Post
by Unblinking » Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:26 pm
Great Trifecta.
"David is Six" very wonderfully captured a child's POV, how something that can be SO IMPORTANT to you is completely trivial to everyone else. The seventh birthday isn't a particularly momentous one, nothing much changes, you're already in school, etc.... But from his point of view it makes all the difference. And that trivial detail is David's downfall as that is used in a ploy to lure him over to another world.
"The Best Boy, the Brightest Boy" was good, I don't think I've read a story from the Pied Piper's point of view, and a reveal of what he does with all the kiddies. A neat, dark story.
But I'm especially excited about "Broken" because this is the first one that I voted on that is on the feed since I became a Drabblecast slushreader. I voted this one a YES (probably after reading a dozen serial killer stories in a row). My comments at the time were.
The ending seemed a bit too abrupt, but other than I liked it, a
modern changeling story overlaid on the anxiety of a parent with a
developmental condition.
I'm not sure if the author meant me to wonder this, but I wonder what
the fairy did with the baby she took. I could imagine it either way.
If she told the truth, and the child's condition gives it benefit over
there, then maybe both children leave happy healthy lives. If she
lied, then perhaps it is a slave. Fairies aren't known for being
trustworthy, after all, and the glamour laid halfway through the story
suggests that this is one of the traditional fairies, not the Disney
version.
(For what it's worth, the ending didn't seem abrupt on the listening, maybe a text vs. audio thing, or maybe I was just ready for it)
