Into the Storm: Flight of Firefly reviewed!

Rated “WHYRTY—Why haven’t you read this yet?” Thanks, Paul Asaran!

https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/1012397/pauls-thursday-reviews-cccxxx

I had an inkling it was coming only because the reviewer had previously reviewed Rise of Firefly, and I saw his name pop up on the story’s faves some weeks back. Just like with the first Firefly story, he gave it his highest rating, though not everything he said was positive.

Still, I’m not going to quibble over what little I didn’t agree with, given I recognize how much time he puts into this and how many of these he’s done. Given that’s his 330th review blog post, he’s probably the most read person on Fimfiction at this point, and that’s no little thing. He does a great service for the entire Fimfiction community, so I did want to give him a shout-out here.

Before anyone asks, I’m not going to be writing a new installment of Firefly anytime soon simply because there’s too much else on my plate right now, including a lot happening at my day job. Hopefully that will change later. But while you’re waiting for more, readers of Firefly are invited to check out Feathered Hearts - Continuation and Chronicles to get your fill of griffon-related war porn, and readers of C&C are likewise invited to check out my Firefly series in turn to see what the original Feathered Heart by Demon Eyes Laharl inspired.

The Great Gryphon/Pony War mentioned repeatedly in both the original and remade Feathered Hearts is described there. It’s not a lie to say that the original Feathered Heart inspired Firefly. And now I return the favor by picking up the mantle of Feathered Heart following the departure of the great Demon Eyes Laharl from fimfiction.

Firefly is cannon in Feathered Hearts, and the first Feathered Heart gave me the griffon lore that I then used in Firefly. So the stories are pretty much inseparable. And will cross over in a surprising way later.

Comments

[PaulAsaran]

T'was a great story overall, and one I look forward to continuing. Although like I said in the review, after working on it so long I certainly don't blame you for the break! Also, I wouldn't call myself the most read person on the site, even considering my average of 30k words/day. I'm sure others have been reading/reviewing longer than I have, at the very least.

Feathered Hearts, huh? I'll add it to my watchlist, but I don't think I'm inclined to start it unless/until I see it's actually done. I'm afraid I've got too much in my queue to go adding something incomplete right now.

Thanks for the shout-out, and I'll see you in the next story! Whichever one that ends up being...

[Firesight]

5724093

T'was a great story overall, and one I look forward to continuing. Although like I said in the review, after working on it so long I certainly don't blame you for the break! Also, I wouldn't call myself the most read person on the site, even considering my average of 30k words/day. I'm sure others have been reading/reviewing longer than I have, at the very least.

Thanks again! Can’t imagine, honestly. And yeah, I needed a break and to just be able to mark something complete. One thing I wish you’d mentioned in that review was that the story was actually not one but three books (The War Begins, Rally and Recover, Second Offensive) presented as a magnum opus.

The reason I did it that way was in the hopes I’d hold onto more readers and have more likes since it’s well-established that sequels never do as well as the original. Unfortunately, it got so long that I think the length alone was turning off more readers than it attracted. Oh well.

Feathered Hearts, huh? I'll add it to my watchlist, but I don't think I'm inclined to start it unless/until I see it's actually done. I'm afraid I've got too much in my queue to go adding something incomplete right now.

Well, if you read it, I’d also suggest you first read the original story Feathered Heart it was based on, to see what’s changed from the initial version:

TFeathered Heart

• MLP: FiM
• Romance
• Adventure

The exploration of the Gryphon Kingdom and the love between a human and a griffin. While securing trade routes, Gilda reminisces how the humans arrive, the trials they face together, and the one who stole her heart. Set in the Gentlemanverse.

• Sex
• Human
• Gilda
• OC

Demon Eyes Laharl · 139k words  ·  1,614  52 · 20k views

It’s not necessary to read it in order to read mine, but it would certainly give you a sense of where it started and where it is now. It was never finished, unfortunately, which was the reason I took it up (with the permission of the mods) after the author departed Fimfiction six years ago.

I don’t know what your rules are for reading abandoned works, but that’s still got twenty chapters and over 100,000 words of material. It’s got some pacing issues among other things, but it also made a military crossover story of the Griffon Kingdom/US Marines with Gilda as a protagonist work, which I thought was ridiculous until I read it.

Thanks for the shout-out, and I'll see you in the next story! Whichever one that ends up being...

You’re welcome! If you’d like a suggestion, try The Best and The Worst.

EThe Best and The Worst

• MLP: FiM
• Dark
• Drama
• Mystery

Twilight Sparkle has seen some of the best of humanity during her visits to Earth. Now it is time she sees some of the worst...

• Crossover
• Alt. Universe
• Twilight
• Celestia

Firesight · 16k words  ·  116  7 · 2.7k views

It’s a complete change of pace from my usual stuff, short and sweet while taking the following premise:

Celestia takes Twilight to Chernobyl without telling her what happened there, letting her deduce it from the available evidence. And Celly being Celly, there’s a important lesson she wants Twilight to learn.

