10 Sept 2007

GUD Magazine #1, 2 reviews - Artemisin and Whispers of Wickedness

Today, while browsing the internet I found the follow two reviews of GUD Magazine #1, which featured my short story, Unzipped.

Artemisin (Sara genge's writing blog) had this to say about my contribution:

Unzipped is not another Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder story. For one, if I had noticed that was what it was about, I would have chucked the story across the room. I'm sick of stereotypes of Vietnam vets hitting the deck every time someone breaks a glass. Most cases of PTSD last less than 3-4 months. What's more, most people who live through a traumatic event don't develop PTSD.
Thankfully, the opening paragraphs are so cleverly worded that by the time I found out about that detail I was in love and couldn't stop reading. Steven J. Dines takes the theme into new, medically inaccurate places (I'm not complaining, this is fiction and I don't think it was the author's intent to portray the condition precisely), where guilt, madness and literary flair merge nicely. Dark. That's the way I like it.


To read the full review click HERE


Whispers of Wickedness were even more complimentary:

All right, let’s start with some of the stuff I definitely liked. Steven J. Dines contributes Unzipped, the powerful and subtle tale of a soldier returned from Iraq and trying to deal with the death of a child that he witnessed out there and feels he should have prevented. I didn’t realise what Dines meant by the ‘ball’ that wasn’t a ball until I turned the page – and it knocked me for six when I did. A top-notch character study.

Likewise, to read the full review click HERE

Having returned from my honeymoon to an inbox full of rejection emails, these reviews were not only encouraging but well-timed. A cheery thank you to those reviewers!

4 comments:

Sue said...

Congrats on the nuptials!


And the reviews.

Sue

Artemisin said...

Congrats on the marriage!

I loved Unzipped. Glad you liked my (rather chaotic) review

Artemisin said...

Hi, back again.

Just noticed you mention an editing book "Self-Editing For Fiction Writers". Is it any good? Is it concerned with basic grammar problems or structure, plot etc? I don't think my grammar problems have a quick fix, but I'd gladly buy anything that could help (and be readable in the process)

Omar Cruz said...
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