Happy Birthday Gwen!
Today is the birthday of the very talented writer, insightful commenter, fantastic contributor to fandom, champion of Spike/Xander, and awesome friend: electricalgwen. Currently she’s had some very wonderful developments in her personal life which has left her with less time and energy for writing, but fortunately she’s still working on fic and has a lot of excellent stories I’d love to direct your attention to.
I got to know Gwen when she was writing one of her first S/X fics, which is still a favourite of mine: Animal (S/X, NC-17). Okay, first this fic is HOT, scorching hot! And second, Gwen does a great twist on the “Xander’s possessed (again) by the hyena spirit” story and ensures that it works believably in canon.
Gwen is not only good at writing hot and in character fic, she also excels at exploring darker issues. Her longer story, Dies Irae (S/X, NC-17), does this so wonderfully. The fic is set during S7 and in it Xander is vamped, which Gwen handles with skill and thoughtfulness. I'm impressed by this story because I think it is totally what could have happened - it's a believable alternate reality.
An absolute favourite of mine is Hero (S/X, R). There's a great blend of fun, action, humour, sweetness and poignancy. This has some of the funniest S/X banter and is a fantastic concept.
But Gwen isn’t just good at writing S/X!! She’s also very talented with other pairings, especially characters you might not automatically think of as a pairing. An excellent example of her versatility is Fault Lines (Lilah/Dawn, R). Yes, you read that correctly, Lilah/Dawn! And she totally makes it work. It’s set post-Chosen and there’s so much intriguing set up in this because it’s intended to be the first part in a longer story. I’m hoping that rec’ing it will get people to read this fantastic story and it will inspire the next parts because I’d love to read more (I do think this stands on its own, for those who dislike WiPs).
Another great fic (written for the awesome community maleslashminis) is Fading (Gunn/Oz, PG-13). Gwen has an excellent handle on both these characters. There’s a lovely quietness to this fic (set post NFA) as well as a slashy subtext.
It thought I’d end with a fun one - a poem in fact! - that always puts a smile on my face: The Multiple Pairings of Xander Harris (Mature). Not only is this a fantastic idea (Gwen has a stanza for each letter of the alphabet and the letter stands for one of the multiple pairings of Xander Harris), she executes it brilliantly! She hits all the great canon and fanon pairings (and includes some I hadn't thought of before!).
Of course, these are just a sampling of Gwen’s fic and I encourage you to browse through her memories here or her fic tag here. Also, her comments on other people’s fic are perceptive and frequently point out subtleties that I’ve missed (so if you see her comments on fic, it’s always worthwhile to read them!). I wish you a very happy birthday, Gwen!!
I got to know Gwen when she was writing one of her first S/X fics, which is still a favourite of mine: Animal (S/X, NC-17). Okay, first this fic is HOT, scorching hot! And second, Gwen does a great twist on the “Xander’s possessed (again) by the hyena spirit” story and ensures that it works believably in canon.
Gwen is not only good at writing hot and in character fic, she also excels at exploring darker issues. Her longer story, Dies Irae (S/X, NC-17), does this so wonderfully. The fic is set during S7 and in it Xander is vamped, which Gwen handles with skill and thoughtfulness. I'm impressed by this story because I think it is totally what could have happened - it's a believable alternate reality.
An absolute favourite of mine is Hero (S/X, R). There's a great blend of fun, action, humour, sweetness and poignancy. This has some of the funniest S/X banter and is a fantastic concept.
But Gwen isn’t just good at writing S/X!! She’s also very talented with other pairings, especially characters you might not automatically think of as a pairing. An excellent example of her versatility is Fault Lines (Lilah/Dawn, R). Yes, you read that correctly, Lilah/Dawn! And she totally makes it work. It’s set post-Chosen and there’s so much intriguing set up in this because it’s intended to be the first part in a longer story. I’m hoping that rec’ing it will get people to read this fantastic story and it will inspire the next parts because I’d love to read more (I do think this stands on its own, for those who dislike WiPs).
Another great fic (written for the awesome community maleslashminis) is Fading (Gunn/Oz, PG-13). Gwen has an excellent handle on both these characters. There’s a lovely quietness to this fic (set post NFA) as well as a slashy subtext.
It thought I’d end with a fun one - a poem in fact! - that always puts a smile on my face: The Multiple Pairings of Xander Harris (Mature). Not only is this a fantastic idea (Gwen has a stanza for each letter of the alphabet and the letter stands for one of the multiple pairings of Xander Harris), she executes it brilliantly! She hits all the great canon and fanon pairings (and includes some I hadn't thought of before!).
Of course, these are just a sampling of Gwen’s fic and I encourage you to browse through her memories here or her fic tag here. Also, her comments on other people’s fic are perceptive and frequently point out subtleties that I’ve missed (so if you see her comments on fic, it’s always worthwhile to read them!). I wish you a very happy birthday, Gwen!!