#7 – orangeinapod’s story featured unexpected violence. The image of a piano stirs up melancholy, wistfulness, and a sense of the fleeting romantic or a lingering creepiness. But violence was something I was not expecting. Kudos for the pleasant surprise.

# 8 has an otherworldly, dreamlike quality to it. The prose is concise and simple, but skilfully woven. The explanation for the presence of the piano in the jungle is implied to be that it is the surviving remnant of a cabin (which inexplicably had a ‘piano room’). The explanation is flawed, in that there is no reason given for how the cabin crumbled in such a way as to leave no trace: remember, the point of the piano being in the woods is that it was in perfect working order, with no trace or clue left as to how it got there. Still, the elegance of the sketch and gentle romanticism of the story mitigates these faults. It is reminiscent of the tone of certain brilliant and classic Philippine short stories in English, such as ‘Coward’ by Fernando Leano. Score: 8/10

#10 reads like a hastily written tabloid bulletin and its approach to the premise is seductively charming, rejoicing as it does in the blackness of its comic irony. It hits upon the function of the media in distracting people from their plight and cleverly satirises the mammoth proportions of the cult of celebrity in the Philippines. If not for the sometimes clumsy grammar, I might have suspected that its irony and wry humour bespoke a secretly ‘Zafrian’ provenance, written under a pseudonym… Again, it doesn’t answer the question of how the paino got to its odd home. Score: 7/10

# 13 is mystical enough to put me in mind of The Silmarillion. On the other hand, it is prone to the same species of pretentiousness as that work. Thankfully, it is not as long. Even so, the language draws you in, save for certain rough patches which jar – primarily where a comparison or reference to the present day is made. To a generation raised on Tolkien and Star Wars, the approach to the opposition of light and dark, good and evil, is irresistible. It also answers the questions of how the piano got into the jungle. I personally find the explanation unsatisfying (why not a lute or a drum kit? Why would primeval forces of creation forge an instrument which only became known to history in the late 17th to early 18th century?), but the writer gets credit for addressing it. Score: 8/10

# 21 is a sample of the sort of timeless, implausible romance that makes suckers out of so many, but the ending hints at a sort of bitter kick in the teeth delivered by reality (at least by my interpretation. Imagine the speaker spending 10 years building this instrument only to find that his beloved has no idea how to play and views him as an obsessive freak! Now that’s drama.) The character telling the story reminds me of Jay Gatsby crossed with the narrator from Harry Chapin’s song ‘Taxi’. Commendably, the story also answers the question. Score: 7.5/10

I have to suggest, by way of tie-breaker, that # 8 by “behindhiddendoors” should win. I like all of the above stories, but to me, only # 8 remains completely satisfying on each re-read. It never loses its tone and its consistent internal narrative integrity.

It begins with a hook, “Holy crap-in-a-box…”, which has the benefit of being amusing, of not being “Once upon a time”, and it indicates that something very grave has occurred. It makes me want to read on.

It builds on years of geeky fandom, dispensing with lengthy character introductions while providing much appreciated fan-service.

It entertains as an art form, without pretending to be socially relevant.

It is short, an exclamation by our main character, yet it effectively tells a whole sequence of events and the reaction thereof. An excellent example of how true story-telling is more than a mere description of what has transpired.

The only disadvantage it might have is that Fox Mulder doesn’t live in a Philippine forest. Regardless, I think it’s a winner. =)