New Who Short Story
This is a badly named category at best. People disagree about the length of a short story, but CoT defines it as anything 10,000 - 50,000 words long, which is ludicrous. Something 50,000 words long is approaching short novel length - in fact, both the Hugo and Nebula Awards classify anything above 40,000 words as a novel. These length standards, as well as standards for shorter works such as novellas and novelettes, are easily findable online ... if anyone at CoT had bothered to look.
A Small Piece of Coral by Paladin
Previously reviewed here. Still not a good story.
Edge of Doom by Orianna2000
An original companion shows up just to point out a thousand-year-old personal ad Rose placed for the Doctor and then conveniently disappears after two chapters, but not before the Doctor waxes poetic about how no one was ever as beautiful, wonderful, or sparkly special as Rose. There's some good writing here - it's a shame it's wasted on a clichéd setup (the Doctor gets one last chance to see Rose before she dies) and tedious, out-of-character Doctor/Rose OTP reactions. The final chapter was especially hard to take: the Doctor tearfully asks Jack how he can go on when the people he loves die, as if the Doctor himself has never run into this problem in his 900+ year lifespan. Including the time when he blew up his entire planet.
Balancing Act by ageless_aislynn
Somehow Donna has survived "Journey's End" ... by initiating a psychic mating bond with the Doctor. But if they actually give in to their impulses, the bond will overwhelm Donna, and her head will go kablooey. Naturally, circumstances conspire repeatedly to bring them into close physical contact, and Ten and Donna have to practice to make sure they can satisfy their urges without overloading the bond. It's a cracky concept, wittily executed, and even if this was written purely as an excuse for eight chapters of funny, hot Ten/Donna porn, I am completely in favor of that. I enjoyed this so much I'm willing to forgive the author for using some fairly tired phrases within three paragraphs of each other ("popping the 'p,'" "ministration," and "too many clothes").
The Six Stages of a Human Time Lord Biological Metacrisis by Gowdie
The other Doctor tries to come to grips with his new, human emotions; his half-human body; and a life with Rose. It's a perfectly fine story, but the occasional typos ("Tramp them back down," "Rinette," "physic paper," "dimension canon," etc.) are very jarring. Also, I'm no fan of stories where the other Doctor and Rose magically get a piece of TARDIS coral to grow, though YMMV if the coral is part of your personal fanon.
30 Days With Martha Jones by Persiflage
These are thirty loosely connected day-in-the-life stories in which Martha meets many past and future companions and incarnations of the Doctor. I'd have enjoyed this more if most of the character voices had sounded right or could even be distinguished from one another, and the writing is flat and not terribly interesting. It isn't a bad set of stories, but it just kind of sits there. (The only exception is a sweet Year That Never Was vignette with Harry Sullivan.)
Minor failpoints for consistently capitalizing "He" in Handy's dialogue about the Doctor. The Doctor's always had a bit of a God complex, but this is taking things a little too far.
Illyria Series by TARDIS_stowaway
At 49,382 words, this set of stories is barely eligible for this category at all, and that's assuming a series should be eligible for a "short story" award in the first place. All that aside, these are unexpectedly entertaining stories about Rose and alt!Eccleston!Nine traveling through the parallel universe. Although most of them are told in first person, which is usually a bad sign, TARDIS_stowaway has a good grip on Rose's voice, though Nine's isn't always perfect. Long blocks of exposition and dialogue make things a little harder to get through than they should be, but I enjoyed these nevertheless. (Also reviewed here.)
Operation Awesome by Neadods
Previously reviewed here. A very good story that just misses being great.
Held at a Distance by Rallalon
Another series of fics, though at least this one is a much more manageable 14,306 words. Extremely well-written, with the unusual premise that Jack's wrongness means he can't come within more than 30 paces of the Doctor without causing him pain. Of course, this doesn't stop him, the Doctor, and Rose from having sex, even if he can't physically get near the Doctor.
The second story is decidedly kinky (which is not a complaint), and is bookended by two melancholy character studies: the first, where Jack muses over current and lost loves, and the third, where we discover under which circumstances the Doctor and Jack can actually touch. I thought all three of these were terrific.
Atonement by Sahiya
Made me grouchy before the first paragraph was over, because the Doctor is reluctant to find a companion, "someone who wasn't Rose, who would always be second best." Fortunately, the story got much better after that, with Ten deciding to track down Jack not long after Nine left him on the Game Station, and instead finding Jack on Earth helping people survive and rebuild after the Daleks caused so much damage. Much manly angst ensues. Nicely written, if a bit too long; a very good choice if you're a big fan of angst.
