Fic recs, August 4th: Post-Bronycon edition! · 11:54am Aug 4th, 2014
Like a loser, I was online the whole time, thanks to the convention center having free wifi this year. So yeah, I read a bunch of stuff. In my defense, the first I couldn't pass up, the second was a challenge, and the rest were by authors I met here and followed, and of course I have to have reviewed something by everyone I follow. So enjoy, con writeup to follow.
H: 1 R: 1 C: 2 V: 1 N: 0
Fifty Shades of Brad by DGD Davidson
Genre: Not What It Seems
Just from the author and title combo, you know this story has to be read. (If you’re not aware of DGD’s obsession with Flash Sentry, you should really correct that as soon as you can.) And after the overt bondage metaphors, it soon becomes apparent what’s going on: Twilight is a horse, and Brad is her owner. Okay, well, that’s fun and cute, and… not all there is to this. It crosses the line twice, taking a turn no one sees coming and becoming a new version of an old classic. This is not one you want to pass up, the rare fic that can go from hilarious and meta to “oh my god” without warning and pull both off.
Highly Recommended
Roar by Loyal
Reading by SolarPony and The Lost Narrator
Genre: Rainbow Dash Loses Her Wings
Griffin from City of Doors called this “RUN light”, and I took it as a challenge. Unfortunately, I have to disagree with his assessment. There’s plenty of good imagery in this, mostly aural, which is unusual, but the word choices are not as tight, there’s no textual gimmickry, and the overall effect is trite. Honestly, the plot is what I dislike most: Rainbow Dash laying in bed, hooked up to some nonspecific medical machine, obviously unable to fly for some reason. She spends a thousand words feeling sorry for herself and gradually building up the gumption to get up and fling herself off a cloud, because that’s what characters in her situation always do. The repetitive sentence structure works, but not enough that it won’t annoy certain readers, and it’s full of asterisks as well. Overall, this isn’t bad, just cliche, and despite decent writing, it's certainly no RUN.
Vaguely Recommended
Shattered by SilentBelle
Reading by SilentBelle
Genre: Monologue
Scootaloo contemplates the Wonderbolts pictures on her wall, one in particular. This is almost entirely internal monologue, save for one line of reported dialogue that is one of the best uses of dialogue I’ve ever seen. The rest of the narrative is cleverly crafted to draw attention to it, but even if it hadn’t, it packs a really powerful emotional punch. And while the setup is one that we’ve seen fairly frequently, I do feel like the emotions at play work; the ending was pretty powerful as well. The writing puts repetition to work for it, though some might cringe at the numerous comma splices. This is, however, a pretty excellent short fic, and I have a feeling I’ll enjoy SilentBelle’s longer works.
Recommended
The Life I Chose by The 24th Pegasus
Genre: Trixie Redemption
Trixie recounts her life story during a night on the road. This was really good up to the single tear. The language use is quite enjoyable, and the start of Trixie’s backstory is fun, but the death of her mother is hammered home with quite a bit less subtlety than had been in play beforehand. But while the family drama doesn’t really pan out (her father is not a well-used role), Trixie’s tale otherwise is a decent take on a well-worn trope. The reader isn’t begged for sympathy; her flaws are acknowledged and their origins shown. And interestingly, “The Great and Powerful Trixie” is presented as an almost Nightmare Moon-esque alter ego, not something I’ve seen before. So in all, not wholly successful, but again, a decent take on a well-worn story.
Recommended for Trixie Fans, or If You Don’t Mind Needless Drama
Vinyl Scratch Becomes the Best Alicorn Princess of All Alicorn Princesses in the History of Equestria by TheBigStallowski
Genre: Crackfic
The author told me that this story was written in a fit of drunken spite, in reaction to a story about Octavia becoming an alicorn showing up in the featured box. I kind of wish I knew what story that was now, because this is hilarious and I want to know if I’m missing any of the joke. This is glorious, glorious crackfic, not a single word serious, and it’s just hysterical. If you are capable of not taking ponyfic seriously (seriously, this is barely pony but it’s great), check this out.
Troll Recommended
DGD is really one hell of a writer. Not to mention one of the more intelligent people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Hell, I got to know him when we got into a religious history argument on the late RavensDagger's blog. He challenged me intellectually, and it's because of that that I even care a little bit about history.
Either way, I think DGD should be more popular than he is. I mean, his troll blog posts are some of the funniest things I've ever read.
2342490
He is one of the most consistently funny bloggers on this site, to say nothing of his fics.
2342497
You should try to steal his thunder.
2342504
I'd just get the lightning. D:
Counter challenge! Hooo-rah!
