Sept 21 ‘013 EMCSA Update

WITHIN: Graded primarily on heat and narrative
WITHOUT: Graded primarily on narrative
Possible spoilers below …

WITHIN
The Legend of Croft’s Landing (mc ff in) (new)  by Astropirateã
–2.5/5 (not great, had some redeeming qualities)–

Very much a genre piece from the start. Nothing wrong with that, per se, it’s just all implementation. Though it did not feel forced or anything in this case, I don’t always think it’s the best idea to throw so much backstory at the reader right so early in the MC fiction context. As a result, this moved kinda slow. I don’t mind POV changes, but they made the pacing feel a bit uneven here. Fine premise, even is there were no real surprises, but like a I said, it’s all implementation, which was a bit clunky for lack of better words.
(ReReadability: low / follow: no)

Rubberwerks (mc mf ff ft) (new)  by Lyka Bloom
–4/5 (pretty good, not perfect but enjoyable)–

Did I hear Rubber and FT and FF!? Anyway, not bad from the start. Though, I would not have read so intently if “Rubber” was not in the title. The start was a touch generic. Once that building was entered, this was quite engrossing, even if evil nazi experimentation isn’t the newest theme. I hate the very concept of the nazis just as much as any, but do they so often have to be a go to evil? I personally would have made up some funky, unknown symbol to add a greater air of mystery, but that’s just me Ultimately, I found this to be a bit of a genre piece, while the implementation in this case was decent, albeit on the slow side. The transformative goo helped to make up for its weaknesses, luckily. Yes, I would like more 
(ReReadability: moderate / Follow: yes)

WITHOUT
Syndra (mc mf fd) (new)  by Neal Lowe
~~1.5/5 (poor +, need to be mesmerized to really like this)~~

Can’t say I was seriously pulled in from the start. I have no interest in night clubs or the related night life, so there has to be something more to make me enjoy this. Could’ve used some more editing, I think. The writing itself degrades into large blocks of text, which is tiring to read though, no matter what the subject matter. Some grammar formatting issues on top of that. The all caps stuff was a bit forced and overdone, too. I’m sure there’s an interesting story in here, I just had trouble seeing it.
(ReReadability: Low / Follow: no)

RANDOM COMMENTS
Sorry Smashwords, I will not spend $150 for M$ Word when I already have two viable word processors, one of which I have used without issue for years.