Mark Sadler

I enjoyed this character study of a man who has used a physical impairment as an excuse to surrender himself to the worst elements of his personality. Whose blindness extends beyond his eyes. Who is too full of […]

Dana,

I enjoyed your split-screen airplane comedy.

The inner awkwardness of Horace – a ball of social anxieties who settles for what he can get in his interactions with the opposite sex; who has the […]

@backwards7
299 words
Author; Airplane; Comedy

The Downward Arc of the Driver

Pamela Bradley contacted me half an hour before we were due to meet. She had missed her flight from LAX. She would now be […]

This reminded me of a hypothetical scene from one of those old movies that I sometimes stumble across while channel hopping on Saturday and Sunday morning.

The stereotypes (the tremouring nun who finds even the […]

I struggled to work-in the choose your own adventure cue. I know what it means, I was raised on Fighting Fantasy game books, but I didn’t want to break the flow of the story, so I put the choice in the last line. […]

A share in the spoils

by Mark Sadler

@backward7

Elements: Alien / Armistice / Choose Your Own Adventure

Word Count: 298

The formal talks regarding the transition of the armistice occurred within […]

Thanks. I only noticed the word repetition afterwards but decided, because the piece is effectively a monologue, it probably adds humanity. Let it stand as it is, blemishes and all.

A well put together piece of impressionist writing. I admire structured abstraction like this that hints towards things without stating them explicitly. It conjures an atmosphere that you don’t get with more direct prose.

Thank you Geoff for the work you put into this. It’s very entertaining.

I enjoyed this story of a woman caught in a cul-de-sac, adapting her environment to better suit her wants and needs. I found myself thinking beyond the limits of the story. Suzie has the transparent criminality of […]

You got a good angle on this. Of course a world war wouldn’t stop Santa. He would fly overhead regardless, surveying the carnage from altitude. I liked the rough around the edges reindeer; generations of families […]

@backwards7
Earl; Midwest Town; Crime
300 words

Bring Down The House

Clapps of Indiana was originally one of those out of the way places where lawbreakers went to lie low. It started life as a […]

Thanks everyone,

I’m really into the written equivalent of tracking shots at the moment, where the narrative moves you through a building or across a landscape. I hope that felt natural and didn’t come across […]

I too enjoyed this unfettered charge into absurdity. I kind of wanted it to continue, just to see how long you could keep it going before it collapsed.

A Fleeting Taste of Spring

by Mark Sadler

Twitter: @backwards7

Elements: Bar Owner / Tokyo / Crime + Include one of the seasons

Word Count: 291

A street-level neon sign, that changed […]