Musings

Links to all fanfiction I've written in various fandoms. That I'm admitting to.

( Alias )


( Angel the Series )


( Babylon 5 )

( Battlestar Galactica )


( Buffy the Vampire Slayer )


( Doctor Who )

( Farscape )


( Earth: Final Conflict )

( Heroes )

( Highlander: The Series )

( Lost )


( Rome )

( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine )

( Star Wars )

( Torchwood )

( X-Men )

( The West Wing )


( Crossovers )

Doctor Who/ Sarah Jane Adventures:

Family Documents: in which the Doctor, Sarah Jane and Luke discover they're related. Sort of. Absolutely adorable.

Doctor Who/Torchwood:

Persistence of Memory: in which Martha Jones meets the Torchwood team twice over, courtesy of the year that wasn't. Haunting and beautiful, and a great character exploration both of Martha and the Torchwoodians.

Dead Like Me/ Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

Reaping the Whirlwind: in which Dawn Summers becomes a Reaper. Written from George's pov, this lengthy, plotty story is awesome to read, especially if you're a fan of Bryan Fuller's show (which I personally prefered to his later Pushing Daisies - I like some acid in my supernatural cuteness); the BTVS characters who show up, mainly Dawn, Xander and Buffy, are all perfectly realized as well.

Harry Potter:

Cast a long shadow: I love stories which flesh out Petunia Dursley and her relationship with Lily, and this one accomplishes both beautifully. It also offers bonus!Snape at the edges, and leads us from Petunia's and Lily's childhood to post-Deathly Hallows territory.

...and now I'll go back to stop myself looking for feedback for my own story by reciting mantras along the lines of "remember, old fandom, unpopular pairing, you didn't expect anything anyway"....

Aka the post to make in a fit of insomnia.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

Slayer, comma, The: wonderful Buffy portrait, spoilers for the entire show. I think I love the conversation with Robin Wood and the section with Faith best, but really, every vignette captures Buffy so very well.

Doctor Who:

Steps on the slow path: I have a soft spot for Girl in the Fireplace AUs in which the Doctor is forced to stay in France and needs to live out a century or two before managing to hitch a ride back to the TARDIS, Rose and Mickey, and this is a beautiful case in point.

Harry Potter:

Addicted to blood: the story of the three Black sisters, from Andromeda's pov. Poetic and compelling.

Battlestar Galactica:

Dragon Wars: in which the late s1 cast plays Dungeons & Dragons, and everyone stays in character anyway. Very funny and something for ensemble fic fans like yours truly.

....and here's the remix based on one of my stories, which turned out to be the Angel/Dexter crossover I wrote in reply to the "Six Degrees..." prompt:

Investigations (Everyone has a doppelganger remix) : in which you get Dexter's pov of the whole thing. Whoever wrote it does a great Dexter voice and captures the morbid humour of the show.

You can sign up for the matrithon now, the multifandom ficathon about female characters over forty. The prompts are extremely cool and only by renembering the dreaded real life did I limit myself to signing up for only one.

Also, remixredux09 appears to be revealed! (Or being in the process of; I can see a lot of stories already.) Now on the one side this means hours and hours of fannish pleasure in terms of reading, but on the other it means the unnerving agony of waiting for feedback for one's own story. Still, it was really enjoyable to participate again; after being stupefied at first, I was struck by inspiration, and then the characters wouldn't stop talking.

Off to check what everyone else has been writing...

Name your five favorite geniuses - evil or otherwise - from any fandom.

This is trickier to answer then you'd think. Because of the "genius" part. Take my beloved Arvin Sloane from Alias. I think he's brilliant, both in the sense of him being a great character and him being very clever indeed, but I don't think he's smart on a genius-level. Now if the criteria were "mastermind" instead of genius, I'd name him immediately. (Same goes for Irina Derevko, or the Empress Livia. Or Lost's Ben Linus.) On the other hand, Doctor Who's Master, whose overcomplicated plans fail far more often than Arvin Sloane's do, does qualify as a genius, due to being able to invent a number of gizmos for which one does need genius-level skills. (Including one made out of food when he has amnesia and thus not even access to his Time Lord memories.) Then there are characters who are geniuses and whom I like, but not in a "I really love them to bits" manner; for example, River Tam from Firefly, and as it's sympathy but not love for her, I can't name her in good faith.

