Fic recs, November 18th: Trotcon 2018 kinda-edition! · 1:46pm Nov 18th, 2018
VisualPony has started an audiobook of Solocitizen's Awakening! (I thought he was done posting videos to Youtube? <.< Not that I'm complaining.)
My newest reading is Lucky Dreams's In the Place the Wild Horses Sleep!
Why didn't I do this sooner?
Now this doesn't happen often: Shrink Laureate promoted his story Anonymity from minific to solo publish! I updated the May review to reflect its new position. :)
So back in June (god, that feels forever ago), I was at the Trotcon speedfic panel, and I told the collected authors that if anyone uploaded their fic to Fimfic, I would review it. Well, I have to assume that scared most of 'em away. <.< Over the months, I have been made aware of only three such uploads, so here they are, along with a couple things I wanted to get to sooner than later, to round it out.
H: 1 R: 2 C: 2 V: 0 N: 0
Flanks for the Memories by cogwheelbrain
Genre: Random Comedy
Featherweight wants a photo of Princess Luna's cutie mark.
If I didn't mention it already, the three-word prompt for these stories was "Rainbow Dash", "Featherweight", and "the moon". cogwheelbrain slapped them together into an amusing bit of absurdity. I will note the story doesn't exactly have a point, or an ending, but it's a speedfic, you can't control for things like that.
Recommended for Laughs
Five Moons by Trick Question
Genre: Comedy
Rainbow Dash is called to Twilight's office. Repeatedly.
I remember the author reading this one at Trotcon; it was a blast, then too. A nonstop cavalcade of double-entendres and innuendos that only Trick Question could pull off. And if Rainbow is to be believed, it's all perfectly innocent misunderstandings, too! This is a hoot.
Recommended
Moonwalker by Zyrian
Genre: Trollfic
An astronaut finds a rainbow pony in a moon.
I also remember hearing this one read; oh my god. Where the previous story is an example of nonstop good comedy, this is an example of nonstop stupid comedy, and it's no less hilarious. Nary a moment is spared to spear one thing or another, and the whole affair is patently ridiculous. I wouldn't have it any other way. Highly Troll Recommended
Recommended
Track Switch- Steel Dreams by Celefin
Sequel to Track Switch- Frankfurt Calling
Genre: Slice of Life
Being nocturnal can be lonely sometimes.
Wanted to jump on this while it's still fresh. Where Frankfurt Calling was good, Steel Dreams is great and shows that Celefin is not an author to be underestimated. On display is the same easy character creating that made Penny such a memorable part of Frankfurt; this time, our main character is a bat pony named Nightline, who's an engineer on the Frankfurt Line. Her main issue is that she's lonely, which comes to a screeching halt as Penny and a host of her human coworkers muscle their way into Nightline's life and leave an indelible mark. I was just really captivated by the interactions on display here; this is Railway Ponies meets Sam and Rose, with a healthy dose of immigrant life to boot. My only complaint is that Nightline's backstory is dumped on us all at once, but… Well, that is pretty accurate drunk behavior for some people, and her problems were relatable regardless. I am very ready for the next one of these to come down the line.
Highly Recommended
Starlight Repeatedly Teleports Into Custard by Loganberry
Genre: Random Comedy
Starlight's great at teleportation, she just always ends up covered in custard.
I definitely let this one go for too long. What can I say about it? It's like Twilight's Bathroom Is Flooded With Semen, except it's Starlight, she's covered in custard, and there's actually nothing any grosser or weirder than that. What the hell.
Recommended for Fans of Random Comedy
Thanks again! Nightline (and Trax) turned from a 'what if, maybe' thing into my favourite character of all my own creations. I also wanted to pack as much as I could into as little space as possible to make absolutely sure I could slap a complete tag on the story... I'm always afraid of not finishing what I started.
In my opinion, the sequel,
- MLP: FiM
- Comedy
- Random
- Slice of Life
Starlight's magic is growing stronger. So is her attraction to custard.is nowhere near as good. Just my opinion.
I smell a reference.
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A powerful fear!
The one thing I forgot to mention is that you did a very good job justifying a batpony protagonist. I'm notorious for not liking them, but even in the hands of a good author, they often have little use in a story that another tribe couldn't fulfill since, y'know, they kinda don't exist. But just the encounter with the kid on the commuter train was enough for me, and you went beyond that. :) So well done!
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There are two main reasons for this:
This is also my opinion.
1) The sequel was originally conceived as a very short bit of flashfic for friends at a convention, not as a real story. 1,000 words stretches it too much. I might not have published it here at all, except that:
2) When it went up here in August 2018, I was really fed up with not having published a completed story on Fimfiction for a year and a half. I'd have published more or less anything that qualified under Fimfiction rules at that point.
I'm not going to delete the sequel or anything, but the first "Custard" story -- the one reviewed here -- is easily the better of the two.
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