Fanfiction.net: the good bits

[phongn]

At least for myself, I hope I didn't sound terribly condescending when I mentioned how long he took to finish up SMZ - no offense was intended, and I apologize if you were. I was only trying to note that you take some time to finish writing up.

[JohnBiles]

Well... do I ever have egg on my face now.

Ummm... yeah...

Anyway, I apologize if I offended you, I was just venting. I like your stories, and I know and understand that life gets in the way. I wasn't angry at you, just annoyed at the fact that it had been so long since the last update. I mean, when the last chapter comes, that will be awesome beyond belief, but until then so long as I don't direct it at you, I'm entitled to gripe a little bit, aren't I? I mean, I'm Canadian, if we're not entitled to gripe about everything we would have conquered the world in a fit of pique long ago.

But yeah... damn...

Man, how does one even respond when someone registers just to tell you off? And they're right? Ahh... I'm going to have to change my sig to something like, "John Biles registered here just to tell me to stop whining". It's weirdly an honour in a way.

I get several emails a week to the same tune you were singing, so I get a bit jumpy about it sometimes.

Apology accepted, and yes, I do the same thing myself sometimes.

Just remember, thanks to the power of web engines, anything you say in a public space shows up in web searches if the subject of your speech happens to be bored and is web searching his own name.

[Academia Nut]

Ouch, that many e-mails a week? That's gotta be obnoxious. No wonder you were annoyed with me. I'll make sure to send you a happy message when you find the time and inspiration to finish COAEG, although I'm sure it will be lost in the flood.

Oh, and I find it funny that you're actually the second authour to come to SDN to defend themselves from unfair criticism by people in this thread. What is it with this thread that does that?

[JohnBiles]

Ouch, that many e-mails a week? That's gotta be obnoxious. No wonder you were annoyed with me. I'll make sure to send you a happy message when you find the time and inspiration to finish COAEG, although I'm sure it will be lost in the flood.

Oh, and I find it funny that you're actually the second authour to come to SDN to defend themselves from unfair criticism by people in this thread. What is it with this thread that does that?

GOOGLE IS WATCHING YOU. That's likely part of it.

Anyway, I'm hoping we can get the last COAEG out in 2008, but I was hoping that for 2007 also. ^^;; We do have the last episode outlined but now we're at the 'arguing over the outline and who writes what' stage.

[Academia Nut]

Yes, but why this thread, why this site? We're a bunch of psychotic, foul mouthed nerds who enjoy throwing scientific notation around. Of all the websites in the vast internet, with all the fanfic recommendation threads, why do people walk in to this one? I mean, seriously, it's just kind of weird. Is it the fact that you can come in here and have a reasonable chance of smacking us upside the head? Because despite SDNs reputation as being a hive of scum and villian, we're actually a fairly welcoming environment if you're smart and right.

Oh, and let me say "YEAH!" to that little announcement. Any ideas what projects you will be working on once COAEG is finished?

[Setzer]

Consider it a sign that people like your work.

Unless of course, they seem to think you owe them a complete fanfic whenever they snap their fingers.

[JohnBiles]

Yes, but why this thread, why this site? We're a bunch of psychotic, foul mouthed nerds who enjoy throwing scientific notation around. Of all the websites in the vast internet, with all the fanfic recommendation threads, why do people walk in to this one? I mean, seriously, it's just kind of weird. Is it the fact that you can come in here and have a reasonable chance of smacking us upside the head? Because despite SDNs reputation as being a hive of scum and villian, we're actually a fairly welcoming environment if you're smart and right.

Oh, and let me say "YEAH!" to that little announcement. Any ideas what projects you will be working on once COAEG is finished?

I think Google has this site well recorded

I will be working on my School Rumble fic while I wait for Rod to get moving enough for us to finish and I have a ton of projects to finish up.

I also have some short Post-SMZ stories to do.

[Xon]

Culture Shock - A Harry Potter-Culture crossover, and it does justice for the Culture-verse and HP-verse as well! Only two chapters so far since it is fairly new.

