In August of 2010 a writer’s club began with a group of LEGO enthusiasts with the intention of providing peer reviews and encouragement for new authors and veterans alike. The club lived and died several times under many names until falling under the primary leadership of Andrew Page, assisted by Caleb Peiffer and Caleb Carraway. After months of writing, critique, and observations of the community, the hosts elected to compile an anthology created from the best offerings from experienced members.
Speed-writing competitions were introduced to the Ambage by John Matz in order to assist participants in improving their typing ability and on-the-spot brainstorming as well as identifying consistent themes and flaws in their writing.
The stories in this book form a collection of flash fiction pieces written by 15 of these authors—who share a great love and passion for writing—for 15 different themes, edited and critiqued by other members in the spirit of the original competition. From paranormal horror to historical fiction to more lighthearted fare, this anthology provides an abundance of genres and styles, tailored and twisted to the ideas and designed to be enjoyed by readers of all genres alike.
Speed-writing competitions were introduced to the Ambage by John Matz in order to assist participants in improving their typing ability and on-the-spot brainstorming as well as identifying consistent themes and flaws in their writing.
The stories in this book form a collection of flash fiction pieces written by 15 of these authors—who share a great love and passion for writing—for 15 different themes, edited and critiqued by other members in the spirit of the original competition. From paranormal horror to historical fiction to more lighthearted fare, this anthology provides an abundance of genres and styles, tailored and twisted to the ideas and designed to be enjoyed by readers of all genres alike.
My Review:
With anthologies I have previously given a mini-review of each story, however X:15 consists of forty-two different stories. So giving a mini-review of each seemed a bit too much, especially considering the length of some of them, instead I will review X:15 as a whole.
I have to say I thought it would end up taking longer to read, but the pages just flew by. I attribute this to a combination of the length of the stories, as well as the fact that I enjoyed the majority of them. I think overall they gave great examples of the authors writing abilities. Some of the stories felt complete, while others felt like glimpses at scenes of a longer novel. I think X:15 is a great showcase of the authors' work and there are quite a few that I hope to see more of in the future.
There were a few stories that I enjoyed less than others. Some because I just couldn't connect with the story itself. Others because I just felt the story needed a little bit more. As I said above some stories seemed like scenes from a larger piece of work, but that's not the issue I had with the latter stories. I just feel if they had had a few extra pages they would have felt complete. The stories that felt as if they were from a larger book I enjoyed and hope that the authors decide to build upon those stories so that I get a chance to investigate the worlds they are set in further.
Overall I think that X:15 is a great anthology to pick up. With over forty stories to enjoy at only .99 cents I think it's well worth the price.
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I got this book from Amazon because it was on sale and decided to review it for this event. All opinions in this fair and honest review are my own.
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