![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Title: Hold It All At Bay
Fandom: Check Please!
Pairing: Eric Bittle/Jack Zimmermann
Categories/Genres: Alternate Universe, Psychic abilities, Soul Bond, Drama, Romance, Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Length: Epic (49957 words)
Warnings: Consent issues by way of emotional projection
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
psocoptera
Author Website: psocoptera
Summary:
The theory of extrapolative synchronization of the mirror neurons was debunked back when he was still in his teens, so Jack is reluctant to mention that he can smell Bitty's pies baking from across campus.
Review:
As odd as it may sound, I really enjoy a little realism in my fantasy. Not realism in terms of how the fantasy world's people behave, but realism in the scientific sense. If a fantasy setting has magic, then there should be rules that the magic follows. If there are mermaids, then it would only make sense for them to have gills. And et cetera.
psocoptera takes the soul bond trope and dissects it through two differing perspectives: the scientific and the spiritual. Jack, who is extremely empathic, takes a controversial medication to dull his receptiveness to others' emotions. Bitty was taught as a child to redirect his attention in order to control his emotions, as they tended to reach out and influence others'. The contrast of their respective regimens alone is, for me, the most fascinating aspect of a story with a vast but lightly explored backstory.
Contrast in general is the name of the game in Hold It All At Bay. Not only do Bitty and Jack's upbringings contrast, but their reactions to their respective feelings differ in the extreme. They even contrast with their canonical and fanonical characterizations. Though Jack is canonically prone to anxiety, Bitty calms and centers him in psocoptera's story, and Jack accepts what he feels for Bitty with considerably more ease than Bitty does. A pivotal portion of the romantic plot is actually focused on Bitty's anxiety regarding Jack and the possibility that Bitty's forceful ability has accidentally forced an emotional attachment that Jack believed to be genuine.
The alternating POVs provide vast insight into Bitty and Jack's respective thoughts, but I found the outside POVs to be especially charming. They're well written with distinctive voices that give a strong sense of the personality behind them. The original characters that are introduced have flavor and depth, and while I personally disagree with psocoptera's decision to make Shitty not believe in ESMN, him and the other canon characters read so remarkably true to Ngoizi's vision.
Hold It All At Bay
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Fandom: Check Please!
Pairing: Eric Bittle/Jack Zimmermann
Categories/Genres: Alternate Universe, Psychic abilities, Soul Bond, Drama, Romance, Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Length: Epic (49957 words)
Warnings: Consent issues by way of emotional projection
Author on LJ:
psocopteraAuthor Website: psocoptera
Summary:
The theory of extrapolative synchronization of the mirror neurons was debunked back when he was still in his teens, so Jack is reluctant to mention that he can smell Bitty's pies baking from across campus.
Review:
As odd as it may sound, I really enjoy a little realism in my fantasy. Not realism in terms of how the fantasy world's people behave, but realism in the scientific sense. If a fantasy setting has magic, then there should be rules that the magic follows. If there are mermaids, then it would only make sense for them to have gills. And et cetera.
psocoptera takes the soul bond trope and dissects it through two differing perspectives: the scientific and the spiritual. Jack, who is extremely empathic, takes a controversial medication to dull his receptiveness to others' emotions. Bitty was taught as a child to redirect his attention in order to control his emotions, as they tended to reach out and influence others'. The contrast of their respective regimens alone is, for me, the most fascinating aspect of a story with a vast but lightly explored backstory.
Contrast in general is the name of the game in Hold It All At Bay. Not only do Bitty and Jack's upbringings contrast, but their reactions to their respective feelings differ in the extreme. They even contrast with their canonical and fanonical characterizations. Though Jack is canonically prone to anxiety, Bitty calms and centers him in psocoptera's story, and Jack accepts what he feels for Bitty with considerably more ease than Bitty does. A pivotal portion of the romantic plot is actually focused on Bitty's anxiety regarding Jack and the possibility that Bitty's forceful ability has accidentally forced an emotional attachment that Jack believed to be genuine.
The alternating POVs provide vast insight into Bitty and Jack's respective thoughts, but I found the outside POVs to be especially charming. They're well written with distinctive voices that give a strong sense of the personality behind them. The original characters that are introduced have flavor and depth, and while I personally disagree with psocoptera's decision to make Shitty not believe in ESMN, him and the other canon characters read so remarkably true to Ngoizi's vision.
Hold It All At Bay
Title: Shadows in the River Fog series
Fandom: Dishonored
Pairing: Gen
Categories/Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Family, Violence, Low Chaos
Length: Medium (13,183 words)
Warnings: Canonical character death, child abuse
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: NoHolds
Summary:
Corvo Attano continues to defy expectation.
Review:
Joining the ranks of many similar video games, Dishonored's Corvo Attano is a silent protagonist. He's a blank slate with no reactions beyond what the player chooses to assign to him. Whether he massacres his way through the game or puts every single NPC he can find into a sleeper hold is utterly up to the player's discretion, though the end is, uncommonly, influenced by the means.
What NoHolds does is generate Corvo's personality, mannerisms, and even posture all from scratch. She invents him, fills him in like a coloring page even as she makes him suit her image. It truly is a marvelous thing to see.
Each story in the series is from the perspective of a different character, and each in their turn describes Corvo through the filter of their experiences with him. Samuel, a stranger, looks on in curiosity. Daud reflects on his guilt. Emily's soft, kind memories are torn ragged by what she experiences at the hands of her kidnappers and what she is told by them about Corvo. Through each tinted lens they provide, the reader is able to glean something new about NoHold's imagining of Corvo, and the picture each glimpse paints is a marvelous portrait indeed.
Shadows in the River Fog
Fandom: Dishonored
Pairing: Gen
Categories/Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Family, Violence, Low Chaos
Length: Medium (13,183 words)
Warnings: Canonical character death, child abuse
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: NoHolds
Summary:
Corvo Attano continues to defy expectation.
Review:
Joining the ranks of many similar video games, Dishonored's Corvo Attano is a silent protagonist. He's a blank slate with no reactions beyond what the player chooses to assign to him. Whether he massacres his way through the game or puts every single NPC he can find into a sleeper hold is utterly up to the player's discretion, though the end is, uncommonly, influenced by the means.
What NoHolds does is generate Corvo's personality, mannerisms, and even posture all from scratch. She invents him, fills him in like a coloring page even as she makes him suit her image. It truly is a marvelous thing to see.
Each story in the series is from the perspective of a different character, and each in their turn describes Corvo through the filter of their experiences with him. Samuel, a stranger, looks on in curiosity. Daud reflects on his guilt. Emily's soft, kind memories are torn ragged by what she experiences at the hands of her kidnappers and what she is told by them about Corvo. Through each tinted lens they provide, the reader is able to glean something new about NoHold's imagining of Corvo, and the picture each glimpse paints is a marvelous portrait indeed.
Shadows in the River Fog
Title: Heard It Through The Heart Line
Fandom: Dishonored
Pairing: Gen
Categories/Genres: Alternate Universe, Humor, Crack
Length: Medium (7064 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ:eeveebethfejvu
Author Website: EeveebethFejvu
Summary:
The Heart reveals many secrets about the world and the people around Corvo. Sometimes too many secrets.
If Corvo didn't know any better, he might even say the Heart is a bit of a gossip.
Review:
Dishonored is a terribly serious game. Certainly not one that comes to mind in association with words like 'humor' or 'punchline'. What little humor there is to be found is usually of the darkly cynical variety, as opposed to the lighter fare of, say, Portal and its sequel.
But with the addition of a single quirk, EveebethFejvu heaps hilarity and horror in equal measure on Corvo Attano's already burdened shoulders. As it turns out, Jessamine Kaldwin is even more of a gossip in death than she was in life.
