Top 5 Older Buffy Works That I Stumbled Upon via Marginalia Search

[thenewbuzwuzz]

There's a search engine designed for discovering old-fashioned little websites, and I took it for a spin with some Buffy search terms. Here's some of what I found.

1. (maybe cross the country become a rock star) by Amy (Giles/Oz/Cordelia, PG-13) in Loaded, the Giles/Oz zone of the BtVS Writers' Guild.
This was amazing. The mood and atmosphere of this story has aged well, by which I mean it gave me something like pandemic lockdown vibes despite being pre-2007ish and not about any kind of lockdown. There is a bunch of clever lines and a quirky, semi-absurd concept at the core of the story, which somehow connects beautifully to Oz's unmoored state of mind.


2. Behind Blue Eyes, an Ethan/Giles vid by Shalott a.k.a. astolat (ETA: the artist had asked to link to the start of the vid list, so I did, but the vid in question is actually on the second page, second from top in the right column). Hat tip to Sarah T. of Sometimes You Need a Story for the rec.
This gave me the good feels (and then later I noticed it's by frickin' astolat, which was also fun).

3. A manip of Willow and Giles kissing in the library by Trekker from the Willow/Giles archive Bright Minds and Dark Magics (worksafe, though fwiw the Willow in this manip could be interpreted as possibly underage). Some of the other manips in the set are NSFW.
I love the sunlight and the soft, ephemeral look of the whole thing.

4. Numbers by Anna (Andrew/Warren, PG-13) in the Andrew/Warren archive Down With the Sickness.
An interesting take on what it's like in Warren's head and a satisfyingly creepy, disturbing ship dynamic.

5. What the Pig Saw by redeem147 (Mr. Gordo & Buffy, background Spuffy, G). I've linked to AO3, but it looks visually much more entertaining on The Adventures of Mr. Gordo, where it's linked as "the story that started it all".
I think the author has done a good job with Mr. Gordo's POV, and I respect a solid crack concept.

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

Thanks for these, I don't think we've had several of them recced before!

Looks like Wayback is temporarily down but the link should work for #4 when it's back. However I was going to suggest you use these links for #2 and #3 as they're more direct:

http://www.intimations.org/vidding/index2.html

http://willowgiles.com/archive/kissagef.jpg

[thenewbuzwuzz]

I chose the vid link I used because the artist specifically asks for it on the site, and it seemed weird linking to a bare image without any context and credit visible in the linked page, but sure, I'll add these too.

[yourlibrarian]

Ah, no wonder! I ended up pulling those links for the bookmarks from the AO3 collection so I had them at hand.

[yourlibrarian]

One interesting thing I noticed about Behind Blue Eyes, which melded into the Who's version very nicely, is that all the tempo changes in the song really mirrored their relationship which also swerved from nostalgic to violent.

[thenewbuzwuzz]

Yep yep! And a touch comical in the running scenes accompanied by bracing guitar solo.

[dragonyphoenix]

I think I joined the fandom after Trekker's time but I definitely remember appreciating the fic. I wasn't aware of manips by Trekker before this but those are fantastic.

And eeee! Mr. Gordo. I'll be including a Mr. Gordo vid.

Ooh, just read the first story and it's really good. OK, I'm not finding a Behind Blue Eyes vid behind that one link.

Edit: Have you read this story where Miss Edith and Mr Gordo have tea?

[thenewbuzwuzz]

The vid is here, second from the top in the right column. Sorry about the confusion. For some reason, the artist had asked to link to the first page instead.

"Tea and Company" looks adorable, thanks for the link! :)

[yourlibrarian]

I don't remember reading that before either, what a wonderful idea!

[dragonyphoenix]

I seem to remember it as a number of people writing Mr. Gordo around the same time although it may be that I read one and went looking for others so I just found them together.

[double_dutchess]

Behind Blue Eyes was good, and I *definitely* plan to read that Mr. Gordo fic!

[thenewbuzwuzz]

:) Have fun!