Art: Some Spike, some Willow, some Spillow

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Some of my fave Spike, Willow and Spillow art work from this year.

Some nudity but nothing shocking. Enjoy!

In no particular order

1. Spillow by blondebitz

2. Willow by emmatheslayer

3. Spike by chasingdemons

4. And two Spike's by comlodge

Spike

Spike

5 of my Favorite Stories (Among Many) by Kwritten in 2014

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This could and should be a list of ten or fifteen of kwritten (Kelsey)'s fics, but alas, choices must be made.

oh you're here, too? (Buffy, Anya, Willow, Dawn/Faith) Already on the shortlist of my favorite post-Chosen fics, and unique in Anya's key role as the women of the 'verse "redefine 'adulthood' and all that implies".

slipping right down (Buffy/Tara, Dawn/Allison Argent) The second part of Kelsey's blurring the lines series inspired by my Buffy/Tara fic rec post from one year ago; Kelsey's summary Buffy's memories continue to blur between realities and Tara searches for a cure doesn't come close to capturing the raw power of this story. Bonus: Dawn is the protagonist of  part 3, faces in the mirror.

finding a balance (Buffy/Tara, AU season 4; also on AO3); a retelling of "Hush".  Kelsey created a second Buffy/Tara series that seems at first to intersect with Blurring the Lines but is in fact a separate 'verse and the polar opposite of BtL - warm, domestic, nurturing "fix it fics" of the very highest order in which the women of the 'verse struggle to support one another and more often than not, get it right.

The other parts of the finding a balance verse are not easy to find but they're worth seeking out because each story in the series gets better and better:

part 2: her bark is worse than her bite (Buffy/Tara, Dawn, AU S6/7) written for my prompt: thunder/courage; tara being as flawed and human, not a golden goddess of perfect wisdom and forgiveness; keyverse okay.

part 3: what you want and what you get (Oliva, Buffy/Tara, Dawn, Anya, Sam, Sunggyu*, Giles; AU S6) Another gift for me from my prompt Buffy, Olivia, a decent meal; I told Kelsey this year that I had envisioned a scene of Olivia comforting Buffy in a kitchen sometime vaguely S6 or post series, making sure Buffy ate a meal and ending up consoling a still grieving Slayer; but I had no idea how to write it and asked her if she would tackle it instead. The result is a thousand times better than anything I could have hoped to come up with: Olivia Williams never wanted children. She definitely didn’t want a whole household of traumatized teenagers incapable of even asking for help because they no longer knew how.

Bonus: aftershock (Joyce, Buffy, Faith, Dawn, mention of Giles; AU-Helpless, Keyverse compliant) another fill of one of my October meme prompts, for Joyce, Buffy, Dawn, post-Helpless or Gingerbread. The women of the 'verse come together to aid Buffy and rescue Joyce from Kralik. Joyce does a little rescuing of her own; Giles proves himself to be quite useless. More lovely domesticitity as only Kelsey knows how to write it.

5 More Favorite Tara-centric Recs

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I've already focused on some of kwritten's Buffy/Tara fics in my last rec post; here's more by various authors focusing on Tara herself rather than as half of a ship:


The Real You by brutti_ma_buoni (Tara, Dawn, mentions of Buffy and ensemble, S5-S6?); for eilowyn: Tara spends some time, that summer, trying to work out when Dawn became. Too few fics explore Tara's relationship with Dawn but also Tara's skill as a witch in her own right. This fills a need; satisfying and poignant.

Filling Holes by foxstarreh (Tara, implied W/T, canon-compliant S6, post-Once More With Feeling) There's this hole in her head.

Her Own also by foxstarreh (Tara, implied W/T, canon-compliant S6, between Tabula Rasa and Smashed.) Tara moves out of Revello and back to campus. Some of Tara's things are Willow's and she leaves those behind. Both of Fox's drabbles are incredibly haunting.

The Things You Find in Vending Machines by the ininimitable velvetwhip (Tara, Buffy, canon-compliant S4, post-New Moon Rising). This was written as a gift to me in return for the banner I'd made for her amazing fic "Soft and Pink and Very Sad"  ; a deleted scene that reminds me how hungry I am for more Buffy and Tara friendship scenes. Oh great. Not only is Buffy officially a dork, but Tara looks like a deer caught in the headlights, so now Buffy feels guilty… and still wigged out.

Eagles on the Wind by kerkevik_2014 (Tara/ Faith, post-series) Another gift for me; sly, sensual, confident Tara taking the lead with a Slayer whose cocky attitude doesn't mask her nerves or her fear of intimacy? YES, PLEASE.
"Aren't we gonna screw?"   / Tara tutted at Faith; slowly undoing the buttons on her new wife's dress.

WIPs that I enjoyed

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Some last year's WIPs that I enjoyed (and hope to enjoy more).

In a Corner of My Soul by dragonyphoenix (Ensemble, Giles-centric, PG-13). Giles as the Big Bad of Season 1. Perfectly believable "what if", beautifully intertwining with canon events.