After much to and thro, I came up with these choices:

1.) Marshall from Alias. Aw, Marshall. Whether it's presenting Sydney with favorite song compilations after two years of absence, whipping up entertaining plot-needed MacGuffins, or delivering his best Jack Bristow imitation ("the name is Bristow, Jack Bristow" from Tuesday is one of my all time favourite Alias moments) when confronting villains, I just love him.

2.) Tony Stark (Iron Man, both comics and film). I completely blame likeadeuce for this, as she made me wildly curious about this Stark character about a year before the movie came out, which meant I read up on some comics at the very time he was one of the most unpopular characters in the Marvelverse, which meant I was way more intrigued than I would have been had he been universally loved. But yes, Tony, and his messed up ways.

3.) The Master (Doctor Who), or to be more specific: Delgado!Master. I mean, love Simm!Master, too, but am only mildly sympathetic to Ainsley!Master on his good days, and in some stories I do dislike him (and not just in the sense that he's the villain anyway). And we don't talk about Erik Roberts. Crispy!Master is interesting in his last pre-Ainsley appearance but not so much in The Deadly Assassin. So, with the Master, my fannish love is very period-specific - i.e. Third Doctor Era and New Who, and when I had to choose one, it would be the Roger Delgado incarnation for sheer suaveness and charm.

*footnote: while with the Doctor I really can't limit myself to one incarnation - I more or less love them all, though some less then others. Also, the reason why I avoided putting the Doctor and the Rani on this list is that I wanted to limit myself to one character per fandom.

4.) Hank McCoy (X-Men): how can one not love Hank? Witty, kind, extremely versatile and, after his secondary mutation, one of the most visibly "other" of the X-Men, which makes for great angst in stories without making it all the character is about.

5.) Joss Whedon. (There was no "fictional" in the question, folks!) Has given me three shows I love passionately, a comic I adore (his AXM run), and other output that I like or dislike in varying degrees but which never bores me and most often makes me think. Can write songs in addition to witty dialogue. Is most definitely evil. In conclusion: does qualify.

Unspoiled version: as with the book, I thought this had some powerful scenes but also somewhat suffered from the fact JKR crammed all the teenage romance she wouldn't have time for in the last volume in this one. Jim Broadbent is great as Horace Slughorn, this is hands down Michael Gambon's best performance as Dumbledore so far, Tom Felton steps up to the plate (which is important as this is the first book where Draco Malfoy becomes a) important to the plot and b) a more dimensional character), and Alan Rickman is great as ever. THAT scene is just perfect. On the downside of things, for me the feeling of the film went back to the "Rushed Cliff Notes on Harry Potter" or "Illustrated Highlights of Harry Potter" sense I had from the first two movies and which I thought the later ones somewhat successfully avoided. I also have no idea whether the film will make any sense at all if you haven't read the novels.

( Spoilery version )

The women of Torchwood: Children of Earth, that is. Because this miniseries has given us such a rich variety of female characters, of all ages, of such different dispositions, all with their firm place in the narrative, interacting with each other, and best of all, ( spoilery spoil ) so that now that I have the dvds in my greedy hands and did some rewatching I want to write an entry celebrating them all.

( Women of Earth )

by7the7sea kindly pointed out to me that yesterday, I won awards for two old Heroes stories of mine:





Which made me feel nostalgic, a bit sad (because I broke up with the show, and can't see myself returning) and somewhat wistful, in a "but the good times were really good" kind of manner. Runaways in particular was such a blast to write, and looking back at it reminds me how much I loved not just my favourites but the entire ensemble.

Incidentally, my awards in Heroes fandom remain excentric: once I won an award for "Dreaming" at heroes_slash, i.e. for a story in which there is no slash, and now I've won one for "Runaways" at heroes_het_fic, for a story in which there is no het! (Err, nor other kinds of sexual action.) (Though obviously there is some in "Folly", which is about the Nathan/Meredith backstory based on what we knew in s1.)

Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Two great post-Born to Run (i.e. the s2 finale) stories, one a sort of sequel to the other:

These Things My Mother Taught Me and Like Locked Rooms. ( Description spoilery for s2 finale ensues. )

Harry Potter:

Due to the HBP movie finally getting released this week, it's interview time for the actors again. Which reminds me that when the film versions started, I wouldn't have predicted that of the three young leads, the one who'd turn out to be the best actor and the one you can see learning and improving from film to film would be Dan Radcliffe, but thus it has turned out to be. He also shows a great level-headedness and a sense of humor in interviews that's quite endearing. Here is a new one, complete with such gems as:

Q: You've said recently that you would like to date older women. You know who's older, single now and likes British guys? Madonna.
A: Christ. I don't think that I'd do my chances of working with Guy Ritchie any good. I don't know which one I'd rather do ... I'm not sure I'd be her cup of tea.

