May 10 ‘014 EMCSA Update

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

WITHIN
Invasion of the Nylonians (mc mf ff fd ft) (revised)  by jman_bigdaddy
–2.5/5 (not great, had some redeeming qualities)–

I vaguely remember reviewing this when it originally came out (before I even started my writing blog), while it didn’t leave much of an impression at the time. I also remember some odd formatting issues that likely was a vestige of the ebook version (ie “Invasion of the Nylonians page 1” or some such). However, it has elements I can greatly enjoy, and it was redone! How could I resist? Anyway, whether it was because I read a past version of this or otherwise, this didn’t feel all that fresh narratively. Still has interesting concepts, nonetheless, while I’ve used the alien meteorite theme myself, albeit as a homage to Lovecraft. The formatting oddities I remember are definitely gone, but I can’t really compare differences with the old version, which no longer appears to exist anywhere online as of this posting. Interesting, but bland.
(ReReadability: low / follow: no)

The Passageway (mc ff md ma) (new)  by BluejayGS and CG
–2/5 (so-so, maybe a good story to others but didn’t mesmerize me)–

Looked interesting, and I do love and lust for a good college/university tale! Maybe it was because I lived close enough to home at my university to spend many weekends back home, but I didn’t have that “this is the new world” lecture from my parents. So, I had trouble relating to this story at that point. As obliquely warned in the author’s note, nothing of note really happens chap one. I guess something does start to happen at the very end of chap 2 (the last posted in this update), but like I said, nothing really happens prior. The writing was well polished, but nothing here pulled me in noticeably.
(ReReadability: low / follow: no)

WITHOUT
Corruption (The Smith) (mc mf ff fd gr) (new)  by The Smith
~~2/5 (so-so, maybe a good story to others but didn’t mesmerize me)~~

Alien invasion via subjugation? Sure, why not! Granted, aliens taking on human names and disguises while here on Earth makes sense, but describing the character with the human name almost the moment they arrive almost seems presumptuous, for lack of better words. That is more of a nitpick, I suppose. Anyway, the writing is fine for this first time author. Everything seemed perfectly polished. Narratively, however, the point of all this wasn’t particularly obvious. Yes, that does add a good air of mystery, but having the alien in the shape of a voluptuous female somehow negated that. Made the story feel, for lack of better words, superficial at the start. I’m sure there must be more to this to be explored in future chapters, but I wasn’t personally pulled into this.
(ReReadability: Low / Follow: no)

RANDOM COMMENTS
Lovecraft’s The Color Out of Space may be one of the darkest “alien meteorite” stories ever made.