Enjoyed reading the reviews, as always. If your backlog is getting low, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on "The Young Lady is a Reborn Assassin" on spacebattles. I think it's got really strong action scenes and fairly well-done characters, and on a technical level is well written. Despite its clichéd setting I'd call it extraordinarily uncliche for the most part, which really intrigued me when I first started reading.
I don't quite remember the madoka rebellion movies (I remember the fight scenes being good) but I do remember that the Magia Record sequel only made sense after I read up on the gacha game mechanics that the anime is based off of.
Aaaand you weren't joking that Fargo is real. Thanks for the recs this month!
I'm currently reading Gogmagog by Jeff Noon and Steve Beard, which is basically web fiction but in a published book about gonzo-london. (their other book, Mappalujo, is also webfictionesque ie inconsistent. The co-authors drew up a list of 75 cultural influencers, writers, film stars, musicians, fashion designers & artists (conceptual & performance). They took turns drawing a name out of a hat and that cultural figure influenced the short chapter he wrote, then passed on to his collaborator to do the same for the next chapter.)
Blurb: From one day to the other, Joffrey Baratheon wakes up a changed man. Far from the spoiled boy-child known to the court of King's Landing, the Joffrey that comes out of his room three days after the death of John Arryn walks with the stride of a veteran commander and leader of men. A scholar, a sea-captain, a general, a lover. This is the story of how he became that man, and how he came to know his purpose through a cycle of endless death and rebirth that saw him explore both his self and the known world from Braavos to Sothoryios and from Old Town to Yi-Ti... and beyond. (Character Development, Adventure, Worldbuilding, Mystery & Suspense, Romance, Action). (Turtledove 2017 winner!).
The middle arc drags a bit but is skimmable. Complete.
A species without Paragons is one with a sad and terrible history. Humanity enters a very different First Contact War, and Mass Effect as you know it will change. Warning: this fic may make you rage and wish genocidal retributions against aliens.
Mix of historical narrative and game design notes. Complete
The race from worldwar and the fithp from footfall invade the modern world at the same time. Epistolary format, with notable emphasis on the prelude and aftermath of the war. Complete.
When I sold my soul to the Devil, I thought I was prepared for anything. I wasn't. I didn't expect him to be a her. Or dressed up as a magical girl carrying a pink wand tipped with a cheerful yellow star. Her being a prankster however didn't come as much of a surprise. You know, the Bible would have been a whole lot more interesting if they included stuff like this. Complete AU
I’m not sure if you know anything about Fate, but you should read chapter 9 regardless. Its a really good at reinterpreting shallow characters from DxD and making them interesting.
The Cylons destroyed over 90 percent of Colonial civilian and military forces. Unfortunately, when you're talking about a civilization as large as the Colonies, that leaves a LOT of survivors. One group is going to go looking for Adama.
Most Jumpchains assume that your ROB is either absent or interested solely in their or your own entertainment. But what if a Jumper had a Benefactor with a... different agenda?
This person’s other fics are also pretty good. Complete.
Despairing as yet another timeline goes horribly wrong, Homura wanders into Karakura. There she discovers that while the spiritually-aware people of Karakura were distracted by Ichigo Kurosaki and Xcution, Kyubey contracted the Kurosaki sisters as magical girls. Drawing the attention of the shinigami could be just the advantage Homura needs.
An insert wakes up on the first day of her new life in a world of magic, with none of her own. No advantages, no starting place, knowing nothing but that she's out gunned at every turn and power is out there to grab. One way or another she'll drag her way to safety and arcane power, over the bodies of everybody in her way if she must.
The DxD arc is great, with the protagonist having a clear goal: become strong enough to escape the DxD universe. Once she did that though, then what? The naruto arc feels meandering, like there isn’t any real direction.
Rantaro Amami wakes up to a village full of death, despair, mystery, and fifteen other students with Ultimate talents in the exact same predicament as him.
Almost. Rantaro got a little something else to get him started.
New Hope University's School of Ultimates is a small-scale test case for an exciting, novel intervention against generational discord. Sixteen of the best and brightesBLOODBLOODBLOODBLOOD promising indicators of social normativity. Graduates report higher levels of XXNAWAYRUNAWAYNOW can heal our culture of polarization and MURDERMURDEthe future of education!
