Fic recs, December 31st: End of the year edition! · 8:18pm Dec 31st, 2013
I want to signal boost this blog, in which Rated PonyStar shows off a comic he wrote with an artist. It’s quite moving.
So, the first of two journals I plan to post today. It's the end of the year, so I'm dumping all the stuff I'd had saved up for one reason or another (you won't be able to tell which those are). That means not only lots to peruse, but lots of good stuff for once, because the past couple rec blogs have been a little lacking in Hs and Rs. But now we have...
H: 3 R: 4 C: 1 V: 1 N: 0
Dear Friend, by Estee
Reading by FarnesyFudge
Here’s what I heard: front-loaded chatter, inserted commentary, and a great reading voice, though his tendency to mumble during commentary made me wonder just what I should be paying attention to. I’m going to give him a second chance though, because he apparently had a cold while reading this (why did he record while sick?), this isn’t a very good story for reading aloud, and my toe dislocated while I was listening so I was kind of not paying attention to significant portions of the story.
Genre: Spam
Not good for spoken reading, but worth reading by oneself, this is a collection of spam emails (scrolls) that run the gamut of human experience. Yes, there is a Nigerian royalty scam. Yes, it’s hilarious. Large parts of this are fun exercises in character voicing, the Flim-Flam Brothers part especially. But it’s the Nigerian royalty scam (and no, I won’t tell you which royalty it actually is) that’s the real standout, and I have to wonder how much it hurt the author to write that many misspellings. This is top-notch comedy and good, clean fun. I think everyone can appreciate this.
Recommended
Diamond Tiara Hunts Down and Systematically Murders Bad OCs by Aquaman
Genre: Random
Another early writeoff release (though as of today, the writeoff is over; I took second place!) I can’t think of a story that sums itself up via title better than this one. If you want to read a couple thousand words about a katana-wielding Diamond Tiara doing just what the label says -- and haven't already; I didn't anticipate the pull this story would have on its release -- this is for you. And trust me, not only are the OCs extremely horrible, this goes in a direction you won’t see coming. The only thing I can say against it is that the “systematic” part is heavily implied, giving us a mere two bad OCs being hunted down “on-screen”.
Recommended
To Make a Spark by Chris
Genre: Fairy Tale
This story’s existence was brought to my attention again just now, and because I’m dying to know what this journal, which Absolutely Must Not Be Read Without First Reading the Story, is all about, I thought I’d give it a read. I’m very glad I did. Once again, Chris steps into the role of fairy story teller, bringing a serious cadence, no pun intended, to the narrative of Cadence’s rise to becoming a princess. (Here I should mention, there is technically a ‘soft-canon’ backstory for Cadence now, given in Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, that I had to dissociate myself from before diving into this, as I’ve rather taken a shine to it, the least reason for which is I’m too lazy to come up with my own explanation for her. That she’s a pegasus in this story helped.) What he produces is on par with the much-vaunted Gobbling and Other Traditional Pursuits, a call and response piece about a young filly finding herself during her quest to help a princess. The story structure is very simple, but it builds slowly through the repeated scenes to an emotional climax that I have to say really hit hard. Anyone who can adapt to a fairy tale-style narrative will want to read this, and anyone who tends to find such things tedious could do worse than start trying to break that notion with this story. (The blog post, by the way, absolutely should be enjoyed after the story.)
