LJ Idol Presents:

Only 5 of the remaining 10 contestants submitted for the Quick Fire this week.

I'm hoping that everyone else was just saving themselves up for the main event!

Putting something out in 24-hours isn't always easy, so those who were able to do it - definitely thumbs up to you.

The Judging this week wasn't easy. People did have strong opinions on the pieces - but looking at the ballots, there were a couple folks at or near the top of one who were at the bottom of another! Which again, to me means I picked the right group of people to be Judges!

This week is certainly a fun group.

They were:

Dominica Malcolm is a writer/editor at Solarwyrm Press, co-founded by Jax Goss, whom she met through LJ Idol. At Solarwyrm, she has published a speculative fiction novel, Adrift Press, which had it's beginnings in LJ Idol, and Amok: An Anthology of Asia-Pacific Speculative Fiction. She will soon be publishing a second anthology, Marked by Scorn: An Anthology Featuring Non-Traditional Relationships (which is still open for submissions until Feb 15th, if anyone has something to submit - visit http://solarwyrm.com/2014/07/10/call-for-submissions-marked-by-scorn/ for details), and will also soon be published in an anthology about polyamorous families.

When she's not writing or publishing, she can usually be found in the San Francisco Bay Area, frequently watching stand-up comedy, or watching, performing, or developing her skills in improv. For more information, check out her website/blog at http://dominica.malcolm.id.au "

rejeneration - If you track the history of the success of fiction through LJ Idol history, you are going to come across a few names. Before you will hit a dead stop. There will be others that have done it, but only a few that did it well enough to literally change the dynamic of the conversation about the role of fiction in Idol.

This is one of those names. An argument could be made that it's *the* name that changed things and set up the "next stage" of development that came during Season 5.

We've never met face to face, but she is definitely someone that I consider a friend and a major supporter of Idol over the years. You (briefly) got to meet her this season when she attempted to use Facebook to play. Why? Because she wanted to test the limits and break new ground. Because that is who she is and what she does.

Another person that I am proud to call my friend is Kerry Hiatt She didn't give me much of a bio though, so I stole it from LinkedIn. :)

"I’m a freelance journalist, author, copywriter and editor based in London who occasionally dabbles in writing for TV and radio. Magazines and newspapers I’ve written for include The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, The Independent, Psychologies and Time Out. I was a staff writer for a leading travel trade publication for two years and now specialise in travel; however, write extensively on dating lifestyle, relationships, food and careers.

I also work for publishing companies and independent authors on a freelance basis providing editing and book publicity services."

(She's no longer based in London. But the rest of it is still accurate. In addition: she currently works as a reader for a London-based literary agent. The *day I asked her to be a Judge* she had just finished running "a live critique event with a literary agent to offer advice on how to how to improve query letters". AKA I caught her at the right time - and she's definitely someone you want reading your stuff! :D)

The final Judge is *also* someone that you want reading your stuff. If you are on Livejournal, he's pretty much everywhere. How big of a deal is he? He's one of *the* central figures of the ONTD empire and his user name is his actual first name: brenden! (not to mention the fancy livejournalinc.com email address! :D)

He is literally one of the people who keeps this site we love going.

Seriously, I'm extremely flattered that he agreed to be a Judge this round.

Actually, I'm flattered to have gotten all of them!


Now I've introduced them, it's time to announce their decision. It was another close one. But I've checked it several different ways, and it's still the same winner, regardless of what method I was going to use. So I guess that means it's the right answer. ;)

The Winner of this week's Quick Fire - and immunity for Week 37 is lrig_rorrim! Congratulations!

Once again, it came down to a single vote and where people put contestant entries in their Top 3.

This was one of those times where I saw a middle section that was pretty much the same, with the top and the bottom switched from ballot to ballot. Which I like - because it tells me that I picked a group of Judges with truly diverse tastes.

It also tells me just how close this battle to the finish really is at this point. It'll be one thing if the polls were always close - then folks could say "Well, they just have similar amounts of followers", but coming down to a 3-person tie until the final vote came in - with another not far behind (and all of you receiving votes!) that tells me that this group is something special.

So thank you for week after week, proving just how awesome you are!

***

Now comes the point where I let you know who the Judges were this week.

