Talk:There's Something Between the Gears/@comment-26054278-20150901193011

As you already know, this story was indeed the 1st Place winner in Banning's June/July Demon Contest. Therefore, be prepared for me to gush over why I love this pasta so much.

One element in particular really made me certain that this would be the winner, and that is just the sheer creativity displayed here. The "Machine Cult" (because I don't know what else to refer to it as) was just an incredible idea if done right, and you certainly did do it right. Beyond being an amazing idea, the fact that you can make this idea genuinely creepy really seals the deal in this case.

The characters here are fantastic. My problem with a lot of these other stories is that they have characters that go through things or actually develop, but they don't give them any traits to start off with or anything for the reader to like about them, so when tragedy strikes, the reader doesn't care that much. Here, you made Lucas a very likable character, making me care much more for what happens to him and Alyssa.

Father Mason is also brilliant and comes across as a very clever, yet fiendish, person to deal with.

Of course, the writing itself needs to be of quality for this to work, and, to no surprise, this is very well-written. The only minor gripe that made this story lose two small points was that The Machine and possibly the setting could have used a few more details in order to make things a bit more clear and a bit creepier even.

Since this story is so nearly a perfect story, I don't have anything else to do but give it my score, 98/100. Nicely done.