T Party Victorious in Inaugural Black Knight Squash Fiction League Match from DailySquashReport.com V
February 7, 2014
- The T Party came out of the gate with a fury, eventually extending to an 8-1
lead over The Quill Shots before nursing home an 11-3 victory Monday
in the world's first known squash fiction league match.
Jeanne Woods and
Margot Comstock delivered solid Chapters 14 and
15 to close out the fourteen-player head-to-head event that began in October.
The T Party was
ambitious in its plotline, which stretched from a squash club in
earthquake-ravaged San Francisco to the Middle East, but enough
credibility was maintained for the T's to grab the majority of the
weekly votes on the scorecards of judges James Zug, Noreen Ayres and
Daniel Paris.
Three challenge
appeals were issued during the match - two by the T Party and one by
the Quill Shots - and all three appeals were shot down by Toronto
challenge judges Barb Cooper and Sam Cornett.
Steve Hufford, Richard
Millman, James (Squashist) Prudden, Woods and Comstock
went undefeated (2-0) for the T Party, while the shining star for the
Quills was Tracy Gates (2-0) who prevailed in Chapters 4 and 11. Matthew
Munich went 1-1 en route to scoring the other Quills' point.
The T Party captain, Prudden, commended the efforts of the Quill Shots:
"The T Party was lucky
enough to run out ahead of the Quills early on, but to their credit we
never took them for granted and indeed they had some great chapters. In
the end we used that early lead to force a victory, but they were
worthy opponents."
Richard Millman said, "Please forward my thanks to the Quills for a good match!"
Jeanne Woods wasn't
happy to see it end. "Rats!" she said. "I was hoping the Quills would
rally and give us a run for our money."
And another T Party
competitor offered: "That was by far the best collaborative
professionally-adjudicated on-line squash fiction detective murder
mystery romance international spy thriller cancer drama personal
liberation story writing competition I've ever participated in.
I'm pretty sure it will improve my game."
Match #2, with Black
Knight once again generously providing prizes to the players on the
winning team, will begin soon, under a single-novel knockout format.
Interested author/players should contact DailySquashReport@gmail.com
THE QUILL SHOTS
Mick Joint Mick Joint is the head pro at the Detroit Athletic Club, writes the blogwww.thesquashjoint.blogspot.com, and is kept under control by his wife of 85 years and 7 year old teenage daughter.
Tracy Gates Tracy J. Gates is a professional book editor, amateur squash player, and recreational writer/designer of her sports blogsqueakyfeet.wordpress.com
Pierre Bastien Pierre is 37, lives in Philadelphia, and runs a squash equipment blog calledSquash Source.
Marcie Chan Marcie
lives in a cozy Craftsman bungalow in Pasadena with her husband and
teenage son, and enjoys singing, dancing, reading, writing, and making
pottery, though not simultaneously. Matthew Munich When
not grinding out a chapter in this grueling league match, Matthew
Munich is a clinical social worker with a particular interest in the
psychology of sport performance, on which he writes a regular blog, "Floating & Stinging."
Will Gens Will Gens is passionate about poetry, squash and family, and would one day love to see the elimination of petroleum-driven cars.
Kathryn Abernathy (captain) Kathryn
P. Abernathy lives with her family near a Northern California beach and
is currently working on a series of Young Adult novels. THE T PARTY
Steve Hufford Proud
father, fortunate husband, former squash coach and blogger, long-time
squash/tennis/court tennis player, enjoys wielding a pen almost as much
as swinging a racquet.
Richard Millman Richard
Millman is an international lifelong squash professional - and husband,
dad, grampa, writer, coach, player, referee, innovator, maverick,
mentor, team player, thinker, listener, promoter, developer, retailer -
who lives squash.
David Smith Long
Island-exiled Medical Device executive of questionable humor and
talent, whose unrestrained passion for Chardonnay and San Francisco is
only surpassed by his love of the Michigan State Spartans.
The Squashist (captain) The Squashist (thesquashist.blogspot.com)
is an enthusiastic squash player of 40 years' duration, which explains
his dodgy right knee, and the editorial director of a medical
publishing company, which explains why he is convinced he is suffering
from a multitude of diseases at any one time.
Jeanne Woods Jeanne
(2 syllables) is a real estate broker in Sonoma County, an hour north
of San Francisco, whose squash expertise is limited to her avid
gardening and cooking.
Margot Comstock Margot
is a California artist-crossword creator-game designer-writer who
enjoys hanging out with her ancient Viking and cheering on the Los
Angeles Lakers.
Tom Oberdorfer Tom
is a psychotherapist, lacrosse coach and squash enthusiast whose
writing interest stems from weekly writing sessions with his dad.
V 
THE QUILL SHOTS 
THE T PARTY