Also great to see that Ruskbyte is alive

[Baughn]

I feel like my alignment is turning towards evil for posting here, but I can't find another recommendation thread.. let's get the zombie shambling, then.

Trust in God/The Riddle of Kyon - A Suzumiya Haruhi story that tackles the question of how long, exactly, they're planning to keep this masquerade up, and if they even should. Who's the god here, status quo or Haruhi?

It also brings up a certain problem commonly attributed to Epicurus.


By the same author, The Finale of the Ultimate Meta Mega Crossover which is.. hard to describe in non-spoilery ways. If you like concepts like computationalism, the dovetailer algorithm and very, very hard science fiction, you'll get a kick out of this.

[Ritterin Sophia]

I want to thank whoever it was who suggested Heart of Darkness, I'm finding it rather amusing.

“Still… you don’t paint weapons of war pink!” insisted Jix. There were simply some things that weren’t done. Why couldn’t the girl see that?

[Jans]

Well, I can certainly be a proponent of necromancy when it provides reading material for the next couple of weeks!

And as thanks for all the contributions, I have some of my own. Most of the things on my lists tend towards Harry Potter or Naruto simply because of the quantity of those fics you see on FF.net, but I'm bringing you a much wider range than that today.

Harry Potter

Action

Anything by JBern. Note that Bungle in the Jungle and its sequel Turn Me Lose are both written in 2nd person. Even if that's slightly off putting I suggest you try BitJ before giving it the axe, he used that project to actually publish a novel (Deadeye).

Humor

I am surprised that A Black Comedy by nonjon hasn't been mentioned yet. This is one of my all time favorite fics, and it is complete to boot.

Dark

Last but not least, Anything but Slytherin is a one-shot by IP82 that asks what could happen if the Light side were a little... less... light.

Naruto

Death's Precipice is a Lee-centric story on feeling the death god's hand on your back. The Sh33p is a pretty bloody good author to boot, one of his other fics I'll also stick in the Superman section but most of it is top rate.

Death of a Kage Bunshin is a Naruto-centric fic written by Foxie-sama, who also did "For the Love of My Friends" (which is considered one of the first fics in the Time Travel fanon for Naruto, and one of the most recognized). The one shot is far more satisfying though, as FtLoMF is over 500k words and stalled out at the end of the Chunin Exam arc.

Lastly, your mileage may vary on this one. I really enjoy pretty much anything written by Case13/Fosfor, but a lot of people don't. If you do, he posts semi-regularly over on Hawk's Fanfiction Board (TFF) and has more work over there.

Discworld

A lot of samvimes's work is good, but I'm going to have to say that Some Buggers is the best piece of Discworld fanfiction he's got. It also has the (somewhat dubious because I don't go looking for it much) distinction of being the best I've ever seen, it reminds me of Pratchett's work quite a bit.

Superman/JLA

Probationary Member is a bit of a hit or miss. I read the beginning, got bored with the middle, and skipped to the deeply satisfying (if sad) end. Worth reading if only until you get to the "big reveal" of who the Batman is sponsoring.

Imagine That
"In which the most obvious fact of Superman is that he's not."
Read it, seriously. A fairly short one shot that you will not regret.

Doctor Who
There are a great many Doctor fics out there, just not many that are any good. Even the most interesting fic seems to slip out of character and into something (pointless) else. This is... distressing, for someone who was only introduced to the series with 9 and 10 and is trying oh so very hard to work his way through the rest of the mythos.

However.

If you are a 10 fan, or, dare I say... a Master fan. I would recommend And From Thy State for a terribly satisfying take on the character's thoughts.

FFVII/Kingdom Hearts

But That Was In Another Country is the telling of FFVII falling to the Heartless from Yuffie's point of view. This fic is very dark, almost too much to read in a single sitting. It remains one of the finest FFVII fics I have ever read.

Death Note

Maybe its just because I haven't looked enough, but Redivivus by Silver Pard is the only quality Death Note story I've ever found. Well written, interesting, and best of all... the author actually understands how to write L/Light!

