Authors of the Month
I don't really think that many people actually visit my site, but that's not going to stop me from honoring authors that deserve it. The qualities that I look for in an author are consistent, well written stories; that is, a number of good, and interesting stories that are succinct and grammatically perfect. I usually owe the author I select a ton of long-overdue reviews. And I will get around to those, eventually - I always feel guilty about that. Anyways, all of these authors get the highest recommendation from me. All the information below is taken from the author's Fanfiction.net profile and/or author's notes. I should probably mention that unless they specifically note it, I almost always assume an author is female. So sorry to anyone whom I might have overlooked gender-wise. =]
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June 2009: Aebhel
With a whopping 32 stories to her name, Aebhel is one accomplished authoress, with a portfolio spread over eleven fandoms and counting. Blunt, meaning, and evocative are the words that come to mind when considering her work. It's undeniably fan fiction. But in the best way, with raw, real passion that showcase her chosen characters' most intimate selves. It's delicious. Her unique style is more geared toward the oneshot, but she does have a few novel-lengths that I've never read. Highest regards to the exquisite Erised and heartbreaking Photograph. Disarmed, a oneshot in which Edmund joins the fencing club, was widely acclaimed in the upper Narnia fan circles.
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May 2009: Spouse of Orestes
Spouse of Orestes is the author of some of my favorite Golden Age stories. Though there are a quite a few more stories on her bill, by far my favorites are the one based off her fic Lessons in Diplomacy. It's a four-part series, and they're all brilliant, clever, and hilarious. Much of it is very original, too - written in early '06, so you know it's the good stuff. Her ideas are wonderufl ones, too, especially her expansion on the backstory of Bacchus. She's got quite a gift for character and humor; there's seriously hilarious stuff that appeals both to bookverse and movieverse. Well, mostly bookverse. But that's the best kind! A wonderful author to whom I credit quite a bit of influece on my writing.
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April 2009: Amberle Elessedil
Okay. When I featured a piece by Amberle Elessedil as the SotM, I hadn't looked at the rest of her work - I just plucked it off my Favorites list. What a mistake! I can't even begin to describe what waits for the reader on her profile page. Amberle Elessedil has done something truly incredible with fan fiction here, which is to channel all the brilliance of the Narnia books into verse. It's amazing. Poetry really isn't easy, and this kind of word-weaving (within a set rhythm!) is incredibly difficult to pull off, let alone do well. Amberle does it with all grace. My favorite has to be the exquisite Come Away, a duet between Susan and Rabadash, but everything else is equally resonate with the reader, especially the standard Lament. It's a strange thought for me, but I wish I was a Zelda fan that I might read the rest of her work.
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March 2009: Brynna
Okay, I've admitted it: I have read the Twilight books. And I fully deserve the barrage of scorn and ridicule that better authors and readers with nobler choices can lay on me. Yes, Twilight is terrible and yes, Bella Swan is the ultimate Mary Sue. But put all that aside because a) The story is marginally better when the focus is shifted away from the two main characters, and b) There is some serious potential for good fan fiction, because there are hundreds of fans out there who can write better than the series' author. Enter Brynna, who has elevated the Alice/Jasper pairing to a level of profound beauty. My favorite story of hers will always be the first, Reading Between the Lines, but she has since received much attention for her collection of Jasper/Alice oneshots, which covers a wide range of genres and has amassed more than 1200 reviews to date. Her most recent project is the exquisite Some Rise by Sin. Elegant, dramatic or lighthearted; dialogue, action or internalized conflict; Brynna does it all, with a writing style that far surpasses that of Stephenie Meyer.
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[insert hiatus/lack of updates, a.k.a. the first semester of college]
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July 2008: elecktrum
Elecktrum is one of the most widely-known authors at C. S. Lewis branch of FF.net, and it isn't for no reason. Her writing is mind-blowingly awesome. Each story (the count is currently at twenty) can range from exciting to funny to angsty, but they all bespeak an author of much talent. Elecktrum's own universe, built up through all her work, is an impressive one. She's created a huge cast of well-developed OCs as well as expanded the fanon interpretation of the Golden Age so far as to influence Narnian authors both newbie and old-hat. My favorite of hers is On the Nature of Wishes; fan favorites include Into the West, Thole, In the Lap of the Gods, and Black Dwarfs, Blue River.
