Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Books read in 2014: No. 40 -- Eight Hour Fiction #3

by Travis Hill

Started: Sept. 10
Finished: Sept. 10

Notes: About a year ago, J.A. Konrath threw out a challenge to indie writers to write, edit and publish a story in digital form all within 8 hours. The author also has to come up with the cover. Fortunately, Amazon's (or wherever's) loading time isn't included in that 8 hours. Since then, a number of indies have kept up the practice over at the kboards, and there is even a monthly challenge though there's not really a prize or anything. Obviously the stories won't be very long, probably somewhere between 2,000 and 12,000 words, depending upon the writer's speed, but it can be done. I've tackled it myself a few times under a pen name, and honestly, I've like the results; though not great art by any means, it's still fun and has made me a little money while bringing a few good reviews. So, it seems there are at least some readers who are also interested in this challenge, or at least this type of rushed, short fiction. Studying it more myself, I was intrigued by Travis Hill's third publication for this challenge, in part because it includes two stories, not just one, but also the stories sounded appealing.

Mini review: The first tale is a sad, almost depressing look at one couple's way of dealing with what is basically a zombie apocalypse. The second is more of a fun tale about a quirky inventor who creates technology that allows him to experiences his cat's dreams. Yes, you read that correctly, his cat's dreams. Of the two stories, I think I liked the second better as it worked well as flash fiction. There was nothing really wrong with the first story, but I wanted more, to know more about the couple about their world, etc.

1 comment:

Charles Gramlich said...

I can see doing it as a challenge,