Blurb on Other People’s Words – Three Digital Shorts

April 19, 2011 at 12:17 am (Reviews, writing)

As part of my new review section on my blog, I’ll be reviewing either one novel or multiple shorts every Monday. Today I have three shorter works of digital fiction on the review block that I felt were definite winners: Feral by Rebecca Lloyd, an e-lit novelette from May December Publications, Burn It and Blood Bound, multi-author digital shorts from Trestle Press.

Feral by Rebecca Lloyd –an inside look at terror

I enjoyed this novelette from the first word. The author has a delightfully descriptive writing style. She uses a third person directed PoV narrative very effectively, and captures both the essence of the protagonist, who I was rooting for completely by the end of the story, and the sensations that she is experiencing. It is fast-paced, well researched, emotionally inspiring and entertaining – with beautiful imagery and rich vocabulary used in such a subtle way that the story still comes across as very down-to-earth and accessible. The terror is quite tangible. Definitely a 5 star tale for me.

Improvised Digital Short Story – Burn It

by Thomas Kaufman, Vincent Zandri , CQ Scafidi, Thomas White

Four writers come together to create a fast-paced story filled with exciting action and gritty intrigue. While the story blends together nicely, each writer brings their own flavour to the tale. I’m not a normally a fan of typical action/thriller stories but this one had enough quirks and twists to hold my attention. I even enjoyed Thayer, the protagonist, despite the fact that in many ways he is not a character I can relate to, rough around the edges with a seriously ego-centric nature. He holds enough of the human interest element, impulsiveness, and spunk to make him likable nevertheless. A blast of a read!

Improvised Digital Short Story – Blood Bond

by Barbara Briggs Ward, Joan Meijer, Laurie Bowler, Bri Clark

Another matching of wits and writing skills, but this time with a feminine touch and the added appeal of the supernatural. This story had an intensity similar to that in Burn It, and was equally exciting, but this one had a romantic edge to it and its whirlwind impact was as much an emotional one as a physical one. Alexis’s path is filled with danger, shadow and mystery, and these writers were adept at capturing a chilling sensual air that added magic to her circumstance – almost a dark fairy-tale feel. The ending however, may not be quite what you expect.