So sorry for the late results this week! I'm on vacation and have been MIA from the computer. I'm in the middle of packing and I'll be driving all day tomorrow, so this is going to be short. Thank you, Eric, for judging! Go check out the stories this week here. And here is what Eric had to say:
A small group this week, but still some very enjoyable reading. Thanks to those who took on the challenge and submitted a story!
Pen Name: I like the use of the 'story within the story,' although overall I found myself a little confused as to who the voices were in the story - Monster, whoever wrote the note, the character in the story. It felt like this was a story which needed a little more room to breathe.
Christy: Such a horrible life for these children, and I fear, a life that is about to come to an end. It put me in the mind of Anne Frank or a child dealing with the horrors of war and genocide. Very well constructed. I don't see anything in the story about a broken window, however, so this story doesn't qualify for the special challenge.
Sarah Aisling: When I saw the comment about the full moon, I thought we were headed for a werewolf story, but you took it another way. Nicely optimistic without being treacly, and set well in the present day.
Jeffrey Hollar: (Ineligible...by a minute) Well-constructed, atmospheric. Dark in multiple ways. Poor Coltrane, living through an apocalypse that doesn't seem to want to end...until he decides to take matters into his own hands.
Special Challenge Champion:
Sarah Aisling
A nice little real-life story, with some hope for the future.
Grand Champion:
Christy
Dark and depressing, but compelling.
Thanks for your comments. I totally agree. As I was writing it I realized I couldn't really do it justice in the space I had and still tell a somewhat complete tale. But, at that point I was committed. Maybe I'll try to lengthen it sometime.
ReplyDeleteThank you! It was fun to write, and it's always a challenge for me to pen a short story. *whistles*
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