Lucky Lola – There, that is the problem, sometimes people just lose too many words when trying to cut back and we end up with a story with so many gaps in it, it looks like burned parchment... uh, hold on a moment... A glimpse of the past that might have been, wonders crushed under Cromwell’s boot. Mechanical fireflies that will never see the light of day, who knows it might be history.
TacticalLoco – Sometimes it is wise to remember that a lot of burnings came from fear, fear of those who did not understand. This does not excuse it, just offers an explanation, because let’s face it burning alive is not a nice thing. Of course there is always the chance that those close-minded idiots might start turning on someone they really don’t understand, not realising that their victim understands a lot more than they, and their own actions might work against them.
Perp – I’m not sure what to say about mine this month instead of my normal offhand remark. I was caught out a bit by the challenge, to start with it looked incredibly... challenging but that changed and I found myself buried under ideas, and could not get any to work, because I was having more every time I started a story (some of them would not have worked, but it is the biggest trigger of the imagination I have had in a long time, so a genuine thanks to HB I guess. In the end I felt that this worked for me, I’m not really expecting anyone to get it (although some might), and the explanations can wait until the voting t’is done. I also cannot explain why I did poetry (or my approximation of it.) Meh.
kshRox –This one pulled up such a strong image for me that I just had to like it, one of those stories that conveys so much with so few words. A mechanical man facing a metallic queen; a genuine gut reaction of trying to hold everything in, to hide one’s emotions, and the inevitable reaction under to much pressure, and a a nice bit of humour to end it.
Bowler – Although ‘throwing a few zombies in’ might make a great story, it might not make it work, but this one does superbly. There is a logic to the tale that fits not only with the time, desperate people trying desperate things to avoid the plague, and then having to deal with the consequences. I particularly liked the end where the wise woman hot her just desserts – and the life lesson that even if you remove the cause you don’t always cure the problem.
