Category Archives: Fan Fiction

May 25, 2010

Exploring alternate universe — FF Recs from @KStew411

By Amber

If you’ve been reading these rec’s for a while, you know I’m not super into AU stories. I am obsessed with Dead Confederates and I adore Last Rites and La Canzone, but I’m not a heavy reader of AU. Or, I wasn’t, until I started really striking out with all human fics. The last couple weeks have been pretty thin as far as finding new AH stories. So I started following the favorite stories of some authors I like and I opened up a whole new can of worms in AU. So today I have a couple AU rec’s for you, and unless something really grabs my attention, it will probably be AU rec’s for the next couple weeks, too. Side effect of reading some really good AU stories–I can’t read real Twilight anymore. It’s too chaste.

“The Dark Side of the Moon” by Blondie

How have I not recommended this story?! This is a MAJOR oversight on my part and I apologize to you all. This was one of the first fanfics I ever read. JAG from RAOR recommended it to me almost a year ago. I can’t imagine there are many out there who haven’t read DSOTM, but then, I am always surprised by the number of people who miss some of the fics that have been around a while. DSOTM is New Moon told entirely from Edward’s perspective. Basically, the Midnight Sun version of New Moon. I have to say, one thing that has always bugged me about Twilight is that Stephenie Meyer gave us half of Breaking Dawn from freaking Jacob’s perspective, which let’s be honest, no one cares about, but we have no idea what’s going on with Edward during New Moon. Want to do a POV switch? How about cutting that whole part of New Moon where Bella moped around in favor of showing us what Edward was up to? (Granted, there is an outtake on Stephenie’s website of when Edward got The Call.) Still, DSOTM is what I always wanted from New Moon. Blondie does a fantastic job staying in canon. Her Edward is completely consistent with canon Edward, yet he is a fresh and interesting character. And her concept of how he spent his six months away from Bella is amazing. The tendency is to kind of dismiss Edward’s melodramatic tendencies, but Blondie’s characterization is so good that it’s easy to understand why he is making the decisions he makes, and to see them not as melodramatic overreaction, but as poor decisions made by a desperate, grieving man. The other characters are well drawn–Bella especially comes off as a bit stronger and more self-determined–but it’s Edward’s show. If you’re Team Edward and you haven’t read DSOTM, get on it.

“Laid Bare” by Brits23

While still AU, LB is considerably out of character. The story opens with Bella, daddy’s little girl, at a poker night with “her boys” from the rez, drinking, smoking, fooling around with Embry. This Bella is chameleonic. For Charlie she is daddy’s little princess, for her boys she is a tough-talking, Tequila drinking bad girl. Bella isn’t a bad person, she just hasn’t decided if she’s going to be what everyone else expects her to be or if she’ll just be herself. Bella’s personality crisis starts to clear up when she begins speaking with Edward Cullen, her biology partner. LB takes some liberties with the Twilight plot. Here Edward tried to turn Rosalie so he would have a mate like Carlisle did in Esme, but his venom “didn’t work” and Carlisle ended up having to turn her. Edward is moody and a virgin, but beyond that he doesn’t have a lot in common with canon Edward. LB Edward smokes, cusses, and when Bella chooses to be changed into a vampire, though he doesn’t love her choice, Edward respects it. Gasp–Edward listens to Bella and respects her choices! LB Bella is even more out of character than Edward. Tough, no-nonsense, she strong and determined not to let vampires and werewolves push her around. No cowering and hand-wringing here. LB has a unique twist on James and Victoria that I don’t want to spoil for you. Suffice it to say, the James scene is one of the most tense I have read. And did I mention the lemons? Oh yeah–this story is super lemony. Edward and Bella get it on early and often. They have a magnetic chemistry they can’t deny, and I love that here is an Edward who does not hesitate to get what he wants. Despite their vampire/human differences, Edward and Bella are a well matched pair and they don’t waste a lot of time lamenting their differences. They just deal with their reality and are committed to doing whatever they have to in order to remain together. And man, do they really have to commit to sticking together. Laid Bare never fails to take an unexpected direction and keep me guessing with what’s next and how else fate can conspire to screw over Edward and Bella.

Never run out of new fics to read! Check out all the rest of KStew411′s recs and reviews!

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May 4, 2010

A couple of rec’s to tide you over — FF Recs by @KStew411

By Amber

I’m going to be taking a break for the next couple weeks. What’s been busy is getting even busier and I won’t be able to keep up with the rec’s. This week’s rec’s are both lighter stories. Summer is approaching and I’ve been looking for something less angsty to occupy me. These fics have been making me laugh–hopefully they entertain you, too.

