Steem Trail Daily - Wednesday, February 15th, 2017

Wednesday Inquiry

• What a scoop! :
  Steem Trail Daily is pleased to support and promote Fiction Trail Magazine and especially the weekly writing contest run by @michelle-gent . We were able to get a list of the winning selections for last week's contest, with a short review of the stories by Michelle, just in time to make this issue of Steem Trail Daily!

  Let's see what @Shell had to say about them!

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  First, the honorable mention, by @mgaft1, "A Drone Operator".
  Though this didn’t get placed, I felt the story was worth a mention and a few lines of critique.
For me, the telling was slowed down a little by adding the massage techniques, muscles and pressure-points. It took me out of the story a little too much because I wanted to know more about that too.

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  Third Place winner @sazbird with "Dark Down There".
  I do enjoy a dark tale and this was certainly Dark – with the obligatory capital ‘D’. Short and to-the-point, I enjoyed the ride.
Told with the right amount of building tension, the end is surprising and though I was torn between this and another for a place in the prizes, it won by a whisker.

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  @nonamelefttouse took Second place with "The Past Few Days".
  This story had a sting in the tail for an ending and though I’m a devil for spotting twists (and I did spot the main twist) the sucker-punch of exactly HOW did catch me out, so well done.
Told with an air of regret, the story rings somehow true for me, I can see how everything could transpire the way it was told. I can’t say much about the story for fear of giving away the twists, so, it was a close-run second place for this one.

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  And First Place goes to @johnjgeddes with "Pictures on the Wall"
  This story whisked me away to a childhood I didn’t even have. I was there with the boy and his nan as she told him about the photographs. The smell of them, mixed with the ancient-cigar smell came to me as it must have to him, a heady, slightly nauseating mix.
Old pictures linked with the smell of the box they’re stored in make for poignant and lasting memories and the story links well into a ghostly tale, told by Nan with a hint of sadness.
When the picture-show on the wall occurs, it is handed to the reader hesitantly, carefully - making the reader work for it because the writer knows that when something is just handed over, it is not as valuable as having to work for the thing.

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  Congratulations to the winners and thanks to every one who entered!

  And special thanks again to @michelle.gent for all her work and the chance to post these reviews.

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  Follow these links for more information on:

  • Trail Coin
  • What to do next.

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    (All Images via Pixabay unless otherwise noted)
    Published by @steemtrail, 02/07/2017
    Managers @instructor2121, @anotherjoe
    Editor @baerdric