~ Winners ~

Congratulations to all the participants!! I really enjoyed reading and reviewing the stories you submitted for Round 1 of this contest. I hope you will all continue to hone your skills and become stronger and stronger in your writing! There were some amazingly talented and creative entries, and it was very difficult for me to decide on the winners but, after much deliberation, I have decided that the following were an inch above the rest: 

Winner #1 - First Place: 

“Journal” by xxxyxxx

This story was powerful in very subtle ways. With its perfect pace and characterization, Journal is a complex, emotional read. The author shows  careful patience with the story, providing us with small, honest, beautiful stills of the two main characters and those who are impacted by their lives. Rarely do I come across a character so compelling without that character actually having a physical presence. There was a real sense of haunting in this death themed fic that lingered with me days after I read it. This story is really Key's more than Taemin's, and without such strong characterization, would have had less impact than it did. Key's persona is so compelling that he almost takes on a life beyond the fiction itself. Devastating and endearing, moving... Key's diary entries are the heart of this story, and we are surrendered to its wonder just like Taemin is throughout the text. Journal is complex on many levels, and full of parallels: a ghost love-story of sorts, a magical tragedy that will leave you under its spell until the very end.  

(read my review here)

Winner #2 - Second Place: 

“Roads” by Shawol360

This story stood out to me as a winner from the very beginning. Each time I read it, I only became more convinced. Original and unique, brief and honest, this fic says so much with very little, bravely taking on a modern spin to the death and rebirth theme. There is an authenticity to the characters, a real  and honest struggle that many face in their daily lives. With one of the most startling yet perfect endings I  have read in a long time, Roads presents a different perspective to what it means to have to die in order to live. This story was not what I expected it would be, in the most pleasantest of ways, and I can't recommend it enough. 

(read my review here)

Winner #3 - Third Place: 

“Glow. Electricity. Life.” by ChiaKairi

Because this story affected me on a personal level, it was an entry I could not forget. This take on rebirth was a highly creative one, a cerebral and surprisingly poetic journey that left me speechless by the end. Some of the lines in this fic stand out like solitaty poems, strung together through a common thread. With its sense of timelessness, patience and gentle tone which fit the theme and setting, Glow.Electricity.Life refuses to indulge in bianaries, instead stripping away definitives and stereotypes in order to get to the heart of what is at humanity's core.

(read my review here)

Congratulations!! I will be sending your karma prizes within the next 48 hours!

I look forward to seeing you all in future rounds!

(With the exception of the winners listed here, I will be cleaning up the first round entries to make way for the second. Please save your reviews if you wish to keep them.)