And up come the next batch of belated comments - there will be more, hopefully tonight to square things off.
James Coote – Sometimes people are touched with empathy to the extent that they can do the most unwise of things with the most emotional of reasons. Seeing another creature suffering, even though it might be the worse thing alive, to take it up and care for it might seem to be the kindest thing, but who knows what it will become as it ages. And no matter how much kindness you show, it will never love you.
Phyrebrat – How frustrating would it be, to see you love just a few feet away, to reach out and try and touch, yet, no matter how close you got, something quite mundane ‘just doing it’s job’ could so easily keep you apart. Excellent.
Doz – What appealed to me most about this entry was the feeling of almost an eternity of love squeezed into just one day. There is little more to say what is going on other than the beautiful use of words throughout, until the last few lines, and there we once again get the warning about loving those that are fey.
Teresa – There is nothing sweet in this tale that catches the heart of a classic and turns it onto something else. Just because someone might be the right person to break a curse, does not mean that he is going to. There is a chance of failure, and in failure the story needs to be resolved, but that does not mean that the characters are perfect for one another and we are left with emotional suffering and pain.
Spellblade – There is something that I felt was just sad at the heart of this one. A brilliant idea mind you, all the trappings of a fairy tale, wrapped up in something a little more real, a little technical perhaps even sordid. And yet it still kept it’s core, which was clever and well written.
HE – I think this catches the heart of a unrequited love, especially when a third part is involved. If you truly love someone then it is easy to let them go, no matter what ache it cause you, however that does not mean the rival has to be let off so lightly. Great idea.
TSP – I’m not sure whether I was meant to but I had to grin at this one. It started off so well, filling my head with images of ardent lasses, demure in their love, then twisted things on it’s head and turned it into a psychopathic bitch determined to have her love whether he wanted it or not...
Danrama – And now sinister. I think what makes this one work so well is the beauty of the swan so well described in the opening and then the feeling that the watcher may well have an ‘honest’ desire for her, but there is something just a little too dark about him, making the whole thing inherently creepy.
BM – Another story which does not produce a pay off until the last line, just as it should be. In this case we are led down the garden path once more, our feelings automatically thinking of princess and heroic love, only to find that in the end it is little more than a flower yearning for the most nurturing hands of all.
Kiffinyjean – Something a little different and most certainly fresh. There is something truly amusing in reading these adverts from a personal common and recognising the characters from within. Really well done, getting the wording just right must have taken some serious thinking.
Parson – Another twist on the Arthurian legend, and one that is both different and entertaining, not to mention thought provoking. The idea that there might be more to the sword and that it is only our stories that make it mystical are worth consideration, but I guess for me the greatest irony is Arthur not thinking of his love for the sword, but of his queen, when the truth of the matter is that she did not love him...
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