It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #152 · 7:35pm February 14th
So last week I did a bit of cleaning out of my oldest in the main queue - this week, I'm gonna do the same for the newbies set. I've had a pair kicking around for a while that I keep not getting to and this is a prime opportunity to fix that.
So first up is the older of the two: Rewan Demontay. Rewan's one of the authors who's been putting in real work: 27 stories in 11 months. The one I'm picking for today is Famaliblur, which I initially researched under the assumption it was some deep and meaningful word in like Norwegian or something, but seems to actually just be a portmanteau of 'familiar' and 'blur'.
High school is over. The girls have scattered to the next stage in their lives, and Sunset's… well, she's feeling rather gray. The riot of school is giving way to a Monday to Friday job and the rest of capital-l Life. But there's highlights still: Twilight's parents teaching Sunset to drive, thoughts of visiting Equestria again. It's all a rut and also a transition - Sunset's finding herself grasping her life changing and growing into adulthood.
So my comment on this story last year pretty much summarizes things: "Mood." The whole short is capturing that feeling. It's a hard one to get into words, too - writing this, I'm having a difficult time trying to summarize what that mood is. And that's despite being intimately familiar with the feeling. It speaks to the story's strengths that it resonates deeply despite all of that.
It's also something true to the character: most authors who've tackled Sunset Shimmer are aware of the weirdness of her post-high school life. Caught between two worlds, having a lot of her future avenues cut off or in question because (as FoME put it) she is the most illegal immigrant imaginable, and how so much of her life being reliant on the other six girls is bound to fall apart as their own trajectories take them away. This is a good peek into that. Sunset's struggling and the world's weighing on her, but she's not out. That suits her. That's who she is.
The story's just… it feels right. Not comfortable, but familiar. Settling into a well-trod memory or an old pair of shoes. Something you know intimately even if there is no word for it. And I still can't pin down one that's right.
Today's other author is one I've written on before - albeit not for this blog. J3sterking popped up on a lot of people's radars after taking third place in Imposing Sovereigns IV - which is a heck of a statement given the huge names involved and the intensity of that competition. Now, I could talk about that story - but I won't. It's good, but I wanna bring a spotlight on one of the author's other works today: Silent Song.
Vinyl Scratch doesn't like winter. It's cold, her breath keeps fogging up her glasses, and she keeps falling on the ice. But she's damned and determined to persevere and not hide in her apartment until spring, so she's out and about. Problem is that winter takes small bad things in her day and turns them worse - and it all mounts up. Mostly around her inability to talk and the frustration that brings into her life.
Now, the author specifically notes that they're not mute and don't have direct experience with it. But I think despite that it still is a story that not only seems fairly accurate but that most readers (who will, in fact, be able to talk) can resonate with. It's all about the microaggressions: everyone involved means well and is trying, but the little slips are constant. Reminders that Vinyl can't talk; misunderstandings and difficulties in communicating what should be simple concepts; frustration after frustration that aren't intended to be but still cause stress. We can all understand how the little things can build up and just drive you over the edge, even if most of us have different root causes.
The resolution is also really smart: Sunset using her geode like that is an intelligent and fairly novel approach that makes sense within the world and the characters. I'm not sure I've seen her be used in quite this way, and so kudos for that. Rainbow Dash's part is also really well handled. She's a great character to fit the 'means well but does the dumbass' role, and she also feels right in her attempts to correct afterwards.
Really, it's a great short fic. Conflict is relatable but slightly foreign to most readers, characters are used in a novel but sensible way, writing's solidly on point. It's a great showing from a new writer that's been putting up some real bangers.
New or catching up? Try Recommendsday: The Index for your story needs!
