Fic recs, November 9th! · 3:08pm Nov 9th, 2017
Hey, y'all, horizon's Dream a Little Dream of Me is back on Fimfiction! By which I mean it was never actually published and now it has been. At least it means my review of the whole darn thing is no longer breaking site rules, ha ha! :V
Got into a bit of a jam, so I rushed this one out with some actual stories-I-read! You know, I think this might end up being the year of the fewest stories I've reviewed since I started doing this? c.c I haven't even hit 700 and there's less than two months left. It's just weird to think about no wonder no one reads these anymore
H: 0 R: 1 C: 4 V: 0 N: 0
Prisoner of the Past by ObabScribbler
Reading by Scribbler, Caitbug and Gina M
Genre: Grimdark/Time Travel
Apple Bloom is super-excited to see her older self in the family barn. It won't last.
I praised this idea when it was Twilight visiting her younger self; when it happens to one of the CMCs in a collection of crackship fics, I get a little scared. c.c Thankfully, only the Grimdark tag really applies here; that having been said, this is bleak. I mean, it's a neat story, and I really appreciate how it builds this grim future world through omission and the imagery the older Apple Bloom brings along with her. But man, leave your happies at the door. D: I will say, I think this was a missed opportunity; I can easily see how this could be extended into a longer story, with some interesting themes to explore. But, well, what we got is what we got, and if I don't give this my full recommendation, it isn't a case of "it's not good enough" so much as "read the warning labels".
Recommended for Time Travel Fans
Birthday Present by getmeouttahere
Reading by Winged T. Spears
Reading by WhoLandon
Genre: 2P AiE Comedy
You and Rainbow Dash learn an unexpected lesson about magic.
"Anon in Equestria" and "wholesome" are not words I tend to put together unless separated by a "not". But the first scene of this story is honestly quite nice, almost putting me in the mood so many bronies seem to have, of wanting to be in Equestria. It helps that there is zero clop, no romance, not even a hint of UST in this story, all hallmarks of the godawful AiE genre. No, instead, we're treated to a completely hilarious comedy based around a surprising and hysterical twist that I shall not give away. The only odd thing about this piece is the switch to third-person in the final scene, but it's done the right way. I'm starting to think, between this and The Lusty Human Butler, that getmeouttahere is the one author writing these stories the way I want to read them.
Recommended
The Truth About My Little Pony by Opium4TmassS and MisterNick
Sequel to Why I Stopped Watching My Little Pony
Genre: Horror
And we're back here once more. I've had kind of a lukewarm reaction to this series in terms of writing, but something about the creepypasta twisting of a cartoon into something sinister is ineffably compelling. Also, my next audiobook is a sequel to this story, so I needed to get it read. <.< But yeah, right off the bat, there's a definite editing problem: missing punctuation, run-on sentences and so on throughout the story. As for the story itself, it's a good bit more involved than either of its predecessors. I realized it hardly qualifies as fanfic; it's definitely about the show, but we're given a lot of details behind its supposed creation, revealing that this takes place in essentially a dark AU of our own world. (No Lauren Faust, for instance.) Also, it's written like a horror movie, by which I specifically mean to draw up comparisons to how people get upset by Hollywood movies where real-life issues are glossed over and people do stupid things to further the plot. But even when the dialogue is off or the plot takes a sudden twist into Loonytown, this never ceases to be interesting. Like, I always wanted to see what would happen next, and that's really all you need from a story. So yeah, this is hardly the best story ever written, but I continue to be entranced and bemused by this bizarre series of creepypastas.
Recommended for Horror Fans
Who's Your Daddy? by Sporktacles
Genre: Comedy
There's something Princess Celestia needs to tell Sunset Shimmer about her family.
When it's revealed right off the bat the Celestia is Sunset's mother, I was expecting the punchline to be that Celestia was also her father. I won't tell you how right I was. This is really a one-joke fic that does sometimes feel stretched, but I laughed, and that's all I need. Not worth it if you're good at figuring out mysteries early on.
Recommended for a Laugh
The Short Sorrowful Tale of the Mad Mare Herself, the Uncrowned Princess Twilight Sparkle by Fiddlebottoms
Genre: AU/Random
I was recently listening to "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", possibly my favorite Beatles song, and thought to search it up on Wikipedia, which led, as it tends to, into a frenzy of link-clicking until I ended up on the article for 'pataphysics for only the second time in my life. And for the first time, I tried to sit down and read the whole darn thing to understand just what it was, since it's become the trend on the SCP wiki of late and the short answer given by the introductory paragraph is no help whatsoever in that regard. I can't say I came away from it any wiser, save that I think I finally understand the concept of pataphor, that is, a narrative technique as far removed from metaphor as metaphor is from non-figurative language. The example they give is two people standing in a line (non-figurative) who are pieces on a chessboard (metaphor) and then checkmate happens and someone flips the board (pataphor). You take the metaphorical and turn it real, for whatever effect that might have on the continuing narrative. I say all of this because it might help explain what I just read and Fiddlebottoms's style remains opaque to things like "analyzing authorial intent" and "figuring out what the hell is going on here", so I'd have had nothing to talk about otherwise in this review. This is a story I read. I'm not sure I understood a word of it. But like that horror fic above, it never ceased to be intriguing, in the daftest way possible. Do give it a try, I suppose?
Recommended If You're Into Experimental Fiction
GMOH is arguably the best AiE writer on this site. He may speak praises of me, but I honestly don't get it. Him and Anon A Mous are very much worth your attention
I've been meaning to do a reading of Short, Sorrowful Tale. It seems appropriate for my style (i.e. half-crazed ranting of a Miskatonic librarian.)
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Oh yeah, AAM wrote that one where Anon has to poop, right? Best AiE ever. XD
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Yep! It's true.
"Birthday Present" worked out better than I was really expecting. The setup could probably be trimmed down a bit--3k words is a bit much for a one-idea comedy, even with the cutesie ending, but that one idea was funny and the whole thing had this warm fuzzy feel which didn't prevent there from being some there there.