Paul's Thursday Reviews CCCLVII - Bad Horse Edition · 8:44pm May 16th
I have been given a singular opportunity.
To make a long story very short: I have been invited to make these blogs part of FIMFiction’s news segment. You know, that little thing in the top-right corner of the home page that literally every user sees? That thing. My reviews would show up there. All I have to do is accept.
But should I?
As flattering as this is (and believe me, it is very flattering), I immediately had reservations. I’ve been thinking about it for two weeks now, and every time I think I might want to accept or decline something else occurs to me that pivots my thoughts in the opposite direction. Despite early assurances otherwise, this would mean changes to the blog. Then I realized that this isn’t just about me; it’s also about you guys. Sure, I can accept certain changes, but would that be for the better for all involved? I figured I could lay out my thoughts on the topic here and get some feedback from all you readers out there.
The first thing that comes to mind is M-rated fics. I recall from when Seattle’s Angels used to do their reviews for the news feed that they had to be strict about what M-rated fics they allowed, and there was a firm rule that no links to mature fics could be used. I have been told that I would be given responsibility for making such decisions on my own, provided I made sure not to link to stories that were too sexual or violent. The safest course, though, would be to simply not provide the links at all. But then again, sometimes fics can be very hard to locate even when you know its name, so removing those links does irk me a bit. (Fallout: Equestria-related stories are particularly bad about this, for example).
Of course, as long as you know the author’s name, that can be avoided, and there’s no rule against linking to user pages. So maybe that one is me making a mountain out of a molehill.
Another aspect that got pointed out to me: the extra attention. Suddenly it doesn’t matter if you follow me or not, everyone will be seeing these blogs. Sounds great, right? Well, okay, sure, but there’s a downside as well: everyone will be seeing these blogs. I’m not the kind of reviewer who cherry-picks stories that will be good or omits reviews when a story proves to be crappy. If your story is bad, everyone will know it, across the entire site. That thought makes me cringe. It would be one thing if all the reviews were requests, but the majority of my reviews are for stories that I chose myself.
There’s another angle to this: with extra attention comes an extra desire to borrow some of that attention. Will I suddenly get inundated with review requests? Now, at a time when I’m currently *checks notes* 22 weeks ahead of schedule? And that’s before factoring how my Long Story schedule is booked through to Halloween 2025! Would I have to start enforcing strict limits to how many stories I accept for review? Suddenly, being able to request something from me becomes vastly harder.
And then there is, at least for me, the biggest kick: this. The introduction segment. For the last ten years, I’ve been saying whatever I want to. My gaming hobby, my cooking interests, my niece’s silly antics, whatever. But if I accepted this, I’d no longer just be representing myself: I’m representing the site and its staff. Surely, this would mean that these introductions would have to be watered down to something more clinical and boring, or maybe even removed altogether to avoid the inevitable stagnation of content. It feels like a kind of self-censorship, and if there’s anything I’m not onboard with it is censorship. I might be wrong about this. Maybe the introductions could remain unchanged. Certainly, nobody has told me that I’d have to make that kind of change. But it’s an issue that worries me far more than the others.
All of this measured against the prestige of being FIMFiction’s “official” reviewer. An honor, to be sure, despite my lingering feelings of unworthiness.
These are just the things I’m thinking about right now. I’m sure there are other issues I’ve not thought about, lurking around the corners, peering from the shadows, whispering to my inner Fluttershy. My inner Rainbow Dash is trying to kick them all away, Rarity is all a-twitter with the potential glamor, and Applejack is prepping herself for the necessary work.
And through it all is Twilight with her checklist of pros and cons, ever-so-carefully checking off and adding to both sides and trying not to let everyone know how badly she’s twilighting inside.
Thoughts and suggestions are most welcome right now.
In the meantime, to the reviews. We’ve got another author spotlight this week: The one, the only, the inimitable Bad Horse, who needs no introduction. Why Bad Horse? ...Honestly? I just felt like it reading Bad Horsewords. Fasten your seatbelts, kids, ‘cause this is gonna be a ride.
But first…
Stories for This Week:
Ynanhluutr by Imploding Colon
Behind the Scenes by Bad Horse
Breaking Peeved by Bad Horse
The Gathering by Bad Horse
Moments by Bad Horse
Moving On by Bad Horse
The Saga of Dark Demon King Ravenblood Nightblade, Interior Design Alicorn by Bad Horse
Trust by Bad Horse
Twenty Minutes by Bad Horse
Ἐλπίς by Bad Horse
Total Word Count: 461,847
Rating System
Why Haven't You Read These Yet?: 4
Pretty Good: 5
Worth It: 0
Needs Work: 1
None: 0
Ynanhluutr
423,534 Words
By Imploding Colon
Sequel to Yaerfaerda
Book 7 of the Austreaoh Saga
Rainbow Dash has been traveling east for a very long time, seeking out the Midnight Armory and trying to help others in the process. She's faced many trials and struggles. She’s failed. She’s succeeded. She’s bled and hurt and cried and loved and hated. But now she’ll face the single greatest challenge of her entire journey: her old friends.
Rainbow begins a new chapter in her journey east with this story, having passed the Blight and entered the continent of Rohbredden. In so doing, she’s discovered Twilight Sparkle still alive – in a sense. Twilight is incorporeal, a ghost who seems permanently stuck within a certain radius of Rainbow. It quickly becomes clear that the great symbol Yaerfaerda is leading Rainbow to where her friends are… ‘sleeping’, and if she keeps following it she can get all of them back. Indeed, doing so may be necessary in her quest for the Midnight Armory.
Along the way she makes new friends, but never for long. As the story Yaerfaerda demonstrated, this journey was meant to be Rainbow’s, and so the friends she makes in this story are short-lived things. Mutually beneficial, for certain, but no longer can we expect characters to stick around beyond the length of a given story, nor even just a few chapters (Mane Six excepted, of course). While this doesn’t make the characters or the story any less interesting, it does mark a notable change in how the story progresses.
This story isn’t the same as what we’ve been seeing so far. True, Rainbow is still a badass capable of doing the seemingly impossible, but she does a lot less of that here. She takes more cautious approaches, tries to do less harm, attempts to be more harmonious, all in the name of appeasing her old friends. Heck, her greatest challenge in this story is a bunch of pacifist monks who refuse to let her into their sanctuary, a struggle that takes up a significant chunk of the story on its own.
My favorite part in all of this, however, is that this story finally addresses the one thing that all the others failed to, i.e. how this adventure has changed Rainbow Dash. The things she’s been through in these seven books are traumatic, but while she’s evolved as a character we’ve never seen her directly address what it’s done to her on the inside. Now faced with the judging gazes of her best friends, Rainbow is finally forced to confront these inner demons. The result is not pretty, but it is certainly evocative, and there’s every indication that it will be a central element of the next story.
I feel like Ynanhluutr is a turning point in the series. Yes, Rainbow’s still journeying east, but the focus, the intent, and the style are all changing. No longer are the stories just Rainbow fighting the next bad guy of the month, now she has to deal with the negative consequences of her actions and what it means for her quest and her soul. I love this new direction. It revitalizes my interest in this franchise.
Alas, there’s not much more to enjoy. The sequel, although extremely long (Utaan is over 900k words), is the last completed story in the series, and Imploding Colon has pretty much stopped writing the most recent book years ago. It seems that even this shockingly prolific author can be overcome by their own ambition. A pity, but hardly surprising. I still plan to read Utaan (it will be my megastory of 2025), but I fully expect the buck to stop there.
Still, it’s been a pleasurable journey so far, with notable improvements in the writing (such as trading the endless 250-500 -word chapters for meatier 5k-10k ones) and a clear evolution in the path Rainbow is taking emotionally. I look forward to what the future holds, even knowing that, after this one’s ending, it won’t be pleasant.
