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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sialia" data-source="post: 3396779" data-attributes="member: 1025">Golly.  I saw at least three layers of meaning in it, possibly four, beyond the surface story.Now, I grant you, one of those layers was full of in-jokes that made me want to do a Norton's annotations to the story, and I didn't expect a wide audience of readers to get those, even though they made me grin ear to ear. I decided not to comment on them before the judging, because Piratecat knew darn well when he worked them in that they wouldn't count in the judging. Easter eggs.But beyond that, I thought there was a fine tribute to and portrait of many things that Piratecat loves--and he was startlingly good at portraying them clearly and honestly. You didn't really have to know the originals to enjoy the portraits, although it was even nicer if you happen to and can appreciate the startling clarity. In reading this story, I could clearly hear the voices of people I know that he has perfectly captured, insome ways Bettter Than Life.Deeper than that, I think there was a cool metaphor for the creative act itself. The grasping of tenuous clues to stitch together a cohesive strategy, the sense of self deconstruction that Piratecat put himself through during this tournament trying to find and refind and refine his voice--the triumph of being able to stretch and reconstruct himself artistically, and even perhaps a bit of wry self-deprecating worry in wondering whether if in taking himself apart to find his way, he may have misplaced some important part of his  . . . um . . . potency. Some of this layer may have been unintended, but it was clearly so much on his mind while he was writing, I don't think it's unreasonable to see it there.Mostly, I thought this story was an awful lot of fun. Angst itself is not inherently more valuable than comedy.Rodrigo's story stands, I think, not for the angst or horror factors, but more for the thoughtful exploration of the ideas of finding oneself outside the norm, in various ways. The story touched a nerve of truth in that that was significantly powerful. Also the main characters felt genuine.</blockquote>

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