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June 2008: Capegio
I know just last month, Capegio had the SotM title, but when I visited her profile I found the most delightful message that just couldn't be ignored. It reads, "Dear fandom: I love you very much, but very few things irritate me more than when you stick your nose up in the air and bend over to draw pretty little chalk lines around what it means to be a Narnian. My stomach turns every time I hear the words 'defending canon.' I thoroughly reject all notions of Narnian exclusivity. I may not read everything, but I would rather not have a fandom at all than belong to one in which people think they can tell other people what is and is not appropriate. I support all writers of het, gen, slash, incest, Mary Sue, spiritual, movieverse, bookverse, anything, so please, before the deluge of pettiness forces me away entirely, get off your damn pedestals and live and let live." Which really is the best thing I've ever heard at FF.net, particularly in light of my recent circumstances. Besides her awesome views on defining canon, Capegio has a whole host of extraordinarily well-written oneshots to her name. They're powerful and packed with meaning, and in quite a different vein than her big-seller, Twisting Fate. My particular favorites are Stone, Fatale, and Candy.
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May 2008: Sanaryelle
Sanaryelle is quite the writer, with five fandoms and 25 fics to her name. She writes wonderful Tumnus-centered fics, which are perfectly characterized, adorable, and - best of all - don't ship Tumnus with Lucy! They range from upbeat to heartbreaking to action-packed (in fact, her battle scenes influence my own action-writing). Her vision of the Golden Age is among the best of Narnian fiction, rivaling that of another well-known author, Almyra. Apart from her stories, Sanaryelle is also the nicest author I've ever encountered. When I reviewed each chapter of her two stories on my Favorites List (as a part of my Great Review Project), she replied kindly to each individual one. My faves in her portfolio include A Faun's Tale, Hunting the White Stag, and Presents for the Queen. Her work definitely merits a spot on your own Favorites List.
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April 2008: Punctuator
Over the past few weeks, I've become rather obsessed with the movie Sunshine. It's a fabulous British sci-fi movie directed by Danny Boyle, in which the future of mankind depends a crew of eight astronauts successfully delivering a bomb that will restart the sun. Complicated, I know. But it's loaded with a ton of understated symbolism and a bunch of different relationship levels between the crew. (Every character has an extensive backstory written by Alex Garland that provides the chemistry between each other.) Basically, the entire movie runs to a close without fulfilling any of its implications; voilà, fan fiction! Punctuator fills exactly what the movie neglected – fiction based off the backstories, emphasis on the Capa/Cassie pairing. Her work is best post-DVD release, but even the stories based entirely off the trailer are very well done. Punctuator's style varies from the comic and light-hearted to the deep and interpretive. My favorite is her M-rated masterpiece, Sleepers.
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March 2008: Knowhere
Another exclusively-Gilmore author, Knowhere's been around FF.net for quite a while. Her earliest stories date all the way back to 2003. . . the golden year of the RoryJess fandom, Season 3. Every single one of her summaries begins with the same one-word sentence - 'Literati.' She's one talented authoress. Knowhere's stories can range from funny to passionate to heartbreaking - she's taken the Rory and Jess to every AU imaginable, and best of all, she's still writing. (I'm talking to you, Sam, a.k.a FallAway!) Her best stories deserve top Literati billing, especially the upbeat 35 to 41, the dramatic I Have Never, and the lyrical Because. The fan favorite Lux et Veritas, in which 'Rory, a college freshman, meets a confident adult Jess for the first time,' is one I've never gotten into, but has attracted nearly 800 reviews.
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February 2008: Almyra
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January 2008: Lirazel
With an impressive 54 stories spanning fourteen - yes, fourteen - fandoms, Lirazel has completely upturned the quality-for-specialization myth. "Do one thing well. . ." loses all its validity on this author's profile. Her writing is stylized, unique, and passion-provoking, and while Lirazel divides herself among several media, every slice - and flavor - of her writing is delicious. My favorites of hers include Afterglow (C.S. Lewis), Quoth the Raven (Supernatural), and Commas and Ampersands (GG).