“Failure to Thrive” by Julesnerd

Bella and Edward meet in sex therapy. Done. Sold. Emmett is Bella’s sex therapist. What?! Awesome. Sign me up. I stumbled across this story by accident when looking for something else entirely, and man, am I glad. I laughed for three days straight while I read it. Bella has been diagnosed as “clinically frigid” after a series of bad-bordering-on-scarring sexual experiences (there is a brief scene recollecting sexual assault, but it’s short and not graphic), and Edward is sexually insatiable. Poor guy, once he gets going he can’t stop. He’s literally driven away all of his girlfriends, and now he has performance and anxiety issues because of it. The set-up is a little preposterous, but because this is a funy, fluffy fic, I’ll roll with it. After meeting at sex therapy, Edward and Bella exchange their stories and decide (in about fifteen minutes) to help each other out. Of course they’re perfect for each other. Bella’s sense of humor and snarky attitude hide a lifelong hurt, and a sincere belief that maybe she isn’t cut out to have a healthy sex life. Her backstory is a little sad, but she has so much spirit and sass you can’t feel bad for her. You will love this Bella. She acts first, thinks later, which is the polar opposite of Edward. He thinks too much. I want to know this Edward. Despite a penchant for over-thinking, he’s romantic and thoughtful and kind. He is so careful with Bella, working through her fears and trying to control his own anxiety, too. He sweeps Bella off her feet with new deadbolts and trips to amusement parks. What makes this story work is that despite their unusual meeting, which is almost unbearably precious, Edward and Bella are real. Underneath the sharp banter–the dialogue in this story is a real treat–they have insecurities and issues. And they talk about them like grown-ups would. The serious, intimate (and no, I don’t mean intimate in the lemony sense) moments between them anchor the fluffier, sexier side of the story. “Failure to Thrive” is a fun, fast read. Taking your laptop to the pool or the beach? Read this one while you’re there.

“Relative Wind” by Mac214

DILF alert. This is one of those stories I’d been seeing in my fic searches forever and one day I caved and read it. Loved it. Bella’s best friend and roommate Mike Newton is about to move across the country. To celebrate and say farewell, Bella lets Mike talk her into going sky diving. Guess who her dive instructor is? Yep. Edward. They meet, he harnesses her up, she cracks and D/S joke, sparks fly. But after a zesty lemon in the drop zone break room, Edward is called away and Bella slips out. Now roommate-less, Bella interviews potential new flat mates. Enter Alice Cullen. A little uptight, a little hyper, at first Alice seems all right. Then her dad comes over to help her move in and all hell break loose. Because it turns out Edward is Alice’s dad and he’s twenty years older than Bella. !!! Don’t worry, it’s not gross. The age issue is handled in a realistic fashion. Edward and Bella go through things I think anyone would when dating outside their generation. But they have crazy chemistry, and Edward, who stuck out a passionless marriage and nursed his wife through cancer, is hella attractive. I’d totally break my ten-year rule for him. Athletic, adventurous, housebroken. What more could a girl want? Then there’s Alice. What starts out as reasonably normal devolves into manipulative and borderline cruel. You will love to hate this Alice. Judgmental, stuck up, insufferable–I am praying she gets her what’s coming to her. On the one hand, the author does give legitimate grounds for Alice to be upset about Edward and Bella’s relationship. Bella is the first woman Edward has died since Alice’s mother died, and Bella is Alice’s own age. Okay, yeah, that’s going to take some adjusting. But Alice is conniving and downright mean–there’s a hurt coming for Alice and quite frankly, I think she deserves it. This story shuffles some relationships around. Esme is Bella’s older sister, obsessed with STDs, Leah is dating Eric Yorkie, and Emmett and Rosalie are another May-December love story, though their age difference isn’t as steep as Edward and Bella’s. This is a funny fic driven by a straightforward Bella. The whole issue of age and love is dealt with realistically, but overall the story is light and sexy with some pretty hilarious plotlines.

A two week break give you plenty of time to catch up on all the recs from KStew411! No more excuses… just reading.

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April 27, 2010

The HunterHunting Special — FF Recs from @KStew411

By Amber

This week I am rec’ing two stories by one author. Many of you (most of you) have probably read “Clipped Wings & Inked Armor” by HunterHunting, in fact, as I was reading this fic it was one of the biggest, most popular stories in the fandom. I just assumed everyone was always reading it. Someone recently told me, however, that not only had she not read CW&IA, she had never even heard of it. What?! Unacceptable. So I am rec’ing it this week, for those who may not have experienced this story already. Also, because CW&IA is such a gut-wrenching read, I think it appropriate to follow it with a rec for HH’s current work in progress, the comic and smutty “The Misapprehension of Bella Swan”. So this week it’s the HunterHunting two-for-one special in the fanfic rec’s. Note: due to smut content, both these stories will be linked to the uncensored Twilighted editions, though MoBS can also be found on HH’s blog (also uncensored) and on FFN (sometimes edited for content).

