socfetiche's profile

I don't think I would call this story "The Houdini Bird" simply because it's a reference to a popular musician. You crafted the story fine without the help of names, so adding a name that's somewhat popular just detracts from the impact. The idea of a bird becoming stained glass and breaking free is a creative way to illustrate the beauty and freedom of nature. The spring part makes me think of the poem "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". Was the bird happy, or desperate?

I don't usually care for things written in the stream-of-conscious style. However, I think your story stands out from other works written similarly. I appreciate the sea imagery with the squid, the "sea glass looking" Lucite sculptures, the gulls, and the sand. For a while, I struggled to figure out the meaning of the squid and some of the other minor details before remembering that it is in fact a postmodern story. Instead, I let your prose act itself out, which turned out to be far more enj...

As far as sci-fi goes, I think this is a pretty good start. The story pulled me in and grabbed my attention to the point that I wasn't looking at it with a critical eye anymore, which is a good sign. Just a few things. For one, I would like to understand how Stan and Old Tom come into play with the story. Now, I'm sure you'll go back to these characters in the next installment, because you've established from the beginning that they are significant. A few sentences were redundant. For example...

After many attempts to review "A&Q" and failing because of my intermittent internet connection, I'm now able to see why reading this one first is integral to understanding "A&Q". I don't usually go for long strings of entangled stories, because I think they are gimmicky. I will say, however, that yours isn't. For one, the first person point of view in a addition to the selfish nature of both of these characters lends itself to an in-depth portrayal of both sides. Although I think the other st...