>> Oh don't look at me like that, hear me out.

Anyone that has read Death Note probably understands that there is something between L and Light. A connection, deeper than anything romantic or sexual. The by-play between the two characters literally made the series, I know many people who lost interest entirely after the world's greatest detective was killed. Silver Pard brings that interaction out in Redivivus to the point where it feels like you could actually be reading the series again. So while it may lean towards M/M, don't let that put you off an excellent story.

Ranma

Ozzallos is usually my go-to guy for quality Ranma fics, both normal and Fuku flavored. Heir to the Empire is a complete Fukufic, but the rest of his work is well written too. A Time Apart is promising, but fairly short at the moment.

On the other hand, Gaming Ikari's I Was Right All Along is straight Ranma, told from Ryoga's point of view. Like much of the quality writing I'm recommending here it is a bit dark.

Taking things a bit further... Ill Met By Starlight is an extremely dark fic. Brilliant, yes, but...

Well, to each his own yeah?

I think that's enough for now.

[ray245]

I'm sick of all those dark and edgy stories, where there is almost no value to the stories other than the fact that they are "dark" and "edgy".

Most of those stories often involve a young child or a young teenager having the mentality of a 30 year old.

[speaker-to-trolls]

Cartoon/Anime Time!
Code Geass:

Lelouch of Britannia by Cal Reflector
Very well written 'for want of a nail' type story, taking the plot down an entirely different avenue due to Lelouch managing not to get himself banished as a child. So far most of it takes place chronologically before the series would have started, with the highlights being the North African Campaign segment. As I said well written and with entertaining characters, unfortunately suffers from the fact that, with Lelouch on the right side of the Evil Empire and his thematic antagonist Suzaku pretty much irrelevant the conflict from the series is more or less gone. Still worth a look and I keep looking to see how it will develope.

The Sum of Our Choices by Juubi K
A stranger and more complicated alternate take on the Code Geass story, takes place chronologically in season 2 but in which many things are different, the most important of which being that Zero has successfully taken control of Japan, changing the game for everyone around him. The plot is intriguing with many interlocking strands and I am very eager to see how they resolve themselves and what happens when the various secret differences are revealed. Not much action and sometimes prone to infodumping (chapter 9 especially) but very interesting, my favourite ongoing fanfiction story.

Royal Portrait by Mikomi's Pen
Character analysis type thing about Princess Cornelia told from the point of view her loyal bodyguard Guilford. Kind of unusual style since it's supposed to be Guilford going through his memories of her and trying to figure her out, but it works well and nicely gets across the impression of an impressive, layered, strange and frightening character. Raises a few unanswered questions about Guilford though, like why he's so in love with this mad bitch.

Avatar; The Last Airbender
His Dream of Skyland By Rasputin Zero
This is one of those weird stories that has all the characters and situations of the original story in a completely different setting, you could argue that it makes no sense to do that, but I for one think this one works. Goes without saying it is NOT set in a modern school, but in Mongolia during World War 2, where a couple of Mongolian children uncover a mysterious child (who I believe is some kind of Bodhisattva in this story) and get themselves chased across Asia by a fanatical young Japanese officer. As I said this one works very well, the characters seem essentially the same but are more real-worldy somehow, it's difficult to explain. Unfortunately I don't expect this to be updated at any time soon.

Teen TitansThe Measure of a Titan by General Havok
Is not on fanfiction.net but is on this website, and I highly recommend it. A tight plot which meshes with and builds on the original story, perfect characterisation including for the story's original character, just generally very good. Giving away as little as I can; starts after the end of season 2, the Titans take in an orphan boy with some weird powers who has somehow become the target of someone nasty, things progress from there in a way which fundamentally alters the events of the next couple of seasons. It's good.

[Baughn]

What about it?

It's normal to insert at least a small description of what the story is about. At the very least, copy the author's.

[speaker-to-trolls]

Edited. Sorry, the first time I posted was accidental and before I had written most of my post.

[lord Martiya]

May I do my own suggestions?

