Jamal

That's the spirit :cool:

Whether you're a winner who wins or an underdog who wins, you win! :up:

Personally I root for the underdog. I want an underdog-eat-overdog world, or just a doggy-dog world.

There are more votes in polls than there are comments in the Favourites thread because voting is easier than writing a post and it's anonymous.

Thank you for asking. I love it when I get the chance to be pedantic. The standard and more natural past tenses would be thrust, ground, and shone, in...

It's good to have my intuition confirmed by a reader. I suppose uncomfortable + ambiguous + stronger = better, but I'm still undecided if I want to go...

I am not totally sure why I struggled to get through this one. I can identify one reason, and it's easily fixed: the formatting. I've said enough abou...

Thank you, I do tend to obsess about details.

I have to shut down this apparently infectious idea that Ivanov is a priest! On the other hand, thanks :grin:

No, I never considered doing it throughout the story, I just meant in that scene-setting passage.

To be clear, I originally had she/her but changed it to it for the submitted version. The earlier version is shown in my comment above. I was wonderin...

Thank you. If I recall correctly, I had those in the story before it was even a story. For no reason, I had a particular kind of narrative voice in mi...

I think so, yes.

I definitely don't think it needs telegraphing beyond that; seems perfect.

I’m not sure what the issue is. Are you referring to this bit… It seemed totally natural to me, very nicely done.

By my reckoning, which might be faulty, we’ll complete our first quarter a year from now.

That's more like it! In fact, Kafka can be pretty funny too.

The funny thing is I really don't like those authors and strive not to be like them at all, but I guess it was a compliment so.. thanks :grin:

Thank you ND. You're my target reader on TPF so I'm really glad you liked it.

Happy Hogmanay to you, and Happy New Year when it comes. :party:

Ok, I'll think about it.

Thanks, I shall ponder on. But one thing occurs to me: Surely it does the opposite, almost literally objectifying her? From she, a person, to it, a th...

I'd like to know what people think about a problem I had with this story. There's a crucial point when she becomes it. Originally I didn't have this s...

This pleases me :grin:

As @"Vera Mont" recognized, I didn't intend anything post-apocalyptic. I was describing what Glasgow's business district was like on a Sunday in the 9...

You might be disappointed. The Glasgow of the story is the Glasgow of my mind, which is not very accurate. The highway traversed by the footbridge is ...

Sounds really cool. My trouble is I sometimes get bored with an idea quickly and want to move on.

Thank you Amity, I appreciate that. Yes, a Samara Bend beach stop on a hot day in August on the Volga cruise I was on a few years ago. Good point. I w...

Good to know :up:

Nice idea. :grin: So the book could be the case file for the Glasgow Upyr, containing a chronological series of reports, each one about a different vi...

Thanks for this, I'm taking it seriously. It's something I noticed myself, the anticlimax of having to read several paragraphs after the story's over....

The theology and hierarchy are quite elaborate for a short story, which is maybe why the roles and relationships weren't always clear. These comments ...

These comments gave me the dopamine hit I'd been miserably craving for days after the stories went up. Much appreciated. I’m delighted someone picked ...

Thanks Christoffer. I wasn’t aware that Heaven-as-bureaucracy was such a worn-out trope, until I looked into it later. I don't know if I thought I was...

Thank you for the feedback everyone, I appreciate it. I'll split my responses into several posts. It was a relief to see this comment. I absolutely di...

Right now my runner-up might be "The Woman in the Portrait". I need to read that one again.

However, there are some that didn't grab first time that I might read again and reassess.

So far: The Nexus Crown: the most enjoyable, totally in my wheelhouse Homeward: great writing, affecting and real Nightscapes: expertly crafted, intri...

Don’t worry, we’ll keep them open.

I assume this has been extended, yes? (Indefinitely I’d suggest)

I disagree with this (most so-called postmodern works were not written with the intention of being postmodern), but otherwise what you say is fairly a...

Staying in the realm of literature regarded as postmodern, Thomas Pynchon is often extremely vague and esoteric, and he's brilliant. Postmodernism is ...

Thank you for the salutary reminder.

I wasn't aware I was responsible.

The Wanting Seed by Anthony Burgess. A brilliant and fascinating dystopian science fiction novel, written in the same year he wrote A Clockwork Orange...

I don't know, but as the Russian saying goes, the circus has left, but the clowns have stayed.

That's a good approach Jack. :up:

Don’t worry, he needs toughening up.

:blush:

Willingness to re-read is a potent compliment, so thank you.