Writing competition - 1870 at Kyburg Castle
I am thrilled to finally announce the winners! A big thank you to all the authors who once again participated with their great stories this year. Your works will, of course, remain on my homepage and can be read there at any time.
And now, drumroll please… the winning stories are those that start with the following sentences:
Commissioner Sebastian Stolz had to think of a brewery horse.
The small stature Ragnar peeled potatoes for supper in the Kyburg castle kitchen. Both received the same number of votes.
In 1st place are the stories by:
Tobias Bonderer - Human Nature and
Marianna Vogt - It Happened on a Full Moon Night
Write Your Story- win a hand-bound A5 writing book for your next story -
This time we go back in time to Kyburg Castle.Historically accurate premise:In 1864, Lieutenant Colonel Matthäus Pfau from Winterthur bought the castle and exhibited his painting collection there.Write a thriller; it can be spooky, mystical. Thrills are what we're looking for.Because your story will be read on Halloween.
How Matthew Pfau loves these evening strolls around and through his castle. He does not do it out of vanity, but with a puffed-up chest. And rightly so. The elaborate and costly renovation he initiated has saved the medieval Kyburg Castle from probable decay and restored it to its former glory. The real gem, however, is his stately art collection, which has finally found a fitting home in the Knights' Hall and the other rooms of the palace.
Diminutive Ragnar was peeling potatoes for supper in the kitchen of Kyburg Castle. He was a subject of the castle lord, Lieutenant Colonel Ulrich von Wagner. A delegation from the canton of Zurich was expected to admire the lord's immense painting collection. Ragnar had already finished peeling one bucket of potatoes and had processed half of the second tub. Maid Margarete sat opposite him, plucking a chicken. She glanced over at Ragnar and asked, horrified: "Ragnar, what kind of crooked things have you been up to again? The marks of torture are still clearly visible on your arms."
Commissioner Sebastian Stolz had to think of a brewery horse. He followed the housekeeper through one of the long corridors of Kyburg Castle. As she waddled panting in front of him, her considerable backside swayed back and forth under the black fabric of her uniform.
Stolz was curious about Lieutenant Colonel Pfau. Various stories about the man circulated in the city. The widower had lived alone with his staff at Kyburg for six years. However, it was rumored that his wife was not underground, but very much alive on the Côte d'Azur with a wealthy Frenchman.
Matthäus hated the Sunday family excursions to Kyburg Castle. Having recently turned eight, he preferred to spend his free time with his best friend, a colt his father had bought him after a successful business deal. His father had become wealthy early on through shrewd financial transactions and his investments in the booming Winterthur textile industry. He had secured his respected status in high society by marrying the only daughter of an influential aristocratic business partner. That year, 1870, the family had moved into a stately home in the north of Winterthur. For some years, the city had been one of the wealthiest in the canton of Zurich.