My appreciation for this fic goes deeper than the admittedly hilarious details that the Heart reveals about the game's cast of characters. By laying bare all their secret thoughts, fictional or no, EveebethFejvu makes a point of reminding us that we are all more than we appear--that behind the transient glimpse of every stranger we pass on the street, or even the familiar face of a neighbor, coworker, friend, or family member, there is a life story that includes the good and bad, the exciting and dull, and any of an infinite combination of sexual proclivities ranging from the mundane to the exceptionally bizarre.
Heard It Through The Heart Line
Fandom: Dishonored
Pairing: Gen
Categories/Genres: Alternate Universe, Humor, Crack
Length: Medium (7064 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ:
eeveebethfejvuAuthor Website: EeveebethFejvu
Summary:
The Heart reveals many secrets about the world and the people around Corvo. Sometimes too many secrets.
If Corvo didn't know any better, he might even say the Heart is a bit of a gossip.
Review:
Dishonored is a terribly serious game. Certainly not one that comes to mind in association with words like 'humor' or 'punchline'. What little humor there is to be found is usually of the darkly cynical variety, as opposed to the lighter fare of, say, Portal and its sequel.
But with the addition of a single quirk, EveebethFejvu heaps hilarity and horror in equal measure on Corvo Attano's already burdened shoulders. As it turns out, Jessamine Kaldwin is even more of a gossip in death than she was in life.
My appreciation for this fic goes deeper than the admittedly hilarious details that the Heart reveals about the game's cast of characters. By laying bare all their secret thoughts, fictional or no, EveebethFejvu makes a point of reminding us that we are all more than we appear--that behind the transient glimpse of every stranger we pass on the street, or even the familiar face of a neighbor, coworker, friend, or family member, there is a life story that includes the good and bad, the exciting and dull, and any of an infinite combination of sexual proclivities ranging from the mundane to the exceptionally bizarre.
Heard It Through The Heart Line
Title: The Sea and Stars Are Yours, My Dear, But the Moon Would Not Cooperate
Fandom: Dishonored
Pairing: Corvo Attano/The Outsider
Categories/Genres: Romance, Fluff, Humor, Courtship
Length: Long (25367 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: NeverwinterThistle
Summary:
The Outsider explores the murky seas of human courtship while Corvo watches in bemusement, and in the background Emily draws, Callista takes charge, Piero sulks, and Cecelia accidentally becomes indispensable. There's also a plague, a vase of asparagus, and about a hundred singing whales who randomly showed up in the harbour one evening.
The squid is still wriggling.
Review:
It's funny, that is to say, odd, how love is such an indelible constant of the human condition, and yet the ways and means of achieving it evolve and change with the times. It's also funny, that is to say, amusing, to watch The Outsider try his hand at human-style courtship as defined by a wealthy, entitled male. It's also utterly hilarious to watch Corvo misunderstand at every turn.
Speaking of, Corvo is a delight in this fic. NeverwinterThistle takes a mute player character and, with a wave of the magic author wand, turns him into a real boy with real person thoughts and real person feelings and real person uncertainty in the face of some pretty heavy-handed intentions on The Outsider's part. But NeverwinterThistle never once lets Corvo backslide into the cardboard cut-out most silent protagonists are by their very nature. Instead, Corvo's mood lifts from gritty, grinding paranoia to genuine contentment in a progression that never feels rushed or overdone.
But to be honest, the star of this fic is The Outsider and the vast range of moods NeverwinterThistle is able to portray through Corvo's perspective.
The Sea and Stars Are Yours, My Dear, But the Moon Would Not Cooperate
Fandom: Dishonored
Pairing: Corvo Attano/The Outsider
Categories/Genres: Romance, Fluff, Humor, Courtship
Length: Long (25367 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: NeverwinterThistle
Summary:
The Outsider explores the murky seas of human courtship while Corvo watches in bemusement, and in the background Emily draws, Callista takes charge, Piero sulks, and Cecelia accidentally becomes indispensable. There's also a plague, a vase of asparagus, and about a hundred singing whales who randomly showed up in the harbour one evening.
The squid is still wriggling.
Review:
It's funny, that is to say, odd, how love is such an indelible constant of the human condition, and yet the ways and means of achieving it evolve and change with the times. It's also funny, that is to say, amusing, to watch The Outsider try his hand at human-style courtship as defined by a wealthy, entitled male. It's also utterly hilarious to watch Corvo misunderstand at every turn.
Speaking of, Corvo is a delight in this fic. NeverwinterThistle takes a mute player character and, with a wave of the magic author wand, turns him into a real boy with real person thoughts and real person feelings and real person uncertainty in the face of some pretty heavy-handed intentions on The Outsider's part. But NeverwinterThistle never once lets Corvo backslide into the cardboard cut-out most silent protagonists are by their very nature. Instead, Corvo's mood lifts from gritty, grinding paranoia to genuine contentment in a progression that never feels rushed or overdone.
But to be honest, the star of this fic is The Outsider and the vast range of moods NeverwinterThistle is able to portray through Corvo's perspective.
The Sea and Stars Are Yours, My Dear, But the Moon Would Not Cooperate
Title: #kidsthesedays
Fandom: N/A
Pairing: Gen
Categories/Genres: Time Skip, Historical, Drama, Family
Length: Medium (6049 words)
Warnings: Some homophobic and racist language
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: wsswatson
Summary:
A play about parents, children and the passing of time.
Review:
I recall, in high school, learning about European immigrants coming in droves to the United States in the mid-19th century. They were the victims of severe discrimination and racism at the time, and as a person of mixed heritage living in this current era, it shocked me to consider the idea of white people being racist toward other white people. How could such a thing be possible, when in this modern day it seems to be all whites against all non-whites?
Perhaps someday, if we are fortunate, when my children are grown, my grandchildren will come to me, bewildered by the idea that people of color were discriminated against.
But as #kidsthesedays so unsubtly points out, perhaps it will be so because my children's and grandchildren's generations will have found some other group to discriminate against. Perhaps the media's talking heads will have found some new thing to blame for massacres perpetrated by 'troubled' youth. Perhaps fathers will have found some new aspect of their daughter's wardrobe or behavior to be distressed about, or some socially aware young man or woman will defend the rights of extra terrestrials to their xenophobic parent.
Perhaps life will continue on, cycling endlessly through variations of a thousand familiar themes, even after we have evolved beyond the scientific classification of "homo sapiens."
Perhaps that is the best we can hope for.
#kidsthesedays
Fandom: N/A
Pairing: Gen
Categories/Genres: Time Skip, Historical, Drama, Family
Length: Medium (6049 words)
Warnings: Some homophobic and racist language
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: wsswatson
Summary:
A play about parents, children and the passing of time.
Review:
I recall, in high school, learning about European immigrants coming in droves to the United States in the mid-19th century. They were the victims of severe discrimination and racism at the time, and as a person of mixed heritage living in this current era, it shocked me to consider the idea of white people being racist toward other white people. How could such a thing be possible, when in this modern day it seems to be all whites against all non-whites?
Perhaps someday, if we are fortunate, when my children are grown, my grandchildren will come to me, bewildered by the idea that people of color were discriminated against.
But as #kidsthesedays so unsubtly points out, perhaps it will be so because my children's and grandchildren's generations will have found some other group to discriminate against. Perhaps the media's talking heads will have found some new thing to blame for massacres perpetrated by 'troubled' youth. Perhaps fathers will have found some new aspect of their daughter's wardrobe or behavior to be distressed about, or some socially aware young man or woman will defend the rights of extra terrestrials to their xenophobic parent.
