WooHoo! You guys stepped up to the challenge and then some! I had so much fun reading them! Congratulations to everyone! If you missed reading the entries, check them out here. Otherwise, let's see what the judge has to say:
Caitlin (Written Between Covers): I really enjoyed the relationship between the siblings here, there are nice hints of their dynamic throughout this piece that I am sure many of us could relate to. Trevor was a fun main character, being both curious and mischievous. I also loved the ending, with the dog giving him a helping hand to hide the evidence. I hope little Trevor learned his lesson!
Rebekah Postupak: I love that Rebekah took a traditional prompt and found a fantasy spin for it. There's a nice sense of back story, with the fairies motivation and subsequent frustrations revealed at a steady pace. I particularly enjoyed some of the imagery, for example "a small mountain of moaning squirrels lay at her feet". The tone was fun throughout. The ending was also pitch perfect, I was glad to see Marina get her comeuppance.
Stella: I had to read this one a couple of times to wrap my head around it. I enjoyed the voice of the narrator, there was a great sense of character and some nice flourishes (Are my knickers showing?) A lot of time was spent on incidental details, some of those words could have been focused on background as to why the sky fell, which would have provided a bit more context. I was left feeling like there was more to the story.
Christy: The concept for this story was fantastic, with a shadowy organization ensuring everyone's karmic ledger remains balanced. I enjoyed both the examples used to establish the mechanics, they were fun and efficient while giving a great sense of 'a day in the life' of Mariann. There's an awful lot crammed into these 497 words, I could absolutely see this one being expanded into a short story.
Karl A Russell: Nice work with the gritty noir tone, I particularly liked the main character and his no nonsense approach to police work. The toy squirrel was well incorporated into the story, unwittingly concealing the central plot device. This one had some interesting twists and kept me guessing, just when I thought things couldn't get worse they did, right up until the dramatic conclusion. I loved the last line too.
Charles W Short (storeroomoftheheart): This was a fun change of perspective, being told from the point of view of an obsessive squirrel. The scene was well established, I could almost hear the Mission Impossible theme tune as the squirrel darted around the church. The ending was also a nice switch up.
Shadows of the Divine: I struggled with the opening line, it needed punctuation to better express what the author was getting at. The whole piece was a little jumbled, I felt like there was a lot going on but the main narrator was never established and I wasn't clear on what exactly was happening. There's certainly hints of an interesting story here, but it needed a touch more explanation.
Special Challenge Champion: Christy
Runner-Up: Charles W Short
Grand Champion: Rebekah Postupak
These guys certainly made my job difficult this week!
thanks for the nod. and congrats to Rebekah P.
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