( Read more... )

5 More of My Favorite fics this year

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This round of Buffyverse Top 5 just wouldn't be complete without:




Conclusive Etymology of a Summers by clockwork_hart1 (Lucy). I love this story so much it inspired my very first fanfiction poster for another author. One of my favorite Buffy character studies, delicately etched and sympathetically observed. When it comes to Buffy Summers and the Summers sisters, Lucy owns my soul: She loved to watch her sister write. As Dawn scribbled and scrawled her soul down into books, she knew that the monks had given her a gift.

Civilian by velvetwhip (WIllow, Riley, mentions of Willow/Tara, Willow/Kennedy, Buffy/Riley and Riley/Sam, canon-compliant post-series)  A story aching with regret in every word as a chance encounter brings the terrible weight of memory crashing down about WIllow's ears. One of the best, most devastating endings of any fic I've read this year; packs an incredible wallop. If it doesn't hit you in the gut, we may need to check you for a pulse. There’s a story there and a painful one, but she’s not one to go poking at wounds to watch them bleed, so she puts a solicitous hand on his arm.

Three Coins in a Fountain by rahirah (POM-verse; Buffy/Spike, the Immortal; POM/Barbsverse). She stood, five foot two of righteous Slayer fury, and the Immortal actually took a step backwards. Told you she was out of your league, mate. This one is so much fun -  60-something Buffy  and Spike Summers-Pratt are given an assignment by the Immortal to fetch some rare coins. There are...complications. This was one of the fics that made it safe for me to be a Spuffy shipper again this year. I love that our heros are older, a little plumper, comfortable in their fuller bodies, still fully sensual and sexual beings; still as snarky, sarcastic and witty as ever. And chapter 1 inspired a very meta conversation between Barb and quinara re: Buffy and Spike's late seasons body issues and representation; how cool is that? Chapter 2; Chapter 3 and Chapter 4.

PIece of Cake by spuffy_luvr; (Buffy/Spike, Buffy/Angel, Drusilla, Willow, Faith; mentions of Spike/Drusilla, and Angel/Dru). Lorelei's return to writing btvs fanfiction was one of the happiest events of the year, IMO.  If you haven't checked out her fag_ends ficlets, let shapinglight's rec list get you started. Piece of Cake was the winner of Best NC-17 at the last Round of Sunnydale Memorial fanfiction awards, deservedly so.  I don't read porn. I don't read NC-17. I sure as heck don't read all-human AU fics except...if anyone can get me to read one, it's spuffy_luvr. Superb characterization, sex that is genuinely sexy but she pulls no punches on issues of non-consent. My favorite chapters are actually the two featuring Willow, who is beautifully drawn here in a supporting role; she's becoming a Willow-writer to watch.

And finally one more from kwritten: taxes? - also complete here on AO3 (Buffy/Tara, Anya, Olivia, Dawn, AU S6) The remaining piece of the Finding a Balance B/T 'verse (more, please?) written for kikimay's prompt: taxes, Buffy S6 AU. Because I'm curious to see what you would do if you were Marti Noxon. This is the fic that opened up the Buffy/Tara, Dawn 'verse to the other ladies and introduced Olivia to it, which makes even richer. Anya gets to be the true hero, working on Buffy's taxes post-resurrection as she should have in the series, and negotiating with the WC on Buffy's behalf. A gem.

5 of my Favorite Icontest Awards Banners for Slayerstillness this year (and 1 bonus)

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Five banners that are works of art in their own right (by other talented fan artists) in no particular order. The banners shown here are ones I admired and have influenced me as an artist whether or not I participated in the individual challenges. Check out the banners AND the winning icons that adorn them at the links below:

By comlodge:

Challenge 22 "A Room Full of Empty" (April)

Challenge 26 "The Same...but Different" (July)

Challenge 36 "Ye Olde Vampyre Gang" (December)

Janice's banners are very specific to the individual challenge themes and have a particular theatrical quality to them, a mise en scene suggestive of stage sets. Challenge 22 is moody and atmospheric; 26 and 36's banners are lush, densely layered, evocative of Victorian drawing rooms and vintage photographs gently fading in an attic trunk. I love her fearless use of textures to "degrade" the images in beautiful ways.

By tempertemper:

Challenge 32 "It Takes Two to Tango" (October)

Challenge 35 "Least Favorite Eps" (November)

Challenge 32's banners are typical of what I think of when I think of Temper's "style" (also typified by her own first place winning icon): warm, soft and inviting glow, muted color palatte. #35's are entirely different; each banner is carefully and precisely coordinanted to the individual icons in terms of colors, and textures so that they seem to be organic extensions of the icons themselves. Manage to be both eye-popping and understated at the same time. The banner for rua1412's first place winner is particularly stunning.

Bonus by starry_night

Challenge 23 "Simplicity, It Works for Me" (May)

I am color-matching's bitch. No apologies. Deal with it, kids. The background starry chose resembles a watercolor painting in the rain, soaking the paper. "Pastels" are difficult to pull off without being too-sweet but these hit the spot, matched to their respective icons; while a subtle mix of fonts keeps things interesting without pulling focus..