Perhaps life will continue on, cycling endlessly through variations of a thousand familiar themes, even after we have evolved beyond the scientific classification of "homo sapiens."
Perhaps that is the best we can hope for.
#kidsthesedays
Title: Two-Faced Lovers
Fandom: Tiger & Bunny
Pairing: Gen
Categories/Genres: Music Video
Length: Short (3:08)
Warnings: Epilepsy warning
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: dexm
Summary:
「チャーハンの具にしてやんよ！」 背腸ぬいたれやー。im1400924
お借りしたものは動画内にて
(SNP: No, I don't know what that means, and neither does Google Translate. Sorry.)
Review:
So long story short, MMD is a Japanese dance program that lets you choreograph dances using character models. dexm's video is actually a recreation of another video that uses the same choreography but a different version of the song. (Which makes this rather tenuously a Tiger & Bunny rec.)
As someone who can't understand a lick of Japanese, I find the majority of MMD videos to be briefly interesting, then rather boring. So while I'm certainly no MMD connoisseur, the fact that I can watch this one from start to finish without glazing over is the most poorly framed yet sincere praise I have ever given and will probably ever give. The camera angles constantly draw the eye and dexm introduces new video effects to keep the viewer ooh-ing and ahh-ing right up until the last frame. The color scheme of light and dark greys calls back to the song's original Vocaloid version and its video, but dexm introduces the darker color scheme and the Tiger & Bunny fandom's Dark Tiger to highlight the singer's ambivalence and confusion. Though there may be a great deal that's recycled from previous MMD versions of the song, dexm adapts and improves on the formula in a way that makes their version a must-see.
Visually, it's a delight, and the singer has a great rock and roll type voice that gives the song a certain vibrancy that the Vocaloid version sorely lacks. If you only watch one MMD video in your life, make sure it's this one.
NicoNico: Two-Faced Lovers
Youtube (not the creator's upload!): Two-Faced Lovers
Fandom: Tiger & Bunny
Pairing: Gen
Categories/Genres: Music Video
Length: Short (3:08)
Warnings: Epilepsy warning
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: dexm
Summary:
「チャーハンの具にしてやんよ！」 背腸ぬいたれやー。im1400924
お借りしたものは動画内にて
(SNP: No, I don't know what that means, and neither does Google Translate. Sorry.)
Review:
So long story short, MMD is a Japanese dance program that lets you choreograph dances using character models. dexm's video is actually a recreation of another video that uses the same choreography but a different version of the song. (Which makes this rather tenuously a Tiger & Bunny rec.)
As someone who can't understand a lick of Japanese, I find the majority of MMD videos to be briefly interesting, then rather boring. So while I'm certainly no MMD connoisseur, the fact that I can watch this one from start to finish without glazing over is the most poorly framed yet sincere praise I have ever given and will probably ever give. The camera angles constantly draw the eye and dexm introduces new video effects to keep the viewer ooh-ing and ahh-ing right up until the last frame. The color scheme of light and dark greys calls back to the song's original Vocaloid version and its video, but dexm introduces the darker color scheme and the Tiger & Bunny fandom's Dark Tiger to highlight the singer's ambivalence and confusion. Though there may be a great deal that's recycled from previous MMD versions of the song, dexm adapts and improves on the formula in a way that makes their version a must-see.
Visually, it's a delight, and the singer has a great rock and roll type voice that gives the song a certain vibrancy that the Vocaloid version sorely lacks. If you only watch one MMD video in your life, make sure it's this one.
NicoNico: Two-Faced Lovers
Youtube (not the creator's upload!): Two-Faced Lovers
Title: An Ordinary Meeting
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes
Pairing: Gen
Categories/Genres: Slice of Life, Friendship, Humor, Action/Adventure
Length: Long ( 27,235 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: aragonite
Summary:
Lestrade meets the man mad enough to room with Sherlock Holmes.
Review:
If you like Sherlock Holmes in literally any of its incarnations, you need to read this. Period. My favorite chapter is Honey and Onions, Both because of the sheer unbelievable hilarity and also the way in which aragonite has Lestrade and Watson recount their story. It's messy and haphazard and incredibly improbable, and yet aragonite shows in The Art of Reports that it's completely true, if heavily abridged. If you need more convincing, I leave you with this delightful snippet:
An Ordinary Meeting
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes
Pairing: Gen
Categories/Genres: Slice of Life, Friendship, Humor, Action/Adventure
Length: Long ( 27,235 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: aragonite
Summary:
Lestrade meets the man mad enough to room with Sherlock Holmes.
Review:
If you like Sherlock Holmes in literally any of its incarnations, you need to read this. Period. My favorite chapter is Honey and Onions, Both because of the sheer unbelievable hilarity and also the way in which aragonite has Lestrade and Watson recount their story. It's messy and haphazard and incredibly improbable, and yet aragonite shows in The Art of Reports that it's completely true, if heavily abridged. If you need more convincing, I leave you with this delightful snippet:
"It is illegal to perform obstruction in highways, bridges or rivers!" Lestrade paused again to spit filthy water out from the middle of his diatribe. If you feel the need to perform such an activity, you must first file for a permit at your public Police-station!"
For some unfathomable reason, it worked. The steersman blanched; he hurriedly stuffed his revolver into his coat and used both hands to wrench the cabin back to align with the current...
An Ordinary Meeting
Title: Let's Get Married!
Fandom: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Pairing: Kakyoin Noriaki/Kujo Jotaro
Categories/Genres: Kidfic, Alternate Universe, De-Aged, Fluff
Length: Short (16 pages)
Warnings: N/A
Artist on LJ: N/A
Artist Website: しょうちき
Translator Website: nenatranslates
Summary:
(The summary is in Japanese. Assuming most of epic-recs' patrons don't read/speak Japanese, I won't paste it here.)
Review:
Basically, this comic is an AU version of a canonical fight in Stardust Crusaders, where Jotaro and Kakyoin are transformed into children by Alessi's Stand and left in Josef's care while Polnareff and Abdul battle Alessi. Their characterizations as children are extrapolated from the brief hints that Holly Kujo and Kakyoin himself provide in the canon.
I'm no less a sucker for authors filling in the blanks when it comes to backstory than I've always been, so reccing this, (once I'd discovered the translation!) was a no-brainer. It's difficult to take Holly Kujo's description of a young Jotaro at her word, considering the kind of personality he has as a teen, but the artist writes it straight, depicting Jotaro as an outgoing, empathetic child. In sharp contrast is Kakyoin, whose early emergence of his Stand, and the complications that Kakyoin canonically, if vaguely, implies to have followed, have made him a cynical and angry young boy determined to be alone by choice rather than be hated and left behind.
Interestingly, it's this portrayal of Kakyoin that I can see being enslaved, possibly even willingly, by Dio, who may have been the first person to not only acknowledge, but understand and appreciate Kakyoin's Stand.
Though how Jotaro went from being a sweet child to a stone-faced delinquent is still anyone's guess.
Let's Get Married!
Fandom: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Pairing: Kakyoin Noriaki/Kujo Jotaro
Categories/Genres: Kidfic, Alternate Universe, De-Aged, Fluff
Length: Short (16 pages)
Warnings: N/A
Artist on LJ: N/A
Artist Website: しょうちき
Translator Website: nenatranslates
Summary:
(The summary is in Japanese. Assuming most of epic-recs' patrons don't read/speak Japanese, I won't paste it here.)
Review:
Basically, this comic is an AU version of a canonical fight in Stardust Crusaders, where Jotaro and Kakyoin are transformed into children by Alessi's Stand and left in Josef's care while Polnareff and Abdul battle Alessi. Their characterizations as children are extrapolated from the brief hints that Holly Kujo and Kakyoin himself provide in the canon.
