Fic recs, August 29th! · 2:40pm Aug 29th, 2017
To anyone who's having a bad day, or has had one, or might ever have one, I present to you this little motivational message from Scribbler:
And hallelujah, ctrl-shift-V is a miracle! :D
H: 2 R: 1 C: 4 V: 0 N: 1
When the Levis Break by Super Trampoline
Paid Review for Super Trampoline
Genre: Random
Daring Do returns home to get her jeans fixed.
I was really looking forward to reading this story because When the Levee Breaks is so great, and I wanted to see what Super Trampoline could do with it. I hate to say it, but I ended up disappointed. If you go into this not to look for a parody of Cynewulf's work, but for another example of Super Trampoline's very singular style, it can be fun. I mean, it's mostly just a long sequence of the author beating the reader over the head with metaphors, which is amusing, and that right-justified footnote is kind of amazing. But half of it comes off like a blog post, and the rest is transparent word-count-inflation. (Again, not necessarily a bad thing.) I guess it could be said this is commentary on overuse of gothic metaphor or something, but that might be giving it too much credit. I found things to like, but I still have to wonder what I expecting.
Recommended If You Like Random Stories
Sugarcube in the Corner by WishyWish
Reading by the Author
Despite all the disclaimers, this turned out to be a good reading! His sound effects can be a little high, and I had a hard time making out names of things, but otherwise he's got a very natural pacing, and I could hear him over the water, which is like, my one major criterion for readers. :B This is his only reading so far, so he's on the list already!
Genre: Hospital Drama
A young doctor spends Hearth's Warming beside a stallion who may as well already be dead.
When it comes to anything hospital related, I have high standards for verisimilitude. This was dripping with it, so much so that I can conclude Wishy Wish is either an excellent researcher or a med student himself. On top of that, this is a MASH homage, and how many of those have you ever seen around here? (I watched the show, back when I was far too young to understand it.) What really impressed me was how much the stakes change when it's revealed that the dying stallion is a show character. I was expecting that, like the doctor himself or the previous patient he lost, this would just be another in the cast of OCs. But when it turns out to be Mr. Cake, the juxtaposition with Painless's indifference is staggering. I wanted to be angry at him for not caring about this stallion who we care about. That's a really clever — indeed, dastardly — turn by the author. The rest of this, then, is a trip through Mr. Cake's life, as Dr. Painless learns to give a care. It's probably not perfect, but it's pretty damned close. Just get ready for the sads. ;_;
Highly Recommended
Study Partners by Ephraim Blue
Reading by Quill N. Lead, Scribbler and Thelifeoncloud9
Genre: Shipping
Why was Rainbow Dash so quick to accept Twilight's study help?
This is bad shipping. It jams as many tropes of the shipping cliche list into the last few paragraphs as it can. And this wouldn't be so terrible, save that the rest of the story consists of "scene directly from Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3" alternating with "Rainbow Dash thinks about how cute Twilight is". Testing, Testing had plenty of TwiDash fuel, more did not need to be added! This overall smacks of a story conceived and dashed off in a short amount of time after the episode aired, which is more or less what the description says. Unless you're the kind of reader who only cares about "do they kiss?" don't bother.
Not Recommended
Maternal by CoolStoryBrony
Reading by Scribbler
Genre: Sad
Firefly writes to her friend about her daughter and her illness.
Up front, I want to say this tells a very good story. Like I said, verisimilitude is important for medical dramas, and this is entirely believable. Firefly is a strong character, and the way her life choices and regrets interweave with the tragedy front and center is compelling. With that said, I had a hard time believing this would happen in Equestria; in fact, I have every reason to believe this was inspired by real events, then ported directly into the fanfic world. I figure this is due to the Motherly Scootaloo blog this is based off of; I'm not familiar with it, never had any interest in it, and can't say I do now, if this is representative of the world in which it's set. I mean, I'm all for terrible things happening to Scootaloo, but Equestria having no system in place for helping terminally ill ponies who otherwise can't afford cancer treatments? The Wonderbolts denying medical coverage to a former member, just because they can? Not to mention it seems like they kicked Firefly out for daring to have gotten pregnant; that part isn't clear. Point is, this was really hard to swallow as ponyfic, but as a story? It's pretty good.
Recommended If You Like Tragedy
Love on the Rocks by TheCrimsonDM
Reading by Scarlett Blade
Mature: Sex
Genre: Erotica
Trixie prepares for emotional devastation when she finds out an old flame is in Ponyville.
