Mini-Reviews Round 212

The best part of Thanksgiving is the leftovers.  I don't get people who complain about 'em; it means not having to cook or eat out for, like, a week solid.  How is that not great?  On an unrelated note, have some mini-reviews, below the break.

Fandom Classics Part 237: Just an Assistant

To read the story, click the image or follow this link.

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!  I got to catch up with some friends in from New York, which was nice; I don't get to see the farther-scattered folks as much as I'd like to.  Woo!

But now the holiday's over, and it's time to get back to the grind.  Head down below the break for my review of RadicalDishonesty's Just an Assistant.

Mini-Reviews Round 211

True quotes overheard in the lunchroom from the fifth-grader's table:

"I'm so savage, my first word was 'Harambe!'"

I weep for our future (also, wasn't Harambe last year?  Does it just take a year for memes to filter down to the elementary-schoolers? Or at least, to the elementary schoolers in flyover country?).  Anyway, mini-reviews below the break.

(Also: no reviews Friday.  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!)

Fandom Classics Part 236: The Trouble With Genealogy

To read the story, click the image or follow this link.

Good news: I wrote about 2500 words of fiction over the weekend!  Bad (?) news: none of it was pony words.  If/when I get it into a finished form and post it where it belongs, I'll probably mention it here, though, so if you're absolutely starving for Chrisfic, you'll probably get some... eventually.

But if you're in the market for Chrisnonfic, then today's your lucky day!  Head down below for my review of Arroz's The Trouble with Genealogy.

Regarding Christopher Tolkien

Sad news on the Middle-Earth front this week: Christopher Tolkien resigned as the director of the Tolkien estate.  It's not news that has anything to do with My Little Pony, no, but it means a lot to me: I've made no secret of my love for the writing of JRR Tolkien over the years I've been reviewing, and this news represents a seismic event in terms of coming impact on how those writings are marketed, licensed, and otherwise handled.

Head below the break for a few of my thoughts on the matter, if such things interest you.  If not, pony stuff will be back on Monday, same time, same place.

Mini-Reviews Round 210

I dunno.  I'm just tired, man.  Here, have some mini-reviews, below the break.

First Sentences in (Fan)Fiction the 24th

While watching football yesterday, I started thinking about the word "scrimmage."  It's a weird-sounding word when you think about it, isn't it?  It doesn't roll cleanly off the tongue; the scr- beginning pulls your tongue back, but unlike with a word like "scrap," where that pullback is followed by a comfortable jaw-drop, it follows it up with another tight vowel with the tongue hurrying back to the front, then a closed-mouth m.  It's not elegantly constructed at all!

I should write a letter to Rodger Goodell, and suggest he change the word to something with better mouthflow.  I'm sure he'll appreciate the suggestion.

And speaking of things that trip off the tongue, here's some first sentence reviews!  Check them out, below the break.

Fandom Classics Part 235: The Three Whooves

To read the story, click the image or follow this link.

I keep getting recommendations to watch Stranger Things.  And it sounds pretty good... except I don't have Netflix!  And unlike Hasbro, they seem to take a rather dim view of leaving their episodes up for free on Youtube or the like.  I'll have to see if any of my friends have a subscription I can leech off of, I guess.  That, or get into the shady underworld of actually seeking out and downloading the stuff I want to watch illegally, but if I remember right from skimming those piracy warnings at the start of feature films, that carries a sentence of twenty years in a siberian gulag.

And on the subject of popular sci-fi shows, here's a Doctor Who crossover!  My review of Paleo Prints' The Three Whooves, below the break.

Mini-Reviews Round 209

Here are some stories by authors whose writing I know I like, because sometimes it's nice to read stories that you're pretty sure you'll enjoy.

...What, that's not a good enough reason to read some fics?  Too bad, here's a few fic reviews!  Get them below the break.

How Video Games Conspire to Ruin My D&D Sessions

What, the blog title wasn't clear enough?  Get ready for some high-quality whining, which may or may not have actionable advice packed in at the end!  No ponies, though; if that's a deal-breaker, you can pretend I'm talking about Ponyfinder instead of AD&D.  Check it out below the break.

Mini-Reviews Round 208

After I was nice to Skywriter in my last review (I called him "an author I've had a lot of good luck with!"), I was reminded that he writes plenty of things other than ponyfic, and that a lot of his drabbles are on his Scrivnarium blog.  So I pop over there, and sure enough, there's some nice stuff (I particularly like this poem about the intersection of modern and mythological security)... but there's also a LotR fanfic.  And I swear, Skywriter must have written it specifically to trigger me, because it is the most deliberately-rage-inducing thing I've read in a while.  It is genuinely impressive how much he managed to do wrong, in just the right way.  Go check it out--you'll probably get a laugh out of it if you don't take your Tolkien too seriously, and you'll probably end up twitching with pent-up aggression if you do.  Either way!

And after that, go check out some short reviews, below the break.  Only two this week, but they're both long'ns, so there ya go.