I'm no less a sucker for authors filling in the blanks when it comes to backstory than I've always been, so reccing this, (once I'd discovered the translation!) was a no-brainer. It's difficult to take Holly Kujo's description of a young Jotaro at her word, considering the kind of personality he has as a teen, but the artist writes it straight, depicting Jotaro as an outgoing, empathetic child. In sharp contrast is Kakyoin, whose early emergence of his Stand, and the complications that Kakyoin canonically, if vaguely, implies to have followed, have made him a cynical and angry young boy determined to be alone by choice rather than be hated and left behind.
Interestingly, it's this portrayal of Kakyoin that I can see being enslaved, possibly even willingly, by Dio, who may have been the first person to not only acknowledge, but understand and appreciate Kakyoin's Stand.
Though how Jotaro went from being a sweet child to a stone-faced delinquent is still anyone's guess.
Let's Get Married!
Title: Check, Please! The Musical!: I Need Him on My Line (Reprise)
Fandom: Check, Please!
Pairing: Gen(-ish?)
Categories/Genres: Song
Length: Short (4:11)
Warnings: N/A
Composer on LJ: N/A
Composer Website: sailorsun7
Summary:
“Check, Please!” is an amazing webcomic, by the amazing artist Ngozi, about hockey, pie, and friendship. Check it out here: http://omgcheckplease.tumblr.com. It’s also just begging to be a musical (as are most things)! Here’s my take on hockey captain Jack Zimmermann’s big 11 o’clock number, in which he has an “aha moment” about a certain Southern baking boy…
Review:
So to provide a little context, the concept of a Check, Please! musical stems from an AU idea that the comic's creator, Ngozi, tossed up on Twitter one day. To the delight of the fandom, sailorsun7 took the idea and ran with it, unleashing upon the world this marvelous piece of artistry.
If you're a Check, Please! fan, this is not to be missed. If you are not (yet) a Check, Please! fan, fingers crossed that sailorsun7's amazing song is your gateway into the fandom. If you've already listened to it, come join me in my little corner as I simultaneously guffaw and weep about how in character the lyrics are for Jack.
Check, Please! The Musical!: I Need Him on My Line (Reprise)
Fandom: Check, Please!
Pairing: Gen(-ish?)
Categories/Genres: Song
Length: Short (4:11)
Warnings: N/A
Composer on LJ: N/A
Composer Website: sailorsun7
Summary:
“Check, Please!” is an amazing webcomic, by the amazing artist Ngozi, about hockey, pie, and friendship. Check it out here: http://omgcheckplease.tumblr.com. It’s also just begging to be a musical (as are most things)! Here’s my take on hockey captain Jack Zimmermann’s big 11 o’clock number, in which he has an “aha moment” about a certain Southern baking boy…
Review:
So to provide a little context, the concept of a Check, Please! musical stems from an AU idea that the comic's creator, Ngozi, tossed up on Twitter one day. To the delight of the fandom, sailorsun7 took the idea and ran with it, unleashing upon the world this marvelous piece of artistry.
If you're a Check, Please! fan, this is not to be missed. If you are not (yet) a Check, Please! fan, fingers crossed that sailorsun7's amazing song is your gateway into the fandom. If you've already listened to it, come join me in my little corner as I simultaneously guffaw and weep about how in character the lyrics are for Jack.
Check, Please! The Musical!: I Need Him on My Line (Reprise)
Title: ユートピア・ノーリターン
Fandom: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Pairing: Kakyoin Noriaki/Kujo Jotaro
Categories/Genres: Fanart, Angst, Romance
Length: N/A
Warnings: Reference to canonical character death
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: 三宅
Summary:
N/A
Review:
To those of you who haven't heard of Hirohiko Araki's Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, I'm not surprised. You, however, should be, because this manga is as well loved in Japan as Naruto, which I'm sure most people in fandom are at least aware of, whether they want to be or not. But taking into account the manga artist's very distinct style, it is perhaps unsurprising that the manga, however beloved in Japan, has failed to catch on in the U.S. In fact, it is the pointedly visual aspect of the manga that has led me to rec a fanart instead of a fic, because words can never quite capture the peculiar spectacle of the characters that Araki's style imbues them with.
I'm no student of the Japanese language, but as best as I (and Google Translate) can figure out, the title of this artwork in English is roughly No Return to Utopia. (Actual Japanese speakers are encouraged to correct me.) It's a poignant title that encapsulates the artwork and where it fits into the canon, viewing the colorful 'utopia' where Kakyoin and Jotaro's story came to its climax through the morbidly placed window in an otherwise greyscale image. The colorful skyline seems like a beautiful dream in comparison to Kakyoin and Jotaro's respective wry and possessive expressions.
Even if you'd never heard of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, the skill of the artist still makes this worth the effort to click. Nevertheless, if you have any interest in manga or anime whatsoever, try to check Araki's massive, multi-series epic if you get the chance.
ユートピア・ノーリターン
Fandom: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Pairing: Kakyoin Noriaki/Kujo Jotaro
Categories/Genres: Fanart, Angst, Romance
Length: N/A
Warnings: Reference to canonical character death
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: 三宅
Summary:
N/A
Review:
To those of you who haven't heard of Hirohiko Araki's Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, I'm not surprised. You, however, should be, because this manga is as well loved in Japan as Naruto, which I'm sure most people in fandom are at least aware of, whether they want to be or not. But taking into account the manga artist's very distinct style, it is perhaps unsurprising that the manga, however beloved in Japan, has failed to catch on in the U.S. In fact, it is the pointedly visual aspect of the manga that has led me to rec a fanart instead of a fic, because words can never quite capture the peculiar spectacle of the characters that Araki's style imbues them with.
I'm no student of the Japanese language, but as best as I (and Google Translate) can figure out, the title of this artwork in English is roughly No Return to Utopia. (Actual Japanese speakers are encouraged to correct me.) It's a poignant title that encapsulates the artwork and where it fits into the canon, viewing the colorful 'utopia' where Kakyoin and Jotaro's story came to its climax through the morbidly placed window in an otherwise greyscale image. The colorful skyline seems like a beautiful dream in comparison to Kakyoin and Jotaro's respective wry and possessive expressions.
Even if you'd never heard of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, the skill of the artist still makes this worth the effort to click. Nevertheless, if you have any interest in manga or anime whatsoever, try to check Araki's massive, multi-series epic if you get the chance.
ユートピア・ノーリターン
Title:The Fruits of Hades
Fandom: Greek and Roman mythology
Pairing: Hades/Persephone
Categories/Genres: Mythology, Drama, Romance
Length: Medium (4246 words)
Warnings: Non-explicit mentions of prior rape to unnamed characters
Author on LJ:lesserstorm
Author Website: Lesserstorm
Summary:
Hades has his reasons. Persephone has hers.
Review:
Greek and Roman mythology has always bored me when it didn't faintly irritate me. The Fruits of Hades, with Persephone as its cunning protagonist, has crystallized in my mind why that is by way of a perpendicular contrast. On the surface, it intersects with canon, fitting into the traditional narrative. But although it seems as though the instigator of the narrative is Hades, things are not quite as they appear.
All the actors within this fic, from the lowly nymph Persephone to the god of gods Zeus, are chillingly mercenary in this adaptation of the myth. Each acts according to their own selfish desires vis-à-vis Persephone, who is objectively in the weakest and most vulnerable position of the lot. But fortune favors the bold, and through patience and deft cunning, she manages not only to evade a terrible fate but put herself into a position of power that gives her the autonomy she previously was robbed of.
