February 2017

Tourist

Chapter Seven made me really happy and I felt more bubbly than usual writing its comment. Perhaps it was the ice-cream.

Fanfiction

All in reading order within their sections. Word counts are rounded to nearest 1 or 5k. I explored the Harry Potter fanficdom, fics rated at least T, often M. Contains occasional lemons. Fairly large proportion of Haphne.

  • {HP/SW Legends} The Katarn Side.

    A very nice tale. While I enjoyed the story, I spent a lot of it using the material as both inspiration and warning, given I was writing my very own Star Wars fanfic at the same time. It convinced me not to write a Star Wars × Harry Potter crossover, as I do not have nearly enough knowledge about the Star Wars universe to pull it off. But it also gave me pointers at how to interpret Jedi lore and dogma, a style guide when writing droid speech, and a remedial course in basic Galactic tenets. I particularly liked the tonne of potential the crossover’s universe has… many stories could have been written within, but this one was finished and done, and the rest is up to us readers’ imagination. Rated T. {135k words}

  • {SW Legends} The Last Jedi.

    Rated T but should have been M. Probably. This is Dune, but in the Star Wars universe, with more sex and less Bene Gesserit. It does a good job of showing the horror of the amount of lives lost during space conflict, when billions of lives cry out in the Force, and it has an actual effect on those sensitive. In the original six, there is a whole three minutes spent on the destruction of a planet and millions of souls; two Jedi briefly look up and say, almost deadpan, that they felt two billion souls die… and then they go back to what they were doing, barely affected. In TFA, Starkiller Base destroys five planets — there are no estimates I could find on the population of the system, but let’s put it in the high dozen billions, maybe even half a trillion — and there is even less effect on the Force-sensitive. Like, come on! Billions have just died. At least show the Force-touched having a little emotion here, maybe. So, in The Last Jedi, our protagonist Tobin, as a youngling, witnesses the killing of “merely” thousands and feels it in the Force, and it disturbs him so greatly that he has to isolate himself and cry for hours at a time. A trained Jedi Knight is shown as losing control of her emotions in violent manner. Even a less-monstrously-sensitive Mirakula is strained and isolates herself, even while she has lived through dozens or hundreds of such events already and could be thought to be inured against the horror. Anyway, as you may see, I liked this fic a lot. {185k words}

  • {HP} Innocent, Initiate, Identity, Impose.

    Good story. The plots are thought-out and I really appreciate the insight into other characters. The entire Chamber of Secrets episode, in particular, is as much about Ginny and her struggle against Tom, than it is about Harry and Sirius and friends… and then after that, the experience didn’t just completely not matter, there are credible post-trauma effects, and the people around don’t just forget what they’ve been through either. Last volume is unfinished at time of writing, but updated recently. I’m hoping for a Harry/Ginny ship but not holding my breath: there’s a lot of potential still. {495k + 175k + 145k + 72k words}

  • {HP} Contractual Invalidation.

    Oh, that was beautifully done. It is really a work you have to read to experience. A summary would not do it justice. A description could not hope to cover its walks and turns. This is what people mean when they say you have edit down such that only what is needed remains. It all comes together in its final chapter, triggering understanding over all the previous ones, but still leaving us with that uncertainty Hermione hinted to at the Grimmauld party: that you cannot really be sure it was all his work, or not. {90k words}

  • {HP} Stepping Back.

    Ongoing. By the same author as Honour Thy Blood, and reusing the original personalities and names of its supporting cast, which is an amazing idea as I get to rediscover and appreciate them anew, in a much better environment and not just in flashbacks, as paintings, or in history scenes. Yes, this is a time travel fic. I like the way it’s written, and although it’s not perfectly beta’d (there’s homophones and awkward phrasings) it’s much better than HTB at that. Followed and looking forward to new chapters. {100k words at time of writing}

  • {HP} Days to Come.

    It’s adult, it’s sweet, it’s funny, it’s lively. Not lively as in it’s joyful and bounding and jumping around happily, but lively as in it’s about life. You know that quote about how grown-up fiction is about english professors wondering about who to fuck, and YA fiction is about overthrowing the government and picking up the pieces? This is grown-up YA fiction. The government has been overthrown, the villains have been defeated, and there’s still the shit attitudes in society that caused it all in the first place — but we’re working on that. There’s peace. But it’s the picking up of pieces that remains to be done. Recovering from all you’ve lived, and figuring out where you’re going. Treating all the fucked up stuff you’ve done and that’s still in your head. Talking to people. Getting angry and pissed off and breaking up and making up and it all not being the literal end of the world. Living life. And slowly getting there. {137k words}

Also enjoyed, but no lengthy comment:

I read a lot of Bobmin’s stories around the middle of January, to honour his rich contribution to the fandoms. These are all excellent: