PatronQuo.com has stirred up a lethal cocktail of bloodlust and ego on the rocks, as its participating writers have been given the go-ahead to publicly issue one another “call-outs” for literary duels to be held at the Fiction Writers and Readers Death Match group page on Facebook.
The members of this Facebook group – writers and readers alike – are invited to join in the fray as they vote for the winners and losers of the various literary duels, which are featured in the Discussion forum of the group page.
Matches will be open and ongoing for a number of months. Periodically, running tabulations for various matches will be posted on the Group page and through the PatronQuo.com blog.
To date, three short story death bout matches are currently running on the Fiction Writers and Readers Death Match page:
Match #1: “Gram” vs. “When Jedidiah Brown Woke Up Six Feet Under”
Match #2: “The Trouble With Oliver” vs. “Craftsman’s Volley”
Match #3: “The Brazen Image” vs. “Skin For Skin”
Though these match-ups were picked by PatronQuo – which will continue to initiate duels of its choosing – the web site will now enable its participating writers to initiate their own duels by publicly posting “call-outs” to the opponent of their choice. A call-out may be officialy accepted or declined by either posting a response on the Facebook group page or by sending an email response to PatronQuo. If a call-out is accepted, PatronQuo will run the match in the Discussion forum of the Group page. If no answer is given, a call-out will be deemed to have been ignored.
For the readers, it’s a fun and sadistically engaging way to make their opinions known – with a little bite behind them. PatronQuo has taken this well beyond standard feedback comments and unreliable rating scales, as readers are now forced to choose between contending stories. Each story, in turn, will amass its own bout record.
Beyond the gladiatorial thrill that comes from thrashing one’s opponent in the literary forum of public opinion, this kind of match serves a number of necessary causes:
1. To provide writers a more objective – and broader – assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of each of their stories.
2. To force readers to choose among two contenders they like, and even among two contenders they dislike, in order to provide a more finely graded view as to where such material really stands on the continuum of mass taste.
3. To serve as a valuable resource for the members of the publishing industry – the editors, the publishers, and the literary agents – who may now be able to judge which material consistently stands out against all others, a particularly valuable insight to obtain in a perpetually crowded writer’s marketplace.
4. To create value in the showcased pages of all contenders, who may be further beneficiaries of the patronage that comes from fans and readers who are more emotionally invested in the process and looking to give their favored writer a boost in the money rankings (as well as the encouragement to carry on and keep writing).
From here on, it’s the law of the jungle. She who thrashes a number of opponents may yet get her commeuppance from other opponents.
And now, every participating writer on PatronQuo can step up and issue their own public challenges.
Give the masses their bread, their circuses, their cake, and a healthy dose of literature. Let the death matches begin!