ouch! & i thought I had it bad! Just a note – shouldn’t that be ‘coherence’?

Either/or. The two forms are pretty interchangeable.

This had a Brothers Grimm feel to it, and I love the original take on the challenge. This wasn’t the standard fairy/elf/dwarf/dragon fantasy tale, with wonderful descriptions that were not overly explict.

Thanks! I just really like dark fiction that breaks out of the standard formats for genre fiction. I’m glad you enjoyed this!

Wow! That’s a pretty awful way to die. Some high-octane nightmare fuel, that is.

Aye. The trees, they be hungry.

This reminds me a lot of the Prey Trees of Bas-Lag, in China Miéville’s Iron Council. Well done!

I haven’t quite gotten to his writings yet. I’ve got a couple on my bookshelf, just haven’t worked that far down the stack yet. I’ll have to put Iron Council on my list.

Iron Council’s a pretty heavy read. Like all of his books, really. He really builds up a very interesting world, though, with fascinating creatures.

I’m not intimidated by heavy reading, so I think it sounds like something I’d really enjoy.

Wow. This was gruesome and it really pushed the limits of good taste, but I don’t think it crossed the line (of course, that’s a matter of opinion).

I should add that, if you’re interested in China Mieville’s Bas Lag novels, you probably don’t want to start with Iron Council – it’s pretty divisive among his fans. Some like it, some don’t. I would recommend starting with Perdido Street Station and going from there. I’m working on Perdido Street Station at the moment, myself.

If you don’t want to commit to such a huge and dense book, you may also want to start with Looking For Jake. It’s a collection of stories, one of which is set in Bas Lag (“Jack”).

Where that line lies is going to be different for everyone. But I write what inspires my imagination and hope that there a few out there who enjoy it as much as I do.

Thanks for the feedback, as well the tip on China Mieville’s books. I’ve heard quite a bit about Perdido Street Station and I have a copy of City & the City waiting on my shelf at home. I’m going to finish the latest of Cherie Priest’s writings and then move on to some Mieville next, I think. :)