Shelly

Author at http://www.100megsfree3.com/fauxpaws08/shelly.html.

Dark Wings (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 30th January 2000 (1)
Tags: Short Story
(36K)

That was so nice; cool premonitions, lovely turns of phrase. Only possible flaw - the Icarus imagery seemed a teensy bit forced.

The Fahrenheit Man (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 30th January 2000 (2)
Tags: Novelette
(76K)

Another good one. Beautiful writing, showing the buddy-ness of Jim and Blair, got the characters spot on, yes. And, hey, though you could even technically call it h/c because there was both happening, it was such a good story I didn't even notice that.

Addendum: nominated for favourite drama story in the 2001 Cascade Times Awards.

Grace Notes (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 30th January 2000 (5)

It made me laugh, it made me smile... it made me sing along. (wistful sigh)

Mail Bonding (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 29th January 2000
Tags: Novelette
(45K)

That was mighty fine, ma'am. Real nice. Full of smiles, not too sentimental.

Pack Up The Moon (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 30th January 2000 (3)
Tags: Novelette
(93K)

That was beautiful. Take out the tissues, folks. Yet even through the tears, the dashes of humour sparkle through, and the woven words.

Addendum: this story was nominated in the 2000 Cascade Times Awards in the Dramatic category.

Ruby Tuesday (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 30th July 2000 (1)

I like this. I like the guys' banter, I like the imagery.

The glass was dripping, misted. One moment he was standing, not seeing out, only half listening, staring at the approaching night; the next, without warning, he was caught by it: the bruised summer light, the musical sub-text of the rain on the skylights. He loved this part of being a Sentinel. The ability to look beyond what was there and feel a place. Some people could look out from this same vantage point and see Cascade scrolled out as far as the eye could see; cramped, crotchety streets beneath an irritable sky. But for him, the sights and sounds embroidered a world infinite in its fascination.

And, unsurprisingly, the chorus of the Rolling Stones song kept on replaying in my mind:
    Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
    Who could hang a name on you
    When you change with every new day?
    Still I'm gonna miss you.

And I find it somewhat cheering for my writing endeavours that Shelly spoke in a Cascade Library interview last year that she was working on this - that not every great author also writes fast.

This Little Light (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 30th January 2000 (4)
Tags: Short Story
(33K)

It moved me, man, it moved me. I'm never going to think of that song (This little light of mine) the same way again. I wish I could write like that.