“Clipped Wings & Inked Armor” by HunterHunting

Oh this story. This one comes with the biggest ANGST warning–it’s way, way up the angst scale, somewhere right around “Wide Awake” for drama. In fact, I think the top-three angstiest stories I’ve read are WA, CW&IA and “How to Save a Life”. The only thing that made getting through CW&IA tolerable was that HH updated almost every week, sometimes twice a week. So waiting through the heartfail was usually never too bad. And now, for those who haven’t read it, it’s complete so you don’t have to sweat out the cliffies. CW&IA is one of the best-written fics out there. This is one of those all-human stories that makes you think, “Change the names and this could be a novel.” It opens in Chicago, where Edward Masen is one of the proprietors of a tattoo parlor, along with Emmett, Jasper, and Alice, the resident piercing expert. This is Tattward in his original form. Edward has multiple piercings and is covered in ink (all of which is detailed in HH’s profile on FFN). Bella arrives as a grad student at Northwestern and goes to work for Edward’s aunt Esme in her bookshop across from the tattoo parlor. Of course right away Edward is attracted to Bella. But Bella has problems. She’s recovering from a terrible plane crash that killed her whole family and all of her friends. I’m not a fan of plane crashes, and while some of Bella’s memories are detailed, I never thought HH was being gratuitous in her writing. In fact, one of the strengths of CW&IA is how well she handles the darker aspects of the story. Edward has a past of his own. His parents were brutally murdered when he was eighteen, and while I pegged whodunit pretty quick, Edward’s memory is a wasteland thanks to years of drug abuse, so he hasn’t connected the dots yet. See? I told you this was an angsty story. Bella goes to Edward for a tattoo commemorating everything she lost in the crash, and Edward begins his careful, fucked-up wooing of Bella. She’s messed up, I’m not gonna lie. She has nightmares, a painkiller addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder–she’s a wreck. But the beauty of the story lies in how Edward and Bella slowly put each other back together. And it’s not all tears and pain. Edward particularly brings some humor to the story. He has a cupcake addiction, the whole TK2 plotline was too adorable for words, and even Edward’s OCD tendencies were a source of comic relief occasionally. Part of what makes CW&IA so great is the distinctive voice of Edward. Like “Dead Confederates”, CW&IA has an Edward that sounds unlike any other. He comes across so realistically, it’s almost like he’s sitting right next to you, telling you this in person. If you haven’t read CW&IA, please do. And if you have, it’s always a good time to revisit a classic.

More goodies, after the jump!

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April 20, 2010

Business continues — @KStew411 FF Recs

By Amber

No opening in favor of getting rec’s done. Still so busy I could throw up.

“How to Save a Life” by unholy.obsession

So I waited to recommend this story until it was finished. Why? Because it’s angsty as fuck. This is one of the angstiest stories I’ve read. I didn’t want to recommend it until you could read it in one go because waiting for updates–even though the author was good about updating regularly–was killer. But now it’s complete so you can read without the painful waiting through the cliffhangers. “How to Save a Life” is a high-school set, all-human fic in which Bella moves to Forks after growing tired of dealing with her bi-polar mother. In Forks Bella becomes friends with Alice Cullen and she meets Alice’s surly, reticent older brother Edward. At first, HTSAL Edward seemed like such a prick to me. He’s a stoner, he’s high or strung out most of the time, he’s abominably rude to everyone, especially Bella. But as Bella unwinds the events of the previous year, the reasons for Edward’s behavior become clear. Everything hinges on a fatal car accident the year before which killed Edward’s girlfriend, Tanya. They were the golden couple–the popular jock and his straight-A class president-type girlfriend. But as Bella finds, all is not as it seems at Forks High. I really loved “How to Save a Life” for its Bella. She’s pretty amazing. Her life has not been perfect, but she remains optimistic and inherently kind to others. She cares deeply about the people around her. She throws herself into the void of Edward’s problems, trying to restore him back to the happy, together guy he was before Tanya’s death. However, the more Bella probes into that car accident and what lead Tanya to drive out that day, the more she finds an ugly truth. And this Bella is no Pollyanna. She knows that she can only push Edward so far before he has to want to get better for himself. She’s just not going to let him linger in his depression as everyone else has done so far. But of course, this is an angsty fucking story, so Bella encounters plenty of drama of her own (this story delivered one of the most heart-stopping moments I’ve read through so far). And Bella is not perfect. She’s lashes out in anger and she comes to treat Edward about as bad as he’s treated her. But when she’s just about to give up hope for good and throw herself into the same abyss Edward has been living in, he reaches out and gives her back her sense of optimism. “How to Save a Life” is about healing and forgiveness and moving on in the face of devastating tragedy. It swings between unbearably sweet moments and gut-wrenching angst, and through it all is Bella, dragging everyone back toward the light.

