I'll post by own con report when Lisa's done with hers, but in the meantime I need to fulfill a promise . . .
At ConFusion, I sat on a panel about cliches. We ended up doing a round-robin add-a-cliche game for different genres, and I promised to post the results. So here they are:
SCIENCE FICTION
Zap! went Acton's laster, bursting with energy. It struck the Thalusian in mid-thorax. The creature unleashed its mind scream, and Captain Acton clenched his long, square, manly cleft jaw in pain.
"You will never escape!" the Thalusian said.
"Your plan must fail!" Acton said.
"We have ways of making you talk," rumbled the alien.
"Never!" cried Acton. "I will never betray the Alliance."
Fists clenched in angry defiance, legs apart and arms akimbo, he swallowed his blaster and made the ultimate sacrifice. Zap!
FANTASY
Thorak the barbarian, muscles bulging, swung his mighty broadsword with a blood-curdling roar. "Foul, infernal demon-spawn," he snarled through clenched teeth, "go back from whence you came!!"
The abomination reared back and recoiled in fear and terror, its fangs dripping with venom and bloodlust in its eyes. A diamond of gigantic proportions glittered in its noisome coils. The creature struck desperately, narrowly missing Thorak's well-hewn thigh. The Hero of Vyzanthium laughed with savage glee and chopped the squirmiong, heaving, slithering mass in twain. Foul-smelling green ichor spurted everywhere, spattering Thorak's powerful thews.
ROMANCE
It was a dark and stormy night at the old millhouse. The limping, tragic figure fled on foot, choked with emotion, bidding farewell, and having saved herself from a fate worse than death. She cast back her hood, revealing glowing golden tresses, eyes like limpid pools of sapphire, and rose-tinted cheeks. The rocky road tore her lily-white feet as she gasped for breath, her bosom heaving beneath her bodice. There was no going back now--she had reached the point of no return.
"John," she whispered to herself, "I will love you forever, but ours is a love that cannot last."
--Steven
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