Fandom Classics Part 54: Wonderbolt

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I've occasionally let slip that I'm a bit of a luddite (a bit luddish?  Luddidic?), so it should come as no surprise that it's taken me until this week, in the middle of the year 2014, to get one of those fancy smartphone dealybobs.  Now I can do things with my phone like surf the internet, take, edit, and e-mail HD photos, and... text.  Yes, this is also the first phone I've ever owned that had texting.  I guess now I'll finally find out how, exactly, it's more convenient than just calling someone is.

In unrelated news, they say you're as old as you feel, and I'm apparently your great-great grandpa.  Anyway, my review of WovenWord's Wonderbolt, below the break.

Mini-Reviews Round 38

The next two weeks are busy ones for me, as we come to the end of the school year.  Luckily, I think I've got enough stuff to write about to get me through without interruption.  Like today's post, for example!  Click down below the break for a look at my thoughts on a few fics I've recently read.

Seeing the World Through Fresh Eyes

Sorry if any of you were sitting there, desperately clicking the "refresh" button for the past few minutes.  I didn't get back into town until late--my being out of town is actually the subject of this post--and I wanted to get this typed up right away.  I had a moment of clarity (rare enough!), and it was writing-related.  Or at least, enough so that this feels like the place to put it.  Anyway, it's all below the break.

6-Star Reviews Part 151: Icarus

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Based on the number of times I've mistyped it in this review, I apparently feel really strongly that "Icharus" is the superior spelling of that title.  Why my fingers keep trying to drop an H in there, I cannot say.  Regardless, click down below the break to check my (hopefully correctly-spelled) review of Tamar's Icarus.

6-Star Reviews Part 150: Silent Ponyville 3

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There's a blog reader who's in China for the summer (where blogspot.com addresses are blocked--thanks, Great Firewall!), so I agreed to e-mail him my reviews so he can keep up with them while he's there.  On Monday, he asked me if I was okay and, after a few moments of confusion, I realized that I'd been replying to the wrong e-mail thread for the past week--and thus, I'd been sending my reviews to the wrong person.

But what really blows my mind is, I sent this other person three reviews over the course of a week, and he never commented on it.  I mean, wouldn't you wonder what was going on if you were him?  I would!

Anyway, Jake Heritagu's Silent Ponyville 3 (and side stories), reviewed below the break.

6-Star Reviews Part 149: Dresden Gets Schooled

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Ahh, it's been a while since I've used that title for a blog post!  This week will bring three new-to-review fanfics which are or were 6-starred on Equestria Daily, back when they were still doing star ratings.  We begin below the break with a sequel to the previously-reviewed Forever! and My Little Denarians, Chengar Qordath's Dresden Gets Schooled.

Fandom Classics Part 53: Foal of the Forest

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Welp, I'm feeling better, so here comes another round of Fandom Classic-ing.  Click down below the break for my take on moguera's Foal of the Forest.

Who Doesn't Love a List?

While I was sick and homebound earlier this week, I decided to make use of some of that free time to look up a few "dead" fics, and see if maybe they'd updated without my noticing.  I don't know why I thought that was a good idea; they hadn't, of course, and then I felt sad.  Smart move, Chris.

Anyway, in lieu of something more taxing, today I put together a top-5 list of abandoned or indefinitely-hiatused fics that I miss.  Not necessarily the ones I consider "the best," even considering the list is (mostly) limited to stories I've read, but the ones I most wish would pick back up.  Click below the break for a countdown.

Episode Talk: S4E25-26, Twilight's Kingdom

A little different this time: no bullet points, just a big rambling mass of opinions, impressions, and (mostly) digressions.  Fair warning: I'm you-probably-shouldn't-be-in-the-same-room-as-me-right-now sick, and wrote this whole thing stream-of conscious, but if you're willing to follow my mind-meanderings, I think I've got all the important bits here.  Click below the break to see what I thought of the season four finale.

Fandom Classics Part 52: Apotheosis

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I think we can take it as a given that I'll have something(s) to say about the season 4 finale come Monday, so y'all can just go ahead an pencil in a rant or two for the start of next week.  For now, though, why not enjoy some fanfic review goodness?  My thoughts on Daetrin's Apotheosis, below the break.

Fandom Classics Part 51: Vinyl and Octavia: University Days

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For reasons too involved to get into up here, I've been thinking about prostate cancer recently.  And, in my thinking, I've decided that (should I ever end up getting prostate cancer), I'm going to insist that everyone refer to me as having "ass cancer."  I realize it's awfully juvenile, even for me, but I know that--for me--it would make the prospect a whole lot less scary.  I mean, how can you be scared of ass cancer?  I don't even care if it's not, strictly speaking, an accurate label.  The point is, prostate cancer is scary.  Ass cancer?  I could beat ass cancer.

On more or less the precise opposite of that note, click down below the break for my review of Dawnfade's Vinyl and Octavia: University Days.

Mini-Reviews Round 37

Before we dive into the reviews,  couple of Chris-related tidbits for you all.  First, remember that minific thing I mentioned a few posts back?  Well, it just finished up, and I took home second place!  You can go read the stories and see the results here; there's some great stuff in that mix.

Second, I've taken some old bits of flash-fiction and short-form writing, and compiled them into a single collection.  If you want to see ten tiny stories from me, check out Bantam Tales, which includes my story from the above event along with various other bric-a-brac I've produced over the past few years.

Now, with that all out of the way, let's dive into some mini-reviews!  Below the break, as always.

Fandom Classics Part 50: Let's Just Say...

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When I was young, probably four or five, I went to preschool.  My mother tells me that one day, I and half a dozen other kids spent the entire free-play time sitting in a circle, telling the same joke over and over: "Why did the chicken cross the road?  To throw poop on his friends!"  For the entire half-hour, one of us would tell the joke, we'd all laugh uproariously, and then someone else would repeat the exact same joke to the exact same reception, ad nausium.

I just thought I'd throw that out there, in case any of you were still clinging to the theory that my taste and the word "good" share any point of intersection.  And on THAT note, my review of Obselescence's Let's Just Say..., below the break.