My Tribute to Giles fic I : Two wallpapers
This is another open love letter. I seem to be sending them out a lot lately, but that's because there's plently of love in this fandom, and I couldn't leave Giles out of it. For those of you who saw my spring_with_xan posts, you'll know what I'm talking about.
For those of you who didn't, I wanted to create graphics for my favorite Giles stories and for my favorite Giles authors. It's going slowly, but this post today will hopefully reflect a little of the fangirl adoration I share for two radically different but equally amazing authors mireille719 and janedavitt. Both of have a habit of writing the Giles I fell in love with, and yet both bring their own interpretations of his personality to the front so much so that I fall in love with him all over again after reading their fics.
Behind the cut you'll find links to wallpapers that include some of my favorite lines from each fic, so you can enjoy the memory of the fic even when you're not reading it! And, of course, links to each fic in question so you can read them if you're so inclined!
Sleep While I Drive
by mireille719
Giles/Xander, NC17
1280x1024 l 1280x800 l 1024x768
One of the most wonderful things about Mir's fic is that every single chapter makes me smile (this is not to say she can't write darker, bittersweet stuff, because she can), but often there is something so elementary, so pure, so perfect in the way she hits Xander's voice, or the way she arranges the words in Giles' thoughts that it just amazes me. And makes me grin, all unknowing. And this particular fic, started several years ago (and on a little break right now, but still being worked on), is pretty much a smile-guarantee. Xander decides, on a whim he doesn't even explain to himself, to invite Giles on his summer-of-self-discovery road-trip - and with Giles' help he manages to get past Oxnard. Each chapter is a perfect little present, even when it's Xander taking issue with Giles not treating him like an adult, or Giles thinking Xander's going to get tired of him, or any of the other stuff. Mir doesn't shy away from difficulties, but instead she lingers on them just as much as she lingers on the scortching hot idea of these two together - and in some ways it makes the entire fic happier to have something to balance it against. When I reread this for the umpteenth time to pick out some of my favorite quotes for these graphics, I had the entire page covered with page long quotes. I think that's part of what attracts me to Mir's writing style - her brilliance is in the way all the pieces fit together, in the way she comes up with entire paragraphs that cannot be understood in their fantastic power until you've read the last sentence of the chapter. But don't take my word for it... go read yourself!
Behind Closed Doors
by janedavitt
Giles/Spike, NC17
1280x1024 l 1280x800 l 1024x768
Jandavitt's fic don't always make me laugh - but I read her work for an entirely different reason - they draw me in, they wrap me up, and they make me forget that I ever doubted whatever pairing it is that she's writing. Her work was the way I first got exposed to Giles/Xander, and I think Behind Closed Doors defines the Giles/Spike genre for me so deeply that it's almost hard to read fic from another perspective. The fic starts in the summer after Season 5, when both Giles and Spike are grieving Buffy's loss - and on one dark night they make a deal. Not only is it toe-curlingly hot, it is somehow one of the sweetest romances for two people who, as Jane writes them, have not a romantic bone in their bodies. But they do find each other. And while Janedavitt isn't actively writing the Buffy fandom any longer (but still writes! in other fandoms!) I still think she's left us this wonderful legacy of an incredibly strong, dominant, beautiful Giles, and the fantastically stunning, proud, shining Spike.
For those of you who didn't, I wanted to create graphics for my favorite Giles stories and for my favorite Giles authors. It's going slowly, but this post today will hopefully reflect a little of the fangirl adoration I share for two radically different but equally amazing authors mireille719 and janedavitt. Both of have a habit of writing the Giles I fell in love with, and yet both bring their own interpretations of his personality to the front so much so that I fall in love with him all over again after reading their fics.
Behind the cut you'll find links to wallpapers that include some of my favorite lines from each fic, so you can enjoy the memory of the fic even when you're not reading it! And, of course, links to each fic in question so you can read them if you're so inclined!
Sleep While I Drive
by mireille719
Giles/Xander, NC17
1280x1024 l 1280x800 l 1024x768
One of the most wonderful things about Mir's fic is that every single chapter makes me smile (this is not to say she can't write darker, bittersweet stuff, because she can), but often there is something so elementary, so pure, so perfect in the way she hits Xander's voice, or the way she arranges the words in Giles' thoughts that it just amazes me. And makes me grin, all unknowing. And this particular fic, started several years ago (and on a little break right now, but still being worked on), is pretty much a smile-guarantee. Xander decides, on a whim he doesn't even explain to himself, to invite Giles on his summer-of-self-discovery road-trip - and with Giles' help he manages to get past Oxnard. Each chapter is a perfect little present, even when it's Xander taking issue with Giles not treating him like an adult, or Giles thinking Xander's going to get tired of him, or any of the other stuff. Mir doesn't shy away from difficulties, but instead she lingers on them just as much as she lingers on the scortching hot idea of these two together - and in some ways it makes the entire fic happier to have something to balance it against. When I reread this for the umpteenth time to pick out some of my favorite quotes for these graphics, I had the entire page covered with page long quotes. I think that's part of what attracts me to Mir's writing style - her brilliance is in the way all the pieces fit together, in the way she comes up with entire paragraphs that cannot be understood in their fantastic power until you've read the last sentence of the chapter. But don't take my word for it... go read yourself!
Behind Closed Doors
by janedavitt
Giles/Spike, NC17
1280x1024 l 1280x800 l 1024x768
Jandavitt's fic don't always make me laugh - but I read her work for an entirely different reason - they draw me in, they wrap me up, and they make me forget that I ever doubted whatever pairing it is that she's writing. Her work was the way I first got exposed to Giles/Xander, and I think Behind Closed Doors defines the Giles/Spike genre for me so deeply that it's almost hard to read fic from another perspective. The fic starts in the summer after Season 5, when both Giles and Spike are grieving Buffy's loss - and on one dark night they make a deal. Not only is it toe-curlingly hot, it is somehow one of the sweetest romances for two people who, as Jane writes them, have not a romantic bone in their bodies. But they do find each other. And while Janedavitt isn't actively writing the Buffy fandom any longer (but still writes! in other fandoms!) I still think she's left us this wonderful legacy of an incredibly strong, dominant, beautiful Giles, and the fantastically stunning, proud, shining Spike.