Africander - Niger

[aeneas_fic]

Title: All Who Wander
Author: Aeneas (aka Jerib_78)
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: It's Joss's sandbox, I just play there.

Author's Note: This is for the Scatterlings and Orphanages Ficathon.

All Who Wander

Comments

[liz_marcs]

Ummm, crying here.

I like how you left the ending opening. I think Xander is dead, but I'd also like to think that he's alive. A fine closing, I think, leaving it up to the reader.

I love the madness of Xander as he makes his run across the desert as a bush taxi driver and absolute adore the level of detail here. The descriptions of the dryness and the landscape is simply marvelous and I felt every cracked lip and dry throat.

I especially enjoyed the imagery of the ghosts following Xander around the desert. Uber creepy there. Most certainly chilling and an excellent indication of how deep into his madness Xander has sunk.

A fabulous job you've done here and a stunning trio of stories.

*applauds*

[bigsciencybrain]

Thank you! Niger was surprisingly hard to write about without a) getting very angry and political, and b) taking 500 pages. It's huge! And there's so much, most of it heartbreaking. I could have written an entirely different fic just based on the Tuaregs, which I barely mentioned in this one. And Captain Voulet's history, to me, was the embodiment of what that country and those people have lived through.

[rowaninfinity]

I thought this was a fabulous finish to your three stories. I think this series is one of my favorite BtVS I have ever read.

And I liked that you ended it vaguely so the reader could decide wether Xander was alive or not.

Beautiful imagery. Beautiful story.

[bigsciencybrain]

*blushes* Thanks! I did hesitate at the vague ending. I originally had two more countries but they were supposed to go to someone else. It didn't work out to condense the ending into this one so I just left it as it stood. Glad it's gone over well. LOL

[texanfan]

Excellent work. Xander spirals down into despair in such a believable fashion. His dead haunting him is a powerful image, as is Anya come to hold his hand as he dies. I'd love to think he lives but the story seems to indicate otherwise. You don't happen to have another country you're doing, do you?

[aeneas_fic]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I originally had two more countries but they were actually someone else's, book-keeping issues. At first I tried to condense it all into Niger but finally decided to leave it as it stood. There's more in my head and on my hard drive but it's on the back burner now. :)

[texanfan]

Wait there's more! You know, there are other countries up for grabs. Hint, hint. :)

[eve11]

Oh, fabulous. But ah, I want to know more. Will Xander be redeemed? Will he be rescued after going through his trial by fire? This section was just haunting, with Xander as the collector of souls in his own private hell, and the vivid descriptions of the countryside and the misery being swallowed by the desert. What a backdrop for a crisis of faith and character. And he does go back to the village, but oh, I desperately want to see him whole again.

[aeneas_fic]

I originally intended to go through two more countries for the ficathon but they were actually someone else's countries. If I manage to finish all my other ficathons, I may come back to Africa. :)

[eve11]

I do hope you do! And I also want to reiterate here just how much I loved these stories too, all on their own. Your descriptions are amazing, you paint effortless pictures with words. Your Xander characterization is spot on, and your original characters, too, are just brilliant. So beyond the average fanfic.

[aeneas_fic]

Thank you! I always worry about my Xander, he's a tricky character. :)

[learnedhand_dj]

I've been avoiding reading the S&O fic-a-thon entries, not wanting them to influence my own fic (which may not see the light of day anytime this calendar year, at this rate). But you got nominated in the WKA, and I wanted to read all the stories in the category before voting, so reading now won out. I'm really glad I did. All three parts are well-written, and I like that you've taken what could have been a fairly standard summer-movie-type adventure and turned it into much, much more. I feel bad now about marking out those two countries; more of this fic would have been wonderful.

Of course, you do have to do more at some point, you realize. You can't leave the comments about the robot ninjas and this other group that the scary Brits were working for hanging like that.

[aeneas_fic]

Thanks! I'm still plodding through the S&O fics myself because I'm uber slow/never have time to read. And don't feel bad! They were your countries and I had more countries than anyone really needed. :)

As for more...*whistles and looks innocent*