Team Update: Reading, elections, and some other announcements [2017]

a Team Update by the Azure-Winged Magpie.

So. I just posted a review after so-so long! Go check it out!

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First things first.

Yep. There’s a LOT of reading to be done. All we can do is ask our submitting authors for time. There are three of us on the job (well: two, really — the Brown-Necked Raven’s having some difficulties at the moment), and we’re having to really pay attention to what we’re reading.

We haven’t checked the submissions email since the window closed three days ago, but we’ll take another look at the end of the week and see if we have any lingering around. If we do, we’ll make a spot-judgement about what we’re doing with them.

I kind of think I suddenly got over my writer’s block once I wrote that review, which is a good thing. Now, I can at least keep the boat afloat while we scrutinise the stories.

But while we’re not making any announcements just yet, I’d like to point out that we didn’t receive as much humour as I’d expected us to. I count just above ten entries that went for it at face value. Since I’m the outsider here, so I asked the Crow if this was normal. He said it isn’t, but that he didn’t mind, either.

‘People will write what people will write.’ he says.

But that said. We’ve got a bit of a surprise (this is for those few of you who actually follow our team updates)! We won’t be publishing ten stories! We’ll be “publishing” eleven!

That’s right! We each took 30 minutes out of our reading time and whipped up an exactly 1500-word story for you to criticise! It’s so terrible that it’s hilarious. It was also written in one go to ensure hilarity. We’ll randomly drop this in amongst our acceptances (under a pen-name) so that you have no idea what it is until you start reading it!

Why should we have all the fun, after all?

And I get paid for it, too! The Crow put me in charge of awarding this story! I’m going to take my money out of one pocket and put it into…

Hang on a minute!

CROW! YOU [CENSORED] SOD!

^{(X‾X)  … … *POW!*}  ᕕ(ಠ o ಠ^✿)^{HOW DARE YOU?!}

That’s better… ^{That little $#!7!}

THE 2017 GENERAL ELECTION

As some of you know, the UK has a General Election coming up in three days.

The Crow and I would like to remind those eligible to vote that we’re at a strange point in our recent history. What we do right now will shape what happens to us in the future. Please think before you vote. Vote not on sentiment or by default, but with your knowledge. Time’s short, and the UK has recently been subject to some rather disturbing events. Please educate yourselves as much as possible over the next 72 hours, and vote for what is best for the future.

We both already know what our choice is. Our country is not doing well right now, and we’ve taken everything into account. There’s what can only be described as propaganda rife in the media, and we’d like people not to pay attention to any of that, but rather the facts available. Look at what’s happening around you: to the state of our services, our way of life, everything. And make the best choice available to you.

While we won’t tell you which way to vote or another, we’ve been “campaigning” in our local pubs (and other places) to help people vote what we think is the right thing to do. We reiterate: what we decide right now is important, and we’d like for everyone to treat this election with the right approach.

You might not have the best option (The Corvid Master Race Party) available to you just yet (don’t worry, we’ll take over the world soon enough!), make the most of the options you do have.

IN OTHER NEWS

Apart from going over our stories and waiting for the Crow’s shiny new black eye to heal, we’ve got a lot planned out for this month. We’ve got so much planned out, as a matter of fact, that I have no clue if we’ll manage to make all of them, but we’ll try our best!

The Crow played it smart and has a few posts nearly-ready to go out, so I’ll be scattering his here and there over time. They’re mostly reviews/analyses of older films, so I’ll take my time publishing them (they’re actually our most-viewed posts, so… Yup, totally worth getting them all set up and sent up!).

I’ve also got this one “secret” film which no one’s ever heard of coming up (we’ve not announced it, either). But it was so brain-melting, that I’m going to HAVE to review it. And for this review, I’ll be slipping back into my old boots again. I’m going to swear, I’m going to have mad fun with it, and it’ll be awesome (and long — this one’s gonna be long)! It’s gonna be like Muck all over again! Wasn’t that fun?!

I have no idea what the Brown-Necked Raven’s up to, so I’ll give him some time. He’s still working on his The Thin Blue Line review, but we’ll wait and see what he comes up with.

As for a more diverse selection of posts…

We’re going to be going down yet another new path very soon. I think I’ve let it out before, but I’ll let the Crow make the official announcement later this week. All I can say is: it’s going to be a weird one.

And that’s about it for this week’s Team Update! There is another recent thing I would’ve mentioned, but I’m keeping it off this post since I might get a bit ranty over it. It’s something to do with a certain someone being very not-nice to the Crow, which I think I should take a stand against, since he won’t. But more on that some other time.

Love you lot loads! Have a great day!

— Azure-Winged Magpie out!

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