Multifandom:

Speaking of a sense of humour - not unrelated to certain current events post Torchwood - Children of Earth, but containing no spoilers about same (as opposed to spoilers for Tale of Two Cities, The Sting, and Gone With The Wind):

Tufax about pre-internet fandom

Torchwood:

A great review of Children of Earth, analyzing it as a horror story.

New community: if, like me, you're really not interested in fixits because you don't want any of the CoE events "fixed" (in the sense that fandom usually means it; I'm on board with coping and dealing fics), but want the new situation and above all the largesse of awesome characters we now have explored, check out torchwoodfive, where they're already debating whom the post CoE team should consist of.

Yesterday was Patrick Stewart's birthday, and Will Wheaton wrote an absolutely adorable birthday post for him. Awwwwww.

Still a Torchwood edition:

No need for shame: in which Gwen meets the Doctor, some time after. I absolutely love this one, with both Gwen's voice and the Doctor's perfectly written.

Five Conversation Gwen Cooper Had Following The Evasion Of The Apocalypse: co-starring Rhiannon, Alice, Rhys and Jack. The Alice section hit me hardest, but all the others ring very true, too.

For Duties Rendered: this one is actully set early in s1 though it makes use of an observation of Gwen's from CoE; it's salary day for Team Torchwood.

kathyh reminisces about the fannish events of yesteryear, which made me hunt down one of my oldest lj posts about whow fans would react if Lord of the Rings had been published in the age of the internet. From 2003. Not much has changed, huh?

To get back to kathyh's entry, in which she quotes and creates a meme:

What is the big fannish event you wish you could have seen? (Seen the live reaction to, anyway.) But even more important - what are the big fannish events you'll never forget? What were they like to live through?

Let's see. What did I witness, from afar or close-up, or not:

( Spoilers for Star Wars, Star Trek, Buffy, Angel, Harry Potter, New Who and Farscape ensue )

...and then I'll try a none-Torchwood post again, honest.

Fanfic:

Leather, Brass, Wool and Electronics: to put it as unspoilery as possible, a look at Gwen and Rhys two months after.

The Many: covers what Martha, Sarah Jane and friends as well as the Doctor were doing in the meantime, and why.

Meta:

I've read many a review, and found this to be one of the most interesting.

And this reply to the question WHY would also be mine.

Unspoilery: a fantastic ending to a fantastic miniseries. Depending on my schedule, I might write an overview in the next week, but I can't guarantee it. So in case I can't: hands down one of the best tv productions I've been privileged to watch.

( Torchwood started out wanting to be the adult spin on the Whoverse. There were... missteps. Now? Mission Accomplished. And how. )

In conclusion: I hope the writers and actors are partying like madmen and -women this weekend, because they really earned it. Awesome, awesome, awesome!

Name your five favorite works of historical fiction, and why you love them.

A challenge after my own heart. Tricky to limit them just to 5, though. Here we go.

1) Child of the Morning, by Pauline Gedge. A fantastic novel about Hatshepsut. Pauline Gedge wrote a couple of novels more set in ancient Egypt. There are more novels about Hatshepsut by other authors, of course, she being one of the most memorable of Egyptian rulers. But this, to me, remains both the definite novel about Hatshepsut and my favourite by Pauline Gedge. Her main character, Hatshepsut, is a three dimensional being, whose flaws the author doesn't hide. The supporting cast comes to vivid life as well. And, miracle of miracles, the antagonist, Hatshepsut's stepson, the future Thutmosis III., isn't demonized, either. (Usually in novels sympathetic to him she's vilified, and vice versa.) The Egyptian world, its beliefs, its every day life, everything is rendered incredibly vivid. I love it to bits.

