Reviews & Interviews

Reviews

“Arrowheads”
Included in the collection, Dusk

Thank you so much for entering Arrowheads in The Writer magazine’s 2021 Summer Flash Contest. While your entry was a true standout and was selected as one of our top 10 entries of the entire competition, we regret to say our editorial panel ultimately did not select it as one of our winners this time around.

There was a lot to like about this particular submission. The opening line was very strong, instantly pulling the reader into the narrative and making us curious to read more. The prose flowed smoothly and effortlessly on the page, creating a seamless reading experience for its audience. There was a terrific mix of internal and external conflict in this narrative, and we also felt the transitions between past and present were handled very well.

Please do know how much we enjoyed your entry. It was spectacularly well-written. Many thanks for letting us read your writing. We’d truly love to read more of your work in future contests.

The Writer magazine

“All the Good Dogs Have Been Eaten”
Published in If This Goes On and included in the collection Drifters

Of the various story trends, the one I found the strangest and funniest was the number of submissions that featured humans forced to eat dogs. There could be only one, though, in my mind, and the Jeffers story had both heart and hope. Stone misses his dog, Nelson, but he also misses his wife and sons, the former lost to the horrors of this landscape, the latter gone on their own quests, up to Canada.

How we act towards others is the true test of character, but it’s also the thing that can save us from despair or worse. In helping Lassie, Stone rescues himself, making this one of the many stories with a touch of hope at its core.

Cat Rambo | Editor, Parvus Press

“At Onement”
Included in the collection, Dusk

Of the many strengths here, I think the conceit and Roman’s predicament are the most successful. Not only is he in a purgatory (and a transitional space like a hotel), but he’s also forced to reconsider his past actions and attempt to atone. There’s so much potential in that idea, and Jeffers captures the eeriness and yet the calmness of the hotel so well. There are strong details (like the descriptions of people with body parts missing) and the space feels “lived-in” and believable even with the premise. The story has a solid pacing that pulls me through and makes me wonder if Roman will be able to get out of purgatory (and where he might end up afterward).

Gage Saylor for The Masters Review

“For the Love of the Forest”
Included in the collection, Dusk

An intriguing retelling of Robin Hood’s origins. …little clues along the way to keep the tension going and not to reveal the plot twist. I also liked the voice, which seems to have captured a time period with diction and details for authenticity.

And I hope this does become the first chapter of a novel I can see many people wanting to read.

Typehouse Literary Magazine

Interviews

Interview by Writer's Digest

The winner of the 20th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition reveals his strategies for writing award-winning short fiction. Read the full interview.