[This story is an OC fangan focused on solvable (but difficult) murder mysteries. Figure out whodunnit!]
This one actually has an original and interesting overarching theme. Do you have any idea how rare that is? I’ve only found this one thats complete
The officer who came to explain the terms of the probation had a sad smile on his face the whole way through. He seemed like he was trying to be sympathetic at first, telling them about the mandatory school transfer and the probation terms, but when he got to the part about “removing Akira-kun from bad influences,” Chou couldn’t see the smile as anything less than sadistic.
“I know you’re facing a lot of pain right now, Kurusu-san,” the officer had said. “But perhaps better parenting would have helped Akira-kun know that he shouldn’t assault people in the street.”
---
OR, Takeshi and Chou Kurusu aren't bad people. They never stopped loving their son, not for a single second.
Sakura thought she was a capable kunoichi until she died in the Chuunin Exam. Now she's stuck in a loop, dying again and again while she struggles to understand her strange predicament. How hard can it be to pass one stupid test? Sakura/Naruto/Hinata
This one includes weird sex stuff, but reminded me too much of mother of learning to ignore. Complete.
AU. Orochimaru's resignation from Akatsuki is more intense than in canon, resulting in a meeting between young Naruto and Sasori… Slow buildup. Last chapter is a summary, technically not complete
Twelve years ago, the Fourth Hokage gave his life to seal Kyubey, the Nine-Brained Demon Fox, into the infant Naruto. Now, the time has come for a smarter, more creative Naruto to take on a world in which quick thinking and a solid grasp of strategy are worth a dozen rare techniques, and a brilliant mind can challenge even the deepest darkness.
Inspired by an omake in Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.
"The story of the twentieth century is a story of two brothers separated at birth, one raised in America and one in Africa. Their father was British, their mother French, but as is always the case it was their upbringing that shaped their characters."- Wolf Hugeson, The Eagle and the Dragon, 2010
---
"He has waged cruel War against human Nature itself, violating its most sacred Rights of Life and Liberty in the Persons of a distant People who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into Slavery in another Hemisphere, or to incur miserable Death, in their Transportation thither… determined to keep open a Markett where Men should be bought and sold."- Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence, 1776
---
"The descent from Adam issues forth two radically different lineages, that of Cain and that of Seth. We are told to revile Cain, but it is to Cain that the bible attributes the building of the first city. It is Cain's descendants Jabal and Jubal who initiate the domestication of cattle and invent musical instruments, and their descendant Tubal-Cain who invents metallurgy. As for Seth- those who worship the philosophy of handicapping eagerly claim him as an ancestor, but the bible attributes not a single great accomplishment to either Seth or any of his descendants prior to Noah who is the antithesis of the handicapped ideal… There are two lines of man, let us claim the one of city-builders."- Elvira Naldorssen, I Grant You Dominion Over Them, 1901
Louise gets reverse summoned into skyrim, does every quest, returns to halkegenia. The skyrim part is skippable. Excellent character writing, especially in interlude 8.
Seventeen-year-old Light Yagami is destined to change the world someday. Everyone knows that. And Light’s little sister Sayu will make sure he gets his chance, no matter what it takes. An AU where Sayu finds the Death Note instead of Light.
Interesting look at what a different Kira’s philosophy changes things.
Nine days out from Sozin's Comet, you—Princess Azula of the Fire Nation—find yourself staring down betrayal at the Boiling Rock. Again. Because the thing is, you've been here before. And before. And before. And no matter what you do from here on out, it always seems to end the same: you lose everything on the one day you are more powerful than you will ever be again.
Your only hope is that maybe this time will be different.
A retelling of the Honorverse's Solarian League arc.
By the guy who wrote Baru Cormorant. Not much prior knowledge required, tvtropes would be sufficient. Complete, but feels like it needs another 3 books.
A magical girl’s potential is determined by the weight of her karmic destiny.
Homura twists back time with the sole purpose of rescuing Madoka. The entire fate of every single timeline – all of those billions of people – comes to depend on Madoka, again, and again, making Madoka the strongest magical girl to have ever existed, the only one who could stop Walpurgisnacht.
