It's December. Again.

Well, it's no longer Thanksgiving, but I'm going to finish this danged "thankful" thing I started anyway. It would help if I remembered I'd said I'd do it at some point when I'm actually sitting at a computer, which I did tonight, so... Here I am! :D

Okay, if you read DWD fanfiction then you should read the stuff by IcequeenKitty, who has written a series - nearly finished - sorta called "Darker DWD". And it is what its name implies, a group of epic fics that are set in an AU where things are just not quite the same. Little things, you know, like there's not comedy relief and stuff and also people are horribly murdered in grisly ways, and so on. Y'know, that.

The thing is that these fics are *amazing*. I don't usually like "dark" Darkwing fics. I like, in general, the style of the show - I don't mean I avoid serious/drama stuff, I just mean, scaryviolentdark stuff... isn't my thing. the small handful of times I've tried out darkfics I've found them overwritten, and if you've written a "dark" DW fic I very likely did NOT read yours (I've read like, two, and I don't remember by whom, but this was like ten years ago) so don't take it personally. ;) However though, I tried out Kitty's fics because I noticed a lot of the people I knew and enjoyed on Fanfiction.net had her as a favourite, and so I gave the first fic, "Roots of Revenge", a try. I was almost *startled* by how much I liked it. It, and the resulting series, is so well-crafted and the characterizations are so strong, whether they're similar to the series or not. And there's this great heart to it that resides largely with Gosalyn, who draws the characters together beautifully; Morgana deepens that when she comes into it as well.

OKAY! So that's a big build-up to say that when I issued my "Please write fic for me if you love me!" plea, Kitty actually took me up on it, and what's more, she put it in her amazing "Dark" AU. It's a work of beauty. She did not put it up on Fanfiction.net but that's okay, it's up on deviantART instead: Light at the End. I have no idea if this is canon in the series and I don't expect Beth to show up at the end of the final story (which is still in-progress), but it wouldn't kill the pleasure of this baby even if it were not canon, so it's all good. :)

Meanwhile Kitty also draws and she did a really seriously adorable pic of Beth for me a little while ago, here, which of course is obviously set in my 'verse and not hers. ;D

So there's another down; I have two more to do but I've covered all the gift-fic, and that should keep y'all busy for a while. ^_^

Thanksgiving II

So, only time for one other thanks post tonight, but hey, two posts in a day? That's beating my weekly average already! ;)

So, I've already mentioned Amanda Rohrssen here, because she did a truly beautiful commission for me last year and I squeed about it in an entry. :D (And this is the commission in question in case you've forgotten or didn't read that far back! It's from "The House On Avian Way", or at least it's inspired by it.) Amanda also has created one of my favourite OCs (whom I have also mentioned here), Ariana McCawber. Ariana's fic is "The Other McCawber Girl" (that links to part one; here is part two).

Okay, bear with me. I've mentioned Ariana (she has her own tag even!) because Ari makes an appearance in "All About Elizabeth", and *that* happened because Amanda was sweet enough to use Beth in "The Other McCawber Girl". Even though that's an AU and not the same universe/canon as my series, it was clear from the start that Ariana and Beth would make very good friends since they're very similar and even though they come from very different backgrounds, they've dealt with a number of the same experiences in their lives. So Ari's presence in AAE was partly to pay Amanda back for using Beth, and just partly because it made sense. :)

ANYway! In addition to various chapters of OMG, Amanda also took up my Birthday Fic Request and wrote a really neat, fun one-shot story that takes place as a sort of "in-between" AU to both of our canons called "The Eternal Sunshine of the Thoughtless Mind" (I love that title), in which Ari and Beth are close friends and it's not quite her canon and not quite mine, but it's adorable and everyone is happy. ^_^ The story is a really fun plot involving FOWL and mistaken identity and birthdays, and Ari and Beth get kidnapped, and there's a whole big thing about skin cancer. XD It's a hoot and if you haven't read Amanda's stuff, but you like Beth, you should read this and then you get to meet Ariana and then you can go read OMG and get hooked on THAT, as you should, and then you can pick up on all her other stuff.

(And also leave her some comments, at least on "Eternal Sunshine", huh?)

All her stories are great and I can't single one out. "Sins of the Father" is about Drake's father Jacob; "Gumshoe" kind of destroys all canon, fanfic and real alike, and has a noir-style blast doing it; "A Penny Saved is a Penny Spurned" is a straight-up non-OC crossover between DWD and DuckTales that is in-progress.

