Creatures of the Snow

This story was very appealing for its atmosphere and the interactions between the main character and her fox, which gave a lot of life to the protagonist. Beyond that, the story revolves around a plot with a clear focus: the discovery of an ancient enemy, and what you intend to do about it. The events that unfold don't deviate from handling this event (which is fine). Bill's stories are written with tightly controlled spelling and grammar; I saw around a dozen errors all told in this one, and spent over an hour reading it. The story is solid and very enjoyable.

I appreciated many elements of the story, starting with the concern around the (Spoiler - click to show)color red. The way it's treated and the mere fact it's used in curses says everything about how serious the superstition is. Reading between the lines, it probably originated from the fact that (Spoiler - click to show)Cryndy conflicts are bloody affairs, and that Cryndy seem to prefer guerilla tactics. There's blood on the field, and "suddenly they come". Being able to speculate about the events of a story that were omitted from description outlines competency on behalf of a writer, so I appreciate that.

My only complaint is that it's strange (Spoiler - click to show)Elia didn't cut her hair to begin with (though I understand its use in the plot and social dynamics). Trading hair for social acceptance is a very hard deal to pass up, and her inner dialog mentions her status begrudgingly just a few too many times for her to be the uncaring type.

Overall, this story is a nice break from real life and plenty worth reading.