2) The Josephus Trilogy by Lion Feuchtwanger. (Consists of the volumes: Josephus, The Jew of Rome and The Day Will Come.) Feuchtwanger is one of my favourite authors of the genre, and picking just one novel is tough, but I'm going with this one (slightly cheating as it consists of three volumes, but hey, Lord of the Rings counts as one novel, too). The story deals with Flavius Josephus, aka Josef Ben Matthias, a Jewish writer who changed sides during the Jewish war after his capture, went on to make a career in Rome while at the same time trying to give this a purpose beyond survival by chronicling the history of his people. Josef/Josephus is a typical Feuchtwanger character, morally ambiguous and struggling to find his way between worlds; at the same time as it describes Palestine and Rome of the past, the trilogy also reflects Feuchtwanger trying to make sense of his own present. (The first volume got published in 1933, the last in 1940, after Feuchtwanger, whose books were burned by the Nazis immediately after they came to power, barely made it out of France alive.) Again, there is a great and memorable supporting cast, and precisely because he didn't try to write him as Hitler, Feuchtwanger's version of Domitian, the last Flavian emperor, makes for an incredibly plausible and chilling psychopathic dictator.

3) I, Claudius (novel by Robert Graves, tv version directed by Herbert Wise) . Much as I enjoy the novel, I love the tv series even more, which is why you get linked to it. It boasts of stellar performances, from the best British actors the late 70s had to offer, and of a razor sharp script, taking on the story of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Other tv series dealt with historical subjects. None like this one. None.

4.) Legacy by Susan Kay. Awesome, awesome novel about Elizabeth I., another woman much written about, but this take remains my favourite, capturing Elizabeth herself, Cecil, Robin Dudley and the whole period in its cruel and bawdy glory. It remains frustrating to me that Susan Kay only ever wrote two novels, let me tell you that.

5). The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Penman. Picking just one of Sharon Penman novel's was hard, and for a while I wavered between The Reckoning and When Christ and his Saints Slept, but ultimately went with this one, her first. It deals with the Yorkist kings, Edward IV and Richard III, and that final period of the Wars of the Roses. The relationship between the brothers is one of the most captivating things about it, so when Edward the pragmatic and morally ambiguous dies two thirds in, one feels the loss. Of course, any novel featuring Richard III. has to come down on one side of the "what happened to the princes?" question. Ms. Penman is an unabashed Ricardian, but her argument as to who killed them and why strikes me as one of the most logical solutions around even if you as a reader are not. As in all her novels, she manages to make a big ensemble memorable, no matter whether it's Warwick's brother John Neville (who usually in Wars of the Roses stories only gets cameo appearances, if that) or Elizabeth Woodville (hooray for morally ambigous female characters as well!). Still my favourite take on the last Plantagenets.

Advice to anyone who like me prefers to remain unspoiled: avoid everyone's ljs until you've watched yourself, because discretion isn't the watchword this morning.

( We've been expecting you )

From lizamanynames:

Things have been tough and little chaotic for everyone here lately and I think a little praise pointed in the direction of the wonderful people that offer fandom a distraction from RL, even for just a few minutes each day, will help each of us feel a little bit better and put a smile on someone's face.

So until next Sunday, if you're so inclined, take a minute to say something nice about one of your favorite fic writers and say why you enjoy their work. Remember you don't have show the love to just one writer over the course of this week.

I have several writers I love, and might not have the chance to devote a post to them, but one at least I will do: Andraste, aka andrastewhite.

First of all, andrastewhite doesn't "just" write fanfiction. She also creates fabulous vids, and she hosts the Multiverse Ficathon each year. Her meta, whether we're talking about episode reaction posts or long term analysis, is always worth reading. She was and is active in several fandoms, some of which we share, some of which we don't. So here is what I swear is just a small selection of her talent:

Meta:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

Superstar and Storyteller as meta narratives. I love this essay. And not just because it's devoted to two episodes which were at the time of first broadcast less than popular and has nothing whatsoever to do with shipping. It's smart, and deals with both the episodes themselves and the habits of fanfiction. If you're not familiar with it, you're missing something.

Babylon 5:

Day of the Dead meta, inspired by the season 5 Neil Gaiman episode. You might want to check out the comments as well. (The discussion we had inspired a vid of hers and a story of mine respectively.)

Vids:

Babylon 5:

Ophelia: that would be the vid. A tender reflection on all the dead women of Babylon 5, and the way they keep coming back.

Brothers in Arms: still the definite B5 vid, covering all five seasons and the entire ensemble.

Alias and Crusade:

American Tune and Holy Grail: American Tune is a great Jack Bristow character vid; now I can't relate the song to any other character. Holy Grail is one of the funnest, most spirited advertisements for a show I've ever watched, in this case the ill-fated B5 spin-off Crusade. After seeing it, one wants to grab the dvds immediately and start watching.

