29 – What is your current project or projects?

The Multiverse ficathon (only two more days for leaving prompts, friends!) and the xmmmficathon (where I'm in the rare position of having not one but two prompts that sound appealing, so I'm still torn which one to write, but did prelimary work on both).



( The rest of the questions )

Title: Tea and Sympathy

Disclaimer: Characters and situations owned by Paramount and the BBC.

Fandoms: Doctor Who/Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Prompt: The Doctor (any or all) & Guinan. Sometimes even the Doctor needs someone to talk to --- fortunately the Enterprise has a very good Listener in Ten-Forward.

Rating: PG 13.

Word Count: 5.033

Characters: Guinan, the Doctor (Ten, One, Three, Five, Eight and Eleven); various companions and Starfleet personnel in cameos.

Summary: Sometimes meeting each other in the wrong order means you know just what to listen for. Guinan and the Doctor through the centuries.

Spoiler: Up to and including Time of the Angels for Doctor Who, up to and including Star Trek: Nemesis for TNG.

Thanks to: maia for beta reading on short notice!

Fake cut leads to the story!

I know it's on frightfully short notice, but could someone beta my Star Trek: TNG/Doctor Who crossover for this year's Multiverse? It's due on the 19th.

First, crossover goodness from the Multiverse ficathon (my own story is due on Wednesday, and I revel in the smugness of having finished it last week):


Battlestar Galactica/ Star Trek: The Next Generation:

Birth, In Progress: Stop me if you've heard this before: once upon a time there was an android, not content with being the way he was, looking to evolve. It's a Cavil meets Data story, and bagheera_san does something absolutely awesome with the encounter between these two. The characterisation for both is awesome, as is the way other characters from their respective universes are used (being me, I was especially impressed by what bagheera_san does with the screwed up Cavil 'n Ellen relationship, and Data talking to Picard about the Borg and different ways to reach perfection. Go! Read!

Dune/ Star Wars:

A Sunset On The Road, Reappearing: in which Leia, Luke, Han and Chewie make it to the Dune verse at some point between Dune and Dune Messiah. Told in Paul Atreides/ Mua'dib's pov, which is no mean feat in itself as his state of mind during that era is not, shall we say, easily to comprehend, plus Paul isn't a sympathetic character (imo, imo) anyway once he's reached Mua'dib stage, and the story doesn't pretend otherwise. It's lyrical, has an awesome Alia and Leia, great cameos for Luke (that other child of a desert planet), and offers layers upon layers. Truly excellent.

In the not-crossover department, I found during the weekend:

Astonishing X-Men:

Equus Caballus: in which Scott Summers and Agent Abigail Brand have an absolutely priceless conversation. A short vignette, but it captures Brand perfectly, and this makes me so very happy, let me tell you that.

Ah, very topical, that topic. *g*

Right then.

( My personal choices are spoilery for The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Star Trek, Farscape and Buffy the Vampire Slayer )

In recent weeks I succumbed to sudden Farscape nostalgia and rewatched my favourite FS season, season 3. I hadn't watched the episodes for years, and it was good getting back into that universe again. Not least because of the colours. "The wonders I've seen" indeed. It's such a different visual language from most other sci fi shows. And I love, love, love the aliens, whether human-shaped ones or those wonderful products of Jim Henson's factory. Forget about my Bill Adama issues, the moment I started to feel a less than reasonable grudge against Eddie Olmos was when he said in an interview, all the way back in season 1 of BSG, "if bumpy headed aliens show up, I'm out of here". Because of the inherent snobbery; as if sci fi is only acceptable if it's the present in a thin veneer, and certainly not with any aliens in sight. Bah. Farscape fans have a standard reply to the "but this show has muppets!" objection, to wit: "The muppets will break your heart." For real. If you're not in tears about Pilot in a certain s1 episode, or in s2's The Way We Weren't, then, to quote a newly fashionable internet expression, I judge you.