Highly Recommended
In the Pale Moonlight by LDSocrates
Genre: Shipping
This one was also finished recently (although finished finished), so I figured there was no better response than to go back through it and review anew! The short version is this: readers into shipping will get more out of this than those who aren’t. For the latter set, I can put forth a few things to recommend. This being a Rarity story, for instance, there’s plenty of gossip, politics and high society goings-on, true to the best episodes in which she stars. This is a good look at Luna-the-Artist, but in her season 2-3 form. You can rest easy that this passes my standard test for shipfics, building mutual attraction instead of relying upon it (though of course, you don’t care about that, didn’t we just establish this?) And though she only appears in the last two chapters along with the rest of the mane cast, Pinkie is really great. For the pro-shippers, well, Lunarity is not a ship you see often, and this pulls it off well. Again, it passes my shipfic test, and more importantly treats the characters’ feelings as just that in-text: this isn’t love at first sight or Wun Twoo Wuv or anything; they both spend a significant amount of time going, “Well, I feel this way, but it’s probably not love and I’m not even sure what it means.” That’s a degree of realism you don’t generally get from shipfics. There’s lots of side shipping, including a major plot about Fleur and Fancy Pants’s wedding, Scratchtavia (that I found I could deal with because it wasn’t a focus), and a highly amusing drunken bachelorette party. And of course there’s kissing by the end; that’s very important. Now for the things that might make anyone balk. For starters, this feels like one of those stories where the author couldn’t stop himself from putting things in because they seemed like a good idea. The liberal usage of the word ‘plot’ makes this feel like it wanted to be a comedy, and for fuck’s sake there’s a Sonic reference in chapter 4, which is perhaps the most egregious referential joke in the story, though far from the only one. The world these characters inhabit is a bit more realistic than the show, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though I know not everyone appreciates that approach. This is also one of those stories where figuring out sexuality is a major source of internal conflict; it's not necessarily to the story’s detriment, but again, it depends on how done you are with stories of that vein. Slightly more problematic is Celestia’s characterization. I can accept the mistakes she’s made in the past that hurt Luna, but while she's very much a side character, she spends an awful lot of time fully aware of just how much power she has over Twilight, and both talking about and exercising it without restraint, which bothered me quite a bit. Also problematic is the ending, which features a text-size-up rant from Luna that is horribly dramatic and, I felt, drew away a lot of the near-comedic tone the rest of the story had built. It leaves the final scene rather melancholy as a result. You could probably ask for a better story, but again, much of it comes down to just how much deviation or authorial tomfoolery you can deal with, though there certainly is a lot in here to enjoy (I’m going to have to steal the “No buts unless you have a tail to go with it!” line).
Recommended for Shippers
Gloomy Everyday by the parasprite
Genre: Inner Struggle
I’ve come to realize I really enjoy quiet pieces about ponies suffering from mental health issues. Enter this story, in which Lightning Dust struggling with depression after being kicked out of the Wonderbolts’ Academy. I’ve seen (and had to clean up) the aftermath of intense clinical depression like this, and it’s rendered perfectly in this story. Along with all the things the author does right — half-emotions, numbness, lethargy, crushing self-doubt — this story is also good for avoiding two mistakes that tend to plague stories of this sort: Rainbow Dash is never mentioned (see also: Twilight in every story about Trixie), and she never even thinks about killing herself (nothing ruins a good story about depression faster). If you like stories about realistic portrayals of depression, you will like this.
Recommended
The Secret Life of Derpy Hooves by TheBandBrony
Genre: Ponification
It took me a while to realize it, but this is actually a pony version of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Now, while I’ve read Thurber’s original text, the version I am most intimately familiar with is the first movie, starring Danny Kaye, a favorite of mine when I was a kid. Nowadays, well, I recognize that it’s a product of its age, horribly misogynistic and mostly just a vehicle for Kaye to act goofy and do song and dance numbers, but boy is it fun. (I know nothing about the new movie, save that MovieBob panned it.) With that said, this story is a slightly different beast from what I expected. Derpy’s fantasies are not always power fantasies. There’s a scene, for instance, where she destroys a restaurant while snooty rich ponies laugh at her. Her daydreams thus serve to evoke her insecurities as well as her dreams, though given the frequency with which they occur, I had to wonder if she doesn’t have some kind of condition. And while the writing is a little on the odd side, mostly in an “I wouldn’t have phrased it like that” sort of way, what I really liked is how seamless the transitions from reality to fantasy are. Derpy is usually jarred out of them, but going in? Very cleverly rendered. Of course, Walter Mitty has always been kind of special to me, so I’m pleased to see it in pony form.
