Go Read Bookplayer's New Story · 10:23pm Jan 12th, 2016
Okay, okay, I'm one to talk. Bookplayer's "Lost Time" has been on my radar ever since she started publishing it, but I didn't bother reading it until Sunday. I still haven't read all of it—the story completes this Saturday—though I'm slightly ahead of the Fimfiction content.
Anyway. I was a bit involved with the brainstorming for this piece. Bookplayer wanted to enter the current AppleDash contest (heavy-laden with fabulous prizes), but she was getting stuck on her first idea and I was having some thoughts about which qualities gave stories staying power.
So I, uh suggested she write a time travel story. It is possible that she may stab me in the neck for this, the next time she sees me, because—as she's told me about fifty times in the last month—"fuck time travel."
You cannot, however, argue with the results.
[Drama] [Romance]
by bookplayer
Rainbow Dash can’t wait for her first date with Applejack; they always have an awesome time hanging out, and a relationship just means there are even more physical activities they can try together. So when the dumb zap apple harvest postpones their date, she decides it’s the zap apples that are going to have to change their plans. Equestria should know by now that wild, ancient magic is no match for Rainbow Dash, especially when she might get laid.
Everything is going according to plan, until she crashes. Or, rather, until she wakes up after crashing and fifteen years have gone by. Fifteen years during which she seems to have been a very busy pony.
Now Rainbow Dash has to adjust to a life she never thought she wanted, and figure out if she’ll ever get to live the life that brought her here.
Okay, that's out of the way. Now guys, I want to give you some commentary here. The following is my opinion, and (1) I'm an unabashed shipper, and (2) I'm a big fan of bookplayer, so take my feelings for what you think they're worth, but this needs saying.
This fandom has some excellent writers. I think in heirarchies, so it's hard for me to avoid ranking them on some level. And to be fair, I'm not familiar with as many as I should be—there are a lot of you guys I know I've seriously under-read[1]. That said, I've got a top tier I'm aware of. Three authors I know very consistently work on that level, and five to ten others have shown they're capable of hitting that level.
I love bookplayer to death, and I've enjoyed a lot of her stories. "Maiden's Day" really got to me. "The Homesteading" was good (though I didn't like it as much as many others). The one we featured in the RCL, "Of Cottages and Cloud Houses", was simple and cute, and a lot of fun to read. But for all those stories, I'm not sure I'd seen her operate at that highest level before.
I have now seen her operate at that level.
I know a lot of times people hang back from stories: thinking they'll probably be good but not feeling the urge to dive in, or seeing that a story is about shipping and deciding it's probably standard fare and not likely to be all that interesting. You owe it to yourself to read "Lost Time". It's going to stick with you. It's going to surprise you. It's going to make you cry, and groan, and cheer. It's the best thing bookplayer has published on this site, and you should be reading it right now.
[1] I was thinking of making a list, even of just "people who are following me who I know by reputation or minor exposure are good, and who I need to read more stuff by". And then I started putting together that list. And it was so mortifying that I stopped, and I don't think I'm going to actually post it. Not here, anyway. Sweet Celestia, too many of you guys are really good writers.
I shall be sure to read it post haste!
...Wait...
~Skeeter The Lurker
What a shill post. Gosh.
I agree, it's really good and I'm glad I'm a bit ahead myself.
3682040
Shut up, you. I need all the shilling I can get.
Seriously, Bradel, I'm really glad you're enjoying it. I've worked my butt off on it, and while the numbers haven't been awesome, the opinions of the folks I respect mean way more to me.
3682040
Silly Sally shilly shallies on the sea shore. Silly Sally, shall she sally forth for shells? Sure!
It's been on my to-do list, but a lot of stories I have been following have been very prolific lately.
I'm going to read it when it is all posted.
I'll definitely go and give it a read, no offense to her but I hadn't heard of Bookplayer before. Hopefully this will be the start of a very one-sided romance between the two of us. Where I mostly read...and she doesn't know of my existence.
I'm gonna go with TD here and wait till it's all posted... but the premise, when I first saw it come up on Fimfiction, reminded me of this movie.
Just first impression from reading the long description.
Edit: Just to be clear, I loved that movie... and I'm not sure if I hope it turns out that way or not, but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless.
3682211
Well now I know of your existence, so your cover is blown! But that means you might as well come out to play on my blogpost comments. That's where the party is.
(And, like any good party, sometimes things get kind of rowdy and everyone ends up trashing the place. But that's for me to worry about.)
3682242
img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140512140954/mlp/images/c/c2/Twilight_gasps_in_shock_S4E25.png
Y-yes! Hello! I will most certainly stop by! I-I'll bring pizza...and things...
INTERNALLY
Oh god, I was not expecting to be replied to! Think Barry, think! What do I do?!
Pretty much all of that yeah. Lost Time is basically unceasingly incredible. Every chapter just gets better.
3682362
I remember the first time people with hundreds of followers started talking to me, and the deep-seated panic that invoked.
Good luck, Barry!
3682435
You mean that feeling goes away at some point?
Wow I might actually read an inter-mane 6 ship story. Darn you Bradel.
3682065
I've been meaning to read it, honestly. Though at this point, I suspect it'll be completed by the time I read it. I just haven't had much fanfic reading time recently.
--arcum42
Just waiting until it gets finished. Then I'm pouncing on it like a starving animal. Or something... I need to think up better analogies.
3682065
The thing I'm enjoying the most about it:
Is how the story is from Dash's POV--and her voice comes through loud and clear in every paragraph--but how it's completely concerned with what I think of as Applejack issues: home and family and making the best of whatever life throws at you. This is a story I won't mind losing to if the judging goes that way.
Mike
3685688
Dah, I really need to remember to go read your entry, too!