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April 13, 2010

Busy little bees — FF Recs from @KStew411

By Amber

Ugh. So busy lately. Hate it. I hate being this busy. It seriously infringes on my do-nothing time. I like to just do nothing. My ideal job would be “house cat”. Just lie around all day, preferably in the sun, and do nothing. Heavenly. I hate doing stuff. And not only do I have a lot of stuff to do, for some insane reason it all seems to be happening at half past ass in the morning. If there’s something I hate more than doing stuff, it’s waking up early in order to do some stuff. I’m extra crusty and bitchy lately because of the early hours and long days full of doing stuff. Let’s get to the fic rec’s so I can go back to doing nothing.

“Incubus Anomaly” by elusivetwilight

This story should come with a warning. Caution: IA may cause spontaneous loss of panties. This is one of the sexier stories I’m reading right now. “Incubus Anomaly” is by elusivetwilight, who also wrote “The Rain Season”, one of my earliest fics. Like TRS, IA is very citrusy in nature. But TRS was all human and IA is an alternate universe story; Edward is a vampire. While this story has vampires and Volturi, it is totally out of character and not at all in canon. Yes, Edward is a vampire, but here he is in his mid-twenties, and he has left the Cullens and is living on his own. As an incubus. (An incubus is a demon that has sex with a woman while she is sleeping in order to feed from her soul. Often, mythology indicates repeated exposure to an incubus causes insanity or even death.) Edward isn’t eating people’s souls and he’s not taking advantage of sleeping women, but he is opening a vein and drinking human blood while his lover is blissed out in a post-orgasmic state. So…Edward has lots of sex. Enter Edward’s new neighbor, divorcee Bella Swan Black. Of course Edward wants Bella in every way, and very badly, but she is wary of men, bitter and burned from her husband Jake’s betrayal. This is no weak, whimpering Bella. She kicks ass and takes names. She is fierce and edgy and fully capable of taking care of herself. She and Edward circle each other warily; he wants her but doesn’t want to be controlled by her, and Bella is attracted to Edward despite a basic fear of being in another man’s thrall. Also, Edward is super moody and mysterious, which combined with her trust issues, makes Bella cautious of him. Several relationships are vastly different in IA than they are in Twilight. First, Jessica is Bella’s best friend and you will like her. She is a good friend and she’s loyal and funny. It’s a relief for Bella to have one uncomplicated relationship in this story. The Volturi are also different. They don’t live as a unified group. Marcus actually works in the same place as Bella, and Caius was Edward’s mentor into the incubus lifestyle. It’s a big deal that Bella is Edward’s singer but the exact nature of that relationship is a bit mysterious–I expect the author has a particular idea of how that will play out. As for the Cullens, Emmett is jovial with a distinctly provoking edge, and Jasper is creepy. Like super, super creepy. And Alice has a bit of an edge, too. Oh, and you will hate Jake in this story. He’s a total douche. “Incubus Anomaly” is a sexy, dark, mysterious story; give it a try if you’re looking for some smut with brains.

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April 6, 2010

Dead Confederates — FF Recs by @KStew411

By Amber

Thinking about my rec this week got me curious and I did a little math (with a calculator, so it’s reasonably accurate!). Including today’s rec, I have recommended less than one third of my favorites list. I have rec’ed fifty-one stories to date, and that’s *less than one-third* of my favorites list. Which means I have over 150 stories favorited. And for everyone one story I favorite, there are probably a half dozen that I don’t. So I feel secure in saying I have read A LOT of fanfic in the last ten months. A while back I rec’ed the fantastic “Wide Awake”, that gateway drug that gets so many of us hooked on fanfic. I rec’ed it alone because I didn’t want to worry about any other story while writing about one I love so much. And today, for only the second time, a story has my sole, undivided attention. Today we’re going to talk about “Dead Confederates” by goldenmeadow. And I’m going to begin by saying this:

“Dead Confederates” is the best fanfic I’ve ever read.

Hear me out. (Bestie, hold off on the MotU defense, it isn’t necessary.) Last week, I ran down some of my favorite fics. I stand by what I said last week. I love these stories. I read and re-read them, think about them, discuss them and text with Bestie until my thumbs are numb. I’ve made a strong statement today, and I want to make it clear that it doesn’t mean I like any fic I’ve rec’ed less, it just means I’ve reorganized how I categorize my fics. I have two categories of favorite fics: best all human and best canon/alternate universe. The really good AH stories are the ones that make me think, “Change the names, and this could be a book.” The great canon/AU stories are the ones that have destroyed my ability to read the real Twilight. But I never found a story that combines the best of these qualities, until “Dead Confederates”. It is the perfect blend of source material and original ideas; it also perfectly balances humor and drama, and plot and lemons.