What if Homura did the same thing, but with Sayaka Miki?
This person’s other fics are pretty good. Complete
If you’re looking for recommendations, definitely check out anything by cliffc999 and Ideas-Guy. They both have solid writing. I reread Unconquerable and Risk it All last month and enjoyed them a lot.
I also tried Cold Blooded Perspective (a Ghost Spider SI) on SB last month. It’s pretty good overall, but there’s a plot point midway through that might not sit well with everyone.
For something lighter, Acid Trip [Dragonball Z Cell Junior SI] was absolutely hilarious and surprisingly clever. It’s not super long, but it’s self-contained and worth the read.
I went on a hunt for Arcane fics this month, but honestly, the pickings are slim. The most popular one I found on QQ (Arcane Curiosity Explored) was pretty bad—like, straight-up vile. Fingers crossed the good authors are just starting to dig into the fandom. On the bright side, my search led me to Super Randomizer Lux on SB. It’s a League of Legends fic, and for a Wiki Warrior story, it was surprisingly fun!
Fair point! I did say “for a Wiki Warrior story,” so I wasn’t expecting too much either. What I enjoyed was the group dynamic forming around Lux and the way the randomness was worked into something that still felt like a cohesive story. Plus, the bits of LoL lore were a nice touch—though that might’ve hit harder for me since I was already in an Arcane headspace at the time.
I actually read it on a long plane flight, and my other option was the Night Angel trilogy. Somehow, I ended up sticking with this, which probably says something about how much it kept me entertained in the moment.
I remember reading another HP SI fic that was good enough to be translated from Russian: *I Am Lord Voldemort?* by Spectralroses on FFN.
> A genre savvy but ignorant of canon OC insert into Voldemort right after the murder of James Potter. Greed replacing pride at the helm of a terrorist group just might change the course of history. After all, the magical world is full of potential waiting to be exploited. (Inspired by The Evil Overlord List and 48 Laws of Power.)
I remember it being mostly the amoral protag tinkering around with magic and kingdom-building with the HP world. The translation is sadly dead but the Russian original is complete and I liked it enough to read the original through awful google translate back in the day. I imagine translation tech has improved with llms since then. And yes it had that odd outsider art vibes from the translation. Will try the umbridge fic.
Waking up to this newsletter really is the best part of the first of the month-- thanks for writing!
In terms of recs-- this isn't so much a rec as a "I sure am wasting my time on this, and so can you"-- I've been reading "A Century Into the Past" by syipinc on spacebattles, which is an 'island in the sea of time' style crackfic about the entirety of modern china being sent back to ww1. It's terrible, but bad ISOTs are my vice lmao.
Have you watched Twin Peaks? You should watch Twin Peaks. It’s some of the best, then worst, then best again, television I’ve ever encountered.
I don’t have any suggestions if you’re keen on something to *read*, other than I guess I’d be interested in your take on some original web fic rather than fan works.
I tried to watch Twin Peaks, dropped it at episode ten or so because it was just kind of boring me, honestly. I do enjoy Lynch's weather reports though, and they inspire every review I write............
If you’ve given it ten episodes and called it quits, that’s more than a fair shake, especially since it gets significantly worse from there, quality wise.
The last run of episodes before the finale of season 2 are genuinely dire, and Lynch was scarcely involved. But then he comes back to direct the finale, throws out the existing script almost entirely, and comes up with what I think is possibly the best hour of television in history. I honestly think it’s worth powering through the dreck for that finale alone, though I don’t begrudge you if that sounds like a tall order.
And then 25 years later we have The Return, which is also electrifyingly weird and cool, and really Lynch’s final statement in a lot of ways, picking up not just on Twin Peaks but winding together a lot of threads and themes from throughout his career.
But yeah… while the rewards are great, the journey to get there is insanely rough at times! So no worries, watch what you want, the quality of your reviews is high enough that I’m quite happy reading your thoughts on psychosexual progression fics that I’ll never delve into myself.
