Recs of various kinds

[selenak]

You know, back in the Jossverse days, I did my level best to stay out of the Spike Wars, but every now and then I read a post. And then I had issues. Which at one time I channelled in fanfiction, and this morning I found to my delight that old story of mine had just been recced in tandem with a truly fantastic vid, here.

On to other fandoms: given that John Locke and Benjamin Linus are two of the most interesting characters on Lost for me, and their scenes together rock (and not just because Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn are the best actors on the show), you can imagine how delighted I was to find this essay about their relationship. Spoilers only until the end of season 3. Go, read!

Torchwood: sparky77 has written a wonderfully creepy and intense exploration of the Adam scenario.

Comments

[counteragent.livejournal.com]

Isn't that vid awesome? Bookmarking your story for later reading...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It truly is!

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

I watched Buffy only after it had aired and so wasn't in fandom during the Spike Wars, and didn't know about that fic of yours. I really loved it, in a dark and somewhat spiteful kind of way, because the prettification of Spike pissed me off as well. My "favorite" was the last one about "Lies My Parents Told Me." The strategy of juxtaposing the victims' stories with Spike's cheerful snarky descriptions of them worked really well.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

You didn't miss anything by missing the Spike Wars, but if you want a humorous take, back during the hiatus between s4 and s5 of Angel when fandom went crazy (either in the negative or in the positive sense) about the news that Spike would be in s5, my sense of the ridiculous got the better of me and I wrote The Educated Fangirl's Guide To The Spike Wars (http://selenak.livejournal.com/37161.html).

More seriously: oh yeah, the woobification was what ticked me off as well. Mind you, I did enjoy Spike as a character on both shows; but in every fandom, you get these characters that people declare they love for their ambiguity, and then proceed to whitewash of every negative trait or deed or declare said deed was someone else's fault. To me, that cheapens the characters. I'm as much a sucker for a good redemption story as the next fangirl, but in order for it to work, one has to be aware there is a lot of crap that person has to redeem himself (or herself) for to begin with. Now with Angel the shows gave us several graphic illustrations on screen, and we saw him hurt or kill sympathetic characters, but Spike's track record is more a verbal thing with the very rare on screen exception, and the different treatment of Holtz and Robin Wood by the narrative is interesting. Hence, fanfic. And the juxtaposition you observed.

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

people declare they love for their ambiguity, and then proceed to whitewash of every negative trait or deed or declare said deed was someone else's fault.

Yep. One of the more amusing traits of fandom--or the more annoying, depending on how you look at it. To be fair, the canon is often guilty of it too. I do think the canon portrayal of Spike, unlike Angel, encouraged his woobification.

Your Guide to the Spike Wars was great. I think I'm a cross between an Evilista Furiosa and a Humanista Apathetica. Spike's never been the main part of the show for me, but I like him best evil.

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

It was a pleasure to rec your story! I was particularly satisfied with how you chose to illustrate Spike's lines from canon with victims who were especially vulnerable due to sociopolitical circumstances - it really puts the lie to any pretension that Spike was "striking a blow for the common man" when he murdered human beings. The last section was incredibly powerful. Whenever I think of Nikki or Robin Wood, I'm always going to remember this passage:

“Kid told me there was some stalker after his mother,” Vanessa whispered. “Made me promise I wouldn’t tell her he told, but he was so scared. Some white guy, he said. That the one who got her?”

Crowley, whose parents had emigrated to the UK from Kenya and who sometimes suspected he owed his position to a rare attempt at patronizing racial tactfulness on the part of the Watcher’s Council, just nodded.

“I guess that’s it then,” Vanessa said bitterly. “Police isn’t going to do anything. One more dead black woman killed by some white bastard, what’s she to them? He’ll get away with it.”

An outstanding story, and in this last section you've put your finger on the skeevy racial issues that Buffyverse women of color and characters of color always run into. I'm glad you liked "Origin Stories," too - I've just edited the halfamoon post to add further links to commentary on the vid, since there's already been an influx of insightful thoughts. Check it out; I'd love it if you comment with any good meta you've seen, too.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

aycheb wrote meta about the problem of Robin as a Slayer (http://aycheb.livejournal.com/69442.html), which I thought raised a good point.

Regarding:

I was particularly satisfied with how you chose to illustrate Spike's lines from canon with victims who were especially vulnerable due to sociopolitical circumstances - it really puts the lie to any pretension that Spike was "striking a blow for the common man" when he murdered human beings.

You know, it blew my mind to learn, back when I posted the story, that there were people who thought this was what Spike did, which I found out through a comment here (http://selenak.livejournal.com/206133.html?thread=2767157#t2767157). Seriously, that is so warped that I still can't believe people would think of it.

The final passage in "Five in One": I never got around to writing my story about Nikki and Robin Wood, but I had a basic idea, which I used here, and there could be nothing else as the last point and the climax of this particular tale.

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pointing me toward that commentary - I've added a link to the list at the halfamoon post. Along with my response, actually, since it got so darn long *g*

That last section is the best part of a seriously awesome fic - I'm sorry you never got around to your story about Nikki and Robin, because I'm sure it'd be fantastic, but I'm glad you rounded off "Five in One" with that idea.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

...And I just posted some thoughts I've been meaning to write about Holtz and Robin and the way they're used in the narratives of their respective shows.

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

Hurrah, I'll be sure to check it out!

[counteragent.livejournal.com]

Loved the story.

The section with the dancers was especially moving--it's heartbreaking to think that they were taken on the best night of their lives, when everything seemed possible. (Spike's line made it clear that both women met their doom that evening.) I could just see them falling down together, their bodies kicking up dust that marred their jewels.

Great story!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Thank you for singling out the dancers - they never get mentioned in reviews for this story, and yes, that was just the kind of image I had in my mind, too!