Over at Diabolical Plots, reviewer Frank Dutkiewicz has picked up Writers of the Future Vol XXVI, and undertook the mammoth task of reviewing each individual story and grading it. I get the impression that he does this every year? That’s a top job.

http://www.diabolicalplots.com/?p=2026

Of my story “The House of Nameless”, Frank says:

“Raoul the Minotaur lives a full life within a new reality and away from One-Way-World. Then a mysterious and blurry man bypasses all of Raoul’s safeguards and invades his home to inform him his world will be undone. The other gods have no idea who this powerful foe may be. Only Nameless has the answers in his head, answers that may undo everything.

Jason Fischer managed what I considered impossible; crack the contest with a work of humor. Much of “The House of Nameless” is a tongue-in-cheek work of fantasy. The myth heavy tale follows the formidable Raoul as he seeks answers on how anyone, or anything, could penetrate his fortress home. He first tries Nameless’ house then sets foot on the deck of a ship of debauchery, where he rescues a loved one he abandoned. Events lead to a show down, and answers of the blurry ones identity.

“The House of Nameless” is sharply written. I found the tale quick and the protagonist likeable but the plot was much like the antagonist, blurry. Following along on Raoul’s adventure was like making sense of a dream after eating a spicy meal of Mexican food. Too many weird things were going on. The comedy went way over on the ridiculous for it to be funny for me. Nice effort though.

Grade B”

That’s awesome – another t-shirt worthy quote 🙂

If you too would like to check out this tale, “The House of Nameless” is still available for free, both on Smashwords and Goodreads. Here are the relevant links:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/43525

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10565073-the-house-of-nameless