Recommended
And a Dark Wind Blows by RazedRainbow
Reading by Illya Leonov
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic
This story made me come to a rather surprising conclusion about Fluttershy: she’s maybe the most level-headed and resourceful of the mane six. Think about how independent she is. She’s been living on her own, taking care of herself and who knows how many animals since she was, what, a teenager? A pre-teen? Given her social anxieties, it’s easy to assume that she didn’t have any real support during that time, since her family lives in Cloudsdale and nowadays, her friends are her support. Compare this to Applejack and Rarity, who run their own businesses, and AJ also from a young age, but have their families nearby should they need help. Compare her reactions under duress to Rarity or Twilight, who tend to snap when things get too hectic. So long as she’s not distracted by a cute animal or exposed to something that actively terrifies her, Fluttershy is damned capable, and that’s why making her the last survivor of an unknown apocalypse makes so much sense. And this is not the technological apocalypse of, say, Fallout, where society collapsed on itself after a protracted war. The exact cause of the world’s current is never revealed, but it’s a natural sort of wasteland, filled with decay and death rather than radiation and unexploded bombs. (The only signs of ponies are piles of ash; I really want to know what happened!) And for an unknown amount of time, Fluttershy has been living there, eking out a starvation existence and fleeing from an unknown assailant. "He", as he’s referred to in the text, serves to keep the tension up, because at its heart, this is really a very passive and quiet story, introspective and anything but intense, which only serves to make the intensity of the ending that much more effective. I was sort of hoping we would never find out what He was, but we do, and the revelation is actually one of the story’s most poignant moments. The writing is near flawless, a cornucopia of masterful imagery in a deep and rich narrative voice (you know it’s well written when the writing enriches Illya Leonov’s reading instead of the other way around; on that note, I highly suggest listening to this story). We get to see Fluttershy contemplating the meaning of life, her impending death, loneliness, friendship and hope. Having no one but herself to rely on, she puts to use that resourcefulness that so often gets overlooked in her character and Gets Shit Done even in the face of assured destruction. My only complaint about this story, other than I want to know what happened, dammit, is that there are one or two spots toward the end where Fluttershy’s introspection goes back over ground tread earlier in the story. They stand out only because up to that point, her train of thought is so generally dense and thorough by comparison, I hadn't expected to see any repetition. In the end, this is a really fantastic piece of writing, giving us a good character and a wonderful setting.
Highly Recommended
9 Knackered Souls by DrIvoRobotnik
DNF 1/6
Reading (part 1) by Multifanficaday
Genre: Red vs. Blue Crossover
In the comments on Diamond Tiara’s EQD post, someone lamented the posting of metafic, asking, “What next, a Halo crossover?” I snarked at him, but it got me thinking: what would it take to give MLP/Halo crossovers the Order from Chaos treatment? I played, or watched someone play through, the first two games, and while I enjoyed them at the time, I don’t remember a whole lot in the way of themes that could be used. You could maybe get something slightly meta out of a three-way multiplayer battle setup, but using Halo for that would be somewhat extraneous. I’m not sure it can be done; it would definitely be a challenge for anyone with Twilight Snarkle levels of bravery. Or you could take a pre-existing fan property and just throw that into Equestria. Enter a story that has its own TVTropes page (that means it’s well-known, right?) It’s been quite some time since I watched RvB (the last I remember, they were in Halo 2 and being stalked by an Arbiter?), but I recall it fondly as a hilarious comic series about a bunch of idiots and generally terrible people, which is why the instant I realized this was not a pure Halo crossover, I died a little. Ultimately, I don’t know how to feel about it. The writing wavers back and forth between what I can charitably term passable (telly, LUS) and anything but (missing words and typos bad enough for the reader to point them out). The RvB crew feels fairly true to form, even if I don’t remember Caboose being quite so Pinkie Pie. There’s an interminable and thoroughly needless passage explaining exactly why they get sucked into Equestria, yet I found myself laughing quite a bit once they got there, and I’m not sure if it was at the story or with it. The author is more intimately familiar with the Reds and Blues than the ponies, though, as Twilight and Rainbow Dash each leave something to be desired. (Can Twilight be called a klutz? I’ve never heard the word applied to her. It felt odd.) I decided not to progress past the first chapter because A) MFFaD doesn’t apparently go past chapter 2 in his readings, and B) I just didn’t care enough to find out what happens next in what’s set up as more or less your standard HiE. Maybe someday if I’m desperate for something to read, I’ll come back to this and see where it goes.