Without them, Quick Fires wouldn't be possible - so please join me in a hearty round of applause for their efforts. I asked them to supply a blurb, but I may add something of my own as well. :)

After last week's disappearance - I made sure to stack the Judges Table to avoid that happening! I'm delighted to say that everyone who said they were showing up actually did! :)

The roster this week includes some old friends of Idol as well as a couple new faces (to you):

Most of you remember lawchicky. If you don't, you should! "I recently started a position writing Disney related blogs at The Magic for Less Blog, where I'm one of several bloggers. It's nice that I get to combine two things I love, writing and Disney. The bigger news though, is that another idol baby will be arriving in our house this July, making us a family of six! So I am hoping to get more writing done in the down time I will have at home with the new baby."


The same of "If you don't remember her, you should!" could be said of fourzoas. She's actually one of my personal favorite writers who have been involved with Idol over the years. Being the Director of Teaching and Writing and an Assistant Professor of English at a college probably doesn't hurt her credentials. :)
"In the last two years, I've published academic articles on race representation in pop culture and helping students become better readers of web texts. One of the pieces I wrote for Idol in the wake of the George Zimmerman trial was published by Gawker, giving me my 15 minutes of fame.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I've turned my attention to new projects. I'm currently working on a collaborative fiction project that's a cross between the Sookie Stackhouse books, the Game of Thrones series, and some Neal Stephenson nightmare all set on the Louisiana Gulf Coast."


Naomi Zener wasn't on my radar a couple weeks ago. But thanks to a few emails I sent out, quickly entered it. Darlena highly recommended her - and that's good enough for me!

So I checked out her stuff - and you should too! Naomi Elana Zener is the author of both Deathbed Dimes and satire fiction, which is posted on her blog Satirical Mama.
Her vociferous blogging has been read and appreciated by industry bigwigs such as Giller Prize winner Dr. Vincent Lam and New York Times best-selling author and journalist Paula Froelich. Naomi blogs for Huffington Post and her articles have been published by Kveller, Absrd Comedy, and Erica Ehm’s Yummy Mummy Club. She’s currently working on her sophomore novel. You can connect with her on her website or on Twitter @satiricalmama.

tigrkittn was foolish enough not to provide a bio of any sort, trusting me to say something about her. Fortunately, I'm going to tell you the truth and say that she's a talented writer who has been an outspoken supporter and member of Idol for quite some time. Some days a little more outspoken than others. :) She's one of those folks that I put in the "We may not always agree with each other, but I can always trust that she is going to give me her honest opinion." Which is perfect for something like this.

She may have also killed a man and buried him in the backyard. If I were law enforcement authorities, I would probably get to her house as soon as possible, before she can destroy the evidence.


Finally, we have another old friend of mine from my days of fanfic. Once again, it's someone who has "made good" on the promise he had "back in the day". (and he was extremely promising then, so the fact that he's gotten better is that much cooler!)

"Mark Bousquet is the author of multiple novels, including The Haunting of Kraken Moor, the Gunfighter Gothic, Dreamer's Syndrome, and twoseries of kids' books: Adventures of the Five and Stuffed Animals for Hire. His personal website is themarkbousquet.com, and his imprint, Space Buggy Press, is at the appropriately written spacebuggypress.com."

I was going to clicky link the books in bio, but instead I'll just add a link to his Amazon Author's page: http://www.amazon.com/Mark-Bousquet/e/B004WWUTNU/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_4 for the ones that he mentioned and a ton of neat stuff that he didn't.

***

Now that I've managed to type out all of that - and several "end of the night" getting everyone to bed distractions having been managed, it's time to actually get to why we are here - to find out who will have immunity for Week 36.

As I said, it was close.

But with 1 vote tipping the scales in her favor:

Congratulations to jexia!

It was another week where things literally came down to the votes of the final Judge to come through the door.

Before we get to the results - because, I'll be honest... I'm writing this before I even know them! (Just getting a little ahead by writing this out now, so that I can get you the results *as soon as they are delivered, piping hot!) I would like to take a moment to thank the Quick Fire Judges!

(Note: I wrote most of this on the first night! Back when I was emailed with a“Can you give me a couple more hours?” Honestly, I hope that Judge is OK, because I haven’t heard from them since then!)

As always, you did such a great job and I'm truly grateful for the time you took out of your schedules to show up and help us out!

Who were they? Glad you asked!

kittenboo isn't really someone who should need an introduction. But since I asked everyone for a blurb, she has one anyway: "For those who don't know me from Idol (I played a bunch of seasons, including this one) here are some basics... Wife to Scott Church. Mother to an 8 year old. Owner of 5 cats. I have been a children's counselor and a preschool teacher, but more recently an answerer of phones. Don't knock answering phones, I happen to enjoy it quite a bit."

