Another August Blog! · 7:29pm Aug 24th, 2015
Well, there be news on the fiction front that might actually be worth sharing. Installment 21 of ASoD was pushed out today, which brings my grand total above 60K words. Essentially, this is the traditional benchmark of novel status! I'd say that's a pretty awesome milestone to hit. Installment 20 actually led to a feature - a tiny miracle in and of itself that definitely gave me some extra motivation heading into the closeout of Arc 3. I'm pretty excited about all this noise, and I'm hoping folks dig it.
In other recent developments, I've become an administrator for the Nonpareil Fiction group. I've been able to review some pretty cool pieces since taking on this role; even the ones that I eventually rejected for inclusion into the library were quite good. All of the authors earned some props from me - for whatever that is worth.
But I digress! That's enough about me! Let's jump into the additions to my Can't Put It Down folder!
Beside Every Great Dragon there is a Great Moon - Pen Mightier: Seriously, whatever it is that you are doing - including reading this - stop doing it and go click that link. Yes, I have some gripes with this one in the sense that I find the musical interludes distracting. Pen doesn't need them with those narration skills, but every writer has tendencies and preferences. The fact of the matter is that this work actually presents Spike in a manner that is interesting and then proceeds to ship him with Luna in a way that is cute, charming, and actually believable. WING WANT MOAR!
Her Knight in Faded Armor - Doccular42: Another piece that I could state some issues about. I think, in some respects, this story bit off more than it could chew - at least in the beginning when the two storylines have a fairly harsh disconnect. However, this presents Button and Luna in a very interesting light. My complaints see resolution through eventual convergence, and more importantly, this story keeps me thoroughly entertained. At the end of each chapter, I just have to know what happens next. Not much else screams more success than that...
The Other Side of the Coin - Grimm: This story is mature! Are you not mature yet? I'm really sorry because honestly this pretty much takes the cake when it comes to explicit material, in my opinion. Oh snaps! Are you ready for this? It's porn with a point and a message! Did your minds just get simultaneously blown? They should. This piece is fantastic. The views of Spitfire and Soarin loom in an interwoven background that seamlessly oozes into what would otherwise be raw motel smut. The execution in this is just straight up fantastic, and I really cannot give Grimm enough praise for taking a NSFW topic and ascending it to a level that is truly an exception to the status quo.
Ciphers - Grand_Moff_Pony: This was another one I reviewed for Nonpareil, and the imagery and power up in this one is fantastic. I could picture it - like an animator from the show went rogue and just made this to spite all of the happy pink party ponies. You have a sad tale of societal constraints battling against the desire of true love. It's a tale as old as time - despite the fact that Beauty and the Beast was actually released while most of us were alive - and this story does not disappoint. It's a wonderful example of what I will spontaneously dub 'soft tragedy'. There is no death here - well... unless we decide to count the masked death of one's inner self...
Ooh. I'm going to have to check these out.
I'd invite you to take a look at Life Could Be A Dream, but I'd have to do a few edits before it would even be close to ready!
Oh yeah? :3