Vaguely Recommended
Why I’m Traveling With a Talking Cow by Michael H. Payne
Genre: Non-Pony/Fantasy
I’m doing something different to end this review journal: original fiction! Of course, if it hadn’t been written by one of our own, I wouldn’t likely be bothering, but dammit, everyone else who reviews ponyfic does original fiction now and then, so why can’t I? >:B This story came to my attention not just because it was written by our own AugieDog, but because according to this journal, it’s free to download in ebook form for the rest of this week, hence why I wanted to get this out now. (Be sure you read that journal, by the way; the story behind this story really sold me on needing to read it.) So, this is a really charming piece, in a setting that blends Midwest America with your more standard fantasy kingdom. I would almost call this urban fantasy, except that it’s a rural setting, but you get the idea of what's going on here. The Midwestern traditions of hard work and humble living permeates a world filled with wizards, fairies and yes, a talking cow. Just one. The cow is the real draw here, plot-wise, as once she’s enchanted with the ability to speak, she becomes quite the strong character in her own right, rejecting immediately her newfound intelligence for eye-opening reasons. Payne is able to really capture the ethos of a cow — no surprise, given how well he world builds in a very economically-written story — and she ends up being quite surprising, which is good, since the story revolves around her. I will say that the ending is a tad abrupt: I had been expecting something, but things never got to that point. I suppose it fits into the Midwestern vibe, in hindsight. Despite the amounts of magic thrown around in the end, this is ultimately a modest story about modest people, and that’s what makes it really worthwhile.
Highly Recommended
Here's to 552 fics reviewed in 2013! And that's with me only starting real reviews in May! Enjoy your revelries tonight, folks, if you have them, and I'll see you next year!
(After I post my State of the Writer, anyway.)
Thanks for the boost!
1668193
Damn, you fast :O
And make sure you actually read it, instead of just skimming over the misspellings, or else you'll miss some ridiculous puns.
Thanks so much:
For the plug! Yeah, the cow story's free through Friday, but if anyone's got a couple dollars and a new Kindle to fill, I've got a dozen or so of my other short stories available through Amazon for a buck apiece.
Ah, crass commercialism...
Mike
No kidding! My original comment on that fic is that the ending gave me chills, and glancing back over it just now it gave me chills all over again.
Regarding Halo crossovers... I've read one single one that I thought was pretty good, the rest have been fairly terribly that mostly just descend straight into pony torture porn.
Holy ball shits paragraph your damned reviews. It isn't like you have other things separating the fics, such as their titles or anything.
Any comparison to Gobbling is one I'll happily accept. I just wish I could get ahold of LadyMoondancer and let her know how much I liked it.
Anyway, glad you enjoyed! It's funny; I've never set out to write a fairytale (except for stories-within-stories), but I seem to keep doing it. That's just the way my mind works, I suppose. Thanks for the praise!
- get directed to an amazing comic
- follow RatedPonyStar
- add four new fics to my Read Later list
Good way to kick off the new year. Just one little thing: According to your overview of recommendations, there are two highly recommended stories, but I'm counting three.
... yes, I needed to point that out. So much for being less nitpicky in 2014.
Hmm. A lot of stories I avoid just cause I can't stomach certain tones and content from ponefic.
1668553
I don't like the way they look. :B Dunno why they've been so long lately I HAVE A LOT TO SAY SOMETIMES OKAY DEAL
1668944
Ohh, I didn't count Augie's story because it's not pony, and I get the counts off my review spreadsheet. :B I'll remedy that in the post, however.