Bookshelf: Why Haven’t You Read These Yet?
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Austraeoh — WHYRTY?
Eljunbyro — Pretty Good
Odrsjot — Pretty Good
Urohringr — Pretty Good
Yaerfaerda — Pretty Good
Behind the Scenes
1,392 Words
Bad Horse deleted this story!
*Pre-Post Note:* Apparently Bad Horse decided to remove this story sometime between my reading it and this post. I guess they’ll enlighten us as to the reason if they feel like it.
*Post-Post Note:* Nevermind! Looks like Bad Horse changed his mind after seeing this blog. Seems like I am capable of being a force for good after all. My inner villain is disgusted with me.
Spike is trying to direct the latest episode of My Little Pony’s third season. This would be a lot easier if the actors would stop bickering, Celestia would actually bother to show up for her parts, and the producer wasn’t totally evil.
This is a crackfic, but a worthwhile one. It runs on the premise that the Mane Six are playing themselves, but with roles switched by race; so Applejack and Rarity have swapped roles, for example. To make things even more interesting, the show they’re making is our show, the one we know, which means that in this AU Applejack is the socialite and Rarity is the country bumpkin. Meanwhile, Celestia is too busy playing video games to care about making a TV show while Luna is the one everyone’s swearing their oaths to.
So there are two primary jokes for the story, the lead being role-swapped characters and the follow-up being the reveal of the producer. I won’t say who the producer is, but I bet most of you will only need one guess.
An obvious premise with the setting as a twist, excellent character voice dichotomy, and just an all-around silly story. Read it for laughs and try to notice the meta stuff too. Not bad at all, for a crackfic.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
All the Pretty Pony Princesses — Pretty Good
Do That Again — Pretty Good
Burning Man Brony: Fear and Loathing of Equestria — Pretty Good
Fluttershy's Night Out — Pretty Good
The Mailmare — Worth It
Breaking Peeved
4,464 Words
By Bad Horse
Alternate Title: Bad Horse Redefines “Crackfic”
Fluttershy always has money. Lots of it. If only she knew where it was coming from. Everypony else seems to, though…
This started off questionable for me, especially after hints of things like Spike abuse. But as time went by I began to realize this was a crackfic in which all the characters are re-interpreted as different flavors of… well, the title gives it away, doesn’t it? And oh, Luna that ending! Abandon everything you know about your favorite ponies, the whole point of this is beyond anything MLP. But that’s okay, because it is highly entertaining.
Apparently a lot of people had trouble understanding the context of the story. I admit, it took me about until Rainbow showed up at Shy’s cottage to figure it out – although the twist at the end still threw me. I don’t want to spoil things here, but the good news is that Bad Horse made a blog explaining it (which I did check, just to make sure I got everything correctly). The bad news is that there’s no direct link to said blog, so if you’re confused and want to find it you’ll have to go scanning through eight years (at the time of this review) of blogs (hint: look for the date of release).
A bit of silly to smooth over the heavy that usually permeates Bad Horse fics. Give it a go if you don’t mind what you thought were good ponies doing bad things.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
The Gathering
1,159 Words
By Bad Horse
In the stars, a hundred years' journey away, the alicorns gather to mourn, to mate, and to give birth to the new. They call to their sisters across the galaxies, and Celestia hears them.
Meanwhile, Dotted Line wants her to review tax rebate applications.
Yeah, I could have come up with my own opening, but Bad Horse’s does the job perfectly, so why bother? And yes, for those of you wondering, that is the same Cabinet Secretary Dotted Line who stars in GhostOfHeraclitus's Civil Service universe. It always brings a smile to my face to see him again.
In this delightful story, we learn that there are alicorns out in the wider universe, using their incredible powers to maintain all, albeit in the playful, aloof manner of gods. A galaxy has ‘died’ (whatever that means), and they intend to give it new life by feeding it to a black hole. They’re calling Celestia from across the heavens, begging her to join them in their revelry. But that would be a one-hundred year journey, and the fun would last for a thousand years.
Celestia finds herself having to choose between the life that once was and the life that is now. And the life that is now involves listening to Dotted Line drone on about legalized tax fraud. Hmm. Dance and revel in the stars for more than a thousand years, or sit here discussing tax forms. Decisions, decisions…
This was excellent. Vivid without being overblown, funny without being outrageous. Celestia’s struggle – and the spot it puts a wholly unawares Dotted Line in – are put on delightful display without ever once breaking into boring explanations. We can see Celestia’s struggle without it ever being directly defined. The story perfectly blends Bad Horse’s tendency for dramatic and heavy theming with GhostOfHeraclitus’s humorous timing and government lampooning.
The portion regarding the medal was the best part. Yes, it’s funny. It also pulls the entire story together as a whole, from Dotted Line’s discomfort and confusion to the very real danger to Equestria that is represented via Celestia’s unspoken moment of indecisiveness. It was the perfect way to cap the whole thing off.
Definitely a highlight of the week for me, and something everyone should give a go even if they haven’t read from the Civil Service-verse (and if you haven’t read that yet, why in Celestia’s name haven’t you?).
Bookshelf: Why Haven’t You Read These Yet?
Moments
10,373 Words
By Bad Horse
Epilogue written with assistance from Vic Fontaine
Twenty-three minutes. That’s all Twilight has left to give everyone the best conclusion they could ask for. It hardly seems like enough. Fortunately, Princess Twilight Sparkle has dabbled in time magic before. She’ll take as many twenty-three minutes as it takes to get it right.
An asteroid is going to destroy all life on the planet. The Royal Sisters have already died in an attempt to stop it, which leaves Twilight with twenty-three minutes to prepare an unwitting Equestria for the end. Stuck in a perfectly understandable bout of twilighting, she resorts to time loops to make those twenty-three minutes happen over and over.
This was truly excellent. It’s as much a powerful sadfic as it is an examination of Twilight Sparkle, making great use of its wordcount to put us directly in Twilight’s unsteady, frightened hooves. There is no attempt to save the world, no call to think of a plan. The world is doomed, Twilight knows it, and now she has to figure out how best to utilize the time she has left. And the best part is that, unlike so many stories involving time loops, this one manages to keep the constant doom somewhat literally hanging over the ponies’ heads feeling like doom. Even the inevitable, “fuck it it’s a time loop I can do anything” moment, while funny, hinges on the fact that yes, we really are going to die.
Then you get that end where Twilight finally realizes the best thing she can do, and it is delightful. Bittersweet, but still a great showcase of the Princess of Friendship and ponies in general.
Then when you think it’s over, Vic Fontaine comes along with an epilogue. Granted, Bad Horse wrote it, but BH is very clear that the epilogue wouldn’t exist without Fontaine. And what an epilogue it is.
This is the seventh story I read for this blog, and I think it’s safe to say it’s my favorite so far.
Bookshelf: Why Haven’t You Read These Yet?
Moving On
9,088 Words
By Bad Horse
With a little help from GhostOfHeraclitus
Twilight Sparkle is Head Librarian of the Canterlot Library, but today she’s at the register helping customers. Sure, it’s a bit beneath her, but she likes doing it from time to time. Then none other than Princess Celestia walks through the door, and who might be with her but her latest pupil? The visit, brief and curt, sends Twilight on a mental spiral as she realizes that her life is not what it could – should? – be.
Put another way, Twilight has a midlife crisis. She never went on to be a scientist or great mage, she’s distanced from all her old friends. No family, just an apartment filled with books. Princess Celestia’s visit and meeting the latest Royal Student has slammed all of this home for her at once.
She resolves these things by going to Joe’s and visiting Princess Luna. Both encounters are as revelatory as they are amusing.
