Lost/Dead Fics -- a Wish List

[batzulger]

That is the number one reason I have never written any Worm fics. It would mean I'd have to read Worm again to get a lot of the background material right, and that is NOT going to happen. Once was enough...actually, more than enough.

[Bob Schroeck]

Heh. That's almost the reason I won't do Worm fic other than the nanoSteps I've posted -- I would have to actually read Worm to do it by my own rules, and everything I've heard and read suggests I would absolutely loathe the experience. I guess it just means no one will ever see the scene I wrote where Panacea is utterly baffled by parts of Doug's biology. <grin>

[Matrix Dragon]

I've tried to read it several times. I've made it to Leviathan, never make it much further than that. Usually the bit with Taylor going back to the Undersiders is where my frustration with every single character reaches my limits.

It's fascinating. Great foundational setting for writing fanfics, but the source...

[batzulger]

Oh, I finished it. I was there from the very beginning when Wildbow started posting it, so I kind of felt compelled to. And Bob, you would absolutely hate it. It is so depressing that it makes you exhausted by the end.

[ECSNorway]

Judging from Worm and what little I've read of his other alleged stories, Wildbow begins with the assumption that WH40k os insufficiently grimderp.

[classicdrogn]

Well yes. In 40K the inevitable, multi-directional systemic collapse is immanent, not in progress.

[batzulger]

And 40k has a sense of humor about it. It's meant to be largely satirical.

[Bob Schroeck]

Getting back on topic -- here's a fic I just stumbled across, by the late Scrivener, which obviously he will never complete: Nothing Succeeds Like Success. Worm AU: Danny Hebert triggered only a couple days after Taylor triggered in the locker, with a power that lets him get other powers whenever he touches a parahuman -- and disable the originals if he so desires. For three months he manages to stay under the radar. Then ... well, the best way to put it in a non-spoilery way is, stuff happens, and won't stop happening. Fourteen chapters, sets a few great hooks to keep you reading, and then, of course, that's where it ends. But it's a hell of a ride getting there, with developments I (and judging by the comments, more than a few of the other readers) have never seen before in a Worm fic.

[Mamorien]

Then ... well, the best way to put it in a non-spoilery way is, stuff happens, and won't stop happening.

So, basically the same as canonical Worm with the addition of Danny's trump?

[Bob Schroeck]

Heh. You've obviously read it. How about... "the story looks at where canonical Worm is headed, and says 'no, turn left here instead'"?

[classicdrogn]

this is what karma feels like, isn't it? I thought bitterly

Tattletale delivers all the reason you should need to go read Delerium (SB threadmarks link)

Seriously, check it out. It's really funny, but without more context than fits into a sound bite quote it would just seem like random crazy-talk. Mostly because it is in fact crazy-talk, but informed by VtM precog/clairvoyance powers rather than being random. I forget which specific vamp[ire breed, as I never gave half a shit about VtM or most White Wolf games in general because I hate their edgelord mechanics that punish you for doing the cool things that define your character archetype, but the one known for being crazy precogs.

68k words in 37 chapters, and marked as complete... but more because the author ran out of juice than anything else, as it's one of those deeply unsatisfying fics that doesn't end, just stops, and only arguably not on a cliffhanger. Still, it was a lot of fun while it lasted.

[Matrix Dragon]

Might wanna fix that link there drogn.

[Mamorien]

I forget which specific vampire (clan), but the one known for being crazy precogs.

That would be the Malkavians, at least according to recently undiscovered fragments of the Book of Not.

[classicdrogn]

Might wanna fix that link there drogn.

Eh?

(...)

Oh, had an extra set of single quotes in there somehow. I blame "smart" copy-paste handling in rich text mode, and differences in handling it between xenforo and ... whatever Bob's got here, ezbb or something like that?

Anyway, fix't

[robkelk]

Oh, had an extra set of single quotes in there somehow. I blame "smart" copy-paste handling in rich text mode, and differences in handling it between xenforo and ... whatever Bob's got here, ezbb or something like that?

Anyway, fix't

MyBB. And it's a pain (if not impossible) to do certain formatting in it.

The first rule of creative writing is you don't talk about... no, that isn't right. The first rule of creative writing is turn off so-called "smart" quotes. Who's in charge of your story - you or the computer?