And a Dark Wind Blows is an amazing story. I can verify.
-I think I may have been the first person to upvote The Secret Life of Derpy Hooves.
-"Nature is so fascinating..." -
-Red vs. Blue is the only thing Halo-related thing I've ever really enjoyed. I kept watching it up through season 9, which is where this fic comes from. I'm still not sure if the noticeable change in direction starting from season 6 is a good thing or not, but season 5 ended on a conclusive note so it's easy to ignore what comes after if you want to. Since you apparently have only seen the first three seasons, I'm just going to say that the change is basically the webcomic thing where the creators want to turn a purely goofy comedy in a more dramatic and rational direction. It's not a complete 180 tonal shift and the humor that got me invested in the series is still there, so I still think it works (though one of my acquaintances here absolutely hates it). I would recommend, if you still care, that you at least finish the initial five seasons.
This is one of two crossover fics with MLP and RvB that I've read, the other being My Little Caboose. MLC's biggest problem by far is that it just. Kept. Going. And it seemed a lot longer than it actually was because the story is divided into little thousand-word chapters, of which there has to be over a hundred. Those of you who are reading this comment and planning on writing stories, take note: NEVER, EVER DO THIS IF YOU WANT ME TO READ YOUR STORY. It's one of the few times I have begged a story to end, which 9 Knackered Souls thankfully does long before I got tired of it.
Here's to your blogs and the attached fics being more of a massive timesink for me than ever.
1672561
I dunno why I stopped watching RvB, it just sort of happened. Or maybe they had some kind of website shift that made it harder to follow, I dunno. But it was a really formative work, around the same time I was watching Homestarrunner. And I actually do like when comedies turn dramatic, so long as the comedy isn't completely forgone.
It's just too much trouble to get back into it now though. :V Granted, I do have the first three seasons on DVD.
1672900
But then, I've considered cutting back on that considerably from now on, perhaps as a new year's resolution.
It can't be any more trouble than me reading all of the fics you recommend.
The comedy has stayed on up until the point I stopped watching (a few episodes into season 10), but it's not always there. Here's the overview of the series so far:
Seasons 1-5 (The Blood Gulch Chronicles): Mostly the same tone that you saw in the show, with hints of another storyline that comes to a bizarrely downbeat ending. Not a fullblown traumatic downer ending, just kind of a bummer. I was left wanting more.
Out of Mind and Recovery One: Side story miniseries released after seasons 4 and 5, respectively, which ended up tying into...
Seasons 6-8 (The Recollections Trilogy): A new setting, the introduction of two new characters that you saw in 9 Knackered Souls (Agent Washington and The Meta), and retcons (not in the sense that "X never actually happened" but in the sense that "X wasn't what you and the characters thought it was," in an attempt to backpedal from some ridiculous plot points in BGC). Season 8 introduced full-blown CGI action beyond the bounds of what the game engine is capable of and it looks fantastic.
Seasons 9 and 10 (The Project Freelancer Saga): Two parallel stories, one a prequel going completely into out-of-game CGI and played-straight drama, and the other a present-day, back-to-basics comedy. Still not sure if it was a good idea to mesh these two completely different things into the same movies, but I haven't finished watching them so maybe it all works out.
1674551
I don't recall hearing those names in this story. <.< Well, whatever, I wasn't paying close attention. (It needed more Tex and Donut anyway.) That all sounds like a lot of stuff though.
1674804
Um, yeah. About that. Donut died for real at the end of season 7, probably the biggest misstep of the series' new era. Tex showed up later on in the fic, though.
1675228
>Donut dies
worst series ever >:(
1676369
I'm gonna assume that Dan Godwin couldn't work for Rooster Teeth anymore for whatever reason (he wasn't an RT regular like most of the main VAs). Writing around actors can suck sometimes.
1676391
That's when you end the series before it starts getting shitty. :V
1676404
Eh. Recollections was not terrible, even though Donut deserved better.