Before I Forget by qhml1

Review by burka_oz   [other reviews by burka_oz]

Reviewed:

Sigh. Such a lovely though a tragic tale of a man slowly losing his mind thanks to Alzheimer's.

This is a story of love and betrayal. The love is definitely there and palpable. The love for one's children. The love for a loyal dog. The love for dear children that are not from his loins.

There is also betrayal. A wife's betrayal lasting over 20 years and her slutty behaviour that had affected quite a number of people along the way.

This author can really spin a yarn and he describes his scenes and characters so well that you swear you are looking at the scene just as it is being described to you. I must admit to a bias to really enjoying his stories.

So this story gets an 8 for Plot. The steps are laid out so that you finally understand what has been hinted at in the beginning, a perfect pathway.

This tale was posted in 2014 but according to a very early blog entry were written much earlier. That blog entry also explains that reviewers and grammarians, like me, will find mistakes and errors in these earlier tales but that he would not be changing any of them. He wants them to stand as they are to show how much he has improved. Another quite valid reason is that he has so many stories still to be written or completed that going back and editing these much older stories would take the time that he just doesn't have available.

Thus - with over 20 errors in this short story - I can only give a 5 for Technical. There are just too many problems with it to give a better score. I hope the author understands that score is not directed to the story, just the grammatical problems.

Appeal to the reviewer is a high 9, not just because of my personal history but this is such a good story and worth recommending to others. I honestly enjoyed it and I hope you do too.

This tale is a bit close to home as my dearest Grandmother was taken out by this insidious disease and thus I am genetically predisposed to its effects. Touching wood.

If I was/am affected then I would wish to be able to do as the MC was able to do and plan for the outcome while he was still able to legally put things in place as he wanted to.

The thought comes that perhaps the author, perhaps even many authors, could consider doing as Lazlo Zalesac did and put things in place with the site owner that on his passing others would be allowed to continue his work with editing and reposting his prodigious volume of stories.

So many times we have lost touch with authors through premature death or perhaps loss of abilities and nothing has been put in place for the continuance of their works.

In this case, perhaps the early works could be corrected by others while the author continues to write new works?

Just a thought.

Review by DarkReader   [other reviews by DarkReader]

Reviewed:

Alright, for all of you kind souls, and even for the tougher ones, get some tissues before you read this story. Once again, qhml1 has managed to put me on an emotional roller coaster with his writing.

If you're looking for sex, this story is not for you. It deals more with life end, incurable disease and heartbreaking revelations.

But in my humble opinion, it is a must read!

The writing is very good. I wish I could write that well and transcribe emotions with words the way the author does. Though the pickier among you will find things to say (a missing word here and there, a typo or things of the kind), it is almost perfect and reads like a charm.

You've been warned, it will put you on the dark side of a mellow mood, but it is worth it !