The Fruits of Hades
Fandom: Greek and Roman mythology
Pairing: Hades/Persephone
Categories/Genres: Mythology, Drama, Romance
Length: Medium (4246 words)
Warnings: Non-explicit mentions of prior rape to unnamed characters
Author on LJ:
lesserstorm Author Website: Lesserstorm
Summary:
Hades has his reasons. Persephone has hers.
Review:
Greek and Roman mythology has always bored me when it didn't faintly irritate me. The Fruits of Hades, with Persephone as its cunning protagonist, has crystallized in my mind why that is by way of a perpendicular contrast. On the surface, it intersects with canon, fitting into the traditional narrative. But although it seems as though the instigator of the narrative is Hades, things are not quite as they appear.
All the actors within this fic, from the lowly nymph Persephone to the god of gods Zeus, are chillingly mercenary in this adaptation of the myth. Each acts according to their own selfish desires vis-à-vis Persephone, who is objectively in the weakest and most vulnerable position of the lot. But fortune favors the bold, and through patience and deft cunning, she manages not only to evade a terrible fate but put herself into a position of power that gives her the autonomy she previously was robbed of.
The Fruits of Hades
Title: Choose Well, Choose Wisely, Choose Again
Fandom: Long Live the Queen (video game)
Pairing: Gen
Categories/Genres: Repeating time, Drama, Introspection
Length: Short (1578 words)
Warnings: Canonical (repeated) character death
Author on LJ:tuesdayfic
Author Website: tuesday
Summary:
Elodie knew that a princess had only one chance to rule wisely. Elodie knew wrong.
Review:
Long Live the Queen is a peculiar little simulation game that takes place in a magical kingdom, following the forty weeks leading up to the fifteenth birthday and subsequent coronation of the Princess Elodie. She begins as a sheltered young girl, utterly unprepared for the duties that await her. Over the course of the forty weeks, the player chooses what skills Elodie should learn from her tutors and selects her reactions to events. If the proper skills and responses are chosen, Elodie lives to her fifteenth birthday and becomes Queen. If not, Elodie dies. And dies, and dies, and dies.
Choose Well, Choose Wisely, Choose Again presents an Elodie who becomes conscious of the repetitive nature of the game over the course of her resurrections and subsequent 'playthroughs'. Most interestingly, tuesday incorporates the game's unusual mechanics into the in-universe lore and subtly molds the functionally immortal Elodie into an avatar of the gamer who plays the game again and again in search of perfection.
Choose Well, Choose Wisely, Choose Again
Fandom: Long Live the Queen (video game)
Pairing: Gen
Categories/Genres: Repeating time, Drama, Introspection
Length: Short (1578 words)
Warnings: Canonical (repeated) character death
Author on LJ:
tuesdayfic Author Website: tuesday
Summary:
Elodie knew that a princess had only one chance to rule wisely. Elodie knew wrong.
Review:
Long Live the Queen is a peculiar little simulation game that takes place in a magical kingdom, following the forty weeks leading up to the fifteenth birthday and subsequent coronation of the Princess Elodie. She begins as a sheltered young girl, utterly unprepared for the duties that await her. Over the course of the forty weeks, the player chooses what skills Elodie should learn from her tutors and selects her reactions to events. If the proper skills and responses are chosen, Elodie lives to her fifteenth birthday and becomes Queen. If not, Elodie dies. And dies, and dies, and dies.
Choose Well, Choose Wisely, Choose Again presents an Elodie who becomes conscious of the repetitive nature of the game over the course of her resurrections and subsequent 'playthroughs'. Most interestingly, tuesday incorporates the game's unusual mechanics into the in-universe lore and subtly molds the functionally immortal Elodie into an avatar of the gamer who plays the game again and again in search of perfection.
Choose Well, Choose Wisely, Choose Again
Title: Clutter
Fandom: Inuyasha
Pairing: Kagome Higurashi/Sesshoumaru
Categories/Genres: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Romance, Humor
Length: Long (~20000 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ:forthrightly
Author Website: Forthright
Summary:
AU. Mrs. Higurashi decides to help her daughter put her life together; enter Sesshoumaru, professional organizer extraordinaire. Kagome resents having a perfect stranger rummaging through her messes, but he's bound and determined to show her the folly of her easy-going ways. A romantic comedy told in 100-word snippets.
Review:
If I had never watched a minute, nor read a page of Inuyasha in my life, my life would be poorer not for never having known it, but for having missed this fic. Clutter exists in my mind as the quintessential fanfiction version of a nineties romcom. There's a quirky premise, a lead pair who push and pull with fantastic chemistry, and a supporting cast of (sometimes inanimate) characters that add humor and depth and the occasional wrench thrown into the lead pairing's respective lives.
For the uninitiated, forthright's use of the drabble can be jarring, and the number of chapters dauntinng, but it's easy enough to adapt, namely because forthright is a master of the format. Each 100 word segment works to move the story forward. Forthright is also generous with the punchlines, the humor light and quick and charming.
Clutter
Fandom: Inuyasha
Pairing: Kagome Higurashi/Sesshoumaru
Categories/Genres: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Romance, Humor
Length: Long (~20000 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ:
forthrightlyAuthor Website: Forthright
Summary:
AU. Mrs. Higurashi decides to help her daughter put her life together; enter Sesshoumaru, professional organizer extraordinaire. Kagome resents having a perfect stranger rummaging through her messes, but he's bound and determined to show her the folly of her easy-going ways. A romantic comedy told in 100-word snippets.
Review:
If I had never watched a minute, nor read a page of Inuyasha in my life, my life would be poorer not for never having known it, but for having missed this fic. Clutter exists in my mind as the quintessential fanfiction version of a nineties romcom. There's a quirky premise, a lead pair who push and pull with fantastic chemistry, and a supporting cast of (sometimes inanimate) characters that add humor and depth and the occasional wrench thrown into the lead pairing's respective lives.
For the uninitiated, forthright's use of the drabble can be jarring, and the number of chapters dauntinng, but it's easy enough to adapt, namely because forthright is a master of the format. Each 100 word segment works to move the story forward. Forthright is also generous with the punchlines, the humor light and quick and charming.
Clutter
Title: of the nature of the wound
Fandom: Check, Please!/Hockey RPF
Pairing: Eric Bittle/Jack Zimmermann, Larissa “Lardo” Duan/Shitty Knight, Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews, Jamie Benn/Tyler Seguin, Past Kent Parson/Jack Zimmermann
Categories/Genres: Angst, AU, Drama, Epistolary, Established Relationship, First Time, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, Romance
Length: Long (33936 words)
Warnings: Homophobic language by hockey players
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: buchanan
Summary:
His first year in the NHL isn't easy, but Jack has spent his entire life playing through the hurt.
Review:
Note: While Check, Please! doesn't require knowing anything about hockey beyond the fact that it's a team sport played on ice, of the nature of the wound does require a functional knowledge of professional hockey and how its seasons are scheduled. Being a hockey RPF crossover, this fic does incorporate real hockey players, and knowledge of those players provides useful context for their roles in the fic.
A lot of the Check, Please! fic I read tends to be of the lighter variety. Humorous and/or cute, and generally threaded through with the pervasive sense of, 'oh, you adorable boys'. Considering how light-hearted the canon is, it's probably not surprising that the fanfiction I choose to read follows in that direction.
of the nature of the wound is not one of those fics. It's also not an easy fic to get through, namely because it focuses on Jack's anxieties about being a closeted professional hockey player. You could, uncharitably if honestly, call it Jack's downward spiral of anxiety and loneliness.
buchanan's fic exemplifies the proverb “it is always darkest just before the dawn” in that it feels very much like the very beginning of a story that we are not (yet) privy to, not just in terms of Jack and Bitty's burgeoning relationship, but also the NHL as a whole upon the coming out of one of its most recognized hockey duos. Hopefully more of that will unfold in buchanan's expected sequel.