[batzulger]

The computer, duh.

[classicdrogn]

Would it count as the computer iof you were using somethjiong like Mythic GM Emulator or the Modiphius solo play system to run the plot?

But yes, "turn off smart quotes" is always the first thing I look up in a new word processor's help files, and the setting not being sticky for a new document in one I was stuck with for a few years in the late 90s is why I got used to just using a plain text editor and only opening files in it later for spellchecking.

[Bob Schroeck]

Guys... this is just a bit off-topic for the thread.

[Bob Schroeck]

Okay, as I think I've mentioned elsewhere, I've been going through my Kindle alphabetically by title, reading some of the stuff in it for the first time in years. This morning I rediscovered Lord Ranma by "Chibi-Reaper", a Ranma/Sailor Moon crossover quite unlike any I've read. An attempt by Sailor Pluto to keep Ranma from mucking up Crystal Tokyo goes horribly wrong, and results in Ranma being the fifth Dark Kingdom general ... and the Generals and the Senshi, while nominally still enemies, allying to get rid of Beryl. Eight chapters all written in 2009, and no more.

[classicdrogn]

Hm, Chibi's still active on QQ, but last seen on SB in 2022, and if it's gone so long untouched, it's probably dead anyway. Most of what he's written recently involves a Tanya Degurachaff third life or expy more or less directly, and being on QQ the thread comments and usually the text as well will be firmly NSFW. Usually very much so. As in, do not search for or open any such links if you are in Canada or the EU.

[Mamorien]

The other story I learned about from lexikimble's deviations: Nike - The Arrival (alternatehistory.com membership required, as it's in their "Alien Space Bats and Other Magic" forum).

I decided there was little sense in stating anything other than the truth - if she were a fellow 'guest', best we start off on the right foot, and if she were one of my hosts, she probably already knew the answers. "Terribly rude of me, but it's been an odd few days. My name is Sarah-Jane, Sarah Jane Smith. I am a free-lance journalist. This, as far as I can tell, is a space station somewhere in deep space named Nike, though who built it or why it is here is a mystery to me. And I have no clue what language we are speaking now, do you?"

"None. My name is Beverly Crusher, by the way. I am chief medical officer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. I just woke up here this morning, and I've never seen or heard of any place quite like this. When I asked aloud for someone, anyone to talk to, the lights led me here."

"Well, that is interesting. I am almost certain that I arrived a day before you, then. When I asked this place to lead me to someone, it gave no reply. I wonder if that means I was the first."

(...)

Beverly started looking around, "This could be Q's doing. He has transported us to other places, other times, before. But usually he shows his presence at the beginning. You haven't seen anyone else, have you?"

"Not a soul. You are the first person I have seen here since my arrival."

"Well, if it is Q, he is bound to show himself at some point. You don't think this is the work of your alien friend, do you?"

"The Doctor? No, he'd never be so cruel; at least, not intentionally, and not without good reason."

It was about this time that another light came to life, leading from the hall to the commissary. That was all the warning we had when a statuesque woman who towered over both of us silently strode into the room. Exotic eyes that seemed to hold so much sadness and yet pierced through the soul sized the both of us up in an instant. She too wore the same uniform as us, as I now realised it must be - on her it could be mistaken for nothing else. Her long dark hair was tied up behind her, but otherwise her clothes and accessories were identical to our own. She seemed strangely relaxed, and it made me wonder if she were the representative of our 'hosts'.

"My name is Honor Alexander-Harrington." She turned directly to me, "Who are the two of you, and what have you learned thus far about Nike Station?"

The next day, they get Samantha Carter, Wilma Deering, Susan Ivanova, and Jessica Atreides; the day after that, Kaylee Frye, Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, Leia Organa Solo, Kara Thrace, Ellen Ripley, Isabel "Dizzy" Flores, Sarah Connor, and the hacker called Trinity. By the end of day 11, there are 2,047 women on Nike Station, from across the entire multi-dimensional infinity of creation -- all human, all with experience of space- and/or time-travel, and all pregnant (except, arguably, Amy Pond, who arrives on that last day already going into labor). That's the day they learn what act of ROB has brought them there, and, if so, why; in many ways, that's just the beginning of the story... which, sadly, hasn't updated in a decade or so.

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/t...al.225200/