Greetings and Salutations. (And if you get the reference there, you are now one of my favorite people, dear darling.)

To start with, I am a terrible person with a matching sense of humor; I like nothing more than to put beloved characters into uncomfortable situations-- nay, even horrific situations-- and thereafter torture them mercilessly until something amusing or relevatory happens. There may be blood. There will at least be a high level of awkward truths, usually portrayed in an ironic or tongue-in-cheek fashion.

That being said, I'm also a ridiculous romantic, as I'm sure most of my Favorite Story choices illustrate. Like Diana Wynne Jones, I like my plots to be character driven with a lesson at the end (Though my skill is certainly not on par with the divine Ms. Jones). I have nothing against fluff, but if someone starts waxing repetitious about "tru wuv" and how certain character-pairings are MEANT to be together... I have no patience for that sort of thing. A real relationship is an awkward, fumbling thing full of genuine attempts at honesty, not a saccharine walk through dawn-kissed clouds where neither person has a fault and everything ends perfectly in bliss. I wouldn't touch that sort of delusion with a ten-foot pointed stick.

However, show me a relationship where both characters falter, where the time spent together encourages each one to grow as they come to understand the other person through fights, misunderstandings, and moments of sudden comprehension and harmony... And I will squeal like a little girl and dance around the room whether said relationship is romantic or otherwise.

Favorite published authors include W. Shakespeare, Ray Bradbury, Diana Wynne Jones, Spider Robinson, Susan Cooper, C. S. Lewis, Terry Pratchett, Jane Austen, Roald Dahl, Joan Aiken, the Bronte sisters, and Max Brooks. World War Z is brilliant, folks, and if you haven't picked it up yet, by all means do.

The above list of authors is by no means comprehensive; Mother turned me into a voracious reader and those names just happened to be on the closest bookshelf. I also keep a copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves on the coffee table, and if you are not familiar with that book... Well. We're on FFNet, and one hopes we're all here to learn. Heaven knows I still occasionally stumble over spelling or unity of verb tense, so I have little leeway to judge.

I'm also quite busy with real life and will likely spend more time compiling Favorite Stories rather than writing anything fresh of my own, though I do intend to try. (Update 12/10/11: So true. I'm collecting a veritable library and publishing nothing at all!)

Remember, I'm a terrible person with no reverence for anything held sacred by the fangirls of the world.

Fanfiction is there to expound upon crazy what-ifs and moments in-between. Canon is important in order to lend veracity to the story. After all, if the only way the characters are recognizable as who they are by the mere names given in the story and not by their behavior or words-- the author has failed. However, if canon can be manipulated for one's own creative purposes while characters are kept in-character (Shall we say, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?), I say go for it and give us something to relish.

As for the contents of my Favorites:

Those stories are there because the authors writing them poured love into every word. Love for the original stories, love for the characters, love for the relationships between and among-- Maybe even love for people, period, because these fanfiction authors took enough time to learn, know, and share what brings them both pain and joy, and no one does that unless they care. Unless they love.

Incidentally, one shining example of a story filled with love is the Doctor Who/Firefly crossover The Man With No Name. It's utterly brilliant, and for those of you who recognize only one of those shows or neither, boy are you in for a treat. The author's words will suck you in and any ignorance of the source material won't matter a whit-- oh she gives the people such marvelous life.

Because the 10th Doctor and Captain Malcolm Reynolds? Both wonderful, impossible, achingly moral men in the same room, toweringly furious at the same people?

Not to be missed.

Also, anything that has merely been touched by Jessa L'Rynn is worth a read. The woman's besotted with the Ninth Doctor, and we are all so lucky that she is. I'd like to point you towards the epic collaboration she made with Olfactory Ventriloquism titled Never Quite Normal. Yes, it deals with the hairy subject of alcoholism, just as Digging for the Bones tackles child abuse in the Harry Potter universe, and thus both pieces can be slotted under AU Entertainment That Is Good For You, but the serious subject matter simply doesn't stop the writing quality from being excellent... Or halt the inevitable humor every five minutes.

After that, read A Long History (Make sure you have a free weekend first.) and be prepared to be wholly sucked into everything else she writes.

Also, for the love of all that is glorious in the world, please read Fraternite by Gondolier. The only reason, the ONLY REASON that I did not respectfully leave a gushing review upon that brilliantly heart-wrenching and delightfully adventure-packed story is because it would have marred the record of 1,001 reviews-- and really that's not a number I can bring myself to ruin, particularly amid a community of storytellers. She writes a cunning mix of many Phantoms (Oh Erik!), starting with the Leroux version and doing magnificent research along the way- be warned that you will be reading a historically researched political thriller and likely shall be jumping up and down in your desperate haste to find out what happens next.

And oh, her Christine is what I'd always hoped she'd grow up to be. You will fall in love.

I continue to mourn the fact that we can't write reviews of our Favorites on the Favorites page.

It's quite sad.

Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: But it ain't all buttons and charts, little albatross. You know what the first rule of flying is? Well, I suppose you do, since you already know what I'm about to say.
River Tam: I do. But I like to hear you say it.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Love. You can learn all the math in the 'Verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as a turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurtin' before she keels. Makes her a home.