I saved the best for last. This is not just my favorite fan fiction, this is one of my favorite stories of all time. I love it so much that I dedicated a portion of my free time in college compiling, typesetting, and forming a print version of it for my own personal bookshelf. And this wasn’t just doing a straight print command from the browser. I wanted a nicely formatted and professional looking edition (for a three-ring binder). This was not easy. I was using Microsoft Word 95 for Christ’s sake. And I didn’t know a thing about macros then. Think about that, for those of you who used…
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Featured Fan Fiction: Castles in the Sky (Final Fantasy 8)
Ashbear is the premiere Final Fantasy 8 writer and this is her top story. In fact, this might be THE top story. Let me explain. When I was younger and had way too much time on my hands, I wanted to read good fan fiction. Unfortunately, FanFiction.net, the premiere source for fan fiction, does not have a way to rank stories. You can add favorites, you can post reviews. But there’s no objective way to tell whether a story is well-liked or not. I always thought the site should at least have some sort of “Blam” functionality, like Newgrounds has, where works below a certain rating are deleted. So what…
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Featured Fan Fiction: The One I Love Is… (Evangelion)
The One I Love Is… is my favorite Evangelion fan fiction. At first it seems like a typical Rei/Shinji/Asuka romance triangle thing. Believe me–it’s hard enough to write one couple pairing. Most ficcers barely get farther than one chapter with that sort of thing, and they run out of steam. Not the case here. What I love about it is that it starts from a specific point in the series: where Rei sits in Eva-01 (Shinji’s giant robot) to test synchronization. Since Eva-01 contains the soul of Shinji’s mother (spoilers!), the idea of attraction is implanted in her head, and she attempts to pursue a romantic relationship with him… in…
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Featured Fan Fiction: Deus Ex Jenova (Final Fantasy 7)
I mentioned this story briefly as an inspiration for Milk and Honey, but that was just the sex part. Deus Ex Jenova is not about sex, though it has sexuality. In fact, it doesn’t have that much sex except at the end, as an addendum and a response to the prudish nature of modern American literature, when most classic literature was basically pornography without pictures. They had to make do with veiled metaphors and alluding language. But I digress. It’s much more than just a spot of naughty. It’s a full-fledged story that employs several no-no tropes, like resurrecting Aeris (don’t worry, that’s not a spoiler), original characters that save…
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Featured Fan Fiction: Balamb Garden’s Yuletide Vacation (Final Fantasy 8)
I think this is the only true comedy in my list. Sunshine in Winter is close, but that is more of a tragic romance. This is more like a Shakespearean comedy of errors. Plus it’s Christmas-themed to boot. It puts our favorite FF8 characters through all the great holiday stories. Squall becomes Mr. Scrooge. Zell is in “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Seifer plays “Phantom of the Opera” (okay, maybe they’re not all Christmas-themed). Quistis deals with her relationship with a boring man and the mystery of Seifer. And Christmas carols proliferate throughout. It’s a feel-good story — a rare gem in a medium filled with angst and drama. These may…
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Featured Fan Fiction: When Dreams Change (Trigun)
Trigun is like Evangelion. It started as a shounen story — meaning its audience is young boys (middle school/high school). Just like Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece, Ranma 1/2, Bleach, and Naruto. Nothing too serious, usually with lots of goofy guys, grumpy girls, and comical situations. But halfway through its run, it stopped being shounen and went a different direction. A mature direction with lots of violence, adult situations, and angst. Personally, I think this is a winning formula. It starts off light and fluffy and becomes dark and depressing (and confusing). It’s how you know things have changed, that the characters are evolving and the goal posts are being pushed back.…
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Featured Fan Fiction: Devotion (Final Fantasy 7)
Before Dirge of Cerberus came out, Vincent Valentine was Japan’s representative brooding tragic figure with a mysterious past. Before Edward and Angel made the fangirls swoon, there was one dark-haired, brooding, vaguely urban fantasy hero who let his gun do the talking while tresses of his ebony hair whipped before his mask. The problem was that Vincent was an optional character. So his additions to the story are minimal to say the least. He doesn’t even get a character-building sidequest like Yuffie, the other new character. His contributions are more to gameplay, as he has a long-range weapon and a decent limit break. His history is only ever hinted at…
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Featured Fan Fiction: Crimson Lies (Final Fantasy 8)
Crimson Lies comes to us from Ashbear, the premiere writer of FF8 fan fiction on FF.net. I think the reason she’s so popular is that she knows her romance, and she does this by concentrating on the most redeeming aspect of Final Fantasy 8 — the love story between Squall and Rinoa. The key to making a good fan fiction is by staying true to the characters, and the key to a good love story is by keeping the characters apart. I guess it’s like the equivalent of dread for a horror story. It’s all about elongating the experience. Crimson Lies takes place after the events of Final Fantasy 8…
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Featured Fan Fiction: Eva-R (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a fantastic anime series. Possibly the best. You can watch it over and over again and discover something new each time. But really, you have to examine it in two parts. In part one, it’s essentially a “boy and his robot” story where 14-year-old Shinji Ikari has to pilot his giant mech from giant monsters called “angels”. The second part of the series focuses on the crippling emotional problems he has with himself and his co-workers, Rei (the silent, cold chick) and Asuka (the hot-tempered, action girl) as the plot meanders towards possible apocalypse. Suffice to say, the series has a lot of layers that are…
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Featured Fan Fiction: Sunshine in Winter (Final Fantasy VII)
Sunshine in Winter, written by Guardian1, is nice because it’s short (40,000 words) , but it’s packed to the brim with humor, pathos, passion, and drama. The story is about Yuffie, an extra, but beloved, character from Final Fantasy VII, who fills in the requisite “spunky tomboy” role in all JRPGs and most animes. Her romantic pairing is Vincent Valentine, the “dark, brooding lone wolf” character. Through a silly accident, Selphie’s leg becomes poisoned. Rather than amputate, since she’s a ninja, and leglessness doesn’t contribute to her line of work (there’s no workman’s comp for ninjutsu), she maintains an obstinant attitude that she can be cured. Vincent wordlessly takes care…
