LJ Idol Presents:

Sometimes a contestant only vote is a blow out, and sometimes it's one of those exciting horseraces where someone pulls ahead by a nose coming around that last bend. Which makes it exciting for me, but it does mean that I have to get out the camera and capture that photo finish!

This was more of the latter. There were a few people who I thought would end up taking it, but in the end, the Veterans ended up with exactly the same as the Newbies, in a TIE!

Which means that there will be two Veterans getting the advantage as well. Which should really shake up the game from the onset, having four of something where I originally thought there would only be two!

The two contestants with the most votes from the Veterans are:

lilmissmagic71 and rayaso!

Congratulations!

I'm sure you are wondering what the two of you - as well as the two winners from the Newbies poll marlawentmad and my_name_is_jenn are receiving is AN IMMUNITY!

Any time you need it, between now and the Top 50, it can be played and it will save you from elimination. To make things more interesting, you can also play it on someone else, and it will save them. (You just have to let me know your intention and hour before the poll closes. "If so-and-so is going to be eliminated, I want to save them") (Note: This doesn't cancel an elimination, it just means someone else leaves)

I promised a huge advantage would be up for grabs, and I think this qualifies!

Wow!

That was a close race with some really talented people.

It seems to be the theme of this mini-season.

Three writers are moving forward and the rest will have one more shot to get back into the competition.

Those returning to the game for Week 11 are


barrelofrain
roina_arwen
tijuanagringo


Congratulations, and make sure to get in your entry for this week! http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/902097.html

Congratulations to mac_arthur_park who will be moving into this week's main competition poll! Better get your entry ready!

As for the rest of you - and by that I mean everyone who wants another shot to get into the fray, get ready for next week! (and tell your friends)

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!

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

The Zeroth poll of Exhibit B is behind us.

Literally.

Try not to look, because we don’t want to let it know that we are onto it. Just be ready to run...

No one was eliminated, but I do believe that I promised that there could be something special in store. *checks* Yep, I did.

I’m pretty that most Idol veterans will know what is coming now. :)

I was prepared to hand out something to the contestant with the fewest amount of votes. However, there is a tie.

So instead, I will hand out a total of THREE Immunity necklaces (one a piece), that can only be used on someone else. That’s right, the person can’t use them to save themselves, but as long as they are in the competition, they have just become your new best friend, if you have a bad week, they can keep you alive in this game! They can give it to someone at any time, up until an hour before the poll closes, from now until the Top 25!

Who are they?

Congratulations to dreamwriteremmy, kajel and malruniel11 !

Things are just starting to get interesting!