Baby Girl, by Jon Skovron

Short Reveiw:

Not your typical ‘to hell and back’ piece, this story was a little slow in the begining, but creative and fun.  Who knew the devil had good parenting advice?

Long Review:

I found this story more intriguing than interesting, if you’ll allow me to split hairs.  The writer approached hell from a whole new direction (if he’ll forgive the pun) and the character struck me as one of those outside-the-box genius types, but my connection to the pov character was never great and I found myself skimming the build-up journey to hell.  The ending was also a little odd, with the unexpected hand-off of the girl.  All in all it was a story which indicated massive potential in the writer, but the potential was not fully tapped in this story.

 

Femme Fatale, by Jason D. Wittman

Short Review:

An interesting mix of gritty, urban sci-fi and the flavor of high fantasy.  Imagine if Rogue (from the X-men) borrowed a few powers from Storm, then grew up in a world with no other mutants in the first half of the 20th century.  That mix doesn’t do the story justice, but it’ll get you thinking down the right lines.

Long Review:

I liked the choice in the pov character.  As the most accesible character, he helped me get emotionally involved.  Yet becuase he is always standing on the outside of the most tense emotional moments, the story has a ‘big picture’, or slightly surreal feeling to it, as if it’s a long lost story from an ancient book of fable written for modern times.  I also enjoyed the writer’s use of music, and the theme of redemption which ran throughout.  I’m not going to try and sort out a favorites list at this point, but this story would rate in the top few if I did.