She's a bit modest. She didn't "play a bunch of seasons", she's been a pretty major force in a few of them! I'm just glad that I was able to get her in to help be a force in the last part of this one as well!

I wasn’t going to identify the person who stepped up to the plate for us today - the one who broke the tie. But then it occurred to me, I didn’t want you to think that any of the other ones were the cause of the delay either! :) Which is why I can say that the person we were waiting for never showed - and I had to look around for someone to step in. I needed someone that I knew would be fair, and be able to get through everything quickly - someone who when put in a position to break the tie, the internet wouldn’t explode with “OMG - why her???” So I asked notodette.

You know her from Idol Season 8. Or as a Gatekeeper earlier this year. Or maybe you know her from other places Or her blog or maybe just as someone who is uniting America!
Seriously, just google her. She’s been up to a lot of stuff in the last year or so!

Over the years, Idol has been home to some of the most talented and quirky people on the internet. I'm proud to say that Reid Harris Cooper one of them!

From his bio: "Reid Harris Cooper is former child actor (now adult professional) and street art aficionado. He is also a photographer, visual artist, journalist, reviewer and promoter of all things culture and popculture (movies, books, comics, video games, art, food, television, and even wrestling). He runs a website at popculturespectrum.com. He also believes that Conjuction Junction needs to be retaught and struggles with this fact. Also, he's a sexy beast and a former LJ Idol contestant which through he previously has gained family, friends and even lovers. He is retired mostly from Livejournal, but he returns once in a blue moon yet finds Twitter and Facebook his main homes." Also of note, and I think this just goes to show where your writing can lead - "Recently I was chosen to be a reviewer for a Scholastic Arts & Writing Program for Grades 7-12. I reviewed dramatic scripts, poetry, and short fiction. In the past I was also an assistant poetry slam master alongside noted teacher/writer Taylor Mali."

Our final Judge is actually someone that I've been bugging since the Gatekeeper round. He was originally supposed to be there, but unfortunately he's a *really* busy guy. I didn't let go of the idea though, and I'm really glad that I finally was able to get him.

I celebrate his entire catalog

"Josh Wigler is a freelance entertainment writer and a host of several podcasts on Post Show Recaps. He's the co-author of The Evolution of Strategy, an audiobook series about the reality game show Survivor. He likes pizza more than people."

(Seriously, if you like Survivor - you should check out the Evolution of Strategy. It’s really good)

You should probably also know that he's close friends with Kermit http://www.mtv.com/news/1681145/hunger-games-twilight-muppets/ (it's a couple years old, and he's done so many cool things with his career, but that still impresses me!)

***

Given how close the last couple weeks have been, this time I took the precaution of having them rank all of the entries in order of their preference. (saving me from having to go back to them for tie-breakers. :D)

It ended up being close between 4 of them and *super-close* between two... and in the end, it was kickthehobbit that ended up winning immunity!

Congratulations!!

In true Season 9 fashion, it came down to *a single vote*.

There were 10 entries and 5 of them came within a single vote of either winning or forcing a major tie-breaker of some sort! (and every single writer who submitted something received a vote!) If that doesn't tell you just how good the quality of the writers are this season nothing will.

Well, except a note from one of the Judges saying that they are really impressed with your work!

When I invite people to come in as Judges, they are definitely doing me a favor, and I always worry "I hope I'm not wasting their time with this". Thank you, for once again, not wasting their time! :)

Before I get to the result, I'd like to thank the Judges for taking the time and effort to come to this conclusion.

Your Quick Fire Judges this week were:

You know her. You love her. You covet her icon collection. She's roina_arwen I know she's wanted to do this sort of thing for a *long* time (and considering that, unless my mental math is faulty, she's the longest-constantly tenured member of Idol, that's quite bit of time!) so I'm glad that I was finally able to cross that off her bucket list. :)

Next up is someone else that you should know. Granted, you may only know him from his stint as a Gatekeeper. But people who know joeymichaels know him as something of a legendary figure in these halls. I'm really glad that I could coax him back one more time to help out!

I was also fortunate enough to ask an old friend of mine, from back in my fanfic days, to show up and help out. Brent Lambert is a talented writer and an all-around good guy. He's someone that I've always enjoyed knowing and watching grow over the years - but lately he's really stepped up and done something that makes me go "Damn, I KNOW THAT GUY!"