Okay, so, a case can be made that what Maud does in this story is emotional manipulation, taking advantage of Trixie's weakened state to have sex with her. I, for one, cannot find it in myself be bothered by this. :B If anything, I could have done without the sex, just because the emotional quotient is so high and the drama is fantastic. Which isn't to say the sex is bad: it's got the same naughty silliness as that godsend of a Tumblr that first bestowed upon our fandom this blessed ship. This is, altogether, a pretty great story, especially if you're into Mauxie. :3
Recommended
Pinkie Pie Learns a New Word by Kickass222urmom
Reading by TheLostNarrator, et. al.
Reading by Mic the Microphone
Reading by slickdash
Reading by BigAshRandomVids
Genre: Comedy
The writing in this story is distinctly not great. Despite this, it successfully stretches out its single joke to nearly 3,500 words, stopping right when it needs to. I mean, I'm sometimes 12 years old, and Goddammit Pinkie Pie was funny, right? :V If you're 12 like me, you'll get a kick out of this, for sure.
Recommended for Laughs
Broken by Seraphimus
Reading by Scarlett Blade
Genre: Rainbow Dash Loses Her Wings
Rainbow Dash prepares herself to resign from the Wonderbolts.
Though I've invoked a classic ponyfiction trope, hear me out, this is pretty decent. Rainbow has lost her wing, as depicted in the cover art, and is resigning from the Wonderbolts because she's got years of therapy ahead of her before she can even hope to be half the flyer she was. While Dash is understandably angsty, it's Spitfire who's the real star of this show. I was totally surprised by her characterization, and it's that which elevates this beyond its core trope. The backstory is handed out more or less all at once — this is a first fic, after all — but Rainbow is sufficiently badass in it. I also appreciate that we're never told exactly what caused her injury. I'll admit to being initially disappointed that this wasn't related to season five's Sombra Future, but what it gives us instead is a look at the Wonderbolts as more than just a team. For a first fic, it's pretty darned good.
Recommended for Wonderbolts Fans
Hang by AShadowOfCygnus
Reading by Illya Leonov
Genre: Historical
I have slain my soldier-brother, and I am to die.
This one got a ton of attention when it came out earlier this year, and it's easy to see why. Young writers take note: this is how you world-build. Through tiny details, we are painted a picture of an old Equestria, when the Princesses existed but not everyone followed them. Of course, I love that the focus is on the warlike pegasi and their Romanesque names. :D Rich and economically drawn as this setting is, there is then a story told over top of it, and that's what you're supposed to do. I shouldn't have to tell you this. :B Suffice to say, it's gripping and fascinating, and if you haven't read this yet, you should.
Highly Recommended
I know, right?!
Hang is so good.
Thanks for the video.
Yeah, I didn't actually read when the levee breaks, just a bunch of the comments and the author interview about it. It definitely petered out towards the end because I didn't really know what to do and was getting bored and finding it hard to write more.
However, there was definitely no word count inflammation going on. As you see it's nowhere near the minimum length of pushing.
Ha ha, my voice to text thought I said inflammation instead of inflation. That's funny.
I needed to hear this. Thank you scribbler.
4651900
You're a master of nonsense, you know that? XD
4652160
I do my best
em.wattpad.com/1b3fc1f9751e95f0d302f8e22604fc4ab939b66c/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f5f69316f51377437424f705031673d3d2d3232323732383332352e313433346135393366363965663864392e676966?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280
Thank you.
Thank you for the kind words. I'm not a medical student, but I'm glad it comes off that way, for I did research it! I can't abide trying to write about something I have no understanding of, thus at least enough homework must be done to muddle through. MASH concluded when I was four years old, but that didn't stop me from growing up with it in myriad reruns.
As for the audio recording, I re-recorded it three times, and that was the best take. The sound effects were drastically turned down from where I originally had them (especially the respirator), but some sounds I suppose still came out a bit loud. I took awhile playing with it in Audacity to get everything as 'right' as I could. It was fun, and I enjoyed voicing both genders, though I would still be interested in finding folks who might want to read any of my other stuff. Or maybe more stuff for me to read, so I can justify buying a real microphone!
4652410
You're on the road to producing high-quality audio recordings, then! :D
4652690
Thank you for the vote of confidence. I'll try again when the right project comes along
Mauxie! Ever since Foudubulble's TG&PT and Maud comic, it's just felt so right.
"Hang" hit a wonderfully bleak tone capturing the degradation of a people as they respond to adversity, and had me wishing for more around it so I could know what was going on, and why the characters believed what they did, and thus inform their actions as well. Sign of doing the short story as part of a larger world right.
I got around to reading Sugarcube in the Corner at your recommendation, and it was really good! Thank you for pointing that story out to me.
4663275
It makes me feel really good when you read a story on my rec and actually like it. c.c