C - Reviews 9th Nov 2002

WHAT I READ TODAY:

The Garden by misfit

http:www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewstory.cgi?s=29626

Awarded with a fat, lush cherry, this piece is bursting with bizarre
imagination. I enjoyed this story immensely. It was surreal, strange,
haunting, eerie, crazy. I wasn't surprised at all to find a thread by
donignacio recommending this piece. If you've read any of the don's
work, you'll know he is another writer with an odd-ball imagination. I
would love to see a collaborative piece by these two.

Now THAT would be interesting indeed....

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Carnival of Fear by sneak

http:www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewstory.cgi?s=29572

This piece enticed some powerful visions and I thought it presented a
very real and clear message. At times I felt some of the poignancy was
lost, almost as though the author was tyring too hard to mould lines
into rhyme.

Nevertheless, I found this poem very moving .

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H - Making History by sirat

http:www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewstory.cgi?s=29457

This story held my attention and I had to keep reading to find out how
it would unfold. It's an imaginative and well constructed piece,
although I found the characterisation a little lacking. I also think
some editing and reworking could give the story a more powerful impact.
The word "seemed" was used far too many times for my liking.

Eg. "A flicker of discomfort seemed to dart across the old man's face."
I love the imagery of this sentence, but the word "seemed" totally
destroys its effectiveness.

Great work though. I'd like to read the sequel!

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Villanelle by paulgreco

http:www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewstory.cgi?s=29629

Inspired by both the recent villanelle discussions on the messageboard
and the today's event competition, I was impressed with the speed at
which this poem was written. Not an easy task is this villanelle
business.

A humourous piece about an odd flaw in our education system. Maybe it's
the teachers that need to go to detention?

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The Great Durango by donignacio

http:www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewstory.cgi?s=29628

This piece was a work of art. I loved it, especially the first
paragraph. I read this piece after coming home from a day at the Rodeo
finals, so the cowboy image was still fresh in my mind. Yee-haw!!

To me, this story represents being anything you choose to be, even if
it's not what you planned for yourself. It's about making the most of
who you are or what you want to be.

Don, I don't think you have anything to be jealous of. You have the
whole surreal, crazy thing totally under control.

Great writing.

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Old Hands by taz

http:www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewstory.cgi?s=29618

Another moving poem and I loved the ending. Again, I felt the author
was trying too hard to make the rhyming words fit.

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I Thought I Would Write by grahamtriggs

http:www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewstory.cgi?s=29589

Another villanelle-discussion-inspired-villanelle. As a villanelle
attemptee myself, I almost wet myself reading this piece.
Hilarious!!

It reminded me that I still haven't written mine yet......

......oh, CLUCKING BELL.

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Randsom by hitchaiku

http:www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewstory.cgi?s=29587

This piece has acheived cherry status, and I thought it was a
beautifully written poem. BUT...

I didn't like the ending (I'm a bit obsessive with endings). I thought
the line about the finger was a little vulgar in relation to the velvet
smoothness of the previous verses. I also felt it was too short. As
though it wasn't quite finished.

I wasn't ready to stop reading!

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RANDOM STORY

Now, I've come to a brand new section in my reviews. I decided a random
story would be fun to do and it would be a little more fair in
selecting a piece.

(In my best British accent): A bit like a lucky dip really.

So my random search brought me to:

Lead Check by pikok

http:www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewstory.cgi?s=24553

I can't say I really enjoyed this poem as I found it a lot confusing.
It was well written and some of the verses were fun, but I would have
preferred to read this poem with an inkling of what it was about. I
tried to form my own interpretation but nothing made sense.

Feeling a little guilty about not liking this poem, and to give the
author a fair chance, I thought I would do some further investigation
into this pikok chap and see what he's all about. I found another poem
within the same set, and I thought it was great.

Daytime TV by pikok

http:www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewstory.cgi?s=24555

I really dug this piece about daytime television. It was witty and
humourous with some underlying seriousness. It makes you realise that
you can laugh at all the pathetic guests on shows such as Ricki Lake
and Jerry Springer, but when it all boils down to it, these are real
people with some very real problems. To them, it's no laughing
matter.

The sad realisation of my own patheticness came when I found I knew
most of the programmes mentioned. Terrible, just terrible.