Overall: This is a very mixed category, but there are a few standouts. I was all set to hand this over to Balancing Act before I read Held at a Distance, and now I think I have to go with the latter.
A Small Piece of Coral by Paladin
Previously reviewed here. Still not a good story.
Edge of Doom by Orianna2000
An original companion shows up just to point out a thousand-year-old personal ad Rose placed for the Doctor and then conveniently disappears after two chapters, but not before the Doctor waxes poetic about how no one was ever as beautiful, wonderful, or sparkly special as Rose. There's some good writing here - it's a shame it's wasted on a clichéd setup (the Doctor gets one last chance to see Rose before she dies) and tedious, out-of-character Doctor/Rose OTP reactions. The final chapter was especially hard to take: the Doctor tearfully asks Jack how he can go on when the people he loves die, as if the Doctor himself has never run into this problem in his 900+ year lifespan. Including the time when he blew up his entire planet.
Balancing Act by ageless_aislynn
Somehow Donna has survived "Journey's End" ... by initiating a psychic mating bond with the Doctor. But if they actually give in to their impulses, the bond will overwhelm Donna, and her head will go kablooey. Naturally, circumstances conspire repeatedly to bring them into close physical contact, and Ten and Donna have to practice to make sure they can satisfy their urges without overloading the bond. It's a cracky concept, wittily executed, and even if this was written purely as an excuse for eight chapters of funny, hot Ten/Donna porn, I am completely in favor of that. I enjoyed this so much I'm willing to forgive the author for using some fairly tired phrases within three paragraphs of each other ("popping the 'p,'" "ministration," and "too many clothes").
The Six Stages of a Human Time Lord Biological Metacrisis by Gowdie
The other Doctor tries to come to grips with his new, human emotions; his half-human body; and a life with Rose. It's a perfectly fine story, but the occasional typos ("Tramp them back down," "Rinette," "physic paper," "dimension canon," etc.) are very jarring. Also, I'm no fan of stories where the other Doctor and Rose magically get a piece of TARDIS coral to grow, though YMMV if the coral is part of your personal fanon.
30 Days With Martha Jones by Persiflage
These are thirty loosely connected day-in-the-life stories in which Martha meets many past and future companions and incarnations of the Doctor. I'd have enjoyed this more if most of the character voices had sounded right or could even be distinguished from one another, and the writing is flat and not terribly interesting. It isn't a bad set of stories, but it just kind of sits there. (The only exception is a sweet Year That Never Was vignette with Harry Sullivan.)
Minor failpoints for consistently capitalizing "He" in Handy's dialogue about the Doctor. The Doctor's always had a bit of a God complex, but this is taking things a little too far.
Illyria Series by TARDIS_stowaway
At 49,382 words, this set of stories is barely eligible for this category at all, and that's assuming a series should be eligible for a "short story" award in the first place. All that aside, these are unexpectedly entertaining stories about Rose and alt!Eccleston!Nine traveling through the parallel universe. Although most of them are told in first person, which is usually a bad sign, TARDIS_stowaway has a good grip on Rose's voice, though Nine's isn't always perfect. Long blocks of exposition and dialogue make things a little harder to get through than they should be, but I enjoyed these nevertheless. (Also reviewed here.)
Operation Awesome by Neadods
Previously reviewed here. A very good story that just misses being great.
Held at a Distance by Rallalon
Another series of fics, though at least this one is a much more manageable 14,306 words. Extremely well-written, with the unusual premise that Jack's wrongness means he can't come within more than 30 paces of the Doctor without causing him pain. Of course, this doesn't stop him, the Doctor, and Rose from having sex, even if he can't physically get near the Doctor.
The second story is decidedly kinky (which is not a complaint), and is bookended by two melancholy character studies: the first, where Jack muses over current and lost loves, and the third, where we discover under which circumstances the Doctor and Jack can actually touch. I thought all three of these were terrific.
Atonement by Sahiya
Made me grouchy before the first paragraph was over, because the Doctor is reluctant to find a companion, "someone who wasn't Rose, who would always be second best." Fortunately, the story got much better after that, with Ten deciding to track down Jack not long after Nine left him on the Game Station, and instead finding Jack on Earth helping people survive and rebuild after the Daleks caused so much damage. Much manly angst ensues. Nicely written, if a bit too long; a very good choice if you're a big fan of angst.
Overall: This is a very mixed category, but there are a few standouts. I was all set to hand this over to Balancing Act before I read Held at a Distance, and now I think I have to go with the latter.