Yes there is, and it works well. (whereas I didn't even realise RUN had a gimmick; I thought it was a glitch)
Nope, this is where you've missed the story completely. Equally, this is where the story worked far better than RUN could ever hope to. There is fundamental human instinct at work here, and it shines through clear as day. Rainbow Dash doesn't 'build up' to anything, she's worn down until she snaps.
I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that I just don't understand what you're getting at here, because the only way I can read it seems pretty absurd.
See note on gimmicks above. Potayto, potahto.
No, it isn't. Roar didn't overstay it's welcome and take several thousand words to do what worked perfectly well in just one. The gimmick was effective and efficient. As for cliché? If it is, it's the one among it's kind that actually gets the cliché right and hit a believable, emotional raw nerve – it's a story about needs that doesn't over-complicate the message.
I'd say 'RUN lite' is a pretty accurate description. Leaner. More efficient. More effective. No added sugar or preservatives.
Oh, well maybe I'll--
Welp... nevermind.
Hmm.
Fair assessment. Glad you at least mildly enjoyed Roar.
Might I recommend a different one of my fics, one I've taken more seriously? Perhaps Archmage?
Here you go. The fic that spawned the Vinyl fic.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Sadly, while I was overjoyed to see that there was free wifi at the center, my bad luck with computers flared up and I fpund myself unable to use any wifi after Saturday morning. I'll have to get that fixed when I get home.
I will attempt to collect my memories of the con and post them when I have this connection problem cleared up.
There's that urge to defend myself again. I really need to get that adjusted. Perhaps a better way to put it would be diet-RUN. I didn't like Roar nearly as much as RUN, but I felt it was on the same 1-10 scale. As in it was close enough in style/aim that you could compare the two to each other directly. Mostly what killed it for me was the idea of an injured Rainbow Dash living by herself in her cloud house.
Also, InquisitorM agreeing with me? That just feels weird.
2342619
What, might I ask, did you dislike about it? Was it just RD alone in her home?
2342647
Pretty much. It just seemed like such a isolating, almost cruel thing to do keeping her there. Other than that, I liked much of it. Just that one thing kinda overshadowed everything else for me.
2342672
A fair assessment, though I'm glad you enjoyed it. Perhaps check out some of my other, more serious fics? Perhaps Archmage?
2342678
Actually, I gave that one a try a while back. Didn't like it much.
2342684
To each their own. Thanks for the input on Roar, though. Have a wonderful day!
2342536
He said 'OR', not 'AND'! Lrn2booleanoperate, nub.
2343239
Don't worry, my dislike of needless drama far outweighs my like of Trixie.
2342619
Ah ha, I have tracked the mysterious rash of hits and follows to its source! Thank you kindly for the plug; now, perhaps, many more Bronies will be forced both to observe and to acknowledge the total hawtness that is Flash Sentry.
I haven't read The Life I Choose yet, but there is at least one well known fic that uses that idea (name under spoiler tags because this mere fact is a huge spoiler for the story in question): the Petriculture cycle, specifically the last two stories. Its first fic can be found here.
2342531
If the only textual gimmickry was the asterisks, then that's pretty poor. Those are generally more the mark of bad writing than anything else. Honestly, that story just came off as another "woe is me, I must kill myself now" emofest. But if you're so caught up by it, I feel like I must have missed something. :/
2342546
Maybe someday. :B
2342549
Oh dear.
2346049
Ahh. I'll read that eventually, I'm sure.
2346589
S'not as bad as you'd think it would be.
Not the best, but not bad.
~Skeeter The Lurker
2346589 It could certainly do without the asterisks, I won't argue that. I didn't really mind them either, but that's not the point.
We are probably not on the same level in terms of what 'textural gimmickry' is either. There mere use of onomatopoeia in a block, non-prosaic format is sufficient for me. Clearly it is not for you. I'm pretty sure that's semantic to the point of irrelevance.
I wholly understand you aversion to a deluge of emo fics. I have read very few, so that probably spares me a lot of vitriol. Those that I have read, however, make little or no sense in terms of how people actually work. I assume that's pretty much where the 'emo' label comes from: characters acting out the emotional fantasies of the author – 'I feel shit so here is Rainbow Dash committing suicide'. Here, the situation, however contrived it may be, ties together an addictive desire with a trauma-level avoidance in a character with empirically observable impulse control issues.
It just makes sense.
I'm not saying that it is a good story because of that. I'm just saying that it worked in terms of generating an emotional hit for me where RUN didn't add up, despite RUN being clearly superior in the technical department.
Hope that makes more sense.
-Scott
What is this RUN people keep mentioning?
2346854
No, I'm talking more about blocking and formatting gimmicks, color included. Onomatopoeia isn't gimmicky at all. Actually, if anything was gimmicky in that story, it's the "She remembered" repetition, which worked surprisingly well. I do at least understand why you don't like RUN.
2347065
RUN, coward!