Buffy: the Vampire Slayer
The Knights of Scooby, by Perfect Lionheart: in this one a passing mage, friend of Willow's family, stops by to check in on Willow as she graduates from High School, and as he see how unprotected she is decides to help by buffing up her best friend. Features the Slayer before Buffy and some improbable ancestor.

Harry Potter
Partially Kissed Hero, again by Perfect Lionheart: during the train trip for his Third Year, Harry got a close encounter with a Dementor. So close that he ends to absorb the horcrux within him. Features Harry with a backbone and multiple killings of Albus Dumbledore.

Naruto
Chunin Exam Day, still by Perfect Lionheart (he's quite good, you know...): Naruto finds he is flung back in time and must repeat the entire Chunin exam over and over and over, until he gets it right and possibly saves Konoha in the bargain. Features huge Sasuke bashing. Spoiler

"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen!!" Naruto cried out through his microphone to a stadium audience consisting of thousands of exact copies of him, some female, all cheering and stomping on the bleachers he'd also created around the glade in the forest where Sasuke and Gaara were about to fight. "And Welcome to tonight's Celebrity Death Match!!"

The clones roared their approval, drowning out all other noise.

"In this corner," he waved to the Sand siblings, who were all looking more than slightly alarmed at suddenly being surrounded by approximately four thousand shadow clones, stadium seats that had all appeared mysteriously out of nowhere. "Gaara of the Desert!!"

A surge of cheers came from the crowd.

"And in this corner," he waved back to his own team, where Sasuke was looking utterly disgusted with him. "The Amazing! The Stupendous! The Colossal!..." He bent over to speak to another one of his clones, this one is a stage manager's uniform. "Hey, what do you mean Orochimaru's not going to show? Use the substitute? That Uchiha kid? No way! He'd never last ten seconds against that guy from Sand. I mean we're talking Gaara here! The undefeated village champion! Slayer of thousands, winner of over a hundred private assassination matches. The Uchiha hasn't even killed a bug! It'd be a total slaughter to send him in against that trained killer! Do it anyway? Well, okay, but you've gotta switch all my bets around - everything on Gaara to win! Okay!" He turned back to the studio audience, finished with his 'private' conversation that everyone had heard. "Now where were we? Oh, yes! Now, representing Konoha! The one, the only, the Amazing Walking Ego, the Pretty Princess, and darling of Fire country's pedophilic circle, The Dweebmeister!!"

Equally loud boos and jeers from the clones met this pronouncement.

"Man, that's harsh," Kiba whispered to the rest of Team 10 where they had hidden out in the forest, drawn by the noise.

"Gaara! Gaara! He's our man! He can't do it, no one can!!" Shouted a entire line of buxom cheerleader Narukos, bouncing around shaking pompoms.

Sasuke was grinding the knuckles of his fingers together. He was going to kill him. The dope was going to die! How DARE he mock him like this before an important fight?!!

"The winner of tonight's fight," Naruto announced. "Goes on to the finals for a chance to gain the coveted chunin grade!"

A roar of approval from the audience Narutos.

"And to the loser," he continued, once the volume had died down to a more bearable level, "a consolation prize. The fact that they will no longer have to put up with Sakura's whining, seeing as how they will be mercifully dead."

"He didn't just say that, did he?" Ino muttered in shocked awe, where her own team were hiding out in the woods overlooking this.

"Peanuts, popcorn, crackerjacks," Naruto clones dressed up as snack vendors were going up and down the aisles - and visiting all of the dozens of concealed teams hidden in the surrounding woods.

Ranma 1/2
Another Rainy Day in Nerima, by rewind gone nuts: because of a rainy day, Ranma gets a magical mirror showing him what could have been if something went different, like Kodachi managing to kiss him that night on the Tendos' roof, or Cologne defeating him in the battle for the Phoenix Pill, and many other events.
Chasing the Rainbow, again by rewind gone nuts: sequel to Another Rainy Day in Nerima, where Ranma, after seeing what could have been thanks to the magical mirror, starts making his own plans for his life.

