I'll freely admit to being quite thoroughly dim. It took me the longest time to figure out what the holy howling hell was the entire point of the Lost Gems of Yesteryear quest, longer than that to submit some of my old favorites, and clear until the last day of the quest to add something telling why you should vote them up, ching them, and send the authors nice fat wads of cash.
So here we go. Here are my submissions and few short words on why I think they're awesome.
And? by Derfel: When it comes to science fiction, rocketships and robots are great, but I really enjoy stories that emphasize the human factor. This one does that wonderfully by letting us see into the souls of an android that can only say one word and an uncaring scientist who just won't shut up.
Mr Loo by Lometa: I love Lometa's reminiscences and personality profiles, and this one has long been my favorite. I wish I'd known Mr Loo -- he sounds like a wonderful man.
The demon was just under three feet tall by pelsmith: I love a good horror story, and this one is so very deliciously evil. So creepy, so harrowing, so funny. It's a wonderful combination of turn-of-the-century terror tales and modern splatterpunk.
Those are my nominations. If you have votes left, please contribute your upvotes to them. But even if you don't have votes left, go read them anyway -- they are all a joy to read.