6-Star Reviews Part 91: Moonbeam

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

I've always had a pretty decent vocabulary, and I've never been afraid to use it (even when I didn't know how to pronounce the word in question).  So lately, my friends have started singing this song from a beer commercial at me every time I say anything that involves stringing more than three syllables together.  I want to be annoyed, but honestly it's pretty catchy.

Below, my review of Laurence Brown's Moonbeam.

For a Change, Let's Talk About Actual Books (part 2)

I'll be honest: between my sister visiting this week, and August already being a relatively busy month for me, I haven't made the time to finish reading Moonbeam yet.  I'll have it done by Friday, but until then, how about some delicious filler?  Way back in the misty reaches of, er, May, I listed the books I was reading at the time, and talked briefly about each.  That seemed to spark some interesting discussion, so I'm going to go ahead and do the same thing again.  Below, I'll put the title and author of each book, what my opinion is of it to this point, and a recommendation based on that incomplete reading.

6-Star Reviews Part 90: A Cup of Joe

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

I've seen the image used here as cover art literally dozens of times prior to writing this review, but I only just now noticed Derpy in the background.  Huh.

Below the break, my review of The Descendant's A Cup of Joe.

6-Star Reviews Part 89: Progress

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

Okay, back and full of commentary!  Andrew Joshua Talon's Progress, reviewed below the break.

My Little Sister's In Town, and She's More Important Than Timely Posts

Nothing personal, but blog vs. family is hardly a fair fight.

Anyway, I've finished Progress, but haven't had time to write a post up for it yet.  And in just a minute, I'm going to be leaving to hang out with my sister, and probably won't be back until late.  I'll write it up then, but expect it to be at least an hour or three later than usual.

In the meantime, you might want to consider taking a look at Inquisitor M's recently-published story, Shades of Grey.  I first encountered the author more than seven months ago, when he asked if I'd be willing to lend him a hand with a fanfic he'd begun writing.  It was clear from the start that he had an interesting idea, but there was a lot of work to be done to turn it into an interesting story.  However, Mr. M put in a huge amount of time and effort to produce a 130,000-word adventure which also manages to be one of the most detailed character studies of Rarity that I've ever seen.  And I can tell you all from personal experience that the quality of his prose and editing have vastly improved since he first contacted me.  I'm never sure how to word that sort of thing so that it doesn't come off as a left-handed complement, but nevermind that; the point is that he's been consistently willing to put in the time and effort needed to improve, and I think that shows in the finished product.

You can read it on FIMFiction here, or on Gdocs (the suggested format) here.  And if that doesn't tide you over until I post the Progress review, you're on your own.

6-Star Reviews Part 88: Raiders of the Cutie Mark

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

Not being a farmer, I don't usually pay too much mind to ruminations about drought or excessive rain (farmers, for those of you who don't know any, will complain about either with equal gusto  And if conditions are somehow perfect, they will switch to dourly commenting on how low crop prices are sure to be with everyone's else's fields coming in so well.  There is no pleasing these people).  However, the lack of water seems to be affecting the quality of this year's sweet corn, and as far as I'm concerned grilled sweet corn is one of life's simple pleasures.  This is no good.

Below the break, my review of DJLowrider's Raiders of the Cutie Mark.