Fanfiction

One of the many great things about Andraste is that she can write comedy and angsty character insight alike. I've tried to include both here.

Alias

Edge of Darkness: Arvin Sloane between seasons 2 and 3, with Jack Bristow and Irina Derevko in the background. It's been a while since I've actively looked for Alias fanfic, but back in the day good Sloane stories were hard to find, and once Andraste was seduced cajoled into watching the show, I was thrilled she decided to write some. This captures the shades of grey, the simultanous insights and self delusions, the ruthlessness and sentiment exactly.

Get me to the church on time: this, on the other hand, is lighthearted entertainment, except for the tiniest bit of foreshadowing and awareness on the part of the readers as to what will happen with these men. Shortly before Jack's wedding to "Laura", he and Arvin get stuck in an extremely uncomfortable situation. A story which also manages to pull off convincing slash between these two (not that easy due to Jack more than due to Arvin) while never for a moment neglecting Jack's devotion to Laura/Irina.

Babylon 5:

Camera Obscura: great missing scene set in early s4, during one of those prison visits on Centauri Prime.

Funeral Feast: the Narn get a bit neglected by fanfiction, and so does G'Kar's fabulous aide Na'Toth. This story is both a Na'Toth character portrait and explores Narn culture, and I love it.

Proposition: missing s1 scene set during Mind War. You know, G'Kar really wanted those telepathic genes back then. Guess what happens when he asks a certain visiting Psi Cop for a contribution?

Certamen: I might have written the first Londo/G'Kar slash, but Andraste wrote the very first tentacle porn, coming up with a name for the Centauri... attributes... while she was at it. Londo/Urza, back in the day.

X-Men:

The first stories of Andraste's I've ever read were X-Men stories. She writes Charles Xavier like no one else, no matter whether we're talking about comics Xavier or movieverse Xavier. (She also wrote one of my favourite movieverse Mystique stories.) Of her many explorations of the man, this remains my favourite:

Ten Thousand Candles: set post-X2, this describes Xavier dealing with both what he almost did and what he did do.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

Living Dangerously: Andrew in season 7, during his time as a "guestage" chez Summers. Andrew character portraits were rare (and I bet this hasn't changed), but Andraste has a soft spot for him, without overlooking his flaws.

If you're curious and want to know more - and believe me, I could have gone on praising her Farscape fanfiction, the way she rp'd Crais, her Blake's 7 fanfiction, her fabulous "when Avon met Scorpius" crossover, and so forth, and so on - check out her website, here.

In which several bombshells are dropped, and the show continues to make me happy.

( We're here )

...in form of a meta link, which honors a woman without whom Star Trek would not exist as the Trek we know and love. D.C. Fontana worked on several incarnations of ST, penned some of the most loved episodes of the original series and its spinoffs, and created several fascinating female characters, many of whom we're still writing and debating about. The character played by Nana Visitor in the season 6 DS9 episode Far Beyond The Stars, K.C. Hunter, a sci fi writer who has to disguise the fact she's a woman by using only her initials so the fanboys don't take offense, was a clear homage to her. Leaving the ST franchise for a moment, D.C. Fontana also wrote a season 1 of Babylon 5 episode. Find out more about her:

D.C. Fontana primer

You know, if you had told me after the first season I'd be all aglow in TW love one day, I'd have been, at the least, very sceptical. I mean, I thought Owen was interesting, but I didn't really like any of them. Then came a fanfic assignment during the hiatus, which got me to empathize, then came s2, which made me like the whole damn team, and now the surest sign I do love the show is that when I read reviews which take a sneering and patronizing tone, I feel annoyed and defensive. Clearly, "ever so superior sneering at TW" is becoming a red button along with "declaring only the Methos episodes are worth watching on Highlander", "blaming Buffy for Faith's decisions in s3", "assuming one can't love the Seventh and Third Doctor simultanously but is obliged to hate one if one is fond of the other", "telling people to watch Babylon 5 starting with s2 instead of s1, and/or to stop with s4" and "dismissing all Star Trek shows after TOS". You know, the kind of thing that might be argued with sensibly and reasonably but instead awakens irrational ire instead.

Back to Team Cardiff, whose current outing actually has nothing to get defensive about, as it happens to be suspenseful, well-written and well-acted. Also, it occurs to me that in the tradition of TW being incredibly fanfiction-ish, this is basically a Torchwood/Spooks crossover without having to pay the Spooks lot royalties.

( I didn't sign the official secrets act to cover murder and commit treason )