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December 2007: Iniga
I usually stay pretty far away from the Harry Potter fandom - it's just to huge, diverse, and cliché for me to trifle with, let alone write for. And some of it is really, really naughty. (I mean, I know we Narnians go for incest and inter-species relations at times, but come on. That's kind of different from pedophilia and rape.) Anyway, Iniga's stuff is one of probably five exceptions I make to this general attitude. It's clever, perfectly characterized, and shrewdly written. My favorites include Darkness Dying (an intricate look at why Sirius suspected Remus now rendered AU by OotP, done extremely well, especially considering the insubstantial backstory provided in the first four books) and The Goblin, the Snitch, and the Werewolf (an immediately post-DH fic containing flashbacks into Black family history).
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November 2007: fulfilled
An exclusively-Gilmore author, fulfilled has amassed an incredible amount of fantastic fics in her portfolio. She writes mainly for Rory/Jess and Rory/Logan, and occasionally ventures out into their stories without the Gilmore Girl, revealing a real gift for backstory expansion. (Best example: Birthday Boy, detailing more of Jess's life in Philly.) Fulfilled's talent for rich detail and impeccable style are a few of the reasons I consider her stuff as close to perfect as fan fiction's gonna get. My favorites include And When She Was Good, So Not Rock 'n' Roll, Greater Than, and Silently and Often (which contains reference to Narnia, something that made me laugh when I was rereading her stories).
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October 2007: Francienyc
She may juggle numerous Narnian universes of her own creation, but Francienyc is a fandom force to be reckoned with. Since Kings in Exile in January '06, Francie has posted seventeen Chronicles stories, eleven of which are personal favorites of mine. Each one is written superbly: her style is impeccable, and plots range from believable cannon to creative emotional supplements. Francie's résumé boasts more than 800 reviews, a second shared account with fellow conspirator, rooty-boots, and a very loyal fanbase.
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June 2009: Aebhel
With a whopping 32 stories to her name, Aebhel is one accomplished authoress, with a portfolio spread over eleven fandoms and counting. Blunt, meaning, and evocative are the words that come to mind when considering her work. It's undeniably fan fiction. But in the best way, with raw, real passion that showcase her chosen characters' most intimate selves. It's delicious. Her unique style is more geared toward the oneshot, but she does have a few novel-lengths that I've never read. Highest regards to the exquisite Erised and heartbreaking Photograph. Disarmed, a oneshot in which Edmund joins the fencing club, was widely acclaimed in the upper Narnia fan circles.
-
May 2009: Spouse of Orestes
Spouse of Orestes is the author of some of my favorite Golden Age stories. Though there are a quite a few more stories on her bill, by far my favorites are the one based off her fic Lessons in Diplomacy. It's a four-part series, and they're all brilliant, clever, and hilarious. Much of it is very original, too - written in early '06, so you know it's the good stuff. Her ideas are wonderufl ones, too, especially her expansion on the backstory of Bacchus. She's got quite a gift for character and humor; there's seriously hilarious stuff that appeals both to bookverse and movieverse. Well, mostly bookverse. But that's the best kind! A wonderful author to whom I credit quite a bit of influece on my writing.
-
April 2009: Amberle Elessedil
Okay. When I featured a piece by Amberle Elessedil as the SotM, I hadn't looked at the rest of her work - I just plucked it off my Favorites list. What a mistake! I can't even begin to describe what waits for the reader on her profile page. Amberle Elessedil has done something truly incredible with fan fiction here, which is to channel all the brilliance of the Narnia books into verse. It's amazing. Poetry really isn't easy, and this kind of word-weaving (within a set rhythm!) is incredibly difficult to pull off, let alone do well. Amberle does it with all grace. My favorite has to be the exquisite Come Away, a duet between Susan and Rabadash, but everything else is equally resonate with the reader, especially the standard Lament. It's a strange thought for me, but I wish I was a Zelda fan that I might read the rest of her work.
