Writer Showcase : Isabeau and miss_porcupine
There are two fandoms in particular that I don't read in anymore for a couple of reasons. Mostly because I no longer follow them, even though I still adore the source material, but also because I read a body of work by one particular author that absolutely defined the fandom for me. And so I find it now impossible to read fics by other, equally-talented authors in those fandoms because they simply don't "ring true" to me; they don't fit into the universe that my defining author created, even drawing from the same source material.
The first of these I discovered initially on FF.N, long before I discovered LJ, and have followed longer than any other non-published author: dolamrothdame , better known as Isabeau (of Greenlea).
Isabeau writes in the Lord of the Rings fandom. The first story of hers I read was Captain My Captain, stumbling across it somewhere around chapter 40. I have no idea what drew me in initially - it could very well have been the presence of a well-written OFC, but then again, back then my tastes weren't very discerning. It was her very first fic, and it showed a little in places, but you mostly don't notice it - you're too busy being drawn into the War of the Ring through an entirely new pair of eyes, a female Ranger who ends up being far more than she or any of her companions had ever expected. CMC is merely the gateway to her verse, populated by kidnapping Rangers, pesky Elf-Lords, and charismatic princes and the dour Armsmasters who follow them.
While she is an OFC, Hethlin is by no means a Mary Sue. She has talents and faults, a young/still-growing mind, with moods, opinions and judgments that suit. Her backstory (elaborated in Blackbow) is reasonable, both how she was raised/trained and how she ended up with the Rangers in the first place. She is one of my all-time favorite characters in any fandom/story, and I've enjoyed following her story for the last seven years. And I want to find out who she nests with, darn it!
Isabeau is not as prolific an author as her body of work might suggest, as the entirety of her 33 stories has been written over that same seven-year (well, eight for her) time-span. But what she lacks in prolific-ness she more than makes up for in quality. She has thoroughly explored and researched her source material and breathes new life into it through an original character's outside perspective on events at the end of the Third Age/beginning of the Fourth Age. She knows what she's talking about, pays a great deal of attention to detail without bogging her readers down with TMI/info-dumping, and has a wonderful grasp of the characters she writes, both original and canon.
While I found her initially on FF.N (author profile here) and she does have a journal (dolamrothdame ), I've found that she mostly plays over here at Tolkien Fan Fiction. Over there, she occasionally collaborates with fellow authors Altariel (also altariel ) and Dwimordene. They've between the three of them created what's collectively referred to as the "Unabeauverse," which has its own LJ community (best_loved_sons ) and wiki.
Some of my particular favorites:
Fourth Age
A look into the distant future-Hethlin as a terrible old woman.
Captain My Captain
Events in RotK as experienced by a young Ranger of Ithilien. An in-progress revision can be found on TFF.
Last Rites
On the night before the Battle of the Morannon, questions are asked and answered about Boromir's death.
Though Stargate: Atlantis was and remains one of my all-time favorite TV shows, I never read that much in the fandom. This is mainly because, while I did like Rodney, I didn't have the intense love-affair with him that everyone else seemed to, and I never understood the McShep pairing. Since about 95% of fandom is McShep, you can understand my frustration.
For this reason, miss_porcupine, aka Domenika Marzione, seemed a pretty good match. I also discovered her initially on FF.N, through I think a search for stories featuring Atlantis as a character: Penelope Waiting. As a gateway story, probably not the best (Self-Made perhaps is better), but boy, did it draw me in, and I've never looked back!
miss_porcupine is known for two things: gen-fic, which all of hers is (with the occasional reference to het and (only recently) slash), and military authenticity. She will teach you to love (or lovingly mock) bureaucracy, which I never though was possible. Despite never having served in the military, she has done her research and treats Atlantis and her Marine detachment with the respect and realism they deserve and never got in-show. The detachment, for one, is far larger than was ever hinted at, and far smaller than she makes you realize they need.
Her favorite character is Major (Evan) Lorne, and it is mainly through his eyes that we see the Atlantis miss_porcupine has created. Like Sheppard, Lorne has his own gate team (first introduced (as in, how they got together) in Some Assembly Required), which is comprised of Docter Jonathan Safir, an Israeli epidemiologist, and Marines Sergeant (AJ) Reletti, Sergeant (Christopher) Suarez, and Staff Sergeant (Manuel) Ortilla. Of these, Reletti is my favorite (and another of my all-time favorite characters), but all of them are unique, fleshed-out, and lovable.
Another thing miss_porcupine has become known for is her abundance of original characters. She has created a list of all her original characters here, and you'll be flipping back and forth between it and her fics quite frequently as you begin, but like Lorne's team, all of her characters are unique and (mostly) identifiable, so it won't take too long for you to figure out who's who.
