Five great 2022 Summer of Giles fics

[sparrow2000]

summer_of_giles is always a highlight of my fandom year, both as a writer and a consumer. Here are five fics that really jumped out at me, but with the caveat that as always there is a ton of great stuff that is worth checking out and I'm still way behind with my reading! The SoG DW account has very user friendly tags if you want to go delving back into the archive for goodies from previous years. SoG also has an AO3 account, so that’s another way to get your Giles on.

The Call by pbjellius is a lovely glimpse of pre-Sunnydale Giles who is doing mindless busywork for the Council and dreaming something bigger. And really, if you were a vampire, you don’t want to get between a having a bad day Giles and the pub - just saying!


i've all the time in the world (if only you'll stay) by Melacka is a beautiful piece of Giles, Buffy friendship. After years apart Buffy is coming to visit and Giles is nervous. After how frayed their relationship was in canon for much of S7, this makes it right, I admit I’m not a fan of Giles/Buffy, but I do love a good Giles, Buffy friendship fic and this fits the bill nicely for my tastes.

Wrecked Again by ynyseira is a Giles/Jenny drabble that will rip your heart out and stomp it into little bloody pieces on the ground and I mean that as a huge compliment!

Chosen by TheScholarlyStrumpet (equipoise) is a lovely bit of back story of Giles during his Council rehabilitation before being assigned a slayer. I especially liked the idea of the Council actively exploiting Giles darker traits for their own ends at the same time as they look down on him for his youthful transgressions.

The Boys of Summer is by il_mio_capitano who is one of the mods of SoG and always gives wonderful Giles. To say too much about this story would spoil the pleasure, so I’ll stick to the author’s description - “On a hot sticky night, Giles reflects his own lost youth when he picks up a young hitchhiker.” This is all kinds of great and definitely worth a read.

Comments

[petzipellepingo]

summer_of_giles is indeed an excellent source for quality fiction and it's nice that it keeps coming back year after year. Thanks for posting.

[sparrow2000]

Yes, I'm always very grateful to be able to count on SoG every year. It's a happy place.

[yourlibrarian]

Agreed, and there aren't that many fests and challenges around for Buffy these days. It's great to see that some continue on!

[sparrow2000]

Exactly. So many fests and ficathons have disappeared that it makes me happy to have SoG to depend on each year.

[yourlibrarian]

Utterly loved that last fic, it grabs you right away.

[sparrow2000]

Oh yeah, it's really terrific.

[double_dutchess]

I completely missed Summer of Giles this year, so thanks for selecting the cream of the crop for us. I'll be checking them out!

[sparrow2000]

Glad to point you at some of my favourites, then you can discover others for yourself. I do love playing in the SoG sandbox every year - Giles love makes me very happy! :)

[dragonyphoenix]

Nice group of selections. I particularly enjoyed Chosen and The Boys of Summer.

[sparrow2000]

Excellent, I'm so glad you enjoyed!

[ynyseira]

Thank you so much for including my fic in this and for all your kind words! I'd never heard of Buffyverse Top 5 but this is so much fun!!!

[sparrow2000]

You are most welcome. Buffyversetop5 is a lovely annual community that has been around a very long time and it's a great place to discover things you might not otherwise have come across. There is a lot to discover from previous years going through the tags on DW, or at its AO3 account. And watch out for it again this time next year.

I love being able to rec a good fic, so I'll be waving the flag again for both your SoG fics at my end of year fandom review before Christmas. :)

[ynyseira]

I'm so excited to explore all the recs! And ooh thank you again, looking forward to your reviews!!!