Jeez, what's happening to me I hardly seem to be posting at all these days.
But I'm still commenting!
HB - This is both a gentle story of love and something a lot darker as well. The awakening of a wood spirit, a Dryad perhaps caught by the words and longings of a young man, seemed to me to be romantic enough, but of course there is the twist that comes with it. Boys grow up, and this one probably did not know what he had awakened... Thought the idea was a very clever one, with a perfect ending. Well not for Tom...
Phyrebrat - Right, okay. I'm never going to look at a lollipop lady in the same way ever again. In fact I'm going to give them a lot more respect. This is one of those stories that just works so well for me, taking the mundane and turning it into something more. There is nothing that is said here that is untrue, but the words carefully chosen really give the story a twist, it is like looking at things through someone else's eyes; which makes you realise that what you see and hear is often only your interpretation.
mosaix - yet another really excellent entry, the quality is just so excruciatingly good these days that the bar just cannot be raised any higher. It's a funny sort of story for me because my mind was racing ahead as I read it. I knew there was something not quite right - that someone had survived a crash on Mars was the first big clue, but at the same time I just could not quite catch up with the story in order to finish the deal before it did. Loved the end, what a great twist, it was not a kick in the stomach shock ending, but it was so apt it did not need to be.
southron sword - Well... I'm not sure I fully 'got; this one, but in the first instance this did not matter to me at all. The words themselves, the way the story is told were just so beautiful that I did not need to see much more. If I was to go deeper I would have to say that I could see the thing in need of protection is the Earth itself, hurt by the hands of man, and the lover may be something like nature about to take care of the upstart apes.
Major Shake - Something we have not seen too much of this month, but a fit for the theme. Someone who is so devoted to their deity that they are willing to sacrifice their life for their beliefs, to the extent of finding rapture in their own demise. Of course we get to see what happens after the sacrifice, where it seems that the sacrifice just might be more prolonged and ongoing than he intially believed.... (or not!)