Since you like long written works written in serial form and gave a review about the classic Dracula, my recommendation to look at would be The Count of Monte Cristo, which I think is in many ways the earliest template for a lot of 'revenge fics' and serves as an interesting point of comparison to modern web serials in its structure and form (originally published serially in a magazine). There's also a worm fusion crossover with it if that's an easier sell--it's also complete and definitely shorter.
Enjoyed reading the reviews, as always. If your backlog is getting low, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on "The Young Lady is a Reborn Assassin" on spacebattles. I think it's got really strong action scenes and fairly well-done characters, and on a technical level is well written. Despite its clichéd setting I'd call it extraordinarily uncliche for the most part, which really intrigued me when I first started reading.
I don't quite remember the madoka rebellion movies (I remember the fight scenes being good) but I do remember that the Magia Record sequel only made sense after I read up on the gacha game mechanics that the anime is based off of.
Aaaand you weren't joking that Fargo is real. Thanks for the recs this month!
I'm currently reading Gogmagog by Jeff Noon and Steve Beard, which is basically web fiction but in a published book about gonzo-london. (their other book, Mappalujo, is also webfictionesque ie inconsistent. The co-authors drew up a list of 75 cultural influencers, writers, film stars, musicians, fashion designers & artists (conceptual & performance). They took turns drawing a name out of a hat and that cultural figure influenced the short chapter he wrote, then passed on to his collaborator to do the same for the next chapter.)
Hello. I saw that you wanted more recommendations. Heres some I thought you would enjoy:
One shots:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9469775/
Harry Potter
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/11383206/1/The-Ultimate-Hope
Danganronpa
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/sandaime.270310/
Naruto
ASOIAF:
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/purple-days-asoiaf-joffrey-timeloop-au.450894/
Blurb: From one day to the other, Joffrey Baratheon wakes up a changed man. Far from the spoiled boy-child known to the court of King's Landing, the Joffrey that comes out of his room three days after the death of John Arryn walks with the stride of a veteran commander and leader of men. A scholar, a sea-captain, a general, a lover. This is the story of how he became that man, and how he came to know his purpose through a cycle of endless death and rebirth that saw him explore both his self and the known world from Braavos to Sothoryios and from Old Town to Yi-Ti... and beyond. (Character Development, Adventure, Worldbuilding, Mystery & Suspense, Romance, Action). (Turtledove 2017 winner!).
The middle arc drags a bit but is skimmable. Complete.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/39240864
Robb Stark had swept his entire hand of cards off the table, and Tyrion couldn’t see how to make a single play at all.
Complete
https://archiveofourown.org/works/52436308
There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival.
—Thornton Wilder
Complete
Mass Effect:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7170477/61/
A species without Paragons is one with a sad and terrible history. Humanity enters a very different First Contact War, and Mass Effect as you know it will change. Warning: this fic may make you rage and wish genocidal retributions against aliens.
Mix of historical narrative and game design notes. Complete
Worldwar/Footfall:
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/worldfall-worldwar-footfall-invasion-in-modern-times-completed.40569/
The race from worldwar and the fithp from footfall invade the modern world at the same time. Epistolary format, with notable emphasis on the prelude and aftermath of the war. Complete.
Fate/Stay Night/DxD:
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/10710606/9/
When I sold my soul to the Devil, I thought I was prepared for anything. I wasn't. I didn't expect him to be a her. Or dressed up as a magical girl carrying a pink wand tipped with a cheerful yellow star. Her being a prankster however didn't come as much of a surprise. You know, the Bible would have been a whole lot more interesting if they included stuff like this. Complete AU
I’m not sure if you know anything about Fate, but you should read chapter 9 regardless. Its a really good at reinterpreting shallow characters from DxD and making them interesting.
Battlestar Galactica:
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/nubsg-the-scattering.326749/
The Cylons destroyed over 90 percent of Colonial civilian and military forces. Unfortunately, when you're talking about a civilization as large as the Colonies, that leaves a LOT of survivors. One group is going to go looking for Adama.
This one and the next two are by the same person.
Miraculous Ladybug/Worm:
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/miraculous-escalation-worm-miraculous-ladybug.776197/
When Skitter is tossed into another world in the aftermath of the battle with Noelle, how will she get back.
And how will the light and fluffy world of Miraculous Ladybug deal with Warlord Skitter?
the world--and innocent bystanders, want to know.
