that needed dealing with quickly, so I didn't have time to do anything but a speedy re-read of all the stories (fortunately I'd read them all twice before) and then vote.
I can only echo Phyrebrat, Parson and TDZ this month, that to me a good many of the stories failed to incorporate the genre and of those that did, quite a few appeared more re-tellings rather than the real events which lay behind the later stories, and then on top of that there were several whose stories I couldn't recognise, which made it difficult for me to assess or even understand them.
Anyhow, my vote went to
Vaz, who I thought nailed genre and theme best, but I tussled for a while over
Phyrebrat's three not-piggies (I clearly have a fondness for the wolf, as the story's one I've used in the past) and
TDZ's Rip Van Winkle.
A pocketful of thanks for the mentions, shortlistings and near-things Cathbad, nixie, Parson, farntfar, Phyrebrat, CC, johnnyjet, Starbeast and Ursa, and a full ring of beautiful roses for the lovely votes Aber and Wruter!
Eek! There was me thinking I was a bit heavy-handed in pointing out the story, and it's clear I completely missed the boat with some people.
Hint, the big clue is in the title, Perp:
Ring a Ring O'Sacrifice.
I admit word count meant the original phials in the pockets had to go, as did the hydra's sneezing, but I did manage to smuggle in "rose" in the first line, and falling -- even if not down -- at the end!
