Saturday, January 30, 2010

An Officer and a Gentleman Contest Winners!


The votes have been tabulated and the winners decided. The Perv Pack wants to thank everyone who participated, read and voted. Thank you for making our first contest such a success!

So without further adeiu, the winners...



Readers Choice

Semper Fidelis
by
ilsuocantante

Bella is pouty when her deployed boyfriend, Edward, doesn't have time to talk to her on their anniversary. How can he possibly make it up to her?



Hottest Serviceward


Love Ignited
by
MrsAC

Two high school sweethearts, one long year apart, and plenty of changes in between.



Steamiest Smut


There was a 3-way tie in this category.

The Possibility of You
by
afragilelittlehuman

Lieutenant Edward Cullen is a dedicated fireman, but, when a new probie joins his crew, he struggles to keep things professional. Will he be able to keep himself in check or lose his heart to the possibility of love?

Today
by
Lou-La

Bella helps Edward through an exceptionally rough day at work. This story is dedicated to all the hard working, brave men and women who risk everything on a daily basis.

Semper Fidelis
by
ilsuocantante

Bella is pouty when her deployed boyfriend, Edward, doesn't have time to talk to her on their anniversary. How can he possibly make it up to her?



Most Luscious Non-Lemon


There was a 2way tie in this category


A World Away
by
WandB

Bella thinks military men are arrogant womanizers. That is, until she meets Edward, a hot and unpredictable Navy SEAL who quickly deploys for six months. Will their relationship flourish or flush?



Fortune Favors the Bold
by
CapriciousC

Major Edward Masen is a former Air Force Thunderbird, decorated fighter pilot, and a war hero. A guy like that would never go for a girl like MIT engineer Bella Swan. Or would he?



The Judge's Choice:


Bri's Choice

Love Ignited
by
MrsAC

Two high school sweethearts, one long year apart, and plenty of changes in between.

There were a lot of stories that were entered into the contest, and there were several that I loved (*cough Semper Fidelis and The Possibility of You cough*), but when I read Love Ignited, I knew I had my judge's choice. There is almost literally nothing hotter to me than a Daddy-to-be that's happy to be one (except maybe an already Daddy). There is something about the way they look at the woman carrying their child that makes me melt.

The first part of this o/s is heart-jerking, that's for sure. And especially when we get to the part where Bella puts the phone up to her belly at Edward's request and she can hear him talking to the baby. Yep, I cried. A lot. That completely melted me, and I was sold from that point on as this being my favorite Edward of the contest.

The reunion was sweet and meaningful, yet understated. The same could be said for the sexy times she put in this fic. All in all, this was a warm-your-heart kind of fic and I loved every minute of it.


Emmy's Choice

Burn
by
vixen1836

After years of war and unrequited love, an Infantryman returns from the front, reuniting with the only girl he ever wanted.

I was so ruddy thrilled when the emails started bouncing around for our inaugural PPSS competition and the fact that our first competition was going to focus on ArmyWard? Phwoar. YES PLEASE! :)

I read everyone of our contest entries and was so pleased that people wrote such a diverse & interesting range of stories. All with passion and a genuine love for the men and women that serve us..

Burn - by Vixen1836 crawled into my heart and set it alight with a small glow of burning embers, staying there long after I had finished reading it. What I loved most about this story was the style it was written in. The whole piece had a feel as I read it very much of a faded and treasured photograph. Read it again, and see if you understand what I mean. . . . Vixen nailed the reflective feel and warm tint a vintage photograph has in her writing and permeated the whole of Burn with it. Its exquisite writing. I believed in Edward's fixation on Bella in the trenches. His focus on her rather than the terror, despair, misery and pain all around him. Instead of focusing on all that he took refuge in the memory of Bella deep in his mind. She was his sanctuary and only figure of hope in a time without light. The natural step for him on his return is to try and find her. To explore whether his mind was purely fantasy of if there is more there, if his heart and soul had been speaking to him all that time. How will Bella react to him? In a time of war did she ever think of that Copper-headed soldier sent to the front-line far away? Did their lack of friendship prevent her of thinking of him too? I am not going to spoil this gorgeous fic for you by telling you what happens to our returning hero and the secret girl of our dreams. Read it, be moved and stirred and indulge the history this gem evokes. (I want to go buy a tea-dress and accessorise it with my vintage red lipstick in 'Burn's' honour!) like that beautiful photograph you will want to re-learn (read) it and treasure it, keep it safe and share it with others. Thank you Vixen, this fic really spoke to me and left a precious picture in my mind. Emmy. xx