“Dead Confederates” tells the story of Eddie Cullen, a good ole boy from low country South Carolina. He’s a foul-mouthed redneck with shitkicking boots and permanent hard-on. And he’s a vampire. Eddie (don’t call him Edward, he won’t appreciate it) is on the Volturi’s most-wanted list thanks to his mind-reading abilities, and after years of hiding out in England, he was found and captured by Chelsea. Carlisle bargains with Aro to get him back, and once reunited with the Cullens, they flee to America and settle in “South Cackalakee” to hide. Forget being upper-crusty people of quality. The Cullens have gone to ground–literally. Carlisle the doctor becomes Carl the vet, Emmett is better known as monster-truck driving Bubba, and Jasper is called Junior, a free-loving hippie who deals with his troubled past by having a lot of sex with basically anything that moves. Maw Esme smacks her boys with impunity, does their laundry, threatens to wash their mouths out with lye soap, and buys her paper goods in bulk at Costco. When the story begins, Alice and Rosalie haven’t joined the Cullens, but Emmett is pursuing Rose, a vampire who lived in town before the Cullens’ arrival and works as a waitress at the local diner.

As for Alice…well she’s something else in this story. Edward alludes to her pending arrival early on, and when she does finally show up, she is not what you expect. She’s a precognitive vampire, sure, but she’s also a kleptomaniac. Her relationship with Eddie is combative, prickly, sometimes downright mean, and only rarely friendly. This is not an Alice and Edward who work seamlessly together to protect the family. Alice has come for Jasper, but also because she is getting glimpses of the showdown between the Volturi and the Cullens. And Eddie, hot headed and quick tempered, is always harping on her to reveal what she knows. She won’t. Alice is cagey and her trustworthiness is questionable.

And then there’s Eddie and Bella. When the story opens, Eddie is pining for Bella from afar. He’s the town’s hell-raising bad boy, expelled from school and up to no good. Bella is new in town, living with Charlie and waitressing alongside Rose. Poor Eddie is plagued with want. He’s profane and earthy and as he is the sole narrator of the story, you will hear a lot about how bad he needs to jack off because of Bella. This story is super, super lemony (even if most of it is of the self-abuse variety). It’s up there with Clipped Wings & Inked Armor in terms of graphicness of language, so it’s not for the faint of heart, but damn, is it funny. And Bella is sexy, sassy, strong, and a terrific potty-mouth in her own right. They play off each other beautifully, trading quips and dirty talk. Edward is coasting along, enjoying the freedom of this new hillbilly life, and Bella forces him to start feeling again and dealing with reality. She’s as earthy as Eddie, his match in every way, except the most basic physical difference of vampire and human. And even then, Bella won’t be intimidated. Also, Jacob and the wolves are in this story as the Cajun “loup-garou”, and Bella is aware of her friend’s true nature long before Eddie reveals his.

“Dead Confederates” is funny and lemony and there is so much to love about it. Emmett the hypochondriac, Carl getting baked with his pseudo-brood and sniffing junk food, Esme’s predilection for Ziploc bags and Alice’s sticky fingers. It’s funny, with quick repartee (I imagine Eddie as a fast talker) and witty one liners and a penchant for alliteration. But there’s an undercurrent of mystery and drama–the Volturi hounding the Cullens around the world for Edward’s talent. The nature of Carlisle and Aro’s bargain for Edward’s release. Alice’s visions of the future that she won’t reveal. Bella’s role with the Cullens, and her part in their future. It’s like having a two-tiered story. On one level, it’s a light, funny, sexy story about a wild Southern boy wooing a sassy babe. He has a crazy family; she has a gun-toting dad. Laughs all around. On another level, it’s a dark, mysterious story about a strong-willed family standing against a bigger, evil foe and the girl who holds the key to their battle. And it’s the best example of source material and original ideas combined I have found yet.

“Dead Confederates” is at the must-read level. And once you’ve read it, check out the companion “Rebelward Without a Cause”, a series of outtakes and sideshots that shed some light on the other characters and certain events in “Dead Confederates”.

Damn. I got to add another story to my must read list. And I was doing SO good reading real books. Oh well. Wondering where all those recs are? They are all right here, ready for you to bookmark! Go, go now!

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March 30, 2010

These fics are owning me — FF Recs by @KStew411

By Amber

A lot of people ask what my favorite fics are, and that’s impossible for me to answer. I wouldn’t be reading a story if I didn’t like it, and I wouldn’t be rec’ing it if I didn’t REALLY like it. So to an extent, they’re all my favorite. That said, I do have some fics which are more favoritier than others.  Some of my earliest fics have completed or are almost complete, stories like Carpe Noctem & Fiat Lux, The Rain Season, and Bare. There are stories I love which don’t update regularly, like Elemental, The Woods Are Lovely, Dark and Deep, and Edward Wallbanger. And then there are stories I fall in love with and the minute I recommend them it seems like they stop updating, like Bright Like the Sun, Burn and Shine, Bella Swan: Zombie Killer, and Caravaggio. That’s frustrating. Then there are the beastly big fics I read and re-read and will love forever and insist everyone else read, too, like Wide Awake and Tropic of Virgo. I have my canon loves which have destroyed my ability to read the real Twilight: La Canzone della Bella Cigna and Last Rites–I drop everything when they update. I think right now my two biggest flip-out fics are MotU and University of Edward Masen. Fuck whatever I’m doing when MotU updates–I will run for the nearest quiet place to read. And I actually do have my alarm set early on Saturday mornings to get my UoEM fix. That said, the fics that are killing me right now with their awesomeness are The Gentleman from Washington State (aka Senator Cullen and tops for UST), The Unaccompanied Soul (everyone must read this), and Eye Contact (so unusual and lovely). Of course, I am always looking for new fics and lately I’ve been completely obsessed with…