Complete
Battletech:
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/battletech-the-bull-and-the-genie.717907/
Taurus receives a Core. Extends to the Clan invasion and beyond. Complete.
Jumpchain/Girl Genius/Buffy:
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/as-a-consequence-of-your-action-jumpchain.845425/
Most Jumpchains assume that your ROB is either absent or interested solely in their or your own entertainment. But what if a Jumper had a Benefactor with a... different agenda?
This person’s other fics are also pretty good. Complete.
PMMM/Bleach:
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/11116656/1/As-N-Approaches-Infinity
Despairing as yet another timeline goes horribly wrong, Homura wanders into Karakura. There she discovers that while the spiritually-aware people of Karakura were distracted by Ichigo Kurosaki and Xcution, Kyubey contracted the Kurosaki sisters as magical girls. Drawing the attention of the shinigami could be just the advantage Homura needs.
DxD/Naruto Multicross:
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/bootstrapping-multi-cross-book-2-now-in-naruto.770733/
An insert wakes up on the first day of her new life in a world of magic, with none of her own. No advantages, no starting place, knowing nothing but that she's out gunned at every turn and power is out there to grab. One way or another she'll drag her way to safety and arcane power, over the bodies of everybody in her way if she must.
The DxD arc is great, with the protagonist having a clear goal: become strong enough to escape the DxD universe. Once she did that though, then what? The naruto arc feels meandering, like there isn’t any real direction.
Danganronpa:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/10033658/chapters/22362095
The first investigation was going exactly as the Mastermind hoped it would.
And then Ouma picked up the ball.
Complete.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/30428967/chapters/75025623
Rantaro Amami wakes up to a village full of death, despair, mystery, and fifteen other students with Ultimate talents in the exact same predicament as him.
Almost. Rantaro got a little something else to get him started.
Complete.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/18248252/chapters/43178255
New Hope University's School of Ultimates is a small-scale test case for an exciting, novel intervention against generational discord. Sixteen of the best and brightesBLOODBLOODBLOODBLOOD promising indicators of social normativity. Graduates report higher levels of XXNAWAYRUNAWAYNOW can heal our culture of polarization and MURDERMURDEthe future of education!
[This story is an OC fangan focused on solvable (but difficult) murder mysteries. Figure out whodunnit!]
This one actually has an original and interesting overarching theme. Do you have any idea how rare that is? I’ve only found this one thats complete
Persona 5:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/24208855/chapters/58318147
The officer who came to explain the terms of the probation had a sad smile on his face the whole way through. He seemed like he was trying to be sympathetic at first, telling them about the mandatory school transfer and the probation terms, but when he got to the part about “removing Akira-kun from bad influences,” Chou couldn’t see the smile as anything less than sadistic.
“I know you’re facing a lot of pain right now, Kurusu-san,” the officer had said. “But perhaps better parenting would have helped Akira-kun know that he shouldn’t assault people in the street.”
---
OR, Takeshi and Chou Kurusu aren't bad people. They never stopped loving their son, not for a single second.
Complete.
Naruto:
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/5193644/1/Time-Braid
Sakura thought she was a capable kunoichi until she died in the Chuunin Exam. Now she's stuck in a loop, dying again and again while she struggles to understand her strange predicament. How hard can it be to pass one stupid test? Sakura/Naruto/Hinata
This one includes weird sex stuff, but reminded me too much of mother of learning to ignore. Complete.
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/5166693/1/Scorpion-s-Disciple
AU. Orochimaru's resignation from Akatsuki is more intense than in canon, resulting in a meeting between young Naruto and Sasori… Slow buildup. Last chapter is a summary, technically not complete
By the author of mother of learning
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/naruto-lighting-up-the-dark.51004/
Twelve years ago, the Fourth Hokage gave his life to seal Kyubey, the Nine-Brained Demon Fox, into the infant Naruto. Now, the time has come for a smarter, more creative Naruto to take on a world in which quick thinking and a solid grasp of strategy are worth a dozen rare techniques, and a brilliant mind can challenge even the deepest darkness.
Inspired by an omake in Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.
