What is your opinion?
Excellent and Strong
"While reading, I felt true goosebumps as the creatures were really there beside me. Story is well written with a strong point and plot, giving it a dark tone as I read on what the character was thinking. I love the use of words and the examples used to give the reader a clear view on what was being represented through the story. I could clearly picture everything which in my opinion is what makes any story good if the reader could feel the senses as well. Overall, well written, once again and I enjoyed these story! I would read again in my spare time! :)"
Dark Humor
"I love this story. I understand that this is supposed to be a horror contest but it is almost darkly funny. It's extremely ironic that the main characters of the story do, in our minds, a terrible thing, but the narrator chastises us for our failures with children."
'Food' for thought...
"Where to start? This story has a wonderful inventiveness in utilizing everyday happenings and winding social commentary through it. I will never be able to look at the motes of dust in a sunbeam without thinking of this...and without a shiver. There are a few extremely minor glitches such as some words being repeated too close together (admittedly this is a pet peeve of mine). A quick edit to replace those words with other descriptors and this story is gold. It drew me in, made me think, and left me with the chills.."
Mesmerisingly Chilling
"I found myself drawn into this strange world yet it also seemed perfectly natural. Surely we all know it is...... Of course that is the art of the author - to draw you in and keep you there, captive. This author's writing style is easy and fluid and even though it is not a genre to which I am generally attracted, I recommend it highly. Just put your feet up and allow yourself to enter this unusual, yet plausible, scenario."
Brilliant
"This. Was. Freaking. BRILLIANT! I don't know how I can sum up my love for this story in words. It's just...it's just so, so, good. I devoured the whole thing. I love how the species pokes fun of humanity. Highlighting all of our flaws, observing our faults...and it's true, we have a lot of them. (Though I don't believe that makes up for faults of other species. I want to call them monsters so much. I really do. Killing is inexcusable. But at the same time, if they need to do it to survive...well, I can't really comment. The story was very clever in linking the feasting with missing children. And the fact that those things are all around us and we just can't see them...it's very clever. Oh, how I love clever. Your writing style hooked me from the start. The sentences flowed extremely well, and there wasn't a single grammatical error. Well done! So now, I only have one question for this species...what would you do if The Doctor found out you existed? ;)"
How do you do it?
"Yet again, TWBrown has created a story that hits me where I live. It's a story of shocking beauty. Shocking, because of the concept.. Beautiful because of the style and execution. If you like sci-fi, you might like this. If you like vamps and bloodsuckers, you might like this. If you want to be taken out of your comfort zone and mildly freaked-out, this is for you. TWBrown is a writer who tells complex stories in simple language. That's hard graft. And, though I've said it before, I'll say it again. He never uses two words when he can use one. This story touched me because it reminds me (and maybe a few other people too) that death is not the worst thing that can happen to us. Life is. And we're not supposed to have all the answers. We're not supposed to understand everything. And sometimes there's no point in asking questions - you won't get a reply. And that's OK. Thanks Todd."
"Faces on the Milk Carton"
"First off, very unique! The title was really intriguing, and it along with that picture caught my attention right away. I am not usually a horror story person, but I thought I'd check this out when I saw it was the most popular on the contest page. That being said, I honestly didn't feel terribly "horrified." The way you write your strange species actually makes them seem more as the good guys, and I wasn't particularly bothered by the way they fed etc. That makes me sound really terrible, I suppose. But if you were going for a more "creepy alien child killer" vibe, you didn't quite get there. If you were going more for, "humans are the real monster" vibe, you got that a little better. Overall, I wouldn't quite stick this in a horror genre. Maybe a little, but it just didn't do anything as far as scaring me or "horrifying" me etc. It was definitely intriguing and a good read. I have never read anything like this before. But I'd stick it in more of a sci-fi genre. Good job writing in first person (alien?) for this! There were a few spots that I can't think of specifically that it felt a little stilted, but overall, it added to the mysteriousness of it. There was one spot where you used the word "oft" and I was wondering if that was on purpose, or did you mean to say "often", or do you think that often would flow better than oft? If these aliens have been here for so long, then I suppose they may use that older style of talking. But you didn't consistently use that style in the rest of the story. Great short story thought! I am being rather nit-picky here I suppose...I look forward to seeing what else you may come up with in the future!"
Put Down by a Child Eater
"I have to say, I really enjoyed this story. I like stories like these, which put a 'supernatural' perspective in everyday things like dust particles in the wind, shivers, premonitions, gut instinct and the like. Hell, even imaginary friends! I also like this nameless aliens species, and what we learn about them. They resemble the Vashta Nerada from Doctor Who. And at the same time, manage to be a little bit more terrifying in the sense that there seems to be no way to combat them! That being said, there seems to be a few discrepancies to their stories. In the beginning, the narrator says that they have been here for over 300 years. He speaks about finding natives back in their spirit journey days, which technically did still exist 300 years ago, but at the same time, 'he' speaks of a lot of history measured in 'centuries'. I believe that maybe you meant to say three thousand years? Or at least, that would make more sense to me. The one thing that disappointed me about this aliens species, is that nothing is said about them, except for a tiny bit about their social behavior, which is they value family and the whole of the species more than anything else. An admirable quality. But besides that, we know nothing about them. Not their names, or the planet they came from; nothing about their society beyond attachment, or why they have to venture to other planets to harvest? Are the aliens benevolent or malevolent? At times, it seems they are good--they actually feel pity for the children, their food source. They only target children because that is all that keeps them alive. But at other times, they seem to enjoy causing pain and remorse. 'He' feels pity for the fact that Nancy will die because of their meal, but at the same time shows no care about her at all in other scenes, and criticizes her naivety in trusting him. There're also things that don't match up, like: if they are intangible (as it is mentioned that we can pass right through them) how did a ship crash kill most (as it is insinuated) of them? Fire perhaps? And from what we can see, these are beings able to survive in an alien atmosphere unassisted by anything, they are intangible, I can believe they are almost made *of* energy, so why a ship? How do they harvest planets? What is their original food source? They eat human babies on Earth, but what did they eat before? Other alien babies? But the narrator was caught by surprise when he realized he could feed off of the babies' energy. If they only feed once every few months or years, how could their planet have been void of food? Again, don't let this little 'rant' make it seem like I did not enjoy the story. It was wonderful. It even made me shiver and for a second the thought of something being next to me alarmed me! But I feel like the aliens themselves took a backseat to this story. To me, it was actually a story about humanity from an outside perspective. Perhaps that was the plan all along! I do not know if there are answers to my alien questions. Perhaps you created them without a detailed backstory on purpose so that the readers could make up their own origin story about them. I can dig that. But I would love to see a more detailed version of this. Focusing more on the aliens, learning more about them. You created something truly fascinating here. And I hope there is more where this came from!"
Creeping Horror From First-Person POV
"The author employs that creepy, you-never-thought-it-was-scary-from-the-title effect that isn't too overdone and left me feeling like the fictional narrator was near me. It's a story that will make me shudder every time I think of dark staircases and deserted playgrounds."