Crossover Ranma 1/2/Harry Potter
Hogwarts One Half, another one by Perfect Lionheart: Kodachi Kuno starts going Hogwarts, and get mistaken for Harry's big sister. And other Ranma characters arrives in Hogwarts too!

Crossover Harry Potter/Ah! My Goddess!
Reflections Through Time: in a very dark future, where anything went wrong after Dumbledore's death, Harry make a wish to a platinum-haired woman who presented herself as Urd, "Goddess second class, second category, limited license. Norn of the Past and Goddess of love". And the ghosts of Hermione, Luna and Ginny got involved in the mess.

[Baughn]

Second opinion of Perfect Lionheart:

He's talky. Very, very talky; in later chapters, his characters sometimes spend the entire chapter talking about how they can game the shown rules of the universe to their advantage. This is made worse by often, at that point, using rules he made up himself for that.

Still, there's typically a couple of good ideas in there, if you can get over the problems; he appears to be capable of writing well, should he choose to do so. Incidentally, Chuunin exam day is probably his best story.

[Jans]

I'm sick of all those dark and edgy stories, where there is almost no value to the stories other than the fact that they are "dark" and "edgy".

Most of those stories often involve a young child or a young teenager having the mentality of a 30 year old.

Ah, perhaps I over-used some words in my post. It was rather early at the time and I really should have been sleeping.

However, I'd just like to say that none (or at least very few) of the fics I labeled as "Dark" fit the description of what you're saying. Ill Met By Starlight might, but I even mentioned that one takes things a bit far.

When I said dark, I was more speaking to the feeling you get when reading a good horror novel in the dead of the night. A sort of creeping sensation, where the world narrows down to what could or might be and you feel the overwhelming urge to put the book down for a second and peek out the window. It doesn't happen all the time, and very rarely during the day, but it tells you what you're reading is the kind of quality that can evoke strong feelings.

I'm aware of many fics that try to garner readership by being "Darker and Edgier" while mangling the characters involved and I assure you that these aren't them. Try one or two, maybe the one-shots, you might be pleasantly surprised.

[ray245]

Second opinion of Perfect Lionheart:

He's talky. Very, very talky; in later chapters, his characters sometimes spend the entire chapter talking about how they can game the shown rules of the universe to their advantage. This is made worse by often, at that point, using rules he made up himself for that.

Still, there's typically a couple of good ideas in there, if you can get over the problems; he appears to be capable of writing well, should he choose to do so. Incidentally, Chuunin exam day is probably his best story.

Oh come on, he loves to bash characters to the point of making up new facts so that he can bash them even further.

[Jans]

Oh come on, he loves to bash characters to the point of making up new facts so that he can bash them even further.

Loves it with a passion.

He also likes nothing more than to freak out over negative reviews. Guy gets several hundred a chapter and a small handful of bad ones can send him into a fit, which he then posts in his Author Notes at the end of each chapter.

There are some good ideas, but each fic is more like a dumping ground for any idea that pops into his head. The good and the bad.

[Ritterin Sophia]

Oh come on, he loves to bash characters to the point of making up new facts so that he can bash them even further.

Mind giving me an example so I'm forewarned?

[SAMAS]

Well in the aforementioned story, he makes it so that Kakashi is secretly giving Sasuke extra technique scrolls (which he isn't giving to Naruto and Sakura), and Sasuke is just blowing them off.

The first few chapters of CED are pretty entertaining, but then it gets lost up it's own ass bashing pretty much everyone in Team 7 but Naruto. I quit the whole thing in disgust after that.

[Ritterin Sophia]

Well in the aforementioned story, he makes it so that Kakashi is secretly giving Sasuke extra technique scrolls (which he isn't giving to Naruto and Sakura), and Sasuke is just blowing them off.

Wow that's not only entirely made up, but it's completely counter to how Sasuke actually treats his training.

[Setzer]

Yeah. Sasuke sure as hell wouldn't ignore extra ninja training. If anything, his main reason for leaving Konoha was that he still wasn't satisfied with the training and special treatment he was getting.

[SAMAS]

Exactly.