My overly personal little deep-sea story in second person is picking up some acclaim around the Internet.
Charles Payseur of Quick Sip Reviews had some kind things to say about it:
…I like that, that the story really isn’t about fixing someone or saving someone. That it’s about being with someone and creating a space where they might want to move. Might want to break free.
Payseur later added the story to his Monthly Round of favorite stories from November, pairing it with a Vanilla Stout:
It is a slow kind of spell that the narrator casts, that the narrator asks the reader to experience. A spell that resists the common tropes and implications. That something can be fixed just by waving at it. That some things can be fixed at all.
Benjamin Wheeler at Tangent Online praised the story, despite admitting he doesn’t like second person:
With the active language, great descriptions and melancholy you could cut with a butter knife, this story really cinches what the author tries to accomplish.
Greg Hullender at Rocket Reviews was less impressed:
Although it’s a fine statement, it doesn’t make for much of a story.
Maria Haskins listed the story on her list of 12 awesome spec stories from November:
Wow… Hoffman’s prose is exquisite: it sings and flows and dances. Outstanding and captivating from start to finish.
And Nin Harris tweeted the story as one of her 30 favorite stories of the year.
If you’d like to see what all the fuss is about, the story is here.
A year in review post will happen later in the month; I still have another short fiction publication lined up for December, so I’m waiting for that, first.