Round 12 of this great challenge has come to a close. All that’s left is to report the results of the voting that took place over the past two weeks.

But first, a writing-themed creation by the AI Art Generator MidJourney.

Anyway, on with the voting results.

28 votes were cast for this round, a slight uptick from the previous round. I consider the results pretty good. The trend line shows voting responses leveling out somewhere between 20 and 25 votes cast each round.

This round again saw Gary jump out to an early lead, never relinquishing it. One kind reader kept me from suffering the ignobility of zero votes.

Anyone running late and wanting to express their appreciation for their favorite story can do so HERE, but not with a vote; the poll is closed. You can, however, express your appreciation in the form of a comment. For them who still haven’t read the stories, here are the links and a teaser description:

E. J. D’Alise submission<<link
Adam is the world’s first sentient AI. Boom or bust for mankind?

Perry Broxson submission<<link
Nim is a Pacific Island girl in the 1940s. She finds a leaflet on the shoreline. One symbol resembles a Giant Bird . . . a bird that she believes stole her father; a bird she believes will return her father, if she delivers the perfect prayer. There’s only one man that can decipher the writing: an old Priest exiled to a neghboring island. This is the tale of her odyssey.

Gary Broxson submission<<link
An old soldier turned teacher loses his twin brother. In an effort to rid his guilt and find a new way, he packs his ruck and takes a long journey back to a time when they were happy. It becomes a Shakespearean saga of pain and redemption where real winners have to earn their prize.

The voting closed Today at Noon (Central DST time). Here are the results.

Congratulations to Gary for the strong showing and Perry for the silver.

I managed 1 vote, the lowest vote count for any of my stories. I don’t know if I should take a shot at a zero for the next round (a certain person would have to abstain from voting).

How about more statistics?

That’s a table showing the votes cast for each round. The round’s winner is highlighted.

Much like in previous challenges, I’m assigning points: 3 points for first, 2 points for second, and 1 point for third. Ties split the combined point.

And here’s the table with each writer’s record:

For Round 13, we negotiated for a title that was acceptable to all (but mostly Perry), and the stories for that title — The Invisible Man — are tentatively set to publish within a few days, or as soon as I write mine.

I should also mention Round 13 will be the last of the Title Challenge rounds. After that title, we’ll start a new challenge . . . a Genre Challenge, whereas each round, the writers will agree on a genre and write a story in that genre.

We’ve also decided to dispense with the voting.

I believe the Twins felt sorry for my dismal performance in the voting department. They said the voting was a distraction and that we’re going to ask for comments from readers instead.

. . . it sounds plausible, but I still think that — despite their gruff exterior and ferocious competitiveness — they wanted to put an ending to my continuing embarrassment.

Not having to handle voting and reporting the results (like this post) will cut the work associated with publishing these challenges. Who knows . . . maybe it will give me more time to write, although playing with various AI programs might be what actually chews up the extra free time.

We’ll see.

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