“Guardian” by ChampagneAnyone

I don’t think I’m scary but my email inbox is full of messages from people saying, “I was too afraid to tweet you”, or “so-and-so was too nervous to write you so I am passing on this message”. Will it help if I assure you I don’t actually survive on the blood of innocents? Anyway, it was nice when Ally (aka ChampagneAnyone) emailed me herself to ask me to read her story. That was a few weeks ago, and I can safely say I am now thoroughly hooked on “Guardian”. When Bella Swan’s parents are brutally murdered when she is eight, family friends and business partners in Cullen-Swan Law, the Cullens take in orphaned Bella. Of course she takes to the older Edward, and things are fine until she grows up. This is an angsty story–not the worst angst I’ve ever read but it’s up there. The prologue sets up a situation in which you know Edward and Bella won’t have an easy road ahead of them. The age difference is key here, because though Bella realizes her feelings for Edward, she does not have the maturity to understand his motivations. She’s sensitive and young and Edward is not quite as careful as he should be with her, physically or emotionally. But on the flipside, though you will want to kick Edward in the shins a couple times, Edward isn’t totally bad, he just hasn’t acknowledged his feelings (to himself or anyone else) and so he acts kind of cluelessly. But Bella’s rash reactions and thought process kind of just sets up more misunderstandings and angst. This is a jealous Edward (Jealousward!) and Bella’s pushing him to deal with his feelings. They have friction in their professional relationship, too, as Carlisle and Edward have constructed a merger for Cullen-Swan that definitely puts Bella on the short end of the stick. Enter the lawyer Bella hires to represent her in the merger, Demetri. I didn’t picture him as any sort of potential rival for Edward, but then Ally showed me this: “Demetri”, and now the game has changed. Jealousward indeed. This is a great story, relatively new but a regular Sunday updater. It’s filling the angst/UST void CWIA left in my life.

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March 23, 2010

Totally forgot about the fanfic recs this week — FF Recs by @KStew411

By Amber

So there’s no snappy opening. Sorry. Spent my day making plans. What?! Plans, you say? You’ll see. J

“A Chance Encounter” by erinbatt

No, I am not rec’ing this story just because I’m e-friends with Erin. In fact, her story has been unfairly pushed back several times simply because I didn’t want to treat it special or anything, so…sorry about that, Erin. But, at long last, here it is, “A Chance Encounter”. You all know I’m pretty harsh on alternate universe stories. You have to bring something really fresh to the table to hold my interest. ACE delivers, especially in its characters. It’s a spinoff of New Moon in which Laurent couldn’t quite control himself in the meadow and the wolves were a smidge too late, but not *too* too late. Jacob carries the bitten Bella off, she changes into a vampire and is essentially abandoned, left in her new life all alone. And of course, being Bella, she really believed Edward in the forest, so she doesn’t search for the Cullens. Instead she takes up the life of a nomad, and nearly fifty years later, she has, well…a chance encounter. I think you can see the basic plot, yes? Bella’s shield has some intriguing properties which allow her a unique perspective on Edward. When she learns that he had a relationship with Tanya after he left her in Forks, Bella flips out, justly calls out the Cullens for abandoning her and allowing Edward to abandon her, and then she runs. And so begins the action. Edward still can’t hear her mind, so he has to try tracking her, and we all know Edward isn’t much of a tracker. So he turns to the Volturi for help, and here the story really gets interesting. Of course Aro is interested in Bella for her gifts, but it’s Demetri that really sticks out. This is a great Demetri. In turns frustrating, helpful and heartbreaking, the tenuous friendship that grows between he and Edward is actually more interesting than Edward and Bella at this point. I’m cheering as hard for Demetri to find some happiness as I am for Edward to find Bella. Also, ACE has one of the greatest AU original characters I’ve ever seen in Lethia, a nomad in the Brazilian rainforest with a scary and powerful gift. She only comes in for one chapter but geez is she effective. Forget Jane. Lethia is easily the most frightening vampire in the Twilight universe. Between Edward chasing Bella all over the world, determined to beg for forgiveness, and Demetri and Lethia, ACE is an intriguing and inventive AU, well worth a read.