Going back to s3 specifically: I noticed that though it has been years, my perspective hasn't much changed. I still think this is when the show was at its creative peak, with both the craziness and the serious drama. What few criticisms I have remain the same as well. ( More spoilery musings ensue. )

In conclusion, Farscape at its best was crazy and wonderful, and I'm really glad andrastewhite reconsidered and that there will be a Multiverse Ficathon again this year, albeit one with a new format, one where anyone, not just the writers of the ficathon, can leave prompts. So name your favourite space crossover ideas here!

Having mailed my Multiverse story, it occured to me that I won't be around for the archive opening on July 7th, due to travels in regions with questionable internet access. Must make sure to leave a note here so that whoever wrote the story for me doesn't think I'm hopelessly rude. Anyway, this year's story for my favourite ficathon was fun to write once I had hit on the crucial idea, and I hope the recipient will be pleased. As crossovers go, though, it's a bit more dependent on readers being familiar with both fandoms than some previous crossovers I've written (for example, futuresoon hasn't watched any DS9 but assured me Nowhere Man still worked for her). We'll see.


Lost:

Someone with a great sense of humour made a Benjamin Linus versus the A-Team vid, which still has me grinning. Spoilers for season 4.

Nothing's gonna change: a look at Sun post- season 4. She's not in a forgiving mood, either of others or herself.


Doctor Who:

Escape: Donna after the Library episodes and during Midnight, trying to come to terms with what (never) happened. Sensitive character portrait.

A life fantastic: Joan Redfern and Tim Latimer from Human Nature/ Family of Blood during World War I and after. There isn't much fanfic about Joan and even less about Tim Latimer, so I was thrilled to find this story that gives us a plausible and touching look at how their lives could have continued.

Title: Nowhere Man

Recipient: astrogirl2

Rating: PG 13

Disclaimer: All characters and situations owned by the BBC and Paramount

Fandoms: Torchwood/Dr. Who/Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Timeline: After “End of Days” for Torchwood (which means after “The Sound of Drums” for Dr. Who), during season 6 for DS9

Summary: During the year that wasn’t, Torchwood tries to save the day. Elim Garak just tries to survive.

Author’s note: Written for this year's Multiverse ficathon, reposted here after the author reveal. The request had simply been for Garak and Torchwood; the result, I’m afraid, is something of a triple crossover. Still, I couldn't resist.

Thanks to: kathyh for beta-reading.


( Nowhere Man )

Insomnia makes for early rec lists!

God Save The King - a Battlestar Galactica / Star Trek: The Next Generation crossover in which the Cylons infiltrate the Federation and a Six model meets Jean-Luc Picard. Dark and excellent. No spoilers beyond the basic BSG set-up (which means, honorh, that you can read it.)

An End Has A Start - Martha and the Doctor encounter Mal and Zoe. And keep encountering them in this highly readable Dr. Who/Firefly tale. Spoilers for all things Firefly and Serenity, no spoilers for DW aside from Martha's existence.

Waltz - this one is marked as a Torchwood/Firefly crossover, but you could just as well call it a DW/Firefly one, as the only TW/DW character in it is Jack. It's a story that uses time travel and timelines for a very elegant and personal tale about Inara Serra and Jack through the ages, hers and his. And of course Jack has Companion training!

The Neon City - what is it about Mal Reynolds and Aeryn Sun that makes them so suited for shared adventure? As an earlier favourite of mine from 2004, this Firefly/Farscape crossover has Mal encountering and travelling with Aeryn (post-Peacekeeper Wars).

Ripples in the Dust - Dune/Farscape, on the other hand, is a new combination. The twins from Children of Dune, Leto and Ghanima, and John Crichton. Eerie, poetic and somewhat insane, as something featuring these characters should be.

Travelling Through A Land Of Woe - early on in Farscape (early s2, to be precise), Moya picks up another human, one Ellen Ripley. Yes, its Farscape/Alien; Alien gets several outings this year, and so far, this one is my favourite.

In the end, we are one tree pulls off a truly tricky premise - Firefly/Roswell - with style. Without ever being in love with the show, I did like Roswell until the s2 finale, and this crossover reminds me why. Excellent characterisation of Maria, Michael, Isabel and Liz, and the same is true for the Firefly crew who unexpectedly find themselves finding Earth-that-was...