Original:
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/diadochus-imperial-bureaucrat-quest.112541/
The Emperor is dead. The Empire is tearing itself apart. And at the center of it all is you, the clerk.
Complete
https://web.archive.org/web/20210302175318/http://strongfemaleprotagonist.com/issue-1/page-0/
SFP follows the adventures of a young middle-class American with super-strength, invincibility and an overwhelming sense of social injustice.
The site isn’t working for me but the archive is fine. This post is very convincing: https://medium.com/@timecubefanfiction/honest-exploration-is-critical-exploration-how-strong-female-protagonist-explores-an-idea-97cf8e978a81
Draka:
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/separated-at-birth-america-and-drakia.56951/
"The story of the twentieth century is a story of two brothers separated at birth, one raised in America and one in Africa. Their father was British, their mother French, but as is always the case it was their upbringing that shaped their characters."- Wolf Hugeson, The Eagle and the Dragon, 2010
---
"He has waged cruel War against human Nature itself, violating its most sacred Rights of Life and Liberty in the Persons of a distant People who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into Slavery in another Hemisphere, or to incur miserable Death, in their Transportation thither… determined to keep open a Markett where Men should be bought and sold."- Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence, 1776
---
"The descent from Adam issues forth two radically different lineages, that of Cain and that of Seth. We are told to revile Cain, but it is to Cain that the bible attributes the building of the first city. It is Cain's descendants Jabal and Jubal who initiate the domestication of cattle and invent musical instruments, and their descendant Tubal-Cain who invents metallurgy. As for Seth- those who worship the philosophy of handicapping eagerly claim him as an ancestor, but the bible attributes not a single great accomplishment to either Seth or any of his descendants prior to Noah who is the antithesis of the handicapped ideal… There are two lines of man, let us claim the one of city-builders."- Elvira Naldorssen, I Grant You Dominion Over Them, 1901
Historical narrative. Complete
Familiar of Zero/Skyrim
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/zero-summing-foz-skyrim.19118/
Louise gets reverse summoned into skyrim, does every quest, returns to halkegenia. The skyrim part is skippable. Excellent character writing, especially in interlude 8.
Death Note:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/44140647/chapters/110995221
Seventeen-year-old Light Yagami is destined to change the world someday. Everyone knows that. And Light’s little sister Sayu will make sure he gets his chance, no matter what it takes. An AU where Sayu finds the Death Note instead of Light.
Interesting look at what a different Kira’s philosophy changes things.
Atla:
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/arsonists-lullaby-an-azula-timeloop-quest.126871/
Nine days out from Sozin's Comet, you—Princess Azula of the Fire Nation—find yourself staring down betrayal at the Boiling Rock. Again. Because the thing is, you've been here before. And before. And before. And no matter what you do from here on out, it always seems to end the same: you lose everything on the one day you are more powerful than you will ever be again.
Your only hope is that maybe this time will be different.
(Will it?)
Honor Harrington.
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/mission-of-honor-retold.64883/
A retelling of the Honorverse's Solarian League arc.
By the guy who wrote Baru Cormorant. Not much prior knowledge required, tvtropes would be sufficient. Complete, but feels like it needs another 3 books.
PMMM:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/48065686/chapters/121197739
A magical girl’s potential is determined by the weight of her karmic destiny.
Homura twists back time with the sole purpose of rescuing Madoka. The entire fate of every single timeline – all of those billions of people – comes to depend on Madoka, again, and again, making Madoka the strongest magical girl to have ever existed, the only one who could stop Walpurgisnacht.
What if Homura did the same thing, but with Sayaka Miki?
This person’s other fics are pretty good. Complete
Worm:
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-kaisers-new-clothes-post-leviathan-au-comedy.1170333/
By a twist of fate, Kaiser survives his encounter with Leviathan, at the cost of a second trigger, his dignity, and some severe head trauma.
Now he's about to make that everybody else's problem.
Absolutely Hilarious.
If you’re looking for recommendations, definitely check out anything by cliffc999 and Ideas-Guy. They both have solid writing. I reread Unconquerable and Risk it All last month and enjoyed them a lot.
I also tried Cold Blooded Perspective (a Ghost Spider SI) on SB last month. It’s pretty good overall, but there’s a plot point midway through that might not sit well with everyone.