“Angel Eyes” by RaeCullen

This is one of those stories that had been popping up in my searches for new fics for a while and then one day I caved and read it. And when I told Bestie about it she went, “Really?” and I said, “Yes, really.” “Angel Eyes” is the story of typical college guy Edward falling for a not so typical Bella. Popular frat boy Edward hears a laugh in a coffee shop and is captivated by the pretty girl it belongs to, but he doesn’t introduce himself. Then he sees her in the park one day, and he begins keeping an eye out for the pretty girl with the melodic laugh. He notices her talking to his frat brother, Emmett, so of course he asks Emmett for an introduction. Emmett totally shuts him down. Despite Emmett’s warnings, Edward approaches her one day in the park, and that’s when he realizes that Bella is blind. This is a pretty light-hearted story, but it deals with the issue of blindness in a realistic way. Bella has been overprotected her whole life, but she is capable of living her own life. Her conflicts with Emmett are exactly the sort of things you would expect an older brother to do for and about a younger sister he sees as unbearably vulnerable. And Edward’s initial reaction is probably pretty typical too–he’s shocked and unsure if he wants a relationship with a “blind girl”. But of course, it’s Bella, so he pursues her anyway. His thoughts on their first date are interesting. He goes from mildly embarrassed that Bella uses her cane to angry that everyone stares at her to annoyed to realize even if she wasn’t blind they’d stare anyway because she’s beautiful. Overall this is a sweet story with no heavy angst, but Edward does have a prickly relationship with an overbearing Carlisle, so the potential for drama exists. Also, there’s much allusion to some kind of incident during Edward’s freshman year–the reason Carlisle is so controlling now. Edward is probably right to be nervous about introducing Bella to Carlisle–he seems like the kind of psycho-planning father who has his son’s wife all picked out. “Angel Eyes” is right at the cusp of the interesting stuff happening, so get caught up and give RaeCullen some love for this sweet, endearing story.

Even more FF goodies over on KStew411′s page! Seriously, there are some AMAZING ones in that list you can’t miss!

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Fan Fiction, FanFicton Reviews by KStew411

March 16, 2010

The thing about the Twilight books — FF Recs by @KStew411

By Amber

It came up today because I was totes hating on Breaking Dawn–don’t you like the Twilight books? The answer is yes and no. No, I don’t think they’re revolutionary literature. There were some problems, for the sake of not writing a dissertation I’ll stick with this: there were grammatical errors. These are professionally published books going out on the mass market and there were glaring grammatical issues in every single volume. That’s just Mickey Mouse. And people can talk about “themes” and “subtext” all they want–these books are pretty shallow. If you start looking for literary value, you’re going to get a headache, and frankly, you’ll probably ruin your ability to enjoy the books. Because yes, I find them perfectly enjoyable. The Saga is great fluff reading. The rom-com of books. Entertaining, in turns romantic, suspenseful, mysterious, funny. I liked reading them. They’re campy and twee and good for beaches and airplanes or under the covers on a rainy Saturday afternoon. It’s a pure-pleasure read, and there’s nothing wrong with that. All that aside, I did not like Breaking Dawn at all. It felt like such a copout. Breaking Dawn is a giant anti-climactic talk-off. Aro and Edward just blab at each other for a couple hours and everyone goes their separate ways, no loss, no price, no suffering. Jacob even has his creepy-baby-crush to help him get over Bella. I would have liked Breaking Dawn if everything didn’t work out quite so neatly. It just felt like the whole series had been building to this epic battle of Cullen vs. Volturi and we got…just the tip. No wonder we all want Midnight Sun so badly–Breaking Dawn left us unfulfilled.

PS: Both these stories are COMPLETE. :)

“The Lost Boys” by hwimsey

One of my all-time favorite fanfic Edwards. He’s sexy, he’s British, he’s a musician–sounds familiar, no? I think he borrows pretty heavily from Rob Pattinson–he plays blues-tinged music and wears a black beanie–but it all works, so I’m not complaining. “The Lost Boys” centers around an old Victorian in San Francisco occupied by Bella Swan and her friends, Rosalie and Alice. Bella is just back from a year abroad in London where she fell in love with a musician she never met, but she would listen to him play the pubs around town. Little does she know that the musician, Edward Cullen, has followed her to San Francisco, searching for the elusive muse he only glimpsed in the shadows. Edward is the front man for the indie/blues band The Lost Boys, also featuring his buddies Emmett and Jasper. This story takes the cake for romance, drama, and mystery. Edward and company end up moving into the other flat in the Victorian with Bella, and while Rose and Emmett, and Alice and Jasper, fall easily into romance, Edward and Bella predictably do not. Bella is shy, insecure, unsure of her own worth and ability to captivate a dynamic, beautiful man like Edward. And Edward is plagued by his own demons, including a battle with the remnants of a nervous breakdown. They’re attracted, of course. But Bella’s insecurities and Edward’s issues keep coming between them. The story isn’t all angst, though, not by a long shot. There’s plenty of humor–the use of the Volturi is the best out-of-character/all-human treatment I have seen. I was dying of laughter every time they popped up. And there’s a really good ghost story to boot. As I am a Dashiell Hammett fan, I loved the use of Nick and Nora Charles as ghosts who haunt the Victorian the characters live in. Edward and Bella must embark on a quest to reunite the undead lovers in the afterlife and so seal their own fate together on earth. “The Lost Boys” also features some of the best lemons around. This is a sexy, sexy Edward. He was schooled in the arts, shall we say, by a Parisian mistress! In turns sexy, sweet, hilarious, and frightening, “The Lost Boys” truly has something for everyone.