-
March 2009: Brynna
Okay, I've admitted it: I have read the Twilight books. And I fully deserve the barrage of scorn and ridicule that better authors and readers with nobler choices can lay on me. Yes, Twilight is terrible and yes, Bella Swan is the ultimate Mary Sue. But put all that aside because a) The story is marginally better when the focus is shifted away from the two main characters, and b) There is some serious potential for good fan fiction, because there are hundreds of fans out there who can write better than the series' author. Enter Brynna, who has elevated the Alice/Jasper pairing to a level of profound beauty. My favorite story of hers will always be the first, Reading Between the Lines, but she has since received much attention for her collection of Jasper/Alice oneshots, which covers a wide range of genres and has amassed more than 1200 reviews to date. Her most recent project is the exquisite Some Rise by Sin. Elegant, dramatic or lighthearted; dialogue, action or internalized conflict; Brynna does it all, with a writing style that far surpasses that of Stephenie Meyer.
-
[insert hiatus/lack of updates, a.k.a. the first semester of college]
-
July 2008: elecktrum
Elecktrum is one of the most widely-known authors at C. S. Lewis branch of FF.net, and it isn't for no reason. Her writing is mind-blowingly awesome. Each story (the count is currently at twenty) can range from exciting to funny to angsty, but they all bespeak an author of much talent. Elecktrum's own universe, built up through all her work, is an impressive one. She's created a huge cast of well-developed OCs as well as expanded the fanon interpretation of the Golden Age so far as to influence Narnian authors both newbie and old-hat. My favorite of hers is On the Nature of Wishes; fan favorites include Into the West, Thole, In the Lap of the Gods, and Black Dwarfs, Blue River.
-
June 2008: Capegio
I know just last month, Capegio had the SotM title, but when I visited her profile I found the most delightful message that just couldn't be ignored. It reads, "Dear fandom: I love you very much, but very few things irritate me more than when you stick your nose up in the air and bend over to draw pretty little chalk lines around what it means to be a Narnian. My stomach turns every time I hear the words 'defending canon.' I thoroughly reject all notions of Narnian exclusivity. I may not read everything, but I would rather not have a fandom at all than belong to one in which people think they can tell other people what is and is not appropriate. I support all writers of het, gen, slash, incest, Mary Sue, spiritual, movieverse, bookverse, anything, so please, before the deluge of pettiness forces me away entirely, get off your damn pedestals and live and let live." Which really is the best thing I've ever heard at FF.net, particularly in light of my recent circumstances. Besides her awesome views on defining canon, Capegio has a whole host of extraordinarily well-written oneshots to her name. They're powerful and packed with meaning, and in quite a different vein than her big-seller, Twisting Fate. My particular favorites are Stone, Fatale, and Candy.
-
May 2008: Sanaryelle
Sanaryelle is quite the writer, with five fandoms and 25 fics to her name. She writes wonderful Tumnus-centered fics, which are perfectly characterized, adorable, and - best of all - don't ship Tumnus with Lucy! They range from upbeat to heartbreaking to action-packed (in fact, her battle scenes influence my own action-writing). Her vision of the Golden Age is among the best of Narnian fiction, rivaling that of another well-known author, Almyra. Apart from her stories, Sanaryelle is also the nicest author I've ever encountered. When I reviewed each chapter of her two stories on my Favorites List (as a part of my Great Review Project), she replied kindly to each individual one. My faves in her portfolio include A Faun's Tale, Hunting the White Stag, and Presents for the Queen. Her work definitely merits a spot on your own Favorites List.
-
April 2008: Punctuator
Over the past few weeks, I've become rather obsessed with the movie Sunshine. It's a fabulous British sci-fi movie directed by Danny Boyle, in which the future of mankind depends a crew of eight astronauts successfully delivering a bomb that will restart the sun. Complicated, I know. But it's loaded with a ton of understated symbolism and a bunch of different relationship levels between the crew. (Every character has an extensive backstory written by Alex Garland that provides the chemistry between each other.) Basically, the entire movie runs to a close without fulfilling any of its implications; voilà, fan fiction! Punctuator fills exactly what the movie neglected – fiction based off the backstories, emphasis on the Capa/Cassie pairing. Her work is best post-DVD release, but even the stories based entirely off the trailer are very well done. Punctuator's style varies from the comic and light-hearted to the deep and interpretive. My favorite is her M-rated masterpiece, Sleepers.
