. Spinning .

Nicaragua/Kirk Nesset: No comment.

Parrot Talk/Kit Coyne Irwin: Nice opening, first person pov, placing the odd fact of parrots in the trees of Connecticut.  Very nicely done, the interweaving of a marital relationship suffering the effects of time against the episode of the parrots.  The adaptation of the parrots to their environment mimics the characters and their method of dealing.  Parrots as mimics also noted.

I Didn’t Do That/Tom Hazuka: First person pov, opening brings us right into the action and the tension with, "I look for a smile."  Two men discussing the breakup of a marriage.  The question of spousal abuse brought up as a plea for faith and testing the friendship, bringing in the past and an example that was likely testing at the time.  Short, sweet, thought-provoking.

What I Know of Your Country/John Leary:  First person pov, a very interesting perspective of the growing problem of outsourcing and telephone solicitation as we see ourselves from the other side.  Don’t see it as a story though.

The Paperboy/Sherrie Flick: Great opening line: "I seduced the paperboy yesterday." A small episode is the action of the story, but the real theme is how we see ourselves and what we do to project the image we’d like to see.

Birth/Robert Earle: Another trouble in paradise story, a little strangely put and I’m not sure it worked for me with too many similes and metaphors that failed to call up the image I think the author wanted.  But the story clearly has an arc, conflict, resolution and character change, just like the books say it should.

Guidebook/Christopher Merrill:  Another good hook: "Erosion is the greatest threat to the stability of this island."  It continues from there to offer evidence of change and the reaction and resulting action taken to forestall any further damage, mainly a slew of studies and research, etc.  The ending is dopey.

Test/G. A. Ingersoll: Another comment on relationships and life in general as sucky, but with a clever presentation as a "Test" meant to elicit the appropriate response from the reader.  A bit sarcastic, which is fine.  Not a story though–would make a nifty magazine article.

Oliver’s Evolution/John Updike: Nice little story about a neglected child for whom life dishes out nothing but dregs.  He himself causes himself harm but eventually meets a girl in worse shape than he is who looks up to him.  They marry and have children and Oliver finally feels he has a place in life.  Nice pace, conflicts aplenty though it’s a buildup of loads of mishaps and misdeeds that end with the change in situation.

The Doctor/Ann Hood: Starting out strong with "The doctor who killed my father wants to take me for coffee." this sort of dribbles down to a relationship the female first person narrator  has with her father’s doctor and even she realizes that he didn’t kill, but rather couldn’t save him. 

Crazy Glue/Etgar Keret: Delightfully quirky version of a boring marriage getting revived by change.  Opening with dialogue here is a good way of showing the relationship while introducing the characters and the ultimate savior of their marriage–a tube of Crazy Glue.

Pledge Drive/Patricia Marx: Nothing worth mentioning really.

The Handbag/Michael Augustin:  Already posted on this one, since it’s definitely my favorite so far and one that will remember a long time. 

A Patriotic Angel/Mark Budman:  The opening presents us with a scene that promises a story: "She stands in the supermarket aisle reserved for the holiday decorations.  She is not tall; maybe five inches maximum."  Right there we know this may hold something of meaning, and the story doesn’t disappoint.

Map of the Lost World/James Tate:  Related to the very first line: "Things were getting to me, things of no consequence in themselves, but taken together, they were undermining my ability to cope."  Some interesting things, more of a list of what goes wrong to screw up the day.  No resolution, no real story.

Bill/Dan Kaplan:  Missed the point of this one–if there was one.

The Kettle/Eva Marie Ginsburg: An updated fantasy of the pot calling the kettle black.  Clever story, personification, though it does come off as an Aesop’s Fable.

Quill/Tony Earley: Very nice scene of two men in a hospital, one of whom is likely dying.  Intimate episode that tells more than what it is.

Justice–ABeginning/Grace Paley: Rather introspective of a woman who takes things very seriously.  Not a grand opening, but interesting enough and there is some nice imagery though it doesn’t really go anywhere within the story.  I’m not sure the whole thing meant anything at all.

That Could Have Been You/Jim Heynen: Another play on our childhood traumas regarding dangers in our world.  An essay rather than a story here, though interesting and well written.

How to End Up/Jennifer A. Howard: Another snappy yuppie rant.

The Orange/Benjamin Rosenbaum:  How can you resist it, the opening line:  "An orange ruled the world."  Perfection.  The story follows the fact, wonderfully answering your question and mine by the second line: "It was an unexpected thing, the temporary abdication of Heavenly Providence, entrusting the whole matter to a simple orange."  It’s got a story arc as the orange takes over, things change, and  eventually its time must come to an end.  Neat idea, nicely done.