There is another one, right after the jump! Continue reading

5 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in Fan Fiction, FanFicton Reviews by KStew411

March 9, 2010

Let’s try this again — FF Recs by @KStew411

By Amber

First draft of fanfic rec’s somehow turned into a piece for the Twilight Examiner. Giving this another shot. I studied writing in college and my professors were always irked with my tendency to go on tangents (coincidentally, one of my former professors is a writer famous for his tangential style—double standard?). It’s true. I go off. I think it’s what made me a decent stand-up and good for Twitter. It’s pretty extemporaneous and that’s what I’m good at. If I have to plan…well, we all know I’m not good at planning. Off the cuff, that’s the thing! I know I am KStew411 and all, and I know sometimes I am hard on The Sparkly One, but since this is a Roblog and I am having extemporaneous thoughts, I will share them. ROB LOOKS HOT IN PERIOD CLOTHES. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look better than in these recent Bel Ami pics. Previously, I thought his Edward pretty was his best pretty, but now I think, even with the wee bit of poundage he added, that the Bel Ami pretty is the best. He looks grown up. And sexy. I have an ongoing discussion about Rob’s ability to sex me up. I am usually distracted from his sexy by my desire to iron his shirts and fold his clothes. But in the Bel Ami clothes…he’s walking different. He’s standing different. The head, it is tilted at a new and rakish angle. And some of this is probably character-driven, but I LIKE IT. I feel like Bel Ami Rob could pin me to a wall and make me want it bad. For once, I don’t want to do his laundry, I want to do HIM. There’s a virile streak in The Sparkly One I haven’t seen before and I want more of it. Preferably, in period dress.

“Eye Contact” by Silver Sniper of Night

This is a different story, recommended by PunkyBellyJelly. Bella is a twenty-year-old college student working on a degree in special education. Edward is a twenty-year-old genius already pursuing his master’s in mechanical engineering. Except Edward is also autistic. Or, more specifically, he has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is a form of Autism. This story is a lot to digest. The author does a great job annotating chapters with terms and articles that explain the specifics of Asperger’s, but what it boils down to is that Edward doesn’t feel emotions like everyone else. So how can he and Bella be in love? Well that’s the crux of the story. I have a cousin with Asperger’s and Sniper completely nails the way an “Aspie” thinks and speaks. Edward is not dumb, he’s not slow, he’s not retarded in any way. In many, many ways, Edward is a million times more intelligent than everyone else. But Asperger’s affects how one processes emotions. It’s not that Edward doesn’t feel, it’s not that he isn’t sincerely in love with Bella. It’s just that he will never experience those feelings in the way the Bella does. For Edward, everything is logical. Because he likes how Bella makes him feel, because he admires her intellect and her taste in music—as well as her smile—it is logical that he wants her for his girlfriend. And then because he misses her when she is not present and because he wants to spend more time with her, it is logical that he loves her. It’s all there; he just arrives at the conclusion a bit differently. As for Bella, she is aware of the basic difference in understanding between her and Edward, and she is aware of and nervous about how that will be taken by the outside world. A lot of people mistakenly think those afflicted with Asperger’s, or any form of autism, can’t feel emotions, but that’s not the case. They do feel, and in many ways are super sensitive to emotions. They just don’t always understand them. My cousin, for instance, can’t lie. He literally cannot lie. He doesn’t understand dishonesty or why anyone would ever tell anything but the truth. Even the concept of telling a white lie to protect someone’s feelings is beyond him. Like Edward, my cousin has assigned all feelings with a number to process how they will affect someone. Happiness is a 1, sadness is an 8, anger is a 10, and rage is 11. He understands the numbers and that helps him understand people’s reactions. Edward processes in much the same way. Edward is essentially a high-functioning Aspie. He can drive, take care of himself, cook, do all the things he would need to do to function in the real world. However, Esme has sheltered him his entire life and Edward is really lacking in socializing skills. Enter Bella to help him learn how to interact with his peers. This is a fascinating story, an unusual and complex love story, and a challenging read. I have enjoyed it for its unique perspective on love and how we define one of the most mysterious and indefinable of all the human emotions. Maybe not for everyone, but if you’re up to the challenge, give “Eye Contact” a shot.

Another rec, after the jump… Continue reading

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