And now that I've given you a lot of reasons not to read the fic, I suppose I should mention why I am actually reccing it: buchanan does a fantastic job of weaving the fluffy and fictional Check, Please! microcosm into the much colder real world, where people change and move past who they were and sometimes grow apart, and where they succeed, fail, break, and struggle to mend what is broken. Jack Zimmermann does not feel like a fictional character as buchanan writes him. Nor does Eric Bittle, nor even Chowder, who is something of a caricature even in the comic's canon. It truly is a testament to buchanan's grasp of emotional complexity that I clung, riveted until the end, in spite of the fic's darker tone and truly annoying ten-line section breaks. (No, seriously, keep a finger on the space bar or page down key.)
of the nature of the wound
Fandom: Check, Please!/Hockey RPF
Pairing: Eric Bittle/Jack Zimmermann, Larissa “Lardo” Duan/Shitty Knight, Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews, Jamie Benn/Tyler Seguin, Past Kent Parson/Jack Zimmermann
Categories/Genres: Angst, AU, Drama, Epistolary, Established Relationship, First Time, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, Romance
Length: Long (33936 words)
Warnings: Homophobic language by hockey players
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: buchanan
Summary:
His first year in the NHL isn't easy, but Jack has spent his entire life playing through the hurt.
Review:
Note: While Check, Please! doesn't require knowing anything about hockey beyond the fact that it's a team sport played on ice, of the nature of the wound does require a functional knowledge of professional hockey and how its seasons are scheduled. Being a hockey RPF crossover, this fic does incorporate real hockey players, and knowledge of those players provides useful context for their roles in the fic.
A lot of the Check, Please! fic I read tends to be of the lighter variety. Humorous and/or cute, and generally threaded through with the pervasive sense of, 'oh, you adorable boys'. Considering how light-hearted the canon is, it's probably not surprising that the fanfiction I choose to read follows in that direction.
of the nature of the wound is not one of those fics. It's also not an easy fic to get through, namely because it focuses on Jack's anxieties about being a closeted professional hockey player. You could, uncharitably if honestly, call it Jack's downward spiral of anxiety and loneliness.
buchanan's fic exemplifies the proverb “it is always darkest just before the dawn” in that it feels very much like the very beginning of a story that we are not (yet) privy to, not just in terms of Jack and Bitty's burgeoning relationship, but also the NHL as a whole upon the coming out of one of its most recognized hockey duos. Hopefully more of that will unfold in buchanan's expected sequel.
And now that I've given you a lot of reasons not to read the fic, I suppose I should mention why I am actually reccing it: buchanan does a fantastic job of weaving the fluffy and fictional Check, Please! microcosm into the much colder real world, where people change and move past who they were and sometimes grow apart, and where they succeed, fail, break, and struggle to mend what is broken. Jack Zimmermann does not feel like a fictional character as buchanan writes him. Nor does Eric Bittle, nor even Chowder, who is something of a caricature even in the comic's canon. It truly is a testament to buchanan's grasp of emotional complexity that I clung, riveted until the end, in spite of the fic's darker tone and truly annoying ten-line section breaks. (No, seriously, keep a finger on the space bar or page down key.)
of the nature of the wound
Title: on the sidelines wishing for right now
Fandom: Check Please!
Pairing: Eric Bittle/Jack Zimmermann
Categories/Genres: Established Relationship, Family, Fluff, Humor, Post-canon
Length: Medium (2652 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ:exampleusername
Author Website: defcontwo
Summary:
Bitty resists the urge to let out a hysterical laugh because apparently this is just his life now. He tries to call his boyfriend and winds up getting hockey advice from a living legend.
5 times Bitty bonded with Bad Bob + 1 time Jack tries to bond with Coach Bittle.
Review:
Ah, in-laws. There's really nothing quite like watching people get along, or fail to get along, with their SO's parents. There's also something particularly poignant about watching Eric Bittle get along so well with his boyfriend's parents, when his relationship with his own father is, shall we say, strained.
I've always been weak for fanfiction that fleshes out characters that seldom appear in canon. Particularly characters like Bad Bob Zimmermann, whose hockey career manages to be something of a lingering specter in a comic that honestly has nothing to do with the man himself. on the sidelines wishing for right now brings out the person and the father behind the specter while simultaneously giving Bitty a father figure who is welcoming and kind while his own father slowly learns to adapt.
on the sidelines wishing for right now
Fandom: Check Please!
Pairing: Eric Bittle/Jack Zimmermann
Categories/Genres: Established Relationship, Family, Fluff, Humor, Post-canon
Length: Medium (2652 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ:
exampleusername Author Website: defcontwo
Summary:
Bitty resists the urge to let out a hysterical laugh because apparently this is just his life now. He tries to call his boyfriend and winds up getting hockey advice from a living legend.
5 times Bitty bonded with Bad Bob + 1 time Jack tries to bond with Coach Bittle.
Review:
Ah, in-laws. There's really nothing quite like watching people get along, or fail to get along, with their SO's parents. There's also something particularly poignant about watching Eric Bittle get along so well with his boyfriend's parents, when his relationship with his own father is, shall we say, strained.
I've always been weak for fanfiction that fleshes out characters that seldom appear in canon. Particularly characters like Bad Bob Zimmermann, whose hockey career manages to be something of a lingering specter in a comic that honestly has nothing to do with the man himself. on the sidelines wishing for right now brings out the person and the father behind the specter while simultaneously giving Bitty a father figure who is welcoming and kind while his own father slowly learns to adapt.
on the sidelines wishing for right now
Title: Two Plants and a Girl
Fandom: Trigun
Pairing: Meryl Stryfe/Millions Knives, Vash the Stampede/Milly Thompson
Categories/Genres: Action/Adventure, Amnesia, Angst, AU, Drama, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Kids, Post-Canon, Pregnancy, Romance
Length: Epic (74,073 words)
Warnings: Minor (OC) character death, Non-descriptive mention of child molestation, Descriptions of gore
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: Thunk
Summary:
Meryl becomes more important to Vash than he wants to admit. But Knives sees it. Knives capitalizes on it. But he finds it increasingly difficult to exploit the Insurance girl, for reasons far too old, and not buried deep enough.
Review:
I'm not entirely sure how I've gone this long without reccing this fic. Probably because it's posted on FF.net. No, don't run away! It's good, I swear!
Two Plants and a Girl is an AU fusion of the Trigun anime and the backstory that's revealed in the manga. It picks up from where the anime leaves off, with Knives slowly recovering from his fight against Vash in the anime's finale under the watchful eyes and tender mercies of Vash, Meryl, and Milly.
What I really appreciate about this fic is that Thunk knows their stuff. The bits and pieces of background and worldbuilding incorporated into the fic are sourced from the manga and thoroughly contemplated, providing a much more nuanced and believable Knives than the anime's straight-up-psycho interpretation. He's still an unrepentant asshole, but his canonical actions have weight and meaning and consequence that don't sit easy with him even a century later.
Thunk also presents a reasonable and quite logical plan to give Knives and Vash what they both want, pushing compromise rather than conflict in an anime/manga that basically centers around the conflict between the two. That's not to say that Thunk sucks all the friction out of their relationship, however.
Thunk also deals with Knives' massive damage with deft storytelling. The pacing of the story, which jumps over various stretches of time, can make it seem contrived on occasion, but the emotional depth of the events and the consequent growth of Knives' shriveled little soul signal to the reader a rocky but definitely substantial progress that is satisfying to watch.
