R4 (Reactions, Reviews, Reference, Redirection) #0171 · 1:47am May 19th, 2015
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Here are five slightly edited old reviews:
Bantam Tales by Chris
Letters from a Senior to a Junior Changeling by Chris
Shattered by SilentBelle
Turning The Page by Arcainum
Pity the Rain by Daemon McRae
Bantam Tales by Chris
[story link] [my original review]
A bunch of tiny little short stories. All of them fun. Well, most of them fun. The one written in verse was more serious, and as mentioned poetry is not my thing. Still, all of these were quite good. It didn’t have the same breadth of genre or mood like other short story collections I’ve read, but I’d still highly recommend this to anyone who likes fun horsewords.
Letters from a Senior to a Junior Changeling by Chris
[story link] [my original review]
First off, this was very well written. It is a good example of story by letter. A one sided conversation where I did feel that the other side of it existed. However, my one complaint was that the changelings here just weren’t alien enough. Maybe it’s because I just read an article about how a big corporation is running their customer service division into the ground, but the changelings in this story could easily just be big business CEOs trying to squeeze another bit of profit out of the company. I see the level of emotional manipulation in this story as well inside the standard human experience. I like the really alien and/or fantasy creature changelings though. Hiveminds or strange powers or exotic origins, that sort of thing. It’s a little unfair, but the story For Whom We Are Hungry was much more to my tastes. I really got a feel that the changeling in that had a very different viewpoint and perceptions.
About two-thirds of the original review.
Shattered by SilentBelle
[story link] [my original review]
This is a story with ambition, but doesn’t quite reach it. It is a somewhat powerful character piece that is just kind of off in my opinion. Still a good read, still has some feels, but it just felt like it was next door to the really big impact it wanted. A little too much vagueness, a little too much metaphor for my taste. I’d still give a recommendation. It’s a good short bit.
Turning The Page by Arcainum
[story link] [my original review]
I liked this one. A tiny little quibble about the start. Why would you treat meeting yourself from the future as a diplomatic event? I mean, how would you even get warning it was going to happen? Anyway. Besides that this was a nice short bit that shows an interesting idea. This is a good example of how to do really short fiction. Just enough to unfold a neat idea, but not enough time to fully explore it or let it drag.
Pity the Rain by Daemon McRae
[story link] [my original review]
The writing is a little rough, but it was somewhat enjoyable. The ending was not what I was expecting and was worth the build up. Mostly.
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