Hope's Choice

Fortune Favors the Bold
by
CapriciousC

Major Edward Masen is a former Air Force Thunderbird, decorated fighter pilot, and a war hero. A guy like that would never go for a girl like MIT engineer Bella Swan. Or would he?

I have a little thing for men in uniform. No really, I do, I married a Marine for criminy sake. But more than the uniform itself, is everything that the uniform stands for and represents. It's not just a uniform; it's a way of life, a commitment to something greater than one's self and a need to serve and protect those they stand up for.

There were several stories that I absolutely loved, making my choice was a hard one. I picked Fortune Favors the Bold by capriciousC as my pick because I loved the setting of the story and the UST between Edward and Bella. Bella is witty, smart and has a backbone, while being real and likable. Edward is charming and somewhat elusive. The chemistry between them is undeniable. Also the use of secondary characters was really well done. Besides who wouldn't want to be confined to a small, dark space with the one they want for 5 hours? Not me! And also there's just something about a Jet Fighter Pilot. Must have something to do with my Top Gun obsession. I hope capriciousC continues this story.


Kathy's Choice

Today
by
Lou-La

Bella helps Edward through an exceptionally rough day at work. This story is dedicated to all the hard working, brave men and women who risk everything on a daily basis.

It can be tough to read, because of the reality of it – Edward is a firefighter and a young girl has died in a fire on his shift – but that's precisely what I loved about it. His grief felt real to me, the way he beat himself up over his perceived failure. I liked the twist with Fire Chief Swan and his backstory, leading to more of Edward's anxiety.

Most of this piece is a conversation between Edward and Bella (in the shower!), ranging from his guilt about the fire to the state of things in their marriage; there are a few comparisons to how things used to be, etc. and I really just loved it. I love the idea of them in 10 years, just as happy as they were when they got married, even if it's happy in a different way. The banter reminds me a little of my own marriage at times, and did I mention there's a lovely section of DTE? Yum.

Alice (Edward's sister) appears at the end, and I really also loved the relationship between A & E and their banter. The way Edward interacts with his daughter and niece had me giggling.

Yeah, the last line totally killed me and made me bawl, but that's pretty par for the course with me.


Nina's Choice

A World Away
by
WandB

Bella thinks military men are arrogant womanizers. That is, until she meets Edward, a hot and unpredictable Navy SEAL who quickly deploys for six months. Will their relationship flourish or flush?

I've always liked Marines. Woof. Imagine my surprise when out of all the entries I picked a Naval themed one-shot! "A World Away" from wandb was a sweet and genuine look at the lives of people separated by circumstance. One of the main things I liked about it was that they weren't 'together' before he shipped off. They were unsure as to where they stood in regard to their relationship, were they friends or did they both want more? They got to know each other through emails during his time abroad, him on a ship with lots of other Navy sailors, hot, sweaty, nekkid... what?

In all sincerity though, I appreciated that she didn't just have them go at it, him leave, come back and boom... they're automatically in love. Giving them the time to form a relationship while separated added to the emotion of their reuniting. I thought the smut was perfect in relation to the rest of the story and ultimately I thought she did a great job.

I still like Marines but Seamen are a close second. Hehehehe :)


Steph's Choice


Sincerely, Edward
by
Holly1980

Their love grew over a series of letters exchanged while he was deployed to Afghanistan. He's coming home and there is no other place she'd rather be than waiting for him.