This was a pleasant read. Well, not initially, but once Pony Joe and Luna come into the picture it quickly becomes so. It’s all about rediscovering life and finding new paths to happiness when the old ones have turned sour. This is the last story I read for this blog and of all of them it is the most… “casually pleasant” of the bunch, never descending into the gravity of some of Bad Horse’s heavier stories nor going to the ridiculous directions the author sometimes takes. It is, in my opinion, their most accessible story here.
Definitely give this one a go, especially if you have any love for Twilight. Or Luna, I suppose.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
You might be interested in knowing the harrowing tale of Dark Demon King Ravenblood Nightblade and his epic feats of strength and power. You’re going to have to deal with Phil first.
Here we meet Dark Demon King Ravenblood Nightblade. He’s got everything you’re expecting from a red and black alicorn protagonist: handsome as sin, epic muscles, great magical power, the whole works. Turns out he’s far more interested in interior design though. So most of the time when you come a’calling for help, you’ll get his boyfriend. Phil. Just Phil. Who, it turns out, is often more than suited to solve whatever your problem might be.
My favorite part? You can’t say “Ravenblood” or “Nightblade” or anything like that. No, if Dark Demon King Ravenblood Nightblade is going to be identified in this story, it will be as Dark Demon King Ravenblood Nightblade. Unless you’re Phil, Dark Demon King Ravenblood Nightblade doesn’t do nicknames.
This is a constant bout of silliness in which our, uh, “hero” ignores the challenges offered to him in favor of improving your living room’s Feng Shui. Such challenges include fixing up your dimensional rift (with a socket wrench) and getting bookish ponies out of logic loops (with shampoo). Along the way old, wizened wizards will be insulted, overrated Doctors will step out of manes, and Rarity will make her best attempt at keeping her hooves running along some rugged musculature. Oh, and there’s at least one alicorn-v-alicorn battle, although we are not permitted to see how it ends.
I am entertained. As a comedy from the 2012’s, it works wonderfully. Definitely give it a go if you want to poke fun at the whole red and black alicorn idea and MLP characters in general.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Celestia really doesn’t like liars.
In this story, Trixie is brought before Celestia to be judged for her actions in Ponyville. That is to say, her first actions, from Boast Busters. In this public meeting amongst nobles and guards, Celestia delivers a speech none of them see coming, a speech on the value of trust.
I am of two minds about this. The first stems heavily from the latter half, after Trixie is gone, when Celestia begins connecting dots to changelings and we get that twist ending. It’s really a solid twist, one that puts the entire story into a new context. For those of you anticipating it, no, this isn’t a “Celestia is secretly a changeling” story. The end result is something far more damning. This was the aspect of the story I thoroughly enjoyed, and it was very much in line with how Bad Horse handles things.
The second mind: the entire premise is preposterous. The way Celestia and everyone around her behaves, you’d think nopony had ever had the gall to lie before. I don’t mean lying to Celestia, I mean lying period. Celestia is visibly furious and all the ponies around act as if she’s never behaved this way in modern memory. But seriously, if Trixie lying to improve her performances is that big a deal then you’d think every single noble and aristocrat in Celestia’s court would be in exile. Hell, the entire industry known as acting wouldn’t exist! Let us not forget the ever-present lie that is journalism. Add to the chopping block politics and government in general. Are we really expected to believe that nopony in Equestria lies? Ever?
So yeah, I’ve got a metric ton of “not buying it” for this story’s underlying concept.
Still, if you can get past it then there’s a lot to appreciate in the twist ending and how the story builds up to it. This is certainly not the best I’ve seen by this author, but it has some of the seeds of what makes BadHorse such a compelling author in most cases. Let us also acknowledge that, as a 2012 release, this one was quite early in BadHorse’s FIMFiction career.
Bookshelf: Needs Work
Twenty Minutes
3,152 Words
By Bad Horse
Amadi the baker is spending all the money he and his wife have saved up over the years. All for twenty minutes. What is he going to do with twenty minutes that is worth so much?
This is a Fallout: Equestria story, but one that is set before the megaspells destroyed modern civilization. Amadi is an elderly baker living on the border in what is, essentially, zebra-conquered territory. Without informing his wife, he spends all their savings for the chance to spend twenty minutes with… a pony. A civilian captured in one of the war’s opening strikes who is being used both to make money and as a recruitment incentive. Amadi isn’t going to use her, like so many other zebras.
A heavy tale, this centers on a single good zebra seeking to give a poor, helpless prisoner of war a few oh-so brief moments of respite. The story is at once a grim look at evil and a bittersweet reminder of goodness. Alas, Amadi only gets twenty minutes to be that light in the dark.
Told with great attention to mood and storytelling through observation, this was a powerful story. It’s the first one I read for this author spotlight, and is every bit as good as one could hope (for a story that puts such depravity in our heads, that is). It’s emotional, it’s painful, and it is very Bad Horse.
For those of you wondering, no, you don’t need to know anything about FO:E to get this. As long as you understand the zebras and Equestria are at war, you’ll be fine. If your a sadficionado, you’ll love this (so to speak).
Bookshelf: Why Haven’t You Read These Yet?
The world is lost. Again. For all the effort and struggle and intent, again. This time to the Smooze, if the description is any indication. Now Celestia faces a choice… again. One must wonder how long she can keep doing this.
This might be considered an Equestrian creation myth. The story revolves around Celestia as something… resembling a goddess, what with her immortality and constant tendency to lead. But not a creator goddess, I think; the story seems to imply that Celestia was created with the world and merely acts as its lynchpin. But every time she tries to spread harmony across the land, nature attacks and undoes all her hard work. And the process by which she may start over is…
Well. Let’s just say the cover art isn’t only for show.
Despite the excruciating process on display, the story is thematically centered around Celestia’s ever-ongoing determination to keep trying. Or, as the title enigmatically suggests, her “hope”. It paints her in a very different (and yet simultaneously familiar) light, one of a nurturing mother who will sacrifice herself again and again in the name of giving her “children” a chance to thrive in a universe that clearly doesn’t want them.
This was vivid and more than a little fantastical. But it’s also torturously rough. It’s not a happy story, nor is it a negative one despite appearances. “Bittersweet” certainly doesn’t fit though. It’s hard to pin down with a single word. Regardless, it’s a fascinating read with great consequences.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Bonus Review: We Have Always Lived in the Castle
146 Pages
By Shirley Jackson
Published 1962
Mary Katherine Blackwood lives with her elder sister Constance and her dear Uncle Julian at Blackwood Manor. And Merricat’s pet cat, Jonas, of course.There used to be more living there, but that was a long time ago. The people of the village have never forgotten. Never forgotten, never forgiven. Even so, the Blackwoods live happy lives. Happy, that is, until Cousin Charles comes knock-knock-knocking at their door.
This is an eerie mystery about discrimination, mental health, and dark secrets. Mary Katherine – Merricat for short – is eighteen and very strange, with a firm belief in things like magic and charms and curses. Acting as the perspective character of the story, she gives us a peculiar window into the life of her family. She believes nailing one of her father’s books to a tree or burying marbles by a creek will protect the house from strangers, just for example. Her sister Constance is forever in the kitchen or the garden, cooking and cleaning and growing. Uncle Julian, mind aflutter from dementia, constantly tries and fails to write a manuscript about the family’s history.
Six years ago, someone murdered the rest of the family. They slipped arsenic into the dessert. The girls lost their parents, a brother, and an aunt to this deviousness. Mary had been sent to her room without dinner, and Uncle Julian was saved by the doctors since he hardly had any of the dessert. But what of Constance? Why did she not eat any? She cooked it, after all. Everyone was so certain of her guilt, certain enough that there was a trial. She was acquitted, but that doesn’t mean the people of the village forgot, or that they will never, ever stop looking at the sisters that way.