For something lighter, Acid Trip [Dragonball Z Cell Junior SI] was absolutely hilarious and surprisingly clever. It’s not super long, but it’s self-contained and worth the read.
I went on a hunt for Arcane fics this month, but honestly, the pickings are slim. The most popular one I found on QQ (Arcane Curiosity Explored) was pretty bad—like, straight-up vile. Fingers crossed the good authors are just starting to dig into the fandom. On the bright side, my search led me to Super Randomizer Lux on SB. It’s a League of Legends fic, and for a Wiki Warrior story, it was surprisingly fun!
I tried Super Randomizer Lux some time ago and it didn't grab me, what parts were fun? I'll check out the other stuff, thanks.
Fair point! I did say “for a Wiki Warrior story,” so I wasn’t expecting too much either. What I enjoyed was the group dynamic forming around Lux and the way the randomness was worked into something that still felt like a cohesive story. Plus, the bits of LoL lore were a nice touch—though that might’ve hit harder for me since I was already in an Arcane headspace at the time.
I actually read it on a long plane flight, and my other option was the Night Angel trilogy. Somehow, I ended up sticking with this, which probably says something about how much it kept me entertained in the moment.
Hope you enjoy the other recs!
I remember reading another HP SI fic that was good enough to be translated from Russian: *I Am Lord Voldemort?* by Spectralroses on FFN.
> A genre savvy but ignorant of canon OC insert into Voldemort right after the murder of James Potter. Greed replacing pride at the helm of a terrorist group just might change the course of history. After all, the magical world is full of potential waiting to be exploited. (Inspired by The Evil Overlord List and 48 Laws of Power.)
I remember it being mostly the amoral protag tinkering around with magic and kingdom-building with the HP world. The translation is sadly dead but the Russian original is complete and I liked it enough to read the original through awful google translate back in the day. I imagine translation tech has improved with llms since then. And yes it had that odd outsider art vibes from the translation. Will try the umbridge fic.
Waking up to this newsletter really is the best part of the first of the month-- thanks for writing!
In terms of recs-- this isn't so much a rec as a "I sure am wasting my time on this, and so can you"-- I've been reading "A Century Into the Past" by syipinc on spacebattles, which is an 'island in the sea of time' style crackfic about the entirety of modern china being sent back to ww1. It's terrible, but bad ISOTs are my vice lmao.
I'm still mad about that one shitty Taiwan fic, so I'll definitely check that out and hope it lives up to the premise, thanks
Have you watched Twin Peaks? You should watch Twin Peaks. It’s some of the best, then worst, then best again, television I’ve ever encountered.
I don’t have any suggestions if you’re keen on something to *read*, other than I guess I’d be interested in your take on some original web fic rather than fan works.
I tried to watch Twin Peaks, dropped it at episode ten or so because it was just kind of boring me, honestly. I do enjoy Lynch's weather reports though, and they inspire every review I write............
If you’ve given it ten episodes and called it quits, that’s more than a fair shake, especially since it gets significantly worse from there, quality wise.
The last run of episodes before the finale of season 2 are genuinely dire, and Lynch was scarcely involved. But then he comes back to direct the finale, throws out the existing script almost entirely, and comes up with what I think is possibly the best hour of television in history. I honestly think it’s worth powering through the dreck for that finale alone, though I don’t begrudge you if that sounds like a tall order.
And then 25 years later we have The Return, which is also electrifyingly weird and cool, and really Lynch’s final statement in a lot of ways, picking up not just on Twin Peaks but winding together a lot of threads and themes from throughout his career.
But yeah… while the rewards are great, the journey to get there is insanely rough at times! So no worries, watch what you want, the quality of your reviews is high enough that I’m quite happy reading your thoughts on psychosexual progression fics that I’ll never delve into myself.
Since you like long written works written in serial form and gave a review about the classic Dracula, my recommendation to look at would be The Count of Monte Cristo, which I think is in many ways the earliest template for a lot of 'revenge fics' and serves as an interesting point of comparison to modern web serials in its structure and form (originally published serially in a magazine). There's also a worm fusion crossover with it if that's an easier sell--it's also complete and definitely shorter.