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- Jun 13, 2006
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Re: DISCUSSION -- The 75 Word Challenge May 2011
Another month of stories well under way, and here I go again!
Slack – A good start for one many seem to think will be a tricky month. There is a feeling of isolation and being an outsider, and doing all that you can to belong, perhaps even to some degree a little self-hatred. Just what you would expect when a newcomer of different origins enters a city.
Harebrain – Werewolf Cat??? Vampire Dog??? Zombie Ferret??? Lycat??? Vampoodle??? I was going to write something about oppression, racial hatred and intolerance, but hey, it’s far too crazy, and far too much fun for that.
Bob S. Sr. – Well, I just don’t know where to begin. What an unexpected, but great little story. Disturbing too. I’m not sure I’ll ever look at cats in the same way again. Some great imagery, I think the rib cage bit stuck with me the moment I first read it.
Parson – After a few reads I began to realise how much I like this one. Putting aside all the religious imagery, there is a very simple philosophy, that the world can indeed be changed, and a simple starting point, like one man can slowly be that change. No epic wars, deaths or violence. Just a slow steady change for the better.
Nixie – I really did not see that one coming! I thought the opening part of the story was well written, nice construction and very atmospheric. I did keep wondering where the friend bit was, but then we hit the last line. I saw the word wraith, then laughed out loud! Fish and Chips indeed.
Paranoid Marvin – A very clever one this n its own right. Took me a few reads to sort it out in my head, but a nice interpretation of the theme. It was quite nice to see it presented differently, a diary entry in fact. A second entry with religious connections.
Brev – A different angle this, with a nice bit of shock value. It seemed as though the meeting of two beings destined to be friends, and perhaps at least one of them thought the same thing, but ended with a sudden clacking of closing jaws. A nice surprise, well presented and not telegraphed. Well not to me anyway.
Devil’s Advocate – Notable for the title all alone, brilliant. And a rather sad story in it’s own way. Two slimy men boasting of conquest, with the nasty twist that one friend – well hardly a friend at all. Reminds me of some of the partners in an office I once worked.
Psychotick – Oooh, I liked this one, a really different interpretation of friend and a good strong story as well. There was something, I don’t know, peaceful in the conclusion to the story, almost as though that even as all the lights went out, there was something still heart-warming there.
Crys - This was another one I read a few times to truly appreciate, a great little piece that has one of those wonderful traps that sometimes appear - in order to achieve your desire you must first complete a task but in doing so you find that you cannot have your desire. Well told and some nice spelling alterations.
High Eight - Quite a unique one this, almost an old fable or a story drawn from the depths of oral tradition, Mr. Fox comes across almost as a lothario/trickster character, reborn or surviving from the earliest times hunting for his victims with only tales to serve as warnings.
Chris - And yet another one that needs more than a single reed to truly appreciate (but then that's nothing new with Chris' work). A young woman contemplating suicide, rescued by a ghost (?) on account of the baby she carries. A superlative use of words and sentence structure ensures that there is an awful lot here. Intelligent and a good solid story to boot.
Allanon - This one seemed to be a nice approach to the traditional side of fantasy. Instead of the normal middle ages setting we see progression, development and time moving onward, and the consequences of that on the indigenous inhabitants of said world. Also nice to see that the two disparate elements of classic fantasy are one another's saviour. Excellent.
Another month of stories well under way, and here I go again!
Slack – A good start for one many seem to think will be a tricky month. There is a feeling of isolation and being an outsider, and doing all that you can to belong, perhaps even to some degree a little self-hatred. Just what you would expect when a newcomer of different origins enters a city.
Harebrain – Werewolf Cat??? Vampire Dog??? Zombie Ferret??? Lycat??? Vampoodle??? I was going to write something about oppression, racial hatred and intolerance, but hey, it’s far too crazy, and far too much fun for that.
Bob S. Sr. – Well, I just don’t know where to begin. What an unexpected, but great little story. Disturbing too. I’m not sure I’ll ever look at cats in the same way again. Some great imagery, I think the rib cage bit stuck with me the moment I first read it.
Parson – After a few reads I began to realise how much I like this one. Putting aside all the religious imagery, there is a very simple philosophy, that the world can indeed be changed, and a simple starting point, like one man can slowly be that change. No epic wars, deaths or violence. Just a slow steady change for the better.
Nixie – I really did not see that one coming! I thought the opening part of the story was well written, nice construction and very atmospheric. I did keep wondering where the friend bit was, but then we hit the last line. I saw the word wraith, then laughed out loud! Fish and Chips indeed.
Paranoid Marvin – A very clever one this n its own right. Took me a few reads to sort it out in my head, but a nice interpretation of the theme. It was quite nice to see it presented differently, a diary entry in fact. A second entry with religious connections.
Brev – A different angle this, with a nice bit of shock value. It seemed as though the meeting of two beings destined to be friends, and perhaps at least one of them thought the same thing, but ended with a sudden clacking of closing jaws. A nice surprise, well presented and not telegraphed. Well not to me anyway.
Devil’s Advocate – Notable for the title all alone, brilliant. And a rather sad story in it’s own way. Two slimy men boasting of conquest, with the nasty twist that one friend – well hardly a friend at all. Reminds me of some of the partners in an office I once worked.
Psychotick – Oooh, I liked this one, a really different interpretation of friend and a good strong story as well. There was something, I don’t know, peaceful in the conclusion to the story, almost as though that even as all the lights went out, there was something still heart-warming there.
Crys - This was another one I read a few times to truly appreciate, a great little piece that has one of those wonderful traps that sometimes appear - in order to achieve your desire you must first complete a task but in doing so you find that you cannot have your desire. Well told and some nice spelling alterations.
High Eight - Quite a unique one this, almost an old fable or a story drawn from the depths of oral tradition, Mr. Fox comes across almost as a lothario/trickster character, reborn or surviving from the earliest times hunting for his victims with only tales to serve as warnings.
Chris - And yet another one that needs more than a single reed to truly appreciate (but then that's nothing new with Chris' work). A young woman contemplating suicide, rescued by a ghost (?) on account of the baby she carries. A superlative use of words and sentence structure ensures that there is an awful lot here. Intelligent and a good solid story to boot.
Allanon - This one seemed to be a nice approach to the traditional side of fantasy. Instead of the normal middle ages setting we see progression, development and time moving onward, and the consequences of that on the indigenous inhabitants of said world. Also nice to see that the two disparate elements of classic fantasy are one another's saviour. Excellent.
