The Fan/fiction Rec Thread

Topic: Not Just Strong. Tara Strong!

Users: @Alexander @gkscotty {@Graham[writing]} @SuzyQ Chris Enhas Mr_Snake Terry

irc.simpworks.com

[gkscotty]

I've been itching to start one of these for a while, mainly thanks to GAFF's antidotes forum coming back. This is intended for non-OFF/Futurama works, since it's in offtopic, but no reason not to put Groening stuff in here if it's not yours...

First up, a Sailor Moon-inspired story which completely blew me away. Sailor Nothing. Don't worry, you don't need to know anything about SM to understand this, though a little familiarity with the magical girl genre would help. Warning, 18+ content.

My school is Wazurau High School in a prefecture at the outskirts of Tokyo. My class is 2F, and I sit near the lockers in the back where the heat exchange vent is, since I get cold very easily. I do pretty well in school, especially in literature. My teacher tells me I'm reading and writing two grade levels above where I should be, so I try not to let it show a lot; no need to flaunt that or make anybody feel bad. Sometimes it's really hard to concentrate, which takes care of this for me... I get very tired, because I'm up very late. See, there are shows I can't see during the day because I'm usually very busy, so I can only see them at night... plus I have other things I have to do at night. From time to time.

I guess I should explain why I'm tired, now that I think about it.

My show is almost done, but I won't be able to go to bed soon. That's because I'm a perfectly ordinary girl and I have an ordinary life... but I've also got another life. And I hate it. I hate every minute of it.

Sailor Nothing is the story of a girl whose life is ruined by her role in fighting the forces of evil. Unable to maintain the graceful facade her role requires, emotionally abused by her Kamen and prone to fits of wild rage, she is unceremoniously removed from her position, but finds it impossible to leave the only life that has any meaning for her - the life that increases her chance of finding peace in death.

It's got great characters, (my favorite would be Shin, the maverick student journalist) great villians, (Cobalt, the demon born from an architect) and the presentation is excellent, but saying anything there would spoil some nice surprises. Chapters 5, 7 and 8 had particularly memorable presentation for me.

As I read, it felt like I was reading a mahou-shoujo "Lisa Fitzgerald" both in tone and quality. This story gets a A+.

[Archonix]

Just fyi, there's a simpsons/futurama rif rec thread here.

[A Spy in Mancunia]

Excellent choice for a thread. I've been meaning to start a non-Groening fic recommendation thread to parallel Missy's one myself, but real life got in the way. I'll definitely have to check out "Sailor Nothing", it sounds very worthwhile.

You might want to sticky this thread, seeing how The Club has most traffic of the boards here.

Some Tolkien-related goodfics (yes, they do exist):

By author known as Philosopher at Large/Bellatrys. She has written many fics, these are the ones I've read and can testify to the goodness of.

Terrible Gifts

"Silmarillion" darkfic. A nameless Elf in the company of King Finrod and Beren, all captured when attempting to go undercover into the land of the enemy, withstands torture in the dungeons of Morgoth. When his tormentor offers him a way out, what can prevent him from taking it? Not even close to the self-indulgent gore-fests that usually define the genre: in this dark world, the most important suffering and relief are mental. The author's essay about what went into writing this fic are here, also providing some background for us whose "Silmarillion" memories are hazy.

And some shorter mood pieces:

Exultation of Gold

Very short fic about the dragon Glaurung, the Golden.

Wise, Fearless and Fair

Galadriel's thoughts when Frodo offered her the One Ring.

Lord of Carrion

The Witch-King of Angmar confronts Éowyn on the battlefield.

Well, after this somewhat dark bunch, time for something lighter:

By various Tolkien fans:

The e-text

Some of you have seen this already. Finally, "Lord of the Rings" is available to read online! Well, not really. There are some changes from the source material. But if you want to read about Sam's attempts to start a communist revolution in the Shire, about the One Ring of Seduction, about Arwen the Warrior Babe, and about the many deaths of Boromir (tm), then look no further. Watch out for the chapter where Maglor son of Fëanor appears and sings a condensed version of the plot of "The Silmarillion" to the tune of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer".

Original fiction:

Some online short stories by Adam Cadre, whom I know mainly as the creator of such excellent text adventure games as "Photopia" and "Varicella". These two are about characters in his novel "Ready, OK" (which I have not yet been ready to find), the idiosyncratic Young family.

December

September Young tells the story about his odd little sister, December.

A Winner Is You

Julie Young deals with adolescent life and has a run-in with a very ambitious boy.

I'll post more stuff here, I'm sure...

EDIT: Edited to explain that the LotR e-text is not the creation of bellatrys, and thanks Graham!

[aoifestorm]

Wise, Fearless and Fair

Galadriel's thoughts when Frodo offered her the One Ring.

Lord of Carrion

The Witch-King of Angmar confronts Éowyn on the battlefield.

Because these were short pieces, I took a peek.  They deal with two of my favorite (female) literary chatacers ever, which was an extra incentive.
Chris, these are great.  I am very pleased, Tolkein would have loved this.

[Archonix]

I fix!

[Lisabella]

Just fyi, there's a simpsons/futurama rif rec thread here.

Thanks, Graham!

My rec isn't a story, it's an author.  Warning: all the stories are 18+ themewise, and this is a FF.net link!:

Yorick Jones writes "realisim"; he transposes fictional canon and characters and puts them into very real, very dark situations.  Of particular note is his "Practically Perfect," which is a Mary Poppins futurefic, and "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" which posits a real-world life for the characters of Scooby Doo. 

I guarantee you'll be touched by most of these.

[gkscotty]

Something I've been meaning to show Chris...

Dead Man's Logic

Kefka, on his way to the underworld, manages to crash the Phantom Train and winds up haunting the living world, getting caught up in an unusual bet.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and give you some advice. If ever you find yourself sitting on the Phantom Train, riding to the "other side," and you're possessed by some extraordinarily puerile desire to sneak into the engine room and start pulling the levers out of the wall and tearing the wiring apart just to see it all spark... make sure you know who's riding with you, first. If I'd bothered asking around a bit, I might have known Wrexsoul was on the same train as me, and then I'd have known he'd escape when that damned train derailed, and then perhaps I would have thought about that while I was standing in the Phantom Train's engine room with tangled, broken wire clenched in my pale fists.

I still would have torn it up.

Author manages to perfectly capture Kefka's warped personality and put him in a situation he'd rather not be in. Grade A

[aoifestorm]

My rec isn't a story, it's an author.  Warning: all the stories are 18+ themewise, and this is a FF.net link!:
Yorick Jones writes "realisim"; he transposes fictional canon and characters and puts them into very real, very dark situations.  Of particular note is his "Practically Perfect," which is a Mary Poppins futurefic, and "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" which posits a real-world life for the characters of Scooby Doo. 
I guarantee you'll be touched by most of these.

Missy, I owe you some hardcore fanfic reading. I still need to read the rest of the Venture Brothers story, so please forgive the delays.

[Lisabella]

@Aiofe: It's quite all right - looking forward to your comments.

[A Spy in Mancunia]

Lovely horror story: Second by Second, We Get Closer by Ian Sherred.

Also, this topic really should be a sticky thread.

[Lisabella]

I found the lovliest American Dad fic (yes, American Dad fic + lovely is not an oxymoron):

Straying From the Flock by Brad Rousse.  Touching but set well within the mein of the show, and does a lot of untangling of the Stan/Hayley dynamic.