February 17, 2003
Smallville

Bexless, Super Bullet Sneeze

Yes, I have a weakness for wee!Pete and !Clark friendship stories. This one is charming, making the boys believable five-year-olds, adorable and ridiculous, without toppling over into the twee.

Posted by Sarah T. at 01:31 AM
Smallville

Jenn, In the Absence

To be honest, I was not planning to like any Lex/Lucas story--the facile incest story is one of the plagues of SV fandom, and bores me to tears. But though I think Lex would have put up a little more resistance than he did, Jenn just manages to bring it off here. Probably most importantly, she keeps firm control of the tone, making what happens understandable without casting a romantic haze overthe act, keeping Lucas's point of view most creepy without veering off into the tedious Grand Guignol theatrics that mark most bad Luthorcest stories.

Posted by Sarah T. at 01:29 AM
Other

Sheila, Love, All Alike (LotR)

What happened to those who didn't go to the Havens? This is not, perhaps, the weightiest of all LotR stories, but there's a sadness there that echoes the sadness of the end of the books, and that's darned hard to do. Extra points for a style that is not an explicit pastiche, but still fits painlessly into the Tolkien world (which is frankly so hard that I rarely bother with LotR stories at all).

Posted by Sarah T. at 01:25 AM
Buffy

Lara Dean-Brierly, Naming the Demons

An imaginative, empathetic look at the life of the Korean Slayer mentioned in "The Puppet Show." It's always fascinating to see the different conflicts slayerdom poses for girls of different cultures, and Lara D-B presents this case vividly and touchingly. This doesn't quite fit into canon if the person she's with at the end is supposed to be the future puppet, but that's a minor concern.

Posted by Sarah T. at 01:22 AM