It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #89 · 8:07pm Nov 30th, 2022
Swinging back in purpose again, let's look at another two fairly new/unknown authors.
The first is why I have that slash in there: eemoo1o isn't quite new (having been publishing since September of '21) but hasn't gotten a ton of attention. Today's feature isn't their biggest (that would be A Flash In The Pan), it's the one I like best out of their work: The Seeds of Grief.
Granny Smith's had a long and full life - as has the family around her. She's the common thread through it all, and this story bounces back and forth through several of those critical, life-changing moments. But at the center of it is the ugliest: the day she lost her son and daughter-in-law, and the immediate fallout of that.
Now that's admittedly not much of a summary, but I'm not really sure how to do better for it. There's a couple of important context scenes that are there - Bright Mac's birth, Granny being told about her impending first grandfoal, so on - but the core really is that one bleak day.
And I think that's where this one stands out. We don't see a lot of stories about this side of things: we see the actual events of the deaths, and we see a lot of the fall-out affecting the kids. (We also see a lot of miracle saves because people like happier endings even if they're alt-u.) Granny gets passed over a lot, particularly in the mundane parts of it. Losing the Apple parents isn't just drama and weeping. It's identifying the bodies. Struggling to keep sanity because you have to make sure the baby's fed. Dealing with children too young to really get it but old enough to be angry and lost since they don't understand how to process grief.
Raw is the word I'd use for a lot of this story - it isn't dramatic, but it's life and it's full of deep aching. It's hard to capture that and not make it overblown. This story hits it right on target, I'd say.
The other author on the docket today actually got their start on the reviewing circuit: Reviewfilly, who's been a regular over in /mlp/ with compact reviews for that crowd. (Note to self, do not use the word 'review' for the rest of this blog or it'll stop sounding like a word.) But they've also stepped into the writing ring for the last year and have displayed a ton of talent there - my favorite having been their entry into the A Thousand Words contest. Namely: As Above, So Below.
The story poses a question to the reader: What would a pony's state of mind be like if they were falling? Say, hypothetically out of a balloon from great height?
And yup, that's all your getting for a summary. Two like that this week.
As for the story itself: damn it's good. The Thousand Words contest had a lot of great entries, and there's a reason this one took the gold. It's the vibe - it captures that moment of "Oh no" right after everything goes wrong and before the (literal) impact. That second or so where your brain realizes you've said or done the wrong thing and it's about to ruin your day. (Well, in this particular case the stakes are just a touch higher.)
The clinical, detached narration steps it above the average. Most writers would make the moment to be something thick with emotion and pathos, making it all overwrought. Instead here we've got disassociation that's both cold and desperate at the same time. It's a more shocking story that way and it's captured perfectly in that tiny thousand word space.
I mean, the story makes me immediately associate it with another of my favorites (bracebracebrace by The Red Parade) and I'm not sure I could pick which one I think is better. That says a lot to me, because Red is a goddamn word wizard.
New or catching up? Try Recommendsday: The Index for your story needs!
I don't understand what that means, I'm afraid. I know it's the keyboard shortcut for upper case, but I'm not sure how that applies here.
I'm really happy to see this fic get more recognition. Okay, it was a Gold medal winner anyway in the contest it was written for, but as you say it's so good at avoiding the melodramatic "Why meeeee?" stuff that would be so easy to fall into .
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I think he meant Alternate Universe. Not an abbreviation for the term I'm familiar with, I grant, but it fits the context perfectly, and makes some logical sense.
I read and
revieweddissected one fic of ReviewFilly's back in March, and found it Decent. Sounds like this one is quite the strong nugget; I do remember it sticking out during the deluge of entries for that contest, even before it placed. Might have to give it a look in!5700958
Alternate Universe, in this case.
Someone sent me the link to this and, honestly, I wouldn’t have known you did this outside of them telling me, all I really had was a notification stating that you added it to a list—and if I’d just logged on later today or tomorrow, I wouldn’t even have gotten that.
I just… this review is wonderful, so thank you.
April, actually
but I doubt crappy first-fics count 
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)
They absolutely count. As a reader I adore it when I find a really good writer and read their first fic and the progression is really striking. (Also when they construct their sentences better than I just did.
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Well, that makes me look a tad silly! Whups. Because yes, they entirely count.
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Actually, no
I wanted to send you the link to this, but ended up accidentally linking your story instead.
You ended up finding this on your own, actually lmao.
Thank you very much for featuring my story! Considering how randomly the idea came to me (it just struck me one day while going showering) I never quite expected it to resonate so much with people. I am so touched by all the nice things people said about it.
I think I might have seen it in the sidebar a few times, but I definitely haven't read it until my story was long done. I find it very interesting how similar yet different it is to mine, though no question a heavy hitter. I guess poor Cherry just can't catch a break!
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I'd love to hear your thoughts.
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Thank you again for the review for the fic. It's nice to be on the receiving end sometimes.