More author appreciation

[tarigwaemir]

Lowell House, on the Feast of St. Maximilian

Two bits of happiness for the day:

1. I received the reimbursement check for my textbooks today. I have money! I am so tempted to go and bid on an iPod on eBay now. (I really, really do need an iPod; I can't live on 3.07 GB free space.) On the other hand, knowing my conscience, I am probably going to present my case to the court, i.e. my parents, fail to argue convincingly, and be in turn persuaded not to waste my money on superfluous material goods during Lent. -_- Since I've just quarreled with my mother again on the phone, I fear my motion shall soon be overruled. ;_;

2. It's finally my turn in the hold queue for Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell! Yes! Will go and claim the book tomorrow. Now all I have to do is figure out how to finish the enormous book as soon as possible while still doing schoolwork. (How many pages is it again? I know it has lengths of footnotes in tiny print and is probably thicker than The Goblet of Fire.)

Belated Fanfic Author Appreciation Week, day 2:

High-profile author rec: Aishuu at aishuu, fic journal quillofferings (personal journal is friends-only)

Ah, who doesn't know Aishuu? svz_insanity has already mentioned her in her version of this meme, but I'm sure fandom can survive a redundant rec or two. I discovered Aishuu's fiction almost all at once during a year when I had discovered both Sainan no Kekka, Hikaru no Go fanfiction and LJ. Aishuu is definitely very, very high-profile, for good reason, since she is mind-bogglingly prolific and writes for many fandoms. It's not easy to keep up with her! ^_^

Aishuu is a journalist and newspaper editor in real life, and that clearly carries over into her fanfiction. Her style leans heavily towards exposition, and she doesn't waste words, even in a multichapter fic. She tends to have attention-grabbing openings and strong endings--never overdramatic of course, but always something that leaves you with a lasting impression. As she often says herself, her objective is to get the story told. And clearly, that is Aishuu's strength: telling the story. She comes up with some truly brilliant scenarios, and many of my favorites among her fics are what I call the "what if?" AUs. In Brightly Burning, she asks, "What if Hikaru never met Touya, never joined a go club, never became an insei until after Sai disappeared?" In Dross, she asks, "What if the Seigaku team lost touch with one another after graduation?" In Something Wicked This Way Comes, she asks, "What if L never included Raito in the Kira investigation?" Aishuu is also a brilliant drabbler as well, and you can see some of her best work in various fandom drabble communities like deathnote100.

What is refreshing about Aishuu's writing is that she really knows how to write what readers want to read. Fanfiction is after all speculative in origin, and her story ideas are not only original but also explore aspects of characters that canon doesn't supply. Thus, her fanfiction always leaves me with a feeling of satisfaction, whether it is deeply serious or light-heartedly silly (one can never forget, for example, her Diary of Ryuuzaki Sumire). Although she is currently on hiatus, she has enough writing archived on her fic journal to last you for ages.

Medium-profile author rec: Gerald Tarrant at darcenciel, fic journal seraphitus

I don't know Gerald Tarrant very well, but I do follow his fiction. He isn't really a "low-profile" author either (hence "medium-profile"). My current criteria for "high" and "low" profile is the size of the "friend of" list on the fic LJ (over 200 being "high-profile"). Probably not the best idea, but I couldn't think of anything better. Still I thought it would be appropriate to rec him on the same day as Aishuu, since they are good friends and because they collaborate on that fic of all GW fics: Sainan no Kekka.

I stumbled across Sainan no Kekka a few years ago, just before I got my LJ, in fact, and it has only recently reached completion, although there apparently is an epilogue that still needs to be written. Note that when I discovered it, most of it was already written, which means that it indeed is the product of several years' work. It continues the story of the Gundam pilots, post-series without including Endless Waltz, on a vast scale. This fic defines epic, with a huge cast and detailed worldbuilding. I don't always agree with the characterizations, but they are always carefully thought out, and the plot is full of intricate twists and turns. The level of planning that this fic must have taken simply amazes me. I read most of the first three arcs in one sitting, eyes glued to the computer for several hours, and the characters persisted in my dreams that night.

Of course, Gerald writes other fics as well. He has a very musical way of writing--he does mention in his author's notes that he often writes to music, which may be the reason--and there is a melancholy sort of loveliness to his choice of words and metaphors. I particularly enjoy his descriptive writing because it strikes that elusive and perfect balance between too many words and too little: his voice is understated yet intense. Several of his fics are classics--or at least I've seen them rec'ed nearly everywhere--such as Romance in G Minor and Saturday. I also especially enjoyed Sandwich Talk. Gerald writes for many fandoms that I'm not familiar with, such as Fushigi Yuugi and Utena, so there are probably many more gems that I'm not aware of at his archive, Landover.

Yours &c.

Comments

[aishuu.livejournal.com]

*shimmer* You're sweet.

What really gets me is I'm higher profile than Ger. He's clearly the better writer (I keep saying that!). I've learned so much from him.

Though he's pretty high-profile in J-rock fandoms. ^_~

[troisroyaumes]

Well, my whole "high-profile" and "low-profile" and "medium-profile" scheme is pretty skewed and extremely subjective. But you are amazingly prolific and I don't think there's a single fandom person on my friends list who hasn't read one of your works. ^_^ Which pretty much makes the rec pointless, but hey, I'm always happy to rave about your writing. ^_~

[aishuu.livejournal.com]

^_^ It's nice to hear the positive. I appreciate it~

[cherry-chiicake.livejournal.com]

Without any doubt, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is very much the best book I've read in a very long time. I read the first couple hundred pages and then *bought* the damned thing because I enjoyed that little bit so much. And it runs about 800 pages. It took me a couple weeks reading off and on to get through it. Enjoy, because, well, it's fantastic.

[troisroyaumes]

Yes, I've been looking forward to reading it ever since I read one of Clarke's short stories a few years ago. I picked it up from the library a couple of hours ago, and it looks delicious. ^_^ Glad to hear it's worth it.