alchemist - There is something at play here, beneath the words, and emotional subtext. There have been just enough words used to give you a structure and to fill in the rest that it is inspired. A child worship of a father; an ongoing war, the chance of sacrifice in the line of duty; the child following in a father's footsteps...excellent.
Teresa - The mice are on the loose. There was so much I liked in this one, the mice 'waking up,' it might be a technological waking, or it might be a magical one, but either way the mice doing a pre-emptive strike on the cat is scarily intelligent and the making of another wonderful little tale.
Ursa - The story is very abrupt, the sentence structure truncated and short, making the tale read in short bursts, which really gets the point of view of a machine across. You can almost imagine it's movements, given life through the way the story is structured. A full life time in 75 words!
mosaix - Note to self: Never get give Perp jr. any construction sets. There was a distinctly British feeling to the story - probably fed by the pit reference; and there was the feeling of the father being worn after working so hard, but perhaps not showing an interest in what the son was up to, and just how intelligent and creative he was. The final scene is a well drawn image, that really stuck in mind.
TJ - Almost a steampunk Toy Story, but with a very sinister edge. You could almost feel the oppression as one by one the normal toys are transformed into nasty caricatures of themselves. There really is a sense of dread as one by one the toys are consumed, and there is the sense of hope as one of the last is prepared to stand up and fight, but almost an irony that in order to preserve the comfort of the toys, it must become a thing of violence.
This has to have been one of the most incredible months for entries. Just when I thought we had reached an impossibly high plateau, you all raise it again. I don't think there was a single weak entry this month, everyone a potential winner (something that seems to have been reflected in the early stages of voting).
Just getting a shortlist has been harder than it has ever been.
So I feel honoured to get a mention, many thanks Hope.
And my shortlist:
Reiver33
Harebrain
Mith
Abernovo
Parson,
Aun Doorback
Cul
Boneman
TJ
