Fic recs, February 7th! · 8:05pm Feb 7th, 2017
Need some art? Super Trampoline is drawing some ca-razy crap for only $1!
So, Well of Pirene was the Big Thing I was teasing for my 4000th review. :D Now that that's over, here's a sneak peek at what I plan to do next:
- After about 30 audiobooks, I will, after two-plus years, finally catch up with Captain Sand's Youtube channel. Once that happens? Project Horizons time! :D
- Once I'm done with book four of PH, I figure VisualPony will be done or nearly done with book five, so I'll take a little break, catch up on whatever's uploaded during that time, and then finish the whole damn thing at once!
- Rewatching season 6! I can barely remember some of the episodes, it's high time this happened!
- Maybe do some more comics?
- Got a bunch of long fics I need to read. I think I'll start with the ones I promised people ages ago…
- The usual crap besides.
So yes, back to one-shots for a while. :B You can head below for reviews of Roots by LittleSallyDigby, Tumbleweed's This Is a Clopfic, PTHBBT by Jade Ring, and some other stuff!
H: 1 R: 2 C: 1 V: 2 N: 0
Roots by LittleSallyDigby
Reading by Scribbler, et. al.
Genre: Historical/Adventure
After the death of his parents, Macintosh Apple inherits the secret legacy of the Apple Family.
What a unique story this is. It's told in two ways: first, the flashbacks to the legacies of the various members of the Apple Family. These "stories" are never told by the ponies themselves, but by their descendants, which I thought was a great touch. Interspersed with these is Big Mac writing in his journal, dealing with the hardships of losing his parents, learning to run the farm, and being the brother of a mare who's far more of a hero than he'll ever get to be. This has some of the strongest Big Macintosh characterization I've ever seen, and the Apple ancestors are no slouches in this regard either (see also Honeycrisp's poor attempts at humor). Mostly, it comes down to the idea of the Apples being secret spies for Celestia, back through the ages (all the way back to G1! I love it!), and what that has to do with Big Mac as we know him today. I know the "question description" has fallen out of favor, but the incongruity between those posed by this story are fascinating, and a hooked reader will find themselves with a whole slew of new answers they never could have expected.
Highly Recommended
Live to Be Reformed Another Day by Fire Gazer the Alchemist
Reading by Scarlett Blade
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Comedy
Surely, they're not just going to let Chrysalis go, are they?
This has the trappings of a fixfic, but honestly? I'm not sure what the point of it was. There's a little riffing on the new status quo after the season 6 finale, and Discord gets in a sick burn against Cadence, but I didn't find myself laughing or even terribly amused. It's an overall inoffensive piece, and it's short, but I honestly can't say if it's worth your time.
Vaguely Recommended
So Much for Adventure. by anprettycoolguy
Reading by ShadowOfCygnus
Genre: Comedy/Slice of Life
Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Rarity go looking for adventure. They don't exactly find it.
The opening of this piece is hysterical, one part meta-humor and cliche destruction, one part randomness used right. After that, though, the comedy sort of peters out, and it gets less funny and more matter-of-fact as it goes. In sum total, this makes for a decently amusing fic, and a peppy read. I just wish the randomness had carried through the entire thing evenly.
Recommended for Laughs
This Is a Clopfic by Tumbleweed
Reading by Scarlett Blade
Reading by Illya Leonov
Mature: Sex
Genre: Comedy
Twilight Sparkle wakes up one day, feeling uncharacteristic sexual arousal.
Spoilers: this is not a clopfic. Gasp, I know, right? I'll give you a moment to fan away the vapors. What this is is hilarious, from the matter-of-fact way the characters expound on their feelings to the explanation for all this bullshit. It's one of those stories I can quote line after line of for "best part of the story", and it's 100% worth turning your mature filters off for. (I'm not even sure I would have rated it Mature, myself.) It's a very funny story, and more proof that Tumbleweed is a good writer.
Recommended
PTHBBT by Jade Ring
Reading by the Author
Jade Ring also does fic readings! And is a dude! :O I'm really bad at this. This is his first one, and the other is also one of his stories, but that's something. His quality's not super-good, but that does mean he's got the volume I need, so into the list he goes!
Genre: Dark Comedy
Fluffle Puff becomes the main suspect in the disappearance of Queen Chrysalis.
You'll need two things to appreciate this story: an enjoyment of dark humor, and knowledge of what Fluffle Puff is. By which I mean, knowing what she looks like. Can you pick her out in a lineup? Good, then you're set. And if you didn't already know that she lives/is in a relationship with Queen Chrysalis, now you do, and you have everything required to read this story. It's honestly a one-joke fic, and the joke's not even hard to figure out, but humor comes through incongruities, and that's why this is so funny. I just couldn't stop laughing after it ended. :D Good stuff.
Recommended
Cold Nights and Cute Pajamas by Enigmatic Otaku
Reading by Scarlett Blade
Genre: Cute
Twilight and Rainbow Dash get stuck at Rarity's due to inclement weather. Thankfully, their friend has a way to keep them warm.
The writing in this piece is a big letdown: clunky, plodding, never willing to let the characters speak when the narrative can explain to us what they're thinking or how they feel. Beyond that, it's one of those "painful" slice-of-life fics where not much actually happens. That said, it's not all bad. I appreciated a lot of small touches, like Rainbow not trying to get out of the impromptu sleepover and her critique of the weather. The name of Rarity's line of pajamas is precious, and I like that Twilight gets into it. I don't hate this story, I just can't shake the feeling that this story accomplished what it set out to do, which is "not much". This is the (three) thousand words its cover art is worth, and looking at the image will get you about the same effect in considerably less time.
Vaguely Recommended
So, PP, here's an idea I'm tossing out there because it might be fun:
Have you ever considered doing sort of a list of your favorite alternate character interpretations you've seen in fanfic?
Haha Trampoline drew my current avatar. It's quite silly. Gold star. Would recommend.
Sigh. I had to add another followed author, and it's your fault. Well, it's Tumbleweed's fault too, I suppose...
4413141
What, you hadn't followed him after I recommended a bazillion of his stories?
For shame!
You didn't know Jade was a dude? I'm positive he doesn't exactly HIDE it.
Then again, 90% of what I say in this site refers to my own cock, and some still think I'm a lady. So I guess it ain't that strange.
4413189
Well, I refer to my own cock on this site, and I'm a lady.
no srsly
4413088
No, and I'm not sure I could without going back and reading every single review I've ever written. D:
4413189
I was gonna say something, but Trixie beat me to it. :B
4413357 Never suggested it was a good idea. But it would be fun.
Looks like he should be done uploading in ~4 months if he keeps doing one every two weeks.
Though this reminds me that in addition to everything else pony (e.g., seeing it cancelled due to super low response rate, I wish I'd made the effort to vote for top X pony music of 2016), I haven't been as active in that comment section as I'd like.
I think that's a bit of a shame, personally. They make a change from all the super-portentous ones
people like mesome other writers insist on using.4413997
It doesn't matter, I'm bad at writing them either way. :B
4413189
4414023 I don't know what I love more; PP not knowing I was a man or Aragon popping in to mention it. It's moments like these that make me feel loved.
As to my new readings, what do you recommend to improve the quality? As it happens, I just have a little microphone and Audacity. With those tools, what would you recommend I do to improve quality?
4416110
To address any specific concerns, I dunno. But noise gating is always good, and you'll have to play with the settings to get it right. Of course, a better microphone will always help. I don't know what you're using, but I can probably suggest cheap alternatives maybe possibly. :B