Hard-boiled crime originally sounded like a great idea for a WFC, but I think it's a lot more fun to read than it is to write. Maybe that's just me. Maybe 2500 words is not enough to hard-boil the crime. Still, not to diss the theme -- the fact that not everyone went the hard-boiled route made for more variety among the entries, which is always cool.

• Wheel Man Hunter would have made a mediocre journalist; the story has the Who, When, and Where but is missing a lot of What, How, and Why. I can't decide if it's a clever subversion of the crime genre or, er, the other thing.
• Bird Lack of details in the beginning (pronouns instead of people) made it hard for me to figure out who the protagonist and antagonist were at first. By the time I got a grip on the sitch I was expecting the ending to really seal it, but instead the twist lost me.
• Dream Dagger Was just getting interesting, then it ends. Great tone; a fine setup that's missing the actual story.
• My Last Day Alive I liked this one; even though it gives away its ending, the journey is satisfying. It's neatly executed (no pun intended -- wrong WFC), but not too neat.
• Snake Eyes Most hard-boiled, with all the classic elements except, perhaps, the crime. Has some fun turns of phrase, a logical gap or two, and an odd obsession with furniture.
• Country Manners This was the only story that gave me a real, visceral shock. (I realize most of the other stories were not going for that effect.) Not hard-boiled, but its atmosphere is thick with crime and the story has its own, distinct voice.

Props to everyone brave enough to submit something. Thanks, as always, to 2 plus 3 equals 5 for coordinating, and to notafurry for the technical enablement.

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"Late to the party" is the new "ahead of the curve" -- CRwM