There are some moments that are oddly OOC, mostly related to the forced early attraction between Knives and Meryl, and the very end, when Knives is so overcome with guilt and grief that he becomes a weepy parody of himself, but barring those, the interaction between the two is pretty damn great.
If you ever watched the Trigun anime and clicked away from the finale wondering, well, now what?, you absolutely read this fic. Yeah, I know it's on FF.net, but would I ever lead you astray?
Don't answer that.
Two Plants and a Girl
Fandom: Trigun
Pairing: Meryl Stryfe/Millions Knives, Vash the Stampede/Milly Thompson
Categories/Genres: Action/Adventure, Amnesia, Angst, AU, Drama, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Kids, Post-Canon, Pregnancy, Romance
Length: Epic (74,073 words)
Warnings: Minor (OC) character death, Non-descriptive mention of child molestation, Descriptions of gore
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: Thunk
Summary:
Meryl becomes more important to Vash than he wants to admit. But Knives sees it. Knives capitalizes on it. But he finds it increasingly difficult to exploit the Insurance girl, for reasons far too old, and not buried deep enough.
Review:
I'm not entirely sure how I've gone this long without reccing this fic. Probably because it's posted on FF.net. No, don't run away! It's good, I swear!
Two Plants and a Girl is an AU fusion of the Trigun anime and the backstory that's revealed in the manga. It picks up from where the anime leaves off, with Knives slowly recovering from his fight against Vash in the anime's finale under the watchful eyes and tender mercies of Vash, Meryl, and Milly.
What I really appreciate about this fic is that Thunk knows their stuff. The bits and pieces of background and worldbuilding incorporated into the fic are sourced from the manga and thoroughly contemplated, providing a much more nuanced and believable Knives than the anime's straight-up-psycho interpretation. He's still an unrepentant asshole, but his canonical actions have weight and meaning and consequence that don't sit easy with him even a century later.
Thunk also presents a reasonable and quite logical plan to give Knives and Vash what they both want, pushing compromise rather than conflict in an anime/manga that basically centers around the conflict between the two. That's not to say that Thunk sucks all the friction out of their relationship, however.
Thunk also deals with Knives' massive damage with deft storytelling. The pacing of the story, which jumps over various stretches of time, can make it seem contrived on occasion, but the emotional depth of the events and the consequent growth of Knives' shriveled little soul signal to the reader a rocky but definitely substantial progress that is satisfying to watch.
There are some moments that are oddly OOC, mostly related to the forced early attraction between Knives and Meryl, and the very end, when Knives is so overcome with guilt and grief that he becomes a weepy parody of himself, but barring those, the interaction between the two is pretty damn great.
If you ever watched the Trigun anime and clicked away from the finale wondering, well, now what?, you absolutely read this fic. Yeah, I know it's on FF.net, but would I ever lead you astray?
Don't answer that.
Two Plants and a Girl
Title: Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)
Fandom: Star Trek XI
Pairing: Jim Kirk/Spock
Categories/Genres: Slow burn, Romance
Length: Medium (10927 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ:kianspo
Author Website: kianspo
Summary:
In which Spock contemplates the laws of attraction and realizes what a slippery slope that is only after he has already fallen. There's no help for him now.
Review:
To be honest, I probably found this fic more amusing than the author intended it to be, because the entire time I was reading it, I was imagining a traffic accident in slow motion, two big rigs smashing head on, where one is logic and the other is emotion. Spock comes to reconcile the two by fits and starts, but it's not an elegant process, not logical nor instinctual. He stumbles into it, trips and tumbles his way into a seemingly resigned acceptance of his feelings toward Jim. In every way he exemplifies the 'falling' part of the phrase 'falling in love', and it's sort of stupidly adorable.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)
Fandom: Star Trek XI
Pairing: Jim Kirk/Spock
Categories/Genres: Slow burn, Romance
Length: Medium (10927 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ:
kianspo Author Website: kianspo
Summary:
In which Spock contemplates the laws of attraction and realizes what a slippery slope that is only after he has already fallen. There's no help for him now.
Review:
To be honest, I probably found this fic more amusing than the author intended it to be, because the entire time I was reading it, I was imagining a traffic accident in slow motion, two big rigs smashing head on, where one is logic and the other is emotion. Spock comes to reconcile the two by fits and starts, but it's not an elegant process, not logical nor instinctual. He stumbles into it, trips and tumbles his way into a seemingly resigned acceptance of his feelings toward Jim. In every way he exemplifies the 'falling' part of the phrase 'falling in love', and it's sort of stupidly adorable.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)
Title: Unconventional Negotiation Tactics
Fandom: James Bond
Pairing: James Bond/Q
Categories/Genres: Alternate Universe, Humor, Domestic, Romance, Action/Adventure
Length: Medium (10565 words)
Warnings: Very brief description of minor original character death
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: pikachumaniac
Summary:
His mission was supposed to be simple. Find Geoffrey Boothroyd’s son, who had developed a reputation for being quite the fearsome inventor, and convince him to come to MI6 to serve as quartermaster. He was given an address, a description, and a starting salary figure so high that he seriously questioned all his past career decisions. He was assured that Frederick Boothroyd was intelligent, practical, and yes, maybe a little prone to shooting people, but only if they insisted on disturbing his work. Altogether, simple.
James Bond knew better though. They didn’t send him on simple missions.
In which James Bond takes an unusual approach to his latest mission, much to the chagrin of his would-be quartermaster.
Review:
The premise of this fic is an alternate universe where, not only was Q the former Q's son, but he is also quite determined to never work for MI6. M, for whatever reason, sends Bond to convince him otherwise. According to whatever passes for logic in James Bond's mind, this requires moving in with the Boothroyd scion.
And then they proceed to flail haphazardly at each other until they simultaneously tumble down the slippery slope most people have taken to calling 'love'. Never let it be said that I'm not a sucker for James Bond and Q flailing until they're neck-deep in a quagmire of feelings, but imagining Q as Boothroyd's son, vaguely attached but distinctly tangential to MI6, adds a particular depth to Q's character. Rather than the canonical Whishaw!Q who springs forth from mysterious origins, or the fanonical backgrounds built up around him, the connection to Boothroyd adds depth to both this new would-be Q and his predecessor anchored simultaneously in canon and fanon both.
Unconventional Negotiation Tactics
Fandom: James Bond
Pairing: James Bond/Q
Categories/Genres: Alternate Universe, Humor, Domestic, Romance, Action/Adventure
Length: Medium (10565 words)
Warnings: Very brief description of minor original character death
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: pikachumaniac
Summary:
His mission was supposed to be simple. Find Geoffrey Boothroyd’s son, who had developed a reputation for being quite the fearsome inventor, and convince him to come to MI6 to serve as quartermaster. He was given an address, a description, and a starting salary figure so high that he seriously questioned all his past career decisions. He was assured that Frederick Boothroyd was intelligent, practical, and yes, maybe a little prone to shooting people, but only if they insisted on disturbing his work. Altogether, simple.
James Bond knew better though. They didn’t send him on simple missions.
In which James Bond takes an unusual approach to his latest mission, much to the chagrin of his would-be quartermaster.
Review:
The premise of this fic is an alternate universe where, not only was Q the former Q's son, but he is also quite determined to never work for MI6. M, for whatever reason, sends Bond to convince him otherwise. According to whatever passes for logic in James Bond's mind, this requires moving in with the Boothroyd scion.