I wrote it after watching the atmospheric and well-done HBO series Chernobyl. You can devour it quickly, unlike my Firefly series. I’m actually quite proud of it for successfully scratching a writing itch I had.

[PaulAsaran]

5724783

One thing I wish you’d mentioned in that review was that the story was actually not one but three books (The War Begins, Rally and Recover, Second Offensive) presented as a magnum opus.

The reason I did it that way was in the hopes I’d hold onto more readers and have more likes since it’s well-established that sequels never do as well as the original. Unfortunately, it got so long that I think the length alone was turning off more readers than it attracted. Oh well.

To be honest, while I saw it labelled as three "books", it didn't really register that way as I was reading it, so the fact slipped my mind on the review. That said, I can say I've done the exact same thing in my Order of Shadows. I never finished the overarching story, although I at least ended the fifth "book" before putting the whole on an apparently permanent hiatus. Point is, I tried that too and, yeah, it does seem like a longer length tends to overshadow making multiple sequels.

It’s not necessary to read it in order to read mine, but it would certainly give you a sense of where it started and where it is now. It was never finished, unfortunately, which was the reason I took it up (with the permission of the mods) after the author departed Fimfiction six years ago.

The impression I had was that your story took off where the original left off, so my intention was to wait for you to finish yours and then read both as a single "story". Would that not be an appropriate way to approach it, or would it be best to treat them as entirely different entities?

Generally speaking I don't like reading abandoned stories. I make exceptions if I'm reassured that said abandoned story stops "at a good place". I think I'd also make an exception if I knew someone else was going to finish the story separately.

The Best and The Worst, eh? Being very fond of the HBO Chernobyl series, it's certainly something I'd have an interest in. I'll consider it my "next story" by you unless you want to make this a request proper, in which case I'll throw it on my lists right now (no telling how long it'll take to get to it otherwise).

[Firesight]

5724790

To be honest, while I saw it labelled as three "books", it didn't really register that way as I was reading it, so the fact slipped my mind on the review. That said, I can say I've done the exact same thing in my Order of Shadows. I never finished the overarching story, although I at least ended the fifth "book" before putting the whole on an apparently permanent hiatus. Point is, I tried that too and, yeah, it does seem like a longer length tends to overshadow making multiple sequels.

Well, it was structured that way in the chapter list, and if you look, each ‘book’ ends with a climactic scene—the Escape from Epsilon, the big Thunderbolt/Gavian duel (which might be my favorite scene and chapter in the whole story) and the bat-ponies deciding to join the conflict. So yeah, they would have worked as self-contained stories, but if you lose a third of your readers with each subsequent sequel... that’s the dilemma I faced.

The impression I had was that your story took off where the original left off, so my intention was to wait for you to finish yours and then read both as a single "story". Would that not be an appropriate way to approach it, or would it be best to treat them as entirely different entities?

I guess the best way to describe them would be that my story is a relaunch and retelling that incorporates large portions of the original (cleaned up and greatly expanded) but also includes plenty of my own accumulated worldbuilding from various works. With regards to the latter, you’ll quickly see that it incorporates large parts of my Firefly lore, and I even introduce a new race: the Russian-speaking ibex; longtime and quite mortal enemies of the griffons. Finally, it takes place in the Gentlemanverse, which the author of Feathered Heart founded. I don’t know if you’ve read any stories from that verse, but it tends to be very adult place.

If it was inspired by anything, I’d say Starship Troopers, given it incorporates boobs and bullets in equal measure. It’s M-rated for occasional suggestive content and infrequent sex scenes, but since not everybody likes the latter, each adult chapter has a T-rated variant as well.

Generally speaking I don't like reading abandoned stories. I make exceptions if I'm reassured that said abandoned story stops "at a good place". I think I'd also make an exception if I knew someone else was going to finish the story separately.

Does it stop at a good place? Not really. It didn’t leave off on anything in particular, unfortunately, and left a slew of unresolved plot threads behind. That being the case, you’d probably prefer just to skip it. Unfortunately, it’s going to be quite a while before mine is finished. You could very easily consider the first 20 chapters to be a self-contained story, though. Given its length—already half a million words—at some point, I may have to make this have the same magnum opus story format that Firefly does.

The Best and The Worst, eh? Being very fond of the HBO Chernobyl series, it's certainly something I'd have an interest in. I'll consider it my "next story" by you unless you want to make this a request proper, in which case I'll throw it on my lists right now (no telling how long it'll take to get to it otherwise).

Then you may consider this an official request, and I look forward to your review. I will say that I tried to make in it the same style as as the series—carefully paced, dark and suspenseful. You be the judge whether I succeeded.

[PaulAsaran]

5724821
I would say I have some familiarity with the Gentlemanverse, though I've not explored it extensively.

Then you may consider this an official request, and I look forward to your review. I will say that I tried to make in it the same style as as the series—carefully paced, dark and suspenseful. You be the judge whether I succeeded.

So be it, I shall add it to my lists.