He is in the process of starting R.R.A.P. (Race Relations in the Arts and Politics) which will be officially launching on Feb 1st. I'll definitely be pointing you in his direction when that happens.

One of the people who really excited and impressed me this season, with dedication to LJ Idol and just that general "This is what is about!" spirit was eternal_ot, combining both compelling writing with an incredible attitude toward life. (Note: One of the things on her "list of accomplishments" is that she is GETTING ENGAGED THIS WEEKEND!)

Last, but certainly not least, is something who spends her time entertaining the world in her travels as well as doing some freelance editing over at Unkind Editor
Most times you would say "When she's not doing that..." but this is whipchick, so she is ALSO writing her fingers to the bone and doing things being the winner of LJ Idol Season 8!

Thank you to all of you for helping out this week! I know it wasn't an easy decision, but I hope you had fun reading the entries!

***

Now that's out of the way - we have our Results.

One contestant, who participated in this Quick Fire, now has IMMUNITY for Week 34, and a guaranteed spot one step closer to a chance to get into the finale!

Who is that?

jexia!

Congratulations!

***
Are you interested in reading the entries yourself, but haven't had the chance to do so? Then go check them out: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/826465.html

Before I get to the "who won immunity?" I'd like to take a moment to thank the Judges for coming in for this task.

This is the very first Quick Fire in the history of Idol, so I wanted to "do it right". I think the people who were able to step up and help make this decision more than reflect that.

If people want to go back and read those entries for themselves, you can at http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/823503.html

I asked them to send me what they wanted people to know about them, so I'll include some of that when I introduce them. :)

Your Quick Fire Judges for this week were:

oneonthefence - If you've been around Idol for any length of time you know her and her work. You also know that she's been in and out of the hospital for the last few years and has pretty much had to put herself on the writing competition bench because of it. For those who *don't* know her from her time in Idol: "I am a former opera singer, music journalist, and grant writer; I've been published before in anthologies, newspapers, and magazines; I currently write and edit articles and press releases for a random buck or two here and there; and my first novel, Vivisection, is facing its own fate by resting in the hands of an agent." She told me to cut and paste things from her bio, so I'll also include this bit: " also raise the coolest three-year-old on the planet. :)"

You know him. You love him. So I really don't have to give his bio information, you already know he's awesome - former contestant from this season and CO-WINNER of Exhibit B: the_lettersea

Someone else that long-time Idol supporters will know - although he too has been absent for the last couple of seasons, out there being successful. :) You can follow Kevin Saito on twitter at @kevin_saito or check out his current sports writing gig at goldengatesports.com

His second book hasn't been released yet, but when it is, I will be sure to share a link. In the meantime, you can purchase his first via the Idol store: http://astore.amazon.com/li0cd-20/detail/1908599030

The Fourth and Final member of the panel is someone who has been a friend-of-a-friend of Idol for quite some time. Which means I've been hearing the name long enough that I wasn't surprised when I started seeing it in print.

"Anne Thériault is a Toronto-based writer, activist and social agitator. Her work has appeared in such varied publications as The Washington Post, Vice, Jezebel, The Toast and others. She thinks your dad is pretty good-looking."

You can find her online at twitter.com/anne_theriault or bellejar.ca or, let's be honest, anywhere a there's a good debate happening. :)

Thank you so much to all of you. I truly appreciate it.

I know it was a difficult decision. Not only because I have faith in the writers here. But because I know that didn't come down to a "single vote", it came down to a single "percentage" of where someone ranked them within the votes.

We came *very* close to having a four way tie, but one person eeked it out in the end, and earned IMMUNITY for Week 33. (They still need to turn something in, but they will not be eliminated this week)

Congratulations to yachiru

You weren't expecting this post. But here it is anyway!

Those of you that follow Top Chef know what a "quick fire" is already, those who do not - it is a short competition that they have before the elimination challege, to test their chefs and to determine who gets immunity for the week.

Our Quick Fire is the same thing.

The difference is that ours is COMPLETELY OPTIONAL.

It's only open to current contestants (although of course non-contestants can Home Game it, posting to the HG thread)

This week it is an

OPEN TOPIC

and you have until Tuesday, Jan 13th at 10pm EST to post your links here!

24 hours. For a chance at immunity.

Are you up for it?