Lastly, the story written for me this year was The Hero without Fear, which has Anakin Skywalker in the BSG universe. Spoilers for BSG until early s3.

It's that time of year coming closer again; the Multiverse ficathon results. Ever since andrastewhite and iamsab started it in 2004, I've been enjoying reading and writing for this particular ficathon more than for any other. So, for new readers of my journal, or for those who have discovered new sci fi fandoms since the last time I raved about this, what is the Multiverse ficathon? One devoted to sci-fi crossovers. You can find the results of past years here:

Multiverse 2004

Multiverse 2005

Multiverse 2006


Crossovers are a particular art form in fanfiction. There are so many ways they can go wrong - too much exposition, for example, i.e. characters from one universe tell characters from another their basic backgrounds in a terribly clumsy way ("Hi, I'm Captain Kirk, my ship is the Enterprise, my best friends are, and did I mention I had an illegitimate son who died?"), or conversely, characters from one universe behave as if they already know the character from another as well as the author and the fans do. And then there is the question of tone, of atmosphere; many fictional universes are very specific there, so which ones to match? Stories who manage to get characters from two universes right, and do tell their tale in a way that makes equal sense to readers who know both universes, or know just one of them, are all the more amazing.

Here are some of my favourites from the last years:

Home from the Sea: a Star Wars/Star Trek crossover which is a wonderful and heartbreaking portrait of Leia.

Pieces of the Dead: Farscape/Babylon 5, an encounter between Stark and G'Kar and Lyta on their travels. It answers a question in FS canon the show never did and offers fantastic characterisation for all three participants.

That Magical Sum We Were: Battlestar Galactica/Dr. Who - Laura Roslin and the Doctor. Lyrical and haunting.

Outside In: Alien/Dr. Who: the Ninth Doctor and Ripley - Ripley8, that is, from Alien: Resurrection. It's gut-wrenching and won't leave you for a good long while.

Catch a Tiger by the Tail : Farscape/Battlestar Galactica: Harvey and Head!Six, the encounter that had to happen, and is made of pure awesome.

Travel Light: Dr. Who/Farscape: my very favourite Doctor/Companion team, the Seventh Doctor and Ace, encounter Moya, Moya's Pilot and Stark. This, incidentally, is one of those crossovers who pull of the magical trick of working even if you don't know one of the canons in question - if you're, say, a DW only fan, then regard Stark & Co. as the guest star, about whom you find out exactly as much as a DW episode offers about its guest stars as well - and if you do know both canons, then you find it doubly layered.

Take care of yourself for me: Firefly/Babylon 5: River finds another woman who's been experiment on. The River pov is poetic and crazy and scary and intense, just as River should be, and I love it to bits.

Where the stars are strange: Star Wars/Farscape: Yoda and Rygel, and no, this is anything but crack fic. I love it.

There and back again: Stargate/Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Sam Carter goes through another wormhole and meets Jadzia Dax. It's that rarity, a story meshing plot, character exploration, and a completely believable pairing. Bonus points for a nod towards My Darling Quark and his not so secret Jadzia love.

Playing Poster Child: Farscape/Babylon 5: Zhaan and G'Kar are both characters who in their respective shows went through epiphanies. But this story presents them long before they reached this point, when they're still raw with anger, and it's fascinating and compelling to read.

Displaced Persons: Blake's 7/Farscape: Kerr Avon, meet Scorpius. It's terse, laconic, full of one liners as you expect with these characters, and the punchline is one of the best ever.

Crosses and Naughts: Firefly/Farscape: Mal Reynolds lost nearly everything (again); so has Aeryn Sun. Still the best Mal and the best Aeryn characterisation I saw in fanfic, imo as always.

Now: just one more week or so before Multiverse 2007!


In other news: it's always good when other fans write rants you don't have to: go read this excellent post on JKR and the sense of fannish entitlement. What she said.