-
March 2008: Knowhere
Another exclusively-Gilmore author, Knowhere's been around FF.net for quite a while. Her earliest stories date all the way back to 2003. . . the golden year of the RoryJess fandom, Season 3. Every single one of her summaries begins with the same one-word sentence - 'Literati.' She's one talented authoress. Knowhere's stories can range from funny to passionate to heartbreaking - she's taken the Rory and Jess to every AU imaginable, and best of all, she's still writing. (I'm talking to you, Sam, a.k.a FallAway!) Her best stories deserve top Literati billing, especially the upbeat 35 to 41, the dramatic I Have Never, and the lyrical Because. The fan favorite Lux et Veritas, in which 'Rory, a college freshman, meets a confident adult Jess for the first time,' is one I've never gotten into, but has attracted nearly 800 reviews.
-
February 2008: Almyra
An extremely talented writer with a gift for the angsty AU, Almyra has made quite the name for herself among Chronicles fans. Her writing is engaging and very real - and considering how hard it is to flesh out any AU story, especially an adult-Pevensies-in-England fic, Almyra is unique in that respect. Her fics are totally unrivaled in their genre. My favorites include Beautiful Letdown, For Ever Kneel'd, and her entire Song of the Phoenix universe. Apart from the Narnia fics (which bring in over 700 reviews on their own), Almyra authors six other fandoms, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Pirates of the Carribean.
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January 2008: Lirazel
With an impressive 54 stories spanning fourteen - yes, fourteen - fandoms, Lirazel has completely upturned the quality-for-specialization myth. "Do one thing well. . ." loses all its validity on this author's profile. Her writing is stylized, unique, and passion-provoking, and while Lirazel divides herself among several media, every slice - and flavor - of her writing is delicious. My favorites of hers include Afterglow (C.S. Lewis), Quoth the Raven (Supernatural), and Commas and Ampersands (GG).
-
December 2007: Iniga
I usually stay pretty far away from the Harry Potter fandom - it's just to huge, diverse, and cliché for me to trifle with, let alone write for. And some of it is really, really naughty. (I mean, I know we Narnians go for incest and inter-species relations at times, but come on. That's kind of different from pedophilia and rape.) Anyway, Iniga's stuff is one of probably five exceptions I make to this general attitude. It's clever, perfectly characterized, and shrewdly written. My favorites include Darkness Dying (an intricate look at why Sirius suspected Remus now rendered AU by OotP, done extremely well, especially considering the insubstantial backstory provided in the first four books) and The Goblin, the Snitch, and the Werewolf (an immediately post-DH fic containing flashbacks into Black family history).
-
November 2007: fulfilled
An exclusively-Gilmore author, fulfilled has amassed an incredible amount of fantastic fics in her portfolio. She writes mainly for Rory/Jess and Rory/Logan, and occasionally ventures out into their stories without the Gilmore Girl, revealing a real gift for backstory expansion. (Best example: Birthday Boy, detailing more of Jess's life in Philly.) Fulfilled's talent for rich detail and impeccable style are a few of the reasons I consider her stuff as close to perfect as fan fiction's gonna get. My favorites include And When She Was Good, So Not Rock 'n' Roll, Greater Than, and Silently and Often (which contains reference to Narnia, something that made me laugh when I was rereading her stories).
-
October 2007: Francienyc
She may juggle numerous Narnian universes of her own creation, but Francienyc is a fandom force to be reckoned with. Since Kings in Exile in January '06, Francie has posted seventeen Chronicles stories, eleven of which are personal favorites of mine. Each one is written superbly: her style is impeccable, and plots range from believable cannon to creative emotional supplements. Francie's résumé boasts more than 800 reviews, a second shared account with fellow conspirator, rooty-boots, and a very loyal fanbase.
-
September 2007: FallAway
Sam, whom I like to refer as the queen of the Rory/Jess, was the very first true fan fiction writer I found. Her stories are amazing and numerous; my favorite favorites include By the Bad, Welcome to Disaster, Offbase Broken, Baking Chocolate, and Ruin One Thing. She's one of the most amazing incredible fiction writers out there, and I still can't believe that she could write so well and only be as old as I am.
Sam, whom I like to refer as the queen of the Rory/Jess, was the very first true fan fiction writer I found. Her stories are amazing and numerous; my favorite favorites include By the Bad, Welcome to Disaster, Offbase Broken, Baking Chocolate, and Ruin One Thing. She's one of the most amazing incredible fiction writers out there, and I still can't believe that she could write so well and only be as old as I am.