She's a very prolific writer (over 130 stories in SGA alone over the last five years). Her productivity has dropped off a little recently with the cancellation of SGA, though I still don't think she's watched the last season, and she'll probably eventually leave SGA behind entirely in the somewhat near future. Despite that, she's already posted her first SGA fic of the year - FOD (probably best not read until you've had a chance to familiarize yourself with her work).
She maintains both her journal (where she also posts weekly DoD/military photos) and a website, as well as a delicious page that's more easily sortable. She also has a timeline for her fics, though it hasn't been updated since April, I believe, and not everything is on there. And she "started" (as in wasn't every really intending to write) an AU where Colonel Sumner survived which isn't on her website, but which can be found using the sumnerfic tag on her journal.
I can't tell you how much I love her writing. She's detailed, she knows her characters, she treats them with respect, she's created a dynamic, diverse population that makes Atlantis feel like an actual expedition with (realistic) concerns and capabilities given her personnel. It's not just the Team Sheppard show anymore.
Some of my particular favorites:
The Curse of the Extraneous Lieutenant
Laura Cadman doesn't complain about her trip into Rodney McKay's head because, really, as far as Atlantis's lieutenants go, she got off relatively easily.
See Also:
Arboreal Retreat On Account of Hostile Felines
One of the many mishaps detailed in The Curse of the Extraneous Lieutenant. "I wanted to spend my afternoon hiding in a tree. Because the AAR for this mission isn't already going to read like a Monty Python script."
Just Like the Richard Gere Movie
Major John Sheppard from the perspective of the Atlantis-bound marines.
Entaillen
Things go wrong when the two teams go off-world together. Written as a serial.
The Welcome Wagon's Greasy Wheel
To the ATA carriers among the marines arriving in Atlantis, the city is one part eager puppy and three parts surreal hell.
Minor in Archaeology
Sheppard spends the afternoon alone with Atlantis and is rewarded for it.
A Very Happy Non-Denominational Voluntary Non-Working Day
Christmas in Atlantis is a battle between cultural sensitivity and armed men with too much tinsel.
Eat Your Heart Out, Peggy Flemming
The Ice Capades come to Pegasus and John gets a front-row seat.
Five Differences Between the Air Force and the Marines (as explained to Ronon)
Ask a silly question...
Kalliergo
Putting the marines in charge of food didn't really seem like a good idea at the time.
Object in Motion
An Atlantis Marine as a Runner.
See Also:
Impetus
Atlantis during Object in Motion
And:
The Lorentz Factor
Atlantis (civilians) during Object in Motion
The first of these I discovered initially on FF.N, long before I discovered LJ, and have followed longer than any other non-published author: dolamrothdame , better known as Isabeau (of Greenlea).
Isabeau writes in the Lord of the Rings fandom. The first story of hers I read was Captain My Captain, stumbling across it somewhere around chapter 40. I have no idea what drew me in initially - it could very well have been the presence of a well-written OFC, but then again, back then my tastes weren't very discerning. It was her very first fic, and it showed a little in places, but you mostly don't notice it - you're too busy being drawn into the War of the Ring through an entirely new pair of eyes, a female Ranger who ends up being far more than she or any of her companions had ever expected. CMC is merely the gateway to her verse, populated by kidnapping Rangers, pesky Elf-Lords, and charismatic princes and the dour Armsmasters who follow them.
While she is an OFC, Hethlin is by no means a Mary Sue. She has talents and faults, a young/still-growing mind, with moods, opinions and judgments that suit. Her backstory (elaborated in Blackbow) is reasonable, both how she was raised/trained and how she ended up with the Rangers in the first place. She is one of my all-time favorite characters in any fandom/story, and I've enjoyed following her story for the last seven years. And I want to find out who she nests with, darn it!
Isabeau is not as prolific an author as her body of work might suggest, as the entirety of her 33 stories has been written over that same seven-year (well, eight for her) time-span. But what she lacks in prolific-ness she more than makes up for in quality. She has thoroughly explored and researched her source material and breathes new life into it through an original character's outside perspective on events at the end of the Third Age/beginning of the Fourth Age. She knows what she's talking about, pays a great deal of attention to detail without bogging her readers down with TMI/info-dumping, and has a wonderful grasp of the characters she writes, both original and canon.
While I found her initially on FF.N (author profile here) and she does have a journal (dolamrothdame ), I've found that she mostly plays over here at Tolkien Fan Fiction. Over there, she occasionally collaborates with fellow authors Altariel (also altariel ) and Dwimordene. They've between the three of them created what's collectively referred to as the "Unabeauverse," which has its own LJ community (best_loved_sons ) and wiki.