21/Jim Crace:   A story  with a message.  Nice futuristic vision of  computer technology taking over our lives Big Brother  style.  Nice opening: A youngish man, a trifle overweight, too anxious for his age, completed his circuit of the supermarket shelves and cabinets and stood in line, ashamed as usual.  Crace gives us character, place,  and the tension of questions: Why is the man anxious and ashamed?  Could see this as a longer story, fleshing out more detail of this character’s life  against this new world he inhabits.

To Reduce Your Likelihood of Murder/Ander Monson: Blegh.  This has been done a million times and in much better form.

Jumping ahead here a bit because I found this short-short absolutely delightful. Is it a story? Yes. A robber has a certain method of operation to snatch purses. Complication arises in the antagonist of 82 year-old Elisabeth Schroeder. Instead of things happening as expected, Elisabeth fails to let go of her grip on her handbag, holding on even as she is knocked to the ground.

Now this part reads a little brief, and could have been elaborated upon with some imagery without suffering for the addition. It is merely told in a few sentences how the robber need drag Elisabeth behind him for hours since neither is giving up their hold. The resolution comes when he tires and she takes over, dragging him along as she goes about her business.

Now this goes on for three years (succinctly put in the narrative) and the great turnabout is this: The situation becomes an accepted normal scenario and the suggestion is that the two characters have something going on between them in the form of attraction.

I really liked this one for its concept, it’s clever twist and its fable-like presentation, though I probably would prefer it be fleshed out a bit to develop the characters and to show what this tug of wills really involved.

Read a bunch; forgot to post on ’em.

Blind Fish/Melanie Rae Thon: Sort of free form, not a real story but rather an essay, a parable that is full of symbolism and yet it cannot really be read as story without the need to look further for meaning.

The Voices in My Head/Jack Handey:  Excellent concept of comparing what’s typically referred to as the "voices" to our everyday thoughts.  Which are the crazy ones? Where is the line crossed? What is the ending resolution to the narrator’s problem in this statement: "But I’m not ready to throw in the towel just yet, because one thing I have learned is this: the voices may be bossy, but they’re really stupid."

The Old Truth in Costa Rica/Lon Otto:  Despite the opening, "I will tell you a true story." which makes the reader lean in closer, I’ve read too many with this same suggestion so it didn’t impress me.  It also doesn’t negate the fable quality of the story.  It’s interesting, it presents the sloths with a situation and a conflict between their own traditional nature and the danger it engenders. 

Why You Shouldn’t Have Gone in the First Place/Samantha Schoech: Same thing millions of women have written about before in their diaries and in their heads.

Mythologies/R.L.Futrell: Starts with scenario that comes to mean more as the information is given that this relationship between a man and a woman has been severed and times have changed.  Clever use of the driving trip as they see houses and neighborhoods destroyed by bulldozers of change.

Reviving Pater/John Goulet: Loved the story for its quirkiness.  Was it well written?  There is a definite arc that builds up even as they build the character  of Pater.  The  twist at the end is hinted at and yet still comes as a surprise because it happens quickly.  There is irony in the ending statement, since after all the violence the narrator claims, "Of course, this discussion period was also part of our tradition; it was by considering such issues in a sensible way that we grew closer as a family."

Bullhead/Leigh Allison Wilson: A simple story of love and loss, nothing really exciting about it.

Accident/Dave Eggers: Unusual in its 2nd person pov.   Tension starts immediately with a car accident and builds quickly, but is dissipated just as quickly as the characters are accepting of the situation.  The real conflict beneath the interaction is the loneliness and reaching out for communication by any means.

All Girl Band/Utahna Faith: Starts out great with "My all girl band is in trouble."  Even as the narrator admits she doesn’t know why she feels terror at what she has done and is about to turn herself in for.  We never know either.

I Never Looked/Donald Hall: Sort of a sad little story of an illicit affair; reminded me of Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants in that the man and woman appear to be on separate wave lengths.  The ending is sort of depressing in that it shows each returning to their separate worlds.

Fab 4/Jenny Hall: Nice little flashback to a better time; maybe a statement on how TV was supposed to ruin mankind and yet mankind did that without its assistance and still survived. The "Fab 4" reference is, of course, to the Beatles.

The Peterson Fire/Barry Gifford: Nice detail, but the story doesn’t really seem to ever develop.