"Brown" and "Candleflame"

I wrote another short story last night while waiting for my wife to log out of World of Warcraft. After posting it to writing.com, I realized that I hadn't posted here about my first short story I posted there: "Brown".

"Brown" is the result of my wife asking me to tell her a story. I didn't have a good one, so she pressed me to write one. My goals for "Brown", as with most of my creative writing, slowly formed as I wrote. First, I decided I would focus on color, but keep the post-apocalyptic reality very earthy. Second, I started to use common phrases in off-beat ways, as if a child were reasoning out the meanings. And third, I wanted her to have the feeling of an anime character: Seemingly normal yet somehow supernaturally "special". Writing.com is certainly not a perfect site, but I'd love to get some more reviews and ratings if you read "Brown".

Yesterday I woke up in the middle of a dream. It was a very moving dream, but it didn't make much sense. Well, it made sense in a "feeling" sense, and I knew what it "meant", but none of that would have been transfered to a listener if I'd told them about it. So, since I had time last night, I decided to write it up as a story. The short story goes a bit beyond where my dream was interrupted by day, but I think the spirit is still there. The resultant tale is "Candleflame".

"Candleflame" has dark religious overtones and the romance of self-sacrifice. This is not a tale of romantic love, nor is it a tragedy. In fact, the end is meant to be read as hopeful, in a clouded, out-of-control kind of way. There is much more to life than our common experiences tell us, and perhaps it takes an extraordinary event to force us to challenge the leaders around us who have not lead us where we need to be. I guess I'm also exploring the ideas of maturing "youth" when it is pitted against the "wisdom of age". I hope you enjoy "Candleflame". Please rate it.

Thanks!

~Luke Holzmann