Some of my particular favorites:
Fourth Age
A look into the distant future-Hethlin as a terrible old woman.
Captain My Captain
Events in RotK as experienced by a young Ranger of Ithilien. An in-progress revision can be found on TFF.
Last Rites
On the night before the Battle of the Morannon, questions are asked and answered about Boromir's death.
Though Stargate: Atlantis was and remains one of my all-time favorite TV shows, I never read that much in the fandom. This is mainly because, while I did like Rodney, I didn't have the intense love-affair with him that everyone else seemed to, and I never understood the McShep pairing. Since about 95% of fandom is McShep, you can understand my frustration.
For this reason, miss_porcupine, aka Domenika Marzione, seemed a pretty good match. I also discovered her initially on FF.N, through I think a search for stories featuring Atlantis as a character: Penelope Waiting. As a gateway story, probably not the best (Self-Made perhaps is better), but boy, did it draw me in, and I've never looked back!
miss_porcupine is known for two things: gen-fic, which all of hers is (with the occasional reference to het and (only recently) slash), and military authenticity. She will teach you to love (or lovingly mock) bureaucracy, which I never though was possible. Despite never having served in the military, she has done her research and treats Atlantis and her Marine detachment with the respect and realism they deserve and never got in-show. The detachment, for one, is far larger than was ever hinted at, and far smaller than she makes you realize they need.
Her favorite character is Major (Evan) Lorne, and it is mainly through his eyes that we see the Atlantis miss_porcupine has created. Like Sheppard, Lorne has his own gate team (first introduced (as in, how they got together) in Some Assembly Required), which is comprised of Docter Jonathan Safir, an Israeli epidemiologist, and Marines Sergeant (AJ) Reletti, Sergeant (Christopher) Suarez, and Staff Sergeant (Manuel) Ortilla. Of these, Reletti is my favorite (and another of my all-time favorite characters), but all of them are unique, fleshed-out, and lovable.
Another thing miss_porcupine has become known for is her abundance of original characters. She has created a list of all her original characters here, and you'll be flipping back and forth between it and her fics quite frequently as you begin, but like Lorne's team, all of her characters are unique and (mostly) identifiable, so it won't take too long for you to figure out who's who.
She's a very prolific writer (over 130 stories in SGA alone over the last five years). Her productivity has dropped off a little recently with the cancellation of SGA, though I still don't think she's watched the last season, and she'll probably eventually leave SGA behind entirely in the somewhat near future. Despite that, she's already posted her first SGA fic of the year - FOD (probably best not read until you've had a chance to familiarize yourself with her work).
She maintains both her journal (where she also posts weekly DoD/military photos) and a website, as well as a delicious page that's more easily sortable. She also has a timeline for her fics, though it hasn't been updated since April, I believe, and not everything is on there. And she "started" (as in wasn't every really intending to write) an AU where Colonel Sumner survived which isn't on her website, but which can be found using the sumnerfic tag on her journal.
I can't tell you how much I love her writing. She's detailed, she knows her characters, she treats them with respect, she's created a dynamic, diverse population that makes Atlantis feel like an actual expedition with (realistic) concerns and capabilities given her personnel. It's not just the Team Sheppard show anymore.
Some of my particular favorites:
The Curse of the Extraneous Lieutenant
Laura Cadman doesn't complain about her trip into Rodney McKay's head because, really, as far as Atlantis's lieutenants go, she got off relatively easily.
See Also:
Arboreal Retreat On Account of Hostile Felines
One of the many mishaps detailed in The Curse of the Extraneous Lieutenant. "I wanted to spend my afternoon hiding in a tree. Because the AAR for this mission isn't already going to read like a Monty Python script."
Just Like the Richard Gere Movie
Major John Sheppard from the perspective of the Atlantis-bound marines.
Entaillen
Things go wrong when the two teams go off-world together. Written as a serial.
The Welcome Wagon's Greasy Wheel
To the ATA carriers among the marines arriving in Atlantis, the city is one part eager puppy and three parts surreal hell.
Minor in Archaeology
Sheppard spends the afternoon alone with Atlantis and is rewarded for it.
A Very Happy Non-Denominational Voluntary Non-Working Day
Christmas in Atlantis is a battle between cultural sensitivity and armed men with too much tinsel.
Eat Your Heart Out, Peggy Flemming
The Ice Capades come to Pegasus and John gets a front-row seat.
Five Differences Between the Air Force and the Marines (as explained to Ronon)
Ask a silly question...
Kalliergo
Putting the marines in charge of food didn't really seem like a good idea at the time.
Object in Motion
An Atlantis Marine as a Runner.
See Also:
Impetus
Atlantis during Object in Motion
And:
The Lorentz Factor
Atlantis (civilians) during Object in Motion