And then they proceed to flail haphazardly at each other until they simultaneously tumble down the slippery slope most people have taken to calling 'love'. Never let it be said that I'm not a sucker for James Bond and Q flailing until they're neck-deep in a quagmire of feelings, but imagining Q as Boothroyd's son, vaguely attached but distinctly tangential to MI6, adds a particular depth to Q's character. Rather than the canonical Whishaw!Q who springs forth from mysterious origins, or the fanonical backgrounds built up around him, the connection to Boothroyd adds depth to both this new would-be Q and his predecessor anchored simultaneously in canon and fanon both.
Unconventional Negotiation Tactics
Title: You'll Get There in the End (It Just Takes a While)
Fandom: Star Trek XI
Pairing: Jim Kirk/Spock, past Nyota Uhura/Spock
Categories/Genres: Post-Canon, Drama, Romance, Angst, Pon Farr, Bonding, Friendship
Length: Long (33465 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ:seperis
Author Website: seperis
Summary:
"Spock. Just say 'I don't trust Starfleet not to mess up the only captain in the fleet who I can train up to my expectations and enjoys running into danger wearing a blindfold as much as I do'."
Review:
The format of this fic is a little confusing at first, jumping back and forth between two progressing timelines until they meet in the middle. Not to mention, seperis refuses to hold the reader's hand and explain everything in small sentences with smaller words. You'll Get There in the End (It Just Takes a While) demands that the reader think as they read and slot the pieces together. It's not always easy, and there are some recurring threads that are not particularly obvious as such, but in the end, when the story pulls in its loose threads and weaves them all together, there's a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that few authors manage to create in their fic.
The thing is, I can easily imagine this fic being written chronologically, rather than alternating between the immediate post-movie and the onset of Jim's 'pon farr'. It would still be good reading, but it's unlikely that I'd find it fascinating enough to rec it. Its format creates a tension that vibrates like a plucked instrument string through the entire length of the fic, a quiet hum that grows in intensity right up until the climax, when the separate timelines resolve into a single chronological narrative.
seperis also makes the conscious decision not to include any sort of internal contemplation of emotion through the bulk of the fic. As odd as it was to read a romance fic where there was no mention of romantic emotion between Jim and Spock, it gave the climax that much more energy by contrast, their emotions distilled and crisp rather than worn smooth by repetition.
Unfortunately I can't give any sort of recommendation on the rest of The Reboot Series, as I haven't had the opportunity to read it. But going by the quality and complexity of You'll Get There, I'm guessing it's definitely worth checking out.
You'll Get There in the End (It Just Takes a While)
Fandom: Star Trek XI
Pairing: Jim Kirk/Spock, past Nyota Uhura/Spock
Categories/Genres: Post-Canon, Drama, Romance, Angst, Pon Farr, Bonding, Friendship
Length: Long (33465 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ:
seperis Author Website: seperis
Summary:
"Spock. Just say 'I don't trust Starfleet not to mess up the only captain in the fleet who I can train up to my expectations and enjoys running into danger wearing a blindfold as much as I do'."
Review:
The format of this fic is a little confusing at first, jumping back and forth between two progressing timelines until they meet in the middle. Not to mention, seperis refuses to hold the reader's hand and explain everything in small sentences with smaller words. You'll Get There in the End (It Just Takes a While) demands that the reader think as they read and slot the pieces together. It's not always easy, and there are some recurring threads that are not particularly obvious as such, but in the end, when the story pulls in its loose threads and weaves them all together, there's a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that few authors manage to create in their fic.
The thing is, I can easily imagine this fic being written chronologically, rather than alternating between the immediate post-movie and the onset of Jim's 'pon farr'. It would still be good reading, but it's unlikely that I'd find it fascinating enough to rec it. Its format creates a tension that vibrates like a plucked instrument string through the entire length of the fic, a quiet hum that grows in intensity right up until the climax, when the separate timelines resolve into a single chronological narrative.
seperis also makes the conscious decision not to include any sort of internal contemplation of emotion through the bulk of the fic. As odd as it was to read a romance fic where there was no mention of romantic emotion between Jim and Spock, it gave the climax that much more energy by contrast, their emotions distilled and crisp rather than worn smooth by repetition.
Unfortunately I can't give any sort of recommendation on the rest of The Reboot Series, as I haven't had the opportunity to read it. But going by the quality and complexity of You'll Get There, I'm guessing it's definitely worth checking out.
You'll Get There in the End (It Just Takes a While)
Title: Objective Data
Fandom: Star Trek XI
Pairing: Jim Kirk/Spock
Categories/Genres: Pre-Canon, Alternate Universe, Outside POV, Kid Fic, First Time, Matchmaking, Romance, Fluff, Humor
Length: Long (22368 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: walkandtalk
Summary:
A young Vulcan decides to find a mate for his guardian, Spock. After careful calculations, Cadet Kirk is obviously the superior choice.
Review:
Senik, a nine year old Vulcan Yenta, decides to hook up his cousin Spock and Cadet Jim Kirk forfun profit science. It's hilarious.
Writing children convincingly is a tall order for writers. It's one thing to slip into the mindset of an adult character, someone fully formed with their own unique patterns of reasoning and behavior. But to strike the perfect balance of naivete, innocence, and perceptiveness that belongs solely to children seems to escape most writers, per my observations as a reader. Most seem to either fall short of or overshoot their character's intended age, turning a maturing child into a babyish caricature of a child or giving a child maturity and wisdom much too far beyond their years. Some authors even manage to do both simultaneously.
walkandtalk has a slightly easier job of it, since Senik is Vulcan and can already communicate on the level of adults. But there remains a childishness to his perception. There is lightness and innocence in him that separates him from the many adults he interacts with. Senik is slyly obstinate in a very specific way, weaseling without malice around the rules laid upon him by the adults in the way that children do. It is perhaps that, more than anything else, that cemented walkandtalk's characterization of Senik in my mind as one of the most convincing portrayals of a child I've ever read.
I haven't yet finished reading Objective Data's sequel, Subjective Assessment , but from what I've read so far, the collection of timestamps seems to be a perfectly adorable continuation of Spock, Senik, and Jim's (mis)adventures.
Objective Data
Fandom: Star Trek XI
Pairing: Jim Kirk/Spock
Categories/Genres: Pre-Canon, Alternate Universe, Outside POV, Kid Fic, First Time, Matchmaking, Romance, Fluff, Humor
Length: Long (22368 words)
Warnings: N/A
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: walkandtalk
Summary:
A young Vulcan decides to find a mate for his guardian, Spock. After careful calculations, Cadet Kirk is obviously the superior choice.
Review:
Senik, a nine year old Vulcan Yenta, decides to hook up his cousin Spock and Cadet Jim Kirk for
Writing children convincingly is a tall order for writers. It's one thing to slip into the mindset of an adult character, someone fully formed with their own unique patterns of reasoning and behavior. But to strike the perfect balance of naivete, innocence, and perceptiveness that belongs solely to children seems to escape most writers, per my observations as a reader. Most seem to either fall short of or overshoot their character's intended age, turning a maturing child into a babyish caricature of a child or giving a child maturity and wisdom much too far beyond their years. Some authors even manage to do both simultaneously.
walkandtalk has a slightly easier job of it, since Senik is Vulcan and can already communicate on the level of adults. But there remains a childishness to his perception. There is lightness and innocence in him that separates him from the many adults he interacts with. Senik is slyly obstinate in a very specific way, weaseling without malice around the rules laid upon him by the adults in the way that children do. It is perhaps that, more than anything else, that cemented walkandtalk's characterization of Senik in my mind as one of the most convincing portrayals of a child I've ever read.
I haven't yet finished reading Objective Data's sequel, Subjective Assessment , but from what I've read so far, the collection of timestamps seems to be a perfectly adorable continuation of Spock, Senik, and Jim's (mis)adventures.
Objective Data
Designed by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chasethestars
chasethestars