I have gone with Sincerely, Edward as my pick. There was something about this story that just grabbed me and pulled me right in. The fact that they'd gone to school together, but not known each other before they met was fun beginning. I love that they had that instant connection between them and spent that whole first night just talking. My heart broke at what happened to their lunch date and how horrible they both must have felt. Bella for being stood up, and Edward for having to do so unwillingly but with no way to get in touch with her. The fact that he took the time to write to Bella and apologize says so much about the kind of person he is. I adore the fact that they got to know each other through letters. In this day and age it's such an old-fashioned way to do things, but look how well it worked out for them. They fell in love. And not just love, but a forever kind of love. This story was just all around touching and beautiful and it made me teary-eyed more than once. Beautifully done. Not to mention I would absolutely love to read the letters the author mentions in her note as being real. Sigh.


Stephie's Choice


The Possibility of You
by
afragilelittlehuman

Lieutenant Edward Cullen is a dedicated fireman, but, when a new probie joins his crew, he struggles to keep things professional. Will he be able to keep himself in check or lose his heart to the possibility of love?

Reading through the entries for this contest I realized how many great authors there are. There were a lot of great o/s and it made choosing really hard for me. Still, reading through them all was a pleasure. My pick is The Possibility of You by afragilelittlehuman. This o/s has not only FireWard but Firella as well. What I really enjoyed was having a Bella who was treated as an equal, regardless of sex or sexiness...though that didn't keep the guys from fantasizing about her sliding down the fire pole. Being employed as a fire fighter equals tough situations and loss of lives; some unknown and some friends. There is an especially hard part when Edward wants to comfort Bella after the death of men from a nearby firehouse...but can't due to the circumstance. I could feel how difficult it was for Edward to deny his desire to help a woman he was no longer just "in lust" with but had deeper feelings for. Besides being realistic with the day to day life of fire fighters, afragilelittlehuman wrote the UST so well that I was dying with the wait for them to get together. Her Edward is sexy in his uniform, all sweaty and dirty. Her Bella is tough yet still feminine. And the smut? Well, I'll just say you need to read it to appreciate it. I could definitely go for more of this to see how a relationship will work out between two people who risk their lives at work on a daily basis.


Thanks again to all the entered stories, read, voted, retweeted and made this contest so much fun for all of us!

9 comments:

Jewels64 said...

Thanks ladies for all the insightful comments on what made these stories your favorites!

I read "Semper Fidelis" and about melted in a puddle of goo....so hot!

Off to read all of your choices! Keep up the great work y'all!

Anonymous said...

I'm just thrilled to be included among the awesome stories that you picked.

This O/S was a lot of fun for me to write and I was happy to participate.

Thank you so much!

Betsy (wandb)

Greta is Erikasbuddy said...

Squees to The Possibility of You!! yes yes yes yes yes!! My Boss Lady won! ! ! ! !

Love,
Her ferret beta child,
Greta (erikasbuddy)

eyesonfire_rp said...

Amazing stories from the winners. I've been glued to the couch reading them all day. I was wondering if there was anywhere I could go to read the other entries. These were so great that I definently need more Edward in uniform ASAP. Thanks for hosting such an awesome competition.

Lil Orphan Annie said...

You can see all the entries at the following link. I was disappointed though not to see "Wild Temptress of the Scottish Highlands" win anything because it was by far the most original submission. I liked "Unexpected Peace" as well.

Lil Orphan Annie said...

Forgot the link. Sorry.

http://www.fanfiction.net/community/The_Perv_Packs_An_Officer_and_a_Gentleman_Contest_Entries/76389/14/0/1/

eyesonfire_rp said...

Thanks. I tried to find that link EVERYWHERE.

fragile little human said...

Thank y'all so much for all the love for my story! I think my husband still can't hear out of his left ear after all my squealing :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for selecting my o/s. I was out of town on business so it was a nice surprise to find that I had been acknowledged!!

Holly