We like your writing. Will you join the Grammar Games?

YOUR INVITATION HAS ARRIVED.

Lon Shapiro
The Grammar Games
Published in
4 min readMar 22, 2016

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We, the undersigned cynics, humorists, absurdists, anarchists, and other assorted deviants, have contributed to a new collaborative short but possibly long story called the Grammar Games. Your name has been mentioned (often more than once) and we hope you will contribute something to the story. To learn the origin of our journey, please read “Sound the clarion!

To see the most up to date version of the story, please read “The Grammar Games.” It’s a mashup of Gladiator, Star Wars, The Walking Dead and Mad Magazine. No one is safe.

RULES (Must be as strictly adhered to as any cynic or contrarian possibly can):

Please contribute to the story with a 200 word post about what you are doing on the hallowed, bloody (virtual only) grounds of the Colosseum during the titantic struggle between the Gods of Medium and the Rebel forces.

Or you can just add a sentence or a quote. Whatever you feel like.

We’ll figure out a way to work it into the flow of the story. It will all be in good fun. (So far, we’ve had people get crushed by a giant hamburger, dissolve in pool of acid tears, swallowed by a giant penis, eaten whole by a lion (don’t ever bring a lion with you in your story — remember Chekhov’s gun), erased by a mystical red pencil, and sucked into a flying record album jacket the size of a giant oceanic manta ray.

Of the original group mentioned in the prologue, Morgan Rock Loehr, Gutbloom, and Ellie Guzman have generously added their genius to this living work in progress.

As honored contestants and royal spectators, a special invitation is extended to Henry Wismayer, Jon Westenberg, Benjamin P. Hardy, and elizabeth tobey.

As writers of the highest standard, the following invitees please take your place at the seat of honor and grace us with your presence. It can be a 200 word post, an observation in one sentence, or a wise quote.

Timothy J. O’Neill, Niya Marie, Deral F. Fenderson, Ruben Alexander, bibles, ☀️Rama☀️, Kel Campbell, Jennifer Smith, Mirah Curzer, Elliot Nichols, Mike Essig, DCI Wooderson, Graham Anderson, Dave Grigger.

From the aforementioned group, the following have met their fate in The Grammar Games: Jennifer Smith, DCI Wooderson, Graham Anderson and Elliot Nichols.

(Thanks for playing!)

To all my personal favorites who have not yet contributed, here’s another call for even a sentence. Here are some creative jump points:

  1. You are one of the unwashed masses standing outside the arena listening to the crowd for signs of how the battle turns, where are you, who are you with, and what are you doing?
  2. You are high up in the cheap seats watching the action. Who is with you, what are you doing and are there snacks?
  3. You are in the box seats, rubbing elbows with the rich and famous. Do you stay and party, or do you cry out “aux barricades!” and join one side or the other?

Dave Pell, Sherry Caris, Kel Campbell, Andrew Costa, Nicole Dieker, Stret¢h, talia jane, Amanda Rosenberg, Heather Nann, The Bosha, ☀️Rama☀️, Steve Hull, Holly Wood, Full Frontal, Hank Green, Abby Norman, Jessica Semaan, Sarah Cooper, Tania Braukamper, Tom Mitchell, Paulo Coelho, Jack Boulware, Matt Galligan, Gabriel Abraham Garrett, Hassan S. Ali, Tobias van Schneider, Tim O’Reilly, Paige Craig, David Amsden, Darin Ross, Blake Jamieson, CamMi Pham, Paul Armstrong, Sahil Lavingia

Instead of engaging in social media wars like the Talia Jane sh*t storm, how about coming together as a community to write a ridiculous story about Medium?

We look forward to hearing from you soon. Otherwise, we can’t guarantee you virtual safety from the satire zone.

Sincerely,

Michelle Stone (resident dreamer in which the entire story takes place)

Morgan Rock Loehr (a true inspiration, and the first to join the Fallen)

Gutbloom (a good sport and allegedly super handsome guy)

Ellie Guzman (comedy genius, and fellow donut lover)

THOMAS BARTON JD (a tasty snack and welcome interloper)

Jennifer Smith (free spirit and more than willing victim)

Greg Gueldner (kind hearted authority figure, unsuspecting kidnap victim)

A.McEnnis (completely innocent of any crimes yet to be committed)

Brad Decker (enthusiastic participant unaware of the horror to follow…)

Graham Anderson (+Friedrich & Kylie, a hilarious ménage à ne pas croire)

Dave Grigger (happy drunk and mad poet — or is it the other way around?)

Elizabeth Hughes (nice lady, but seems like she’s got a big axe to grind)

DCI Wooderson (so funny I had to kill him twice!! bwah ha ha)

Todd Hannula 🤓 (advocate of peace, except for giant killer marshmallows)

Lisa Robbie (party crasher, lurker extraordinaire and yelp reviewer)

Elliot Nichols (drunken crusader, keeper of the secret that rules them all)

Victoria Easterday (“the air around the donut’s hole,” a philosopher/stoner)

JoJo Magno (fourth wall piercing professor-outlaw-ninja, unwilling editor)

Lon Shapiro (resident lunatic and beater of dead horses)

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Lon Shapiro
The Grammar Games

High quality creative & design https://guttmanshapiro.com. Former pro athlete & high quality performance coach. Teach the world one high quality joke at a time