tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post4755846922453433758..comments2024-03-04T02:09:30.979-06:00Comments on One Man's Pony Ramblings: Mini-Reviews Round 20: EqD Nightmare Night Contest Edition!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-46485265676958755872013-10-28T20:12:31.192-05:002013-10-28T20:12:31.192-05:00Add one more "yeah, basically what you said&q...Add one more "yeah, basically what you said" to the pile. I'll admit, I didn't really find any of the stories particularly "creepy", per se, so I focused my judgement on which of the entries were simply high-quality stories. From that, only "More Than You Know" and "The Lantern" stood out, and although I didn't even realize there was an epilogue to the latter until after I'd voted, I gave top billing to CiG's entry. In retrospect, I don't think the epilogue really /hurt/ the story, since it's precisely what an epilogue should be: a small bit of extra content that isn't necessary to the reader's comprehension of the plot, but provides additional closure to anyone who might be looking for it. "More Than You Know" is a great speculative story in itself, but the ending felt like an inevitability fairly early on in the piece. "The Lantern" didn't end in a shocking or surprising way either, but it was achieved with a good deal more subtlety and implicit character development, which to me was enough to give it the edge.Aquaman52https://www.blogger.com/profile/03175143452061642006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-91888783279600485972013-10-26T16:06:18.953-05:002013-10-26T16:06:18.953-05:00Just finished #5 and it was much better than I'...Just finished #5 and it was much better than I'd expected based on your review. I was bothered more by the typos than missing commas, and those weren't any worse than what I've seen in stories you've rated four or even five stars. I'd love to read a more developed and cleaned up version of this ficHolly Oatshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01703437987958922954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-70623150880501355712013-10-25T19:05:58.438-05:002013-10-25T19:05:58.438-05:00More Than You Know:
Saw this coming as soon as I ...More Than You Know:<br /><br />Saw this coming as soon as I read your comments.<br /><br />" . . . <i>but the frightening rationality behind it is remarkably effective.</i>" --<i>Chris</i><br /><br />Rationalisation, perhaps, but not rationality. No. I pride myself--rightly or wrongly--on my philosophical skills, and the logic presented here is definitely irrational. I see a world scarier than this outside my door every hour of every day, so I can't really find this kind of stuff chilling. I can, however, appreciate the exquisite work that clearly went into building this story, even if I thought the end was far too obvious. Really intelligent rendition of tyrant Celestia, although the 'sun related powers' stuff is always a bit of a turn off for me.<br /><br />This is one of those times when I can easily see why a story is good, even if it's not for me. That said, I can't get my head around the rather dry, present-tense prose.InquisitorMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10209346997929773686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-68421164105510028342013-10-25T17:46:05.888-05:002013-10-25T17:46:05.888-05:00The Lantern:
I have absolutely no issue whatsoeve...The Lantern:<br /><br />I have absolutely no issue whatsoever with the ambiguity. If anything, I'd rate it as the story's strongest feature. However, only two parts of the story piqued my interest: the relationship between the lamp and the spirits, and the relationship between Daring and Fossil. The rest felt fairly tacked-on and the descriptions were trying <i>way</i> too hard to force a tone that clearly didn't have enough set-up--as if trying to force the story to be horror in order to fit into the competition.<br /><br />I mean, it's good writing considering how quickly he wrote it, but I can't let that sway my opinion of a story that ultimately came up empty. The whole thing was too much of a monorail ride to build any sense of tension.<br /><br /><i>Hocksford</i>, however, is best pun.InquisitorMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10209346997929773686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-52800212332772008142013-10-25T13:53:00.285-05:002013-10-25T13:53:00.285-05:00Striking 1 and 5 out based on your review. 3 is di...Striking 1 and 5 out based on your review. 3 is discounted by default.<br /><br />Will report on 2 and 4 when I've finished my editing.InquisitorMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10209346997929773686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-28251354979546271552013-10-25T10:36:15.449-05:002013-10-25T10:36:15.449-05:00I pretty much agree on all counts. Sounds like Mor...I pretty much agree on all counts. Sounds like <i>More Than You Know</i> was your favorite, which was a very close #2 for me. I agree that the coda Cold in Gardez added to <i>The Lantern</i> was wholly unnecessary, but it looks like CiG got a few comments criticizing the open ending. Eh. Some people can't handle ambiguousness, I suppose. Except I didn't think it was even all that ambiguous. Oh well.<br /><br />It's funny, usually skirts' metaphor-laden writing doesn't put me off that much, but in the case of <i>The Face Takers</i> it just seemed absurd. The metaphors didn't even seem to make sense half the time. Maybe this is true of his other writing and it's just been too long since I've read something of his.John Perryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01440476810236159695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-53837734584513275562013-10-25T09:56:57.740-05:002013-10-25T09:56:57.740-05:00I'm glad to hear you (and anyone really) enjoy...I'm glad to hear you (and anyone really) enjoyed it so much, and yes I'm still at work on a follow-up to it. It's unlikely to be ready by Halloween unfortunately.<br /><br />As for Reading Room #36, Chris is correct in the assumption that the deadline impacted it (my usual idea to publish rate is a year for 5k words... I'm slow.) I had a few other endings in mind, that I couldn't consider given a late start, and I have a horrible history of being completely unable to vary my sentence structure. I did enjoy writing it, however, and was more than a little shocked to see it make the top 5 of 40 entries.Flashgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-4481740697207237292013-10-25T08:40:18.257-05:002013-10-25T08:40:18.257-05:00I had almost the exact same thing to say about tha...I had almost the exact same thing to say about that last one. Good characterization wasted with poor execution. Of course, I have yet to actually "say" these things as my reviews aren't going up till the 30th. :BPresent Perfecthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16195959811544391904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-487548995974044892013-10-25T07:13:32.262-05:002013-10-25T07:13:32.262-05:00I'll always remember Flashgen for A FLEet|ng L...I'll always remember Flashgen for <i>A FLEet|ng LIght |n thE DArknEsS</i>. I haven't read <i>Reading Room #36</i>, but <i>FLEet|ng LIght</i> is probably my favourite horror story on Fimfiction. It was vague as all hell (I'd dare even say it felt incomplete, and the author did indeed change the story's tag to incomplete recently), but the atmosphere it built was brilliantly done, and it does some clever things with its formatting too.<br /><br />It might not scare everybody, but I'd be remiss to not recommend it for anyone looking for a good horror story this Halloween.DannyJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13273313206696087395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-24827036007618935082013-10-25T00:24:23.219-05:002013-10-25T00:24:23.219-05:00I was gonna marathon all of these on my day off Tu...I was gonna marathon all of these on my day off Tuesday, but only made it through #'s 2 & 4 before succumbing to the flu. I haven't found time to read anymore since, but I'll try to squeeze in <i>Face Takers</i> before I doze off tonight if at all possible (trying to get over dehydration at the moment, which is making staying up harder than usual). Got another day off Saturday, so hopefully I can finish the rest then<br /><br /><i>More Than You Know</i> was incredible! I'm sure it's gonna be my #1 pick, considering I added it to my 5-star list. It felt pretty good to see EqD spotlight it shortly after, as though I had "picked correctly". <i>The Lantern</i> was also very good. Based on your reviews here, I imagine it'll be my #2, though I'm hoping the others surprise me. I have a good feeling about #3Holly Oatshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01703437987958922954noreply@blogger.com