The story is weird, and perhaps even complex despite its upfront simplicity. From the start we can see that Mary and Constance are mentally off, one seemingly locked in the mindset of a child and the other suffering from a terrible phobia of people. Both need to stick to a strict routine in life, dictated by the days of the week. They are stuck in a life of repetition, unwilling to self-assess or examine the world beyond their home, though Mary goes into town twice a week regardless for basic necessities. And all of this before we touch upon poor, forgetful Uncle Julian and his obsessive work on his “papers”. And yet, despite all of this, there’s a certain serenity to it all, as if these three are safe in their delusions and, honestly, why would anyone want to take that away?
Which brings us to Charles Blackwood, a distant cousin who comes by for an extended visit after his father passes away. It quickly becomes apparent that Charles is a scoundrel, working hard to ingratiate himself to the family and pretending to want what is best for them and, before long, acting like the Blackwood House is his. He’s disrespectful, rude, controlling… and he’s awfully interested in that safe in the study. The one in which the sisters put that massive fortune they inherited.
Yeah, it quickly becomes obvious that he’s only visiting the sisters for one thing. Constance is willing to hope for the best of their cousin, but Merricat? She knows a snake when she sees one. And Merricat does not like snakes.
Amidst all this weirdness and family turmoil is the underlying mystery: who murdered the Blackwood Family? Shirly Jackson gives hints regularly, some of which are red herrings but others which might make you reconsider. Turns out I figured it out in very short order, but I don’t hold that against the story. I’m not sure Jackson intended it to be difficult to figure out in the first place. Honestly, I felt like the clues were big, bright neon signs. Then again, it might be less obvious to many people. It could be that me and Shirley Jackson think similarly in regards to storytelling.
The story is a bit on the slow side, especially for the first few chapters. It wasn’t until the visit of Helen Clarke for tea that things got truly interesting, mostly because the mystery really starts to pick up. Yet I can’t help but notice that this same sense of slowness repeats itself at the very end of the story, which makes me think it was an intentional thing. After all, it ends with the sisters going back to a certain kind of repetitious stride, if a somewhat different one from the start.
I think that the main draw of this story will be the quirkiness of the protagonists and the underlying mystery, which you can never be sure you’ve solved until the story is practically over (yes, I figured it out, but I didn’t know know, y’know?). Merricat is a memorable MC for her strange logical leaps that really feel like a child’s fantasy; stories of going to the moon and scattering debris to make a place unfamiliar and unwelcome and assigning human behavior to her ever-loyal cat Jonas. By the end of the story you may not quite get what makes Mary tick, but you might grow to appreciate her whimsical view of the world.
I enjoyed this one, but it requires either a patient audience or a curious one. It’s not like most stories you might read, its purpose enigmatic but its themes powerful. The mystery never lets up and the characters are certainly memorable. I would recommend it to anyone who likes weird stories with equally weird characters.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Stories for Next Time:
Crumbs by daOtterGuy
Cypress Zero by Odd_Sarge
On the Wing of Friendship by Deathscar
Rainbow Typhoon by Nonsanity
Recovery by Soufriere
Tending to the Heart's Forgotten Garden by Botched Lobotomy
Apple Sense by Godzillawolf
Celestia's Secret Secret Room by naturalbornderpy
The Days in the Cavern by PinkamenaPiePrincess
Ptolemy by Wellspring
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Oh boy, that's a toughie. I suppose it depends on how comfortable you are interacting with the wider userbase of the site. Either way, it's not like this is your job, so just do what your heart tells you.
As Thought said, this one is ultimately your decision, but I can definitely understand your hesitation. Go with whatever makes you comfortable.
Also, thank you for reviewing Elpis. I've been looking for that thing for years.
Why not trial it?
Post one or two blogs to see how it'd feel. And not necessarily as site posts, but simply as a way to see how you'd have to do things should you agree to it.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Oh my. That's a huge deal. Nearly nine years in the site's reviewing trenches paid off!
I suppose, with Seattle's Angles and the Royal Canterlot Library closed for two years running, yet the site's traffic actually on the (slight) raise, they have good reason to have a featured reviewer to suggest fics to all the new folks. And with Present Perfect posting less regularly these days (and doing Fic Recs anyway), you would be the clear pick. 
Those are some very interesting and very valid potential drawbacks to taking it you posit. Especially stories you don't review favourably being shown for the whole site: all the site-featured reviewers has been more of the "cherry-picking good stuff to draw traffic to" type. And potentially getting swapped with review requests, assuming you would keep that open, is a worry too. And ditching personal intros, yeah, that too. Measured against the upticks of huge traffic and the rest, it's quite a pickle of a decision.
In the end, I'm with the others: go with what your heart, gut and comfort level tell you. And whatever you choose, I'll enjoy these Ponyfic reviews the same as ever.
Oh, and what’s this? “Other Reviewers”? And… it links to each person’s latest blog?
Given the way you’d described it before I’d just pictured a static link to the user profile, that’s awesome!
Not read much by Bad Horse, though his reputation precedes him. The two fics I have read are Trust (wasn't hot on it either for similar reasons) and Moving On (long ago enough that I don't remember anything about it). I think a lot of his stuff is a bit heavy for my taste, but I can tell he's the real deal. Also evident from his comments around the place, plus some legacy blogs of his I've been linked to from time to time.
Do eeet. Give in to the Dark Side of the Horse.
Ok, that being said, I love Bad Horse's stories. Some I don't get, some I do get but don't strike quite the right chord of evil in my heart, and some I just double-up around like somebody fired a cannonball into my gut.
You missed the point on Trust.
Trust is the building block of civilization. Without extending trust beyond our family or tribe, real civilizations cannot exist. Celestia runs an entire kingdom based on trust, because ponies trust her to an extreme. If you read the whole story and skip the last line, her actions make little sense, but that last line...
Trixie claims to Great and Powerful deeds. Celestia much the same, so much so that the entire world knows she raises the sun every morning. But all it would take is one doubt, one proof that this deed is a lie, and the trust that Equestria is built upon will evaporate like dew. So Celestia goes out every day, maintaining the lie, galloping down the razor edge of disaster to maintain that tenuous thread of trust by a constant string of undiscovered lies, so everypony can survive into tomorrow. To find somepony else about to set foot upon that treacherous road made her snap.
That’s an awesome opportunity. It’d be nice to see your posts on the front page like that! I’ve missed the times when the news box was quite lively.
Ah. The time approaches.
5780923
This is probably the safest way to go about it. Hopefully, the changes wouldn’t be too hard for you to bear.
Go with your gut! You can always stand up for the points you believe in super hard. I'm sure they'd be willing to work with you, at least somewhat.
Also, this is my first time hearing that you do requests for these reviews. I had no idea, and thought it'd be rude to ask. XD
The way I see it, if they want you now, unless stated otherwise they're all right with your intros. They're part of the reviews every week. You don't walk into an ice-cream shop and say "I want an ice-cream cone but without the cone." If you do, you say "I want ice-cream in a bowl."
They want your posts on the front page? Unless stated otherwise, that includes your weekly musings. After all, you don't represent the site. You're a featured reviewer, not a site rep.
Just my two cents.
I might be a lone voice of dissent here but I don't think you should do it. Or at least, not the way you currently do things.
Let me expand on this thought. As others have said, past review groups focused on spotlighting the good stuff. They sifted through the dross to find the sparkling gems. If they found a bad fic, they ignored it.
You on the other hand, review anything that catches your eye, whether you like it or dislike it. You even acknowledge the risk here of spotlighting a bad fic. Everyone will see it. Everyone will know the site reviewer thinks the story is bad. That's a hell of a lot to put on people writing for fun and pleasure, and in a lot of cases, peer approval. There have been cases where people have deleted their stories after you've negatively reviewed them, or even in this blog, deleted it before you reviewed it because you said you were going to review it. While it's true they may not have deleted the stories just because of or only because you reviewed it (negatively or otherwise), I think it's still a net loss for fimfic. sure they live on on fimfetch or whatever archive site is up these days, but it's still a loss.
