6-Star Reviews Part 97: Mines of Dragon Mountain

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Below the break, my review of Mines of Dragon Mountain, by Hephestus.

Even More Stories You Haven't Read (But Should Have)

And now, the third entry in my so-infrequent-and-irregular-it-practically-redefines-sporadic series!  As always, I'll be highlighting three short pony stories that aren't particularly well-known.  I don't claim that any of them are the best thing ever written, but I think they each merit more attention than they've gotten to date.  Look below to see what underrated writing I've managed to dig up:

6-Star Reviews Part 96: Derpy's Bebop

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It occurred to me the other day, as I was going through the comments on the "A Pair of Questions" post, that I've developed some remarkably specific mental images of many of the regular posters here.  I have a tendency to do that: assigning made-up faces to people whom I've never met.  Is that just a personal idiosyncrasy, or does everyone do that?  Either way, it helps me to have a face, even if it's just an imaginary one, to associate with those whom I interact with.

Below the break, my review of TrelaTyraelis' Derpy's Bebop.

6-Star Reviews Part 95: The Silent Shore

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I just re-upped with the league I've played fantasy football with for the last three years.  My combined record over those three years?  12-30, and you can probably guess how many playoff appearances that's gotten me. Much more than the lottery, I think this game is a tax on those of us who are bad at math.

Below, my review of The Descendant's The Silent Shore.

A Pair of Questions

You've probably noticed by now that this isn't a story review.  August is a busy month for me, and I spent the weekend on a mini-vacation, so I'm playing catchup on several fronts.  Point is, I haven't written a new review yet.  I'll plan to have it out Friday, for any of you sitting on pins and needles.

In the interim, I figured this might be a good time to ask you, the regular and semi-regular patrons of my little corner of the internet, a couple of questions:

1) Is there anything about the site you'd like me to change/do differently that would make it more accessible or useful?  Bear in mind that I have little free time and less computer savvy.

2)  Is there anything substantive you'd want me to change about my regular content?  Stuff you want to see more or less of, things you want me to focus more or less on, etc.

You all are pretty good about leaving feedback on my reviews when I screw up (which I greatly appreciate, by the way), whether it's spelling errors or more egregious stuff, but I thought it couldn't hurt to ask if there's anything else that would make the posts more useful and/or entertaining.

No promises I'll be willing or able to make any given proposed change, of course.  I do this for fun, and while I don't consider that an excuse for poor quality, it means there are some significant practical limits to the amount of time I can actually spend on creating new material for the site; writing three reviews or columns a week is pretty much my upper limit (and as cases like today attest, it's sometimes more than I can manage).  But if there's something you can think of that I could be doing better, consider this my request for your opinion.

"Mere" Fanfiction

I've often repeated that I see no reason why I, as a reader, shouldn't hold fanfiction to the same standards as original fiction.  But the fact is, most people do evaluate pony stories (or any derivative stories, for that matter) much differently than they would commercial fiction.  Why is this, and are these differing expectations fair to both author and reader?  My thoughts, below.