Jack Cummins

I am inclined to think that 'hope' is extremely important, as opposed to despair. Some may see hope as unhelpful in 'Pandora's Box'. However, this may...

My understanding of 'Thus Spoke Zarathurstra' is that it involves a process of 'waking up' , beyond the everyday conventions of 'robotic' functioning....

I am glad that you appreciate an attempt to move on. I wish to develop my writing and I would like to write a novel at some point, if life doesn't get...

Thanks for all the feedback from everyone and any criticism was constructive. As usual@"Amity" gave a detailed review and so did some other people.. T...

Congratulations to @"hypericin" and @"unenlightened", and to all organisers, participants and reviewers.

Yes, both you and I will have to keep trying until we win to overcome our failure complexes, while the winners may retire on the basis of the glory, i...

I still guess @"180 Proof" for 'The Story of Thing' and @"unenlightened" for 'Unbecoming'. However, there may be some surprises here, as some authors,...

As regards to the 'artist's way', it could be asked to what extent were Jiim Morrison or van Gogh successes or failures? They both lost their lives, w...

What is 'failure'? I once had a tutor who said to me , 'You must feel such a failure.' I am not sure if he was trying to be helpful or not. Failure is...

To some extent, I agree with you about the ongoing benefits and hazards of losing and winning. It may be about the snakes and ladders of life. The per...

Each of us engaged in the thread competition, most probably, would like to win, for better or worse. What does it mean to win, or lose? I was once on ...

I did enjoy reading this. If anything, I wondered about how it works as a short story or something else, such as part of a novel. I see it as having s...

An intriguing story. It unfolds as a dream. I am left wondering to what extent it is about gender? There is the traditional theme of blue and pink col...

Do you think that the absurdities should be explained or stretched? In saying this, I am wondering about leaving so much unexplained or attempts at fa...

One of the ways which this competition differs from most literature and creative writing ones is that there is no 'prize' in any material sense. The i...

@Amity Yes, I am tired too, and let us hope that such feelings of tiredness don't kill off our reception of creativity and the creative spirit itself....

Thanks for your reply and I do think that some of these issues need to be addressed before future competitions. In the first one, I struggled with thi...

I have been put off this contest by the voting system, and not sure if I wish to participate in further TPF creative writing threads at all in the fut...

I found this story to be an interesting read, especially as I have worked in psychiatric nursing. This seems a glimpse of the American system, with in...

The writing style reminds me of Jules Verne. I wonder if the explosion might have been better at the beginning and less of a linear narrative structur...

Yes, I am trying not to get into a rabbit hole about marking and scores. I did in the first few competitions and that was why I got worked up about th...

I find it to be a superb piece of writing. I particularly like the twilight state of consciousness as an atmosphere of story description, giving it a ...

I thought that it was a good story. There was a strong narrative voice. I did wonder if more showing would enhance its quality.

This story could probably be developed further as a longer piece of writing to bring out the characters beyond a scene. As it is it may be more of a s...

I have started reviewing the stories and struggling with casting votes, especially when it may be crucial at this late stage when most interested may ...

Excellent fantasy writing and a compelling read, I have just given it 5.

I would imagine that the character is rather wealthy, having inherited a mansion and choosing to abandon it completely because the memories are too pa...

I think that it a worthwhile and pleasurable read. The use of a letter is a good way of incorporating the past as well. I liked the character because ...

I think that an extension would be helpful in this instance. Everything seems to be going wrong for me since New Year and I can't sleep. So, this colo...

Being interesting is important, as opposed to being boring and predictable. Life's harsh aspects may lead us to give up or wake up, and I wonder how t...

It is hard to know whether authorial style and art should be repeated or not. When I was at school my art teacher suggested that art style should be u...

It is an interesting exercise of presumptions of knowledge of authors. Some guesses may be completely loaded and wrong. It is such a controversial and...

I am still in the midst of the stories, but I have been thinking that 'The Story of THING' is by @"180 Proof". Something about the style of the writin...

You are both right to say that if someone gives an unexplained 1 to any of our stories we should not care. Even negative feedback, which can be useful...

I definitely don't wish to take the voting too seriously as it is likely that the stories may be received entirely differently according to who the au...

Your way of trying to make definitive categories on numbers puts me off voting at all. It is almost like interpreting some votes as down votes. I thin...

I agree that the time factor as opposed to word count is interesting. When in a creative writing group I came up against the task of a 5 minute read a...

I don't wish to engage too much on this thread, as a way of avoiding the actual stories. However, part of the problem which I see with stories which a...

You have given some extremely good reviews and I have found that the entries for this contest are of an extremely high standard. I am afraid that I of...

Hopefully, it's doable, but remember that we all have different life circumstances. As it happened, Christmas bank holidays gave me a couple of days t...

I am not sure where the philosophy of badminton fits into religion exactly. However, aggression in philosophy, like in sports may come into play in th...

Happy Christmas to you too! It is hard to know how psychological comfort fits into risk assessment. It anything, what I saw in healthcare was often ba...

Some people, including those who break the law, do come out so well, while the cautious often do badly. So much in life does seem to be a gamble and i...

Yes, I do remember that you have a medical background because you also know me as Jackdaydream. What you are saying about seeing bad to worse makes se...

During the time of Covid there did appear to be a levelling out of wealth and poverty. This was interconnected with the way in which everyone was vuln...

The point about science not being the foundation of policy is an important one. If anything it is the opposite way round. To some extent, experimental...

The inaccuracy of risk assessment is part of the problem and how measures are taken on the basis of information with inaccuracies. For example, when w...

I would like to try all of these approaches and I have even found that tea tree oil helps..I try to approach the problem from different angles. What I...

.The assessment of benefits entitlement are so complex, which so many variables. I guess that the way in which I see the problem in this and, so much ...

I am aware that you are in Australia and the politics of which I am speaking is in England. I do not know how ideas of politics and risk management ar...