I definitely think it'd be neat to see your reviews on the site blogs. I think you've thick enough skin to deal with anyone grumping about you being there as there's always a couple. I really enjoy these blogs and you've introduced to many great authors and stories. But I definitely would hope you would change how you review.
Eh. Do what sparks your engagement. If you feel that authority sets that wick aflame - set the burners to full and burn away. If you think that authority will cause some sort of burst which blows out all wicks, leave that detonator by the side of the road.
wew, what a decision to have to make! :O at least you're considering the important stuff. I cannot tell you what to do, not least of which because I am and have always been an attention horse! :V
that said, I did just now notice your little "other reviewers" section :3 I highly approve, and you should add in TCC56 and now abrony-mouse, too!
Also, Elpis and Dark Demon King etc. are fantastic :D And also Breaking Peeved, apparently, at least according to my own reviews, though I don't actually remember it :C
To be totally honest with you, this is why I come here everyweek, since I'm generally illiterate. While I think it would be cool to see your blogs go site wide, I would hate to see the intros get more business casual in the process. I still think you should do it, and things will have to change for a more general audience, but I'd hope that at least the non review blogs get more of the old intros in them to compensate.
As we say in sunrise land, 頑張って！
You deserve it.
I must have read "Elpis" when it was a write-off entry, but I don't remember it at all, though the title sure rings a bell. I thought "Moving On" was pretty good, and that was before the author revised it. It got even better afterward. Definitely one I'd recommend.
I talked quite a bit about We Have Always Lived in the Castle back in this blog, so I'll just put the short version here. I loved it, and it does atmosphere well, which is a quick way to win me over. The kicker for me is that every single character in the story is a terrible person, and yet I still found myself very much rooting for Mary Katherine and Constance. I did find it confusing at first that Merricat was a nickname. I spent a couple of chapters wondering if they were different characters. Like you, I figured out quickly what the history was, and I'm certain it's intentionally written for you to. It's less about solving the mystery and more about the characters. Oddly enough, I had the opposite feel on pacing from you: I felt like the middle dragged some, especially all the bits about Charles.
On making this a site blog... obviously I can't decide for you. Were it my decision, I'd turn it down, for all the reasons you cite (restrictions on what you can link being the main one), but for a few others as well. You get rather high readership on these already, so it's not like you're hurting for readers. The people who already come around here are more sympathetic to the purposes of such a blog, and I'd be afraid the increased traffic would be a higher percentage of butthurt people angry that you didn't like what they liked. Which might not bother you. Largely, I think you've already got the audience you want, and people who would take it in the right vein will find it anyway, especially by following the links you leave in story comments. I'm speculating on numbers here, but as I check now, there are just over 1k users on right now. I'm not sure what the average number is per day, but this is prime time (US east coast evening), and if people are like me, they stay logged in all evening. So maybe who's on now is representative of about 1/4 of the total in a day. Of 4000, your blogs regularly pull in about 500 views. I don't know that percentage would go up appreciably, for the other sacrifices you say you'd have to make. Imo, don't fix what ain't broke.
As Ferret says, most review blogs focus only on the positive. I like someone who's not afraid to call out stories that don't measure up, especially when they give legit points about what they thought didn't work. Within limits... *cough*Titanium Dragon*cough*. I get really tired of authors who bristle at the first hint of criticism because they only ever got positive reviews from Seattle's Angels or something. And that's not a dig at Seattle's Angels. They did good work. They also only featured stories they thought deserved it and didn't mention them otherwise. For these authors who claim they only got positive reviews there... well, of course. That's all they do. They may have disliked a bunch more of your stories, but you'd never know, since that's all behind the scenes. So this is a different kind of review blog than the others, and I think that'd clash with the userbase's expectations. But again, that might not bother you if it meant you got people behaving badly in here.
5780933
Ferret! You know I love you, so this will only hurt a little.
I meant to respond to this post tomorrow, as it's much too late for me to stay up writing, and then stay up another hour realizing I'd written something wrong or stupid and rewriting it and getting some new thing wrong. But I want to reply to this immediately:
Not so. I've been thinking about deleting that story for years. It hardly ever gets favorited, and I don't think it's very strong. Maybe my sense of humor has changed. It's just a gimmick story, and I think I might have been losing the 1 out of every 34 potential new readers who just happen to read that story first. It was a coincidence that I did it just before the review. I had no idea Paul was going to do this.
I understand your concern. And maybe bad reviews are a waste of the reader's time; it's vanishingly unlikely that someone was just about to read some particular story, but were warned off it by a review just in time. But they are of great value to authors. I usually learn more from bad reviews than from good ones, though that's because most reviewers are not like Paul, and can only explain why they don't like things, not why they like them.
Perhaps Paul should ask authors first if his rating is low. OTOH, then he'll have to read even more stories to fill out his review posts.
As for me, give me those bad reviews. I want to hear it, and I believe there's no such thing as bad publicity. I don't think a bad review takes any views away from a story. What are the odds that a reader was just about to read that story? And even a bad review is bound to produce a few clicks, if only from morbid curiosity or OCD.
I'm just going to go with the already frequently used view: it's a really tough decision, and I think you should probably just go with your gut, especially if there's an option to try this on a trial basis. That said, I wouldn't blame you if you decided independence was more important to you than visibility -- as Pascoite said, you don't do too badly on that at all
And thank you very much for the link with Mike and PP near the end!
I'm on a train with iffy WiFi, or I'd write a little more, but I think I've said enough.
Either way you decide, I'll keep checking out your reviews. I've read some really awesome gems that I would have missed if it weren't for your recommendations. Personally, I'm too chicken-shit to do something like a sitewide post. Even when we were a part of Seattle's Angels, I was glad I had the Intern character to hide behind.
5780921 5780922 5780923 5780925 5780926 5780928 5780929 5780930 5780933 5780938 5780945 5780947 5780957 5781144 5781173
Thanks for all the input, guys. I really appreciate it, and it's given me more to think about. I expect I'll have made my decision (permanent or temporary) by my next blog post, so I'll announce it then. A few notes:
5780930
You're right, the content of my introductions never came up in the conversation. Truth is, the conversation consisted almost entirely of "Hey, kid, wanna be on the news?" I did bring up a couple of these concerns, but I've received no significant pushback so far. It's entirely possible that much of this is just me trying to be professional and responsible in a landscape not too concerned about such things.
5780933
I don't have any evidence that anyone deleted a fic specifically because of my blogs, although there are certainly a few I suspect. I have had two or three authors (total) ask me never to review them again, and I've kept to those agreements. There's really only one that I can say for sure was taken down because of me, but that was only a temporary removal while the author worked on rewriting the story; it's back up now. Even so, I am keenly aware that the issue exists and it does concern me greatly. I hate when authors with potential throw their work away like that, and more so when I think it might be because of me.
But there's no chance at all that I'd stop reviewing bad stories. I remain firmly committed to the fact that this is a public forum and if you don't want people to discuss your stories you shouldn't post them here. Everyone assumes the same risks and I feel it would be wrong to carefully cultivate the reviews for the sake of not hurting anyone's feelings. Writers can't improve if they never see their material ripped to shreds, as must happen to us all eventually.
5780957
You see this? This was me. When I first submitted to Equestria Daily I got rejected and I took it hard. Got all self-righteous and such. Now I look back on that version of me and smile, because the rejection was exactly what I needed to finally start improving my writing. It's that experience that brought me to the point I am at today, and it's a prime reason I adamantly refuse to stop doing negative reviews.
