The Specialists

[The Specialists is on hiatus for two weeks. To tide you over, we’re running Crawlspace, a short story we did several years ago for Dark Horse’s “Strip Search” competition.]

Wow, check it out: a second page this week! (Don’t get used to it.)

Revisiting old projects is always a strange experience. I’m usually embarrassed by work I did when I was younger. I don’t think that’s necessarily because I’ve gotten better in the intervening time, but that when seeing it after several years, I’m able to step back and experience it as someone else would, and the flaws are more noticeable from a distance. On the other hand, I often find little nuggets of writing — a bit of dialogue or plot development — that I’m pleasantly surprised by. I may be my biggest critic, but I’m not ruthless.

Still, it could always be worse!