This is my favorite of yours. What an odd but freeing concept for a society.

The opening creates such a bizarre image, which becomes clear through the dialog. I particularly like the hints of this city’s look (market, open-air cafe, sedan chair) that create an image without outright describing Cozmel.

The ending tied it all up nicely, too.

Thanks Jesterram! This one was harder to write and I made several revisions before publishing it. In this story, I decided not have something happen to the Traveler and to make him a passive observer. He’s been beat up enough as it is.

The minimalist descriptions make sense with the 1024 character count. I’d rather let the city come alive in the theater of the mind, than waste space in the story describing it. In my mind, I see something akin to a Middle Eastern City, only with alcohol.

Ha! That’s what I pictured, too! You did a good job, then …

this story is brilliant, i wish i had more pencils

This place is great, there’s so much story here, so many implications and interesting ways this could go. And the last line ties the traveler nicely back into the feel of the place too. Bravo.

I agree with jesteram – this is great. You capture one of the main reasons why, in my opinion, here:

“In this story, I decided not have something happen to the Traveler and to make him a passive observer.”

It really lets the concept speak for itself and means the concept has to be really strong. And this certainly is. Awesome.

Thank you Mighty-Joe Young, Jessica, and you too Spiderj!

In this case, the concept wrote the story, instead of vice a versa. Once I had the concept, and the opening the line, the rest of the story followed. The hardest part of writing the story, was remembering the name “sedan chair”.

The concept behind this is something I think most of us would love to do: Shed our previous life and start anew from scratch. I left the actual ceremony purposely vague. Did Saba Ryt really die and was reborn, or just participated in a ritual and was figuratively reborn? I’ll leave that to the reader’s imagination.

Is it kosher to write a sequel to one’s own piece?