I'm not afraid of people not liking what I liked. I am far more concerned about people being angry about what I didn't. But at this point I've come to understand that these people are mayflies; as soon as the topic has passed, they're gone and I'll have forgotten all about them by the time the next blog goes up. I've learned not to take the screeching of a tiny minority seriously unless they have genuinely good points.
At any rate, your arguments have been the most convincing so far, and bring up something that didn't even occur to me. You're right, I don't need the extra attention. If I accepted, it would be due to A) the title related to it, and B) the potential to spread the word on good stories to a broader audience. And honestly, I don't know that I need either of those things.
5781144
I was wondering what the reason was! I make it a point not to alert the subjects of these author spotlights via my bookshelf system, and while anyone can access my Review Schedule by going to my user page I seriously doubted you had done that.
5780926
I didn't miss the point of Trust at all. I'm just the type of person who thinks a strong message is no excuse for a bad setup. How Bad Horse approached it made no sense, and that greatly overshadowed the point of the story for me.
5780929
Ah, I see somebody never bothered to look at my user page.
5780945
Ah, good, more people to add! I was hoping that I'd get more recommendations like this. I shall add them with the next review blog.
5780957
Really? I picked up on that right away.
That's fair. They certainly are interesting!
That is odd. Everything involving Cousin Charles felt like rising action to me, like it was building up to something terrible (which it did).
5781202
I was okay with Seattle's Angels. I didn't care for their "only good stories" rule, but I would certainly have participated more had my own blog not been so busy.
5781144
Yeah this is not an option. It would require me to add more reading material to an already loaded schedule. It might be easier now with me being several months ahead of schedule, but if ever I got back to being close-to-release like I used to be then it could leave me scrambling.
And besides, I refuse to let the authors dictate my blog. At that point I might as well just ask the authors "what's your best story" and ignore everything else. I refuse to be a "good stories only" reviewer.
5781209
Yeeeeeah I shoulda done that. I can get excited and forget stuff like that.
5781213
I don't mind so much the "good stories only," but you do have to see that for what it is. It won't help the author, usually, but it still can help readers find good stories. Going beyond SA, I'll lump in TCC56, Equestria Daily, The Royal Guard, and the Royal Canterlot Library. They don't post negative reviews either, but because they're not reviews so much as recommendations. TCC56, SA, and RCL do post a discussion of the story that's at least a review of the good points, but if they do mention any of the story's drawbacks, it's minor and fleeting. The one exception to the "it won't help the author" is how EqD and TRG does/did give private feedback, but readers didn't get to see any of that, unless the author chose to make it public (which is exceedingly rare).
Oh man, the "stay amateur and do it the way I have fun doing it or go pro and have obligations to do it the way the pros do it?" dilemma.
Classic.
One could write an interesting story about a character facing that kind of threshold problem, I'd venture.
5781206 (snerk) You should have seen the response I wrote to the guy who reviewed The Traveling Tutor and the Librarian. (back when I was young and stupid, instead of old and stupid like I am today) I fumed, I raged inside, I was ready to write him a horrid nastygram...and then I sat on it for 24 hours before writing anything. There *were* legit criticisms in it. A few. And a bunch of "I hate all stories like this" references. I made some changes, notably swapping the front and back half of the first chapter, but clarified some points in it and made a broad sweep to correct some subtle inferences that I knew, but had not actually written down. It was better afterward, but I think he still would have hated it. And I thanked him, no matter how painful that was. He had taken an hour or two out of his day, and it was not wasted.
This is quite the dilemma!
I must say that I'd really like to see your reviews on the site blog. To raise a point that I haven't seen addressed: Yes, while you don't hesitate to post negative feedback, it is always constructive and greatly helpful. So much of what I've learned about writing during my time on this site has been from you expressing what not to do, what doesn't work.
Many--most, even--of these mistakes keep getting made; your "none" rankings almost always have a degree of repetition in them. I feel there are many writers here that simply have never heard these things before, and thus keep making the same errors.
I may be wrong, given this is by comments only, but it seems like your review blogs as they are are visited mainly by skilled writers who've already developed and shown their talent. Big names that carry a sense of awe to a little guy like me, silly as it sounds. But these are the kind of people that already know what not to do and thus aren't helped as much by your critisicm of bad writing.
To get to my point: I feel that your reviews are immensely helpful to new writers like myself. Having them on the main page, negative ratings and all, will help reach more of the people who really need to read them. This is a wonderful service you're giving to the community and it could really improve the quality of every new story if everyone saw it.
That's my two cents, anyway. The decision, ultimately, remains yours.
5781249
This is yet another angle that I completely neglected, so thanks! One more thing to consider.
Re. "Moments", Paul wrote:
Even this gives me too much credit. Vic is the author of that epilogue. He came up with the time, the place, the characters, and the zinger at the end. I was the editor and the writer. What I did was more like an adaptation. I think I added the foreman's idealism about the importance of building that tunnel, which I wanted in there to show the humans trying, unknowingly, to be worthy successors to the ponies. I know I inserted some words to hint at the irony, which at least one reader picked up on, that the tunnel they were building to lead to a world of peace, plenty, and harmony instead helped lead to World War 1. And, sure, I rewrote every word except for the ending; but that was the easy part. The only hard part about that was finding a way to crush all that into something short enough that it could be an epilogue instead of a sequel.
Re. "Behind the Scenes":
I just restored "Behind the Scenes" so that Paul's work wouldn't be wasted. I was on the fence about it for a long time anyway; this nudged me over onto the other side. I just re-read it again, and while it's not a good introduction to Bad Horse, it's okay on its own. I hope its brevity makes up for its triviality.
Re. "Trust":
I'm CCing 5780925 (Ghost Mike) on this, because I'd really like to hear back from both him and Paul about this. It isn't idle curiosity. I use "Trust" as an example of how easy it is to accidentally misread readers, how to learn from reader misinterpretations, and how to rewrite a story to be understood; and also as a rebuttal of reader-response theory, which says that the author's interpretation of a story is no better or truer than any other. I think that the author's interpretation isn't always the best interpretation, but it is the best interpretation about 98% of the time.
By "best" I mean the interpretation which makes people like the story the most. I have had people point out other interpretations that were as good as my own a few times, on other stories. But on "Trust", so many people wrote comments about how they interpreted the story, and whether they liked it, that I could count them up and get some meaningful statistics. So far, everyone who didn't really like the story, didn't understand it the way I wanted them to, with the lone possible exception of Ghost Mike. I really want to clarify whether Ghost Mike did or did not understand it as I intended, because that makes a difference to my argument against reader response theory.
I wrote above that I like bad reviews, but I didn't tell the whole story. A bad review always means that a story has failed for one reader. But often, as in this case, it's because the reader didn't understand the story. Georg's explanation ( 5780926 ) is spot-on: Trixie wasn't just telling any old lie; she was pretending to be more-powerful than she was, just as Celestia still does. The epilogue about changelings is to show how trapped Celestia is: she sees the disaster coming, and can't motivate her people to prepare for it because they all trust in her to save them, which she knows she can't do. Trixie just happened to be brought before Celestia at the moment that Celestia saw a thousand years of deception about to come crashing down on her head and everyone else's.
Celestia isn't angry at Trixie. She's angry at herself, and she's afraid. Read this again:
Celestia is talking about herself. She only resents Trixie for not being grateful she was caught early, before it was too late for her, as it is now too late for Celestia. I ask PaulAsaran and Ghost Mike: Did you make that connection? If not, what could I change to make it clearer? Did you come up with some other reason why Celestia said those words, & if so, what was it?
