telford – If there was such a thing as a good, solid traditional redemption story this would be it. The story of a man who throws the near perfect life away, destroying his family in the process, but is prepared to sacrifice himself in order to save them. A classic story, well told, can’t say much more than that!
Monsterchic – This is one of those that escapes me a little. I have not had one in a while, but I get a feeling that this is a small snippet of a bigger picture. (Or I’m just running in pure thick mode). There is some wonderful imagery in what we have, I could almost feel the guy’s rage and the description of the silver blade at the end is well done.
Aun Doorback – This one made me think. It’s one of those clever little things where so much seems to have been squeezed into the mere 75 words. I like the idea of showing a traditional style tale from the other side. It’s good to be given a more individualistic view of orcs, not just monsters but personalities in their own right – of course to an orc being turned into a unicorn must be a curse up there with the worst of them. Freeing his daughter by killing the best she had become? Excellent story.
Anne – Quite tricky, but very well done and good enough to make me smirk. Twice. The idea of two souls approaching heaven, and one tricking the other so effectively the good guy goes to hell was clever enough. But the twist of the misunderstood message just punctuated the piece perfectly.
Phoenixthewriter – there was something I rather liked about this one, and I think that it was the fact that it did not conclude completely, there was something, to me at least, ambiguous about the ending that really added to the story. A horse trainer desperate to win, but had failed. It was all or nothing on the last race and we, the reader do not find out whether he wins or not. Very enjoyable.
Chris – Quite a disturbing piece in its own way, it seemed to me as though it wanted to be funny, but when you thought about it, it was grim with a quite horrific outcome, and a much darker form of redemption, an eye for an eye eh? The location reminded me of somewhere close to where I used to live and that made it all the more disturbing, I guess.
HB – Epic and classical, it felt like a myth waiting to happen, or that had happened. It was a strong simple story, and could fit quite happily in any classic pantheon of tales. I’ve always found it hard to create legends and mythologies, but it is done almost effortlessly here.
Highlander – and continuing the mythology feel this is a genuine tie into a classic myth. Heracles journey to redemption through the twelve tasks, culminating with his battle with the three headed pooch. The feel of the epic was really caught here, and by drawing on the familiar there was a lot more depth here. Very clever and an excellent idea.
Apologies once again for slightly unconsidered comments, my focus still is somewhere else, and a lot going on besides.
Still have to post my story, I've got one or two but have yet to decide which one to go with. (Mine are all below par this month, so what the hey!)