Also, Amanda is a wonderful artist, as the LP/Beth commission will no doubt demonstrate; her deviantART account is at this link, and is a lot of fun to browse. Also she is still taking commissions, though her schedule is crazy so there is a backlog, but they are well worth the wait. ^_^

So thank you Amanda! Thank you for liking Beth enough to use her in your fic, for writing fic for me, for drawing for me, and thank you for creating Ariana in the first place. ^_^ Happy thanksgiving!

We'll see if I can't get to a couple more of these tomorrow! If not then maybe Sat or Sun. Everyone deserves a thanks and a shout-out!

Thanksgiving

In the spirit of the holiday, and of this blog, I thought I would take a little while to do something I've been meaning to do for some time: and that is to express my gratitude for gift art and fic I've received, and also pimp out the people behind said gifts. :D I started this a few posts ago with Marci, who had written the start of a fic for me - see that post for the link - and I'm going to continue for as long as I can find the time, a precious commodity around here, believe me. :P

I'll start with Eric, who has done some really nifty pics of Beth in the past but more recently (well, 2008) wrote a fanfic in which she was the guest star!

The fic is called "Natural Madness" (and here it is), and Eric wrote it for me for my Birthday Request in '08 when I had balls enough to ask people to devote huge portions of their time and creativity to me. Because Eric rocks, he did so. :)

"Natural Madness" is a great story which is, true to Eric's style, at once nicely in-character for DW and at the same time playing in a darker setting. In this universe, Bushroot has gone crazy after an accident and is now Bushroot X, a creature who always wears a mask and (far worse) kidnaps other victims and locks them behind masks as well. In this fic he picks Beth out as his Masked Bride-to-be. The story, despite its dark premise, never goes too far into the frightening zone to the point where it would push the character into a level of unbelievability. DW has a lot of dialogue you could hear on the show, and actually, the whole fic has numerous moments of humour that I found really appealing.

Eric has two other fics up on FF.net, "The Brain Pickers" and "The Agitator". I've only had time to read "The Brain Pickers" (yep I'm that lame, I have to struggle to read fanfiction :P) but like this one, it's a good plot and good characterization, and there's a mix of original tone, humour, and also a much darker feel. "The Brain Pickers" explores what happens when FOWL puts a few elements together and takes note of who DW is commonly seen with *other* than LP and Gosalyn... so they target Honker Muddlefoot. (Poor Honker!) The main difference between this fic and the show is that DW gets to be a bit more competently heroic than he was often portrayed on the show (since it was more of a comedy-action than just straight action show), and since it's refreshing to see DW know what he's doing while still being in-character, I have no complaints. :)

Check Eric's stuff out today! He also has a deviantART account here: http://hag.deviantart.com/

I hope to make more of these posts throughout the day, or if not today, then tomorrow. Of course on a day like today my time is limited so let's just cross our fingers... :)

Fanfic that is not by me and is therefore OMGSOAMAZING!!!

I got permission from Marci to pimp out the fic she wrote for me!

A couple of years ago I got all high and mighty and for my birthday asked people to write fic for me, specifically fic with Beth in it. I had only a few people with the time and inspiration to take me up on this, and I am amazed that that many did so, and everything that they gave me was *amazing*. I actually still intend to do a giant "OMG" post on each and every piece. But Marci only showed me what she wrote (I guess 'cause it's still incomplete, pfff, like THAT matters :D) a couple of weeks ago, and after I saw it and died, I wanted to make sure I had her permission to share it around... it being unfinished and all. I dunno, you'd think that with her having posted it that would be a sign that it's shareable, but eh, I err on the side of caution. FAR too often it turns out but ANYWAY! ;)

Here's the link to the absolutely fantastic stuff she has written so far:

http://fanfic.thebadfic.com/?p=30#more-30

Seeing as how I respect the need to work where you have the inspiration and all, I am *not* advising anyone to bug her to finish it, but if anyone wanted to send "inspirational vibes" in her direction... s'all I'm sayin'. ^_~ (though only if it doesn't throw off her work on her original fic. Priorities, man.)

*dies again*

Swear to god you guys. I'm going to have a "Guest Star Corner" thing here where I can rave about the various Webfoot-related gifts/commissions I've gotten over the years. I just need to get my s*** together is all.

P.S. Read some of her other stuff too. Marci's awesome is not limited to the times when she writes my OC.