If a reader doesn't understand my story, especially one as smart as Paul or Ghost Mike, I try to figure out how it's my fault. Because just blaming the reader doesn't help anyone, and because it is, ultimately, always my fault. My task isn't to write a story that the ideal Platonic reader will like; it's to write one that real people will like.
5781318 I was right? Yea! That's one for... this decade. Hopefully, I can get into double digits by 2030. Goals!!
I wish Paul had posted this review of my stories either one post later, so that it could (maybe) be on the front page — or else one post earlier.
5781318
I was going to wait until after I got to my parents' place to respond to these, but now I'm afraid if I do that I'll forget to respond at all (it's happened before), so I'll go ahead and answer now.
I did make that connection, but somehow it didn't... resonate, I suppose? To use a common phrase in an only semi-accurate way, it went through one ear and out the other. I understood the point behind Celestia's lying in relation too Trixie, but I was so heavily focused on how absurd it felt that Celestia was mad at Trixie for lying at all that I sort of glossed over the finer details. For instance, while I did catch the relation between Celestia's lies and Trixie's lies, I completely missed the point behind the changelings being brought up. I genuinely thought they were only there to further showcase Celestia's projection-based loathing of liars in general (because old-school changelings are liars by default). The idea that they represented the noose closing around Celestia's throat slipped by me entirely.
It can safely be argued that this misconception is entirely on me. However, I feel obligated to note that my problem stemmed from the opening in general. Now that it's been thoroughly explained, I still don't understand why Celestia would bother to put on this public display with Trixie. It's not like Trixie's the first to lie in a manner that reflects on Celestia's sins, so why would Celestia abruptly decide to drag her all the way to Canterlot to face this public' trial' out of all the past offenders that must inevitably exist? All she's doing is drawing attention to herself, and you'd think that would be the absolute last thing she'd want. Has she or has she not had 1,000+ years to carry this deception? Why would she allow herself to lose her outer control now when she's mastered it for so long? Lecturing Trixie doesn't benefit anypony, even in relation to Celestia's coming fall. The entire situation on its face still feels absurd to me, because even accepting the author's intention, I can see no reason for Celestia to confront Trixie like this, even in anger.
I think the way this all could have been salvaged would have been to not have Trixie there at all. Keep the fury, keep the speech (or something like it), but have it all come out in response to, say, Twilight's report on the events, rather than having dragged Trixie all the way to Canterlot for some public display that would serve nothing but to make ponies question what's up with Celestia, i.e. the very last thing she wants at this stage. Maybe she could have vented in front of Luna, who herself is well-aware of the real problem (because she would be).
In summation: the message was clear, changeling misconception notwithstanding. It's just how the message was delivered at the start that bothered me.
Re. whether Paul should take on the mantle of "site reviewer", I think that
5781318
It's going to be hard for me to say for sure, what with the story being just a few days shy of a year old since it was published, and that review closer to two (it sat in my workfile since about September 2022). Reading your clarification here, I honest-to-god can't recall if I pegged it. But as nearly as I can recall, I do remember twigging that Celestia was projecting come the end, at least. And certainly that the fic was not the "Celestia is angry at Trixie for the stated surface reasons" little noodle it might have looked to some folks. There might have been be some dissatisfaction with the message's use and execution, like Paul, but too far removed to make any call there now.
To elaborate a bit further, I wouldn't say I disliked the story. I did give it a Decent, after all (which, yes, I know constitutes a disappointing rating to get for some folk, but it is a Positive rating), and even with my shifted criteria in the nearly two years since, that hasn't changed. I think it was one of those fics where I got what it was trying to do, at least somewhat, but felt "okay… so?". At least somewhat. It's like noticing some clever writing has been done, and admitting that's neat, but wondering to what end. Or at least to the entertainment level – I think my echoing of Paul's words here came across poorly, I more meant that I simply have no desire to return to the fic.
I'm not gonna claim I'm the smartest reader or writer. Especially if I'm reading under less-then-ideal conditions (sleep deprivation, etc. – not saying that was the case with this fic, I don't recall). I think I'm competent and crafty, certainly, but no whizz – even now, I think all the other core active Ponyfic reviewers/recommenders (Paul, Logan, TCC56, Present Perfect) do it better than myself. I'll miss things others will get and need to browse the comments sometimes. But I do prefer a fic to not belabour the point on communicating things, and if sometimes that might mean something doesn't come across, well, that's writing. Only worth worrying about if that happens consistently with the writer's fics.
Talking about a fic over a decade old in any case.
5781334
Ah. I don't recall even considering that point. Equestrian legal proceedings, and what exactly the princesses do, as well as the distance from Ponyville to Canterlot, are all still a mystery to me. I probably didn't consider it because my subconscious was too afraid of giving up the dramatic confrontation with Trixie to let my conscious mind try.
You're right; it is a weak point. I'm tempted see if I can patch it with an explanation of why Celestia must review this case from a small town. On the other hand, I could make the story a lot shorter if Trixie weren't present. On the other other hand, it would be less dramatic, and the "epilogue" might then be longer than the main action. I think I'll leave it as it is. But considering how to fix it is a good writing exercise even if I never do it.
Ironically, the day you posted this, I was considering how to fix the same problem in "The Gathering": Why is Celestia reviewing this tax rebate case from Ponyville?
5781344 Thanks for explaining. I don't know how to fix that, but I think it was healthy to force me to admit that I can't blame every failure of that story to resonate with someone on misunderstanding--a silly conceit which I now realize I was still clinging to.
5781401
I feel this. Sometimes you have this scene in your head and you just have to have it in the story. Then someone tells you the story would be stronger without it, or that it could be changed in some way you're adamantly opposed to, but you can't help it: the scene must be there. As is. Then you come back to it, years after it's too late, and see the scene and think, "maybe those critics had a point..."
Come to think of it, there was one story that took over a year for me to release entirely because both my prereaders said the opening chapters need a complete overhaul and I did not want to do it. I was so grouchy about it I held back on working on it for all that time, but when I finally decided to get back to it... Yeah. I changed the opening. Begrudgingly, but I did it. Because damn it to Tartarus, the jerks had a point. It only took me a year to accept it.
Regardless, I would say don't change it. It's 12 years old! Your time is better spent creating new material, not polishing something that old. Unless you wanted to do a complete rewrite, which I fully endorse. I kinda have to: I've done it myself.
5781337
I greatly appreciate the endorsement!
Given the effort, personality, etc. that you and I put into our blog posts, I consider them to be art. Not as "art" as our stories, perhaps - but still art. If you agree with that, then possibly the most important question is: will accepting the offer force you to significantly compromise your artistic vision? If the answer to that is yes, I wouldn't accept.
5781337
It strikes me how little that point has come up in this thread. Probably because it's how we all feel and so we don't feel it needs to be stated explictly -- but perhaps it does. It's both true and important, after all.
5781344
I'm about eight years further into doing it than you are and I still get that feeling when I look at what you all do! I do remind myself that from very early days I made it clear that I was simply reviewing based on What I Liked and sharing that with anyone interested, but still.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a very strange book. I found it in the children's section of my library when I was very young. I might be a happier person today if I hadn't. And I might never have written "Twenty Minutes" or "Moments".
Not dissimilar to what Discombobulated Soul said, having your style of review out in front of the website could possibly go a distance in swiftly introducing new authors to a unique aspect of how things flow here, i.e. that reviews are a core part of of the culture, especially bad reviews that still enable authors to improve. So while I have a lot of similar fears, I would personally say yeah man that's cool you should go for it! And yeah, you've earned it.
Aw heck yeah Bad horse. One of the few authors for whom I've read every story posted on the site (and a couple not). At one point I even Ranked them all in a little notepad. My favourite story of his is probably still Burning Man Brony, which you've already reviewed. That one just ticks every box for me. Fascinating stuff.
