Ten Shun!
So this week we had submissions by Ann Gauger ( ‘The Calling’), Matt Bartle (‘Rain’ and ‘Fear of Fur’) and Josa Keyes (Miss Cameron, Hanging).
I thought Ann and Matt’s submissions were very well handled by other subscribers, particularly Troy writing about Ann and Sarah Gellner’s critique of Matt. See the previous comment thread ( November 3) for their full reviews, and others.
Alexia Bartlett clearly liked some of Ann’s piece and loved Matt’s pieces, finding them ‘a real joy’. Anna Rose Phipps found ‘Fear of Fur’ ‘shockingly accurate’. Matt said Ann’s piece gave him ‘Studio Ghibli Vibes’ which can’t be a bad thing. Rob Edwards found Ann’s piece ‘charming’. But much of the feedback was critical - albeit, I think, in a positive way.
Now it’s my turn and I have put on my camouflage paint, metal helmet and Sergeant Major’s voice.
I personally found it hard to love either Ann or Matt’s submissions. Some of the questions that occurred to me as I read ‘The Calling’ included ‘what country are we in?’, ‘why is Keva chosen to go out as Jumala’s messenger?’, ‘who/what is Jumala anyway?’, ‘why does Lucas change his form?’, ‘what kind of character does Keva have? ‘What kind of person is Lucas’ and so on. Too many questions, not enough answers. The whole piece doesn’t really make sense, although things happen, and there is a sort of structure to the story - beginning, middle, end - the piece feels very thin.
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