Old Reviews

Reviewer: dmc824 Anonymous

Date: 14 Nov 2013 06:15 pm Title: Chapter 1

Wow! What a spooky story! This one kinda grabs you all the way through it.

Author’s Response:

Thank you for reading! I’m glad this story grabbed you. 🙂

Reviewer: jfclover Signed starstarstarstarhalf-star

Date: 14 Nov 2013 08:51 am Title: Chapter 1

Nice, freya. Tight – no frills – perfect short story!

Author’s Response:Thanks! Yep, certainly no frills. And certainly short. I’m glad you found it “perfect” in that regard! 😉 My head keeps spinning things from our boys’ POV, but I’m not necessarily inspired to write it. At least, not yet. 😉

Reviewer: BluewindFarm Signed

Date: 14 Nov 2013 04:57 am Title: Chapter 1

Wicked and demented. Wow! Please tell me you’re a psychiatrist who specializes in working with the criminal element. It can’t be normal to come up with these kinds of stories.

Yes, the man could justify all his actions in that he was doing it for the good of someone else. Must have never been taught right from wrong when he was growing up.

Author’s Response:

No, I’m not a psychiatrist. 😉 But both my husband and I have studied a lot of psychology. I’ve also studied a lot of philosophy, and I have a habit of trying to get into people’s heads to try to understand how their minds work. I find it perplexing when people simply can’t see a logic that to me is plain as day. I haven’t encountered too many deviant, dastardly criminals (thank heavens!!), but watching shows like “Criminal Minds” (which I rarely watch because it’s so dark…) makes me realize I think somewhat like a profiler at times. I don’t do it to catch bad guys, but…in the wise words of sklamb, “If you don’t understand evil’s power, and don’t take it seriously enough, how can good ever prevail?” I said something similar in the forward of a dark poetry book, i.e. “there’s nothing quite like a trip through the darkness to make us all more appreciative of the light.”

Reviewer: sklamb Signed starstarstarstarstar

Date: 13 Nov 2013 05:13 pm Title: Chapter 1

Boy, when you do an experiment you do a doozy of one! And here I was thinking I’d done something rather unusual and intriguing–but you trumped my ace, ma’am. Someday I’ll learn when I’m playing outside my league….

Very impressive, very. Your ear for monologue and dialog is pitch-perfect, as always, and your grasp of a twisted mindset is scary-deep. Oh, the humanity! Thank you so much for this! Wish I could give it a rating of 11!

Author’s Response:

You are far too kind, sklamb! You most definitely did something unusual and intriguing! You wrote a story that stayed with me, kind of kicked me in the teeth and came back to do it again when I would least expect it. In fact, your story stayed with me until this nameless talker took root. Yes, “Not Without My Son,” provided the initial inspiration. I added my own “Bedeviled” to the mix, and then just started hearing this guy. Then I wondered if I could write the whole story without any sort of narration or description, just pure “talking.” I failed in the very end–I found I had to put his closing words into thoughts rather than speech. I couldn’t find any other way to describe Adam’s final shot and what it did to this guy without breaking character.

But…Your Kane definitely trumps my no-name bad guy for deviousness! *And* for unspeakable acts of violence. (shudders) Joe’s not even really *hurt* in this story, just temporarily out of commission. Between your stories, “Not Without My Son” and “Handful of Ashes,” I bow to a master of…well…putting Cartwrights through the wringer!! 😉