. Partially cause Cthulu
I think it helps that all his stuff is so short. His longest story, a Holmes adaptation with Trixie as a great Irene Adler, doesn't even break 15k. He's great at getting a powerful point of emotion across with very limited space. I find he does concision better than almost any other author I've read.
I also realize why you don't tend to review anthologies, but it's times like this I really wish you did, cause my second favourite of his is possibly his super-short story The Element of Audacity, which I think you'd really like
Anyway, brief thoughts on all these:
Behind the Scenes is far from his best humour, but it does its job nicely and doesn't overstay its welcome. It's very '2013', if that makes sense.
Breaking Peeved... I did not get this one, man. I'm someone whom things tend to go over the heads over, so. Once I went online and understood the context, I realized all the clues were there, but upon first read-through, they all just felt weirdly out of place. And I didn't even register the twist at the end, I just thought it was a weird line to end it on. Maybe my literacy skills need work, but I would still say the context is a little too buried. Had I entered into it knowing what was going on, I'm sure I would have enjoyed it way more. Definitely great concept.
You've already said what there is to say about Gathering. Does everything it needs to in an incredibly short time period. Was also my introduction to the CivilServiceVerse.
Moments I definitely did not appreciate enough upon first readthrough, but coming back to it now, man that's powerful stuff. Especially as a study of Twilight. The epilogue was definitely cool, but I honestly think the story had more of a punch without it.
Moving On is written with, like... the attitude of 2012 with the ethos of 2018. Maybe. I definitely found it more melancholy than anything, but very pleasantly so. A snapshot of our limited knowledge way back when.
Ravenblood is a super fun character that pokes fun at the trope in all the best ways. I think the second chapter went on longer than it needed to, but as two distinct glimpses at the character, they're both real fun. Bad Horse is definitely not the only author who's toyed with the character, but he is the one who's taken him the most, er, seriously.
I don't feel as strongly about Trust as you do, but I agree that it doesn't do what it intends. One of the few BH stories I feel could have benefitted from being longer. My copy of Worst of Bad Horse is at home right now but I believe he had at least six full pages dissecting the core concept immediately following it. Which isn't as much as the twenty pages discussing Alicorn Cider's philosophy.
I am super happy you liked Twenty Minutes as much as I did. It is the best of sadfic IMHO - showcases an awful reality in the most neutral of ways and wordlessly depicts an incredible and unconventional act of kindness. I never see this one talked about when it comes to BH's best, and it really should be.
I do wish Ἐλπίς had a little more of a point to it, but its visceral imagery and take on Celestia do enough to satisfy.
I feel obligated to point of some of my other absolute Bad Horse favourites, though I realize after this it'll probably be a long time before you get to them.
Worth It (anthology story, and the one that finally got me to see the potential in Fluttercord)
Beauty and the Beast (part of his 'bedtime stories read by an untrustworthy curmudgeon' anthology)
Experience
Pony Play (arguably fetish, NOT porn, and legit good use of second person)
Little Boxes (part of his platonic TwiPie anthology, and everything Feeling Pinkie Keen should have been)
The Gift of Lethe (The most beautifully Rarity approach to leaving a memory after death you could possibly hope for)
And of course BMB and Fluttershy's Night Out, both of which you've already reviewed.
One little thing I find really interesting about BH's stuff is he does seem to have a couple 'favourite' ships that he likes to use as a backdrop for a concept. In no case does he make an argument for them, but he consistently returns to them, and has endeared me to both. The main two are Rarilestia and TwiMac (which is always tragically one-sided in one way or another).
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Honestly I haven't been sitting and staring at this blog post for the past 2 days. I'm just a slow thinker. My brain needs a few days or months to chew on something, and often my mouth leaps in to fill the empty space while the brain is distracted, as maybe it did here.
The fact is that it was difficult for me to sympathize whole-heartedly with new authors who have just gotten their first review ever, just when I was swimming in good reviews and compliments. I wrote a lot of stories before I even started writing ponyfic, and had a hundred or hundreds of rejections and bad critiques. And I think I was pretty tough-skinned from the beginning. When my classmates were reading the Hardy Boys, I was reading Rudolf Vrba and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 3 of my grandparents were orphans, and all of them grew up without electricity or running water, and were homeless for at least part of their lives and poor for the remainder of them; and my mother was a war refugee whose response to most problems was either "Stop complaining, nobody's shooting at you," or, "Just pretend you're in a prison camp."
And, let's face it, we seem to have more than our share of thin-skinned people here. Even many famous, highly-decorated authors here have bouts of doubt, clinical depression, and suicidal thoughts. Some have a diagnosed mental illness. Some have kept this hidden from the reading public. Some have rough life events. A few days before you posted this review, Vic Fontaine's mom died, which you'd know if you checked the titles of his latest blogs. If your review of his chapter of "Moments" had been bad, I'd say you should have either kept that to yourself, or shelved the whole post for later.
I don't think that trying to soften the blow on vulnerable authors is letting authors dictate your blog. That's just brushing the issue aside. Let's stop thinking of this as a binary decision, a "do" or "don't". There's a continuum. At one end you read whatever you choose, without telling the authors, and write the unvarnished truth as you see it. At the other, you never post any bad reviews. There are many points in-between. You can pick one that's way over towards the "let the chips fall" extreme, yet still shows mercy to the most-vulnerable people. Like, "If you are about to write a bad review of a story by an author who's been on the site less than a year, has published less than 5 stories, and has less than 100 followers, and you've never posted a good review of anything by that author, then either PM the author and ask permission, or read more of their stories until you find one you can give a decent review of and post that and the bad review at the same time." You can take other steps to reduce your risk of losing a lot of time, like never reading a story by an author who falls in that protected category that's more than 4000 words.
Then live with those rules for a while, and see how much they cramp your style. If they hardly every comes into play--say, you rarely review authors with less than a hundred followers--then loosen those numbers up a little, e.g., less than 2 years, 8 stories, or 200 followers. Find a point where you get a good trade-off between inconvenience to you, and number of innocent newbie souls crushed.
Remember that reading a story isn't as much of a time-investment as reviewing a story. Check with a stopwatch how long reading and reviewing take you. If writing a review takes twice as long as reading the story, dropping one or two reviews per issue isn't as wasteful as it sounds.
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Your point does make some sense, but there is no scenario I'll accept in which I ask an author for permission to post a review. It's not going to happen. The alternative that I've considered instead is to simply make the negative review a review for the author, in which I try to explain what's wrong and why so that they can improve. I already do that, but this would be a more... conciliatory approach.
As for "skipping story X and moving on to Story Y, Z, AA, and on and on until a good story pops up", that might work... if all the stories are drabbles. But my average wordcount/day of reading is in the 30k-40k range, and that's before considering the original fiction which doesn't cooperate with wordcounts and has to be done in pages (current average: 30 pages/day). By the time I'm finishing reading what is scheduled, I'm ready to stop reading period, and now we're talking about adding more? What if I have to read through 10 stories before I find something worth an average rating?
No, I think the better solution overall is to keep doing the reviews, but cut back on the fun bits (read: sarcasm) and focus on being conscientiously constructive.
Commenting on the new link and statistic tailend part of the blog. It looks good!
Small feedback... on 'nearest unscheduled'. Can that be more precisely worded for clarity? I think it means that is when you are caught up through? E.g. how far in advance you have blogs prepared for?
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You've got the right idea. I didn't want to write some big sentence explaining what it does in detail, and if you've figured it out... how would I make it any clearer with three words or less?
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Blogs ready through:
Or
Blogs prepared through:
Or
Backlog completed through:
Or, 'until' instead of 'through'.
Blogs readied until:
Because 'unscheduled' has several meanings.
I was helped in figuring it out because elsewhere you mentioned you were ahead by several weeks.