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Tag Archives: author: GhostOfHeraclitus

GhostOfHeraclitus’ “A Canterlot Carol”

16 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by Horizon in Features

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author: GhostOfHeraclitus, comedy, refeature, slice of life

See the softer side of a much-beloved bureaucrat with today’s reader-selected tale.

canterlot-carolA Canterlot Carol
[Comedy] [Slice of Life] • 6,464 words

The business of government never stops, and paperwork never rests, even on Hearthwarming. But this particular Hearthwarming, Cabinet Secretary and tea enthusiast Dotted Line plans to do his level best to see it, at least, take a break. His ponies need to go home to their families, and he, well, he has plans this Hearthwarming.

FROM THE CURATORS: This week’s feature is a little unusual — we asked readers to choose a story from one of our already-featured authors in order to return the spotlight to their vast wells of talent.  Ten nominations and hundreds of votes later, when the dust finally settled, this Hearth’s Warming Eve tale had captured the most hearts.

“Ghost of Heraclitus’ Whom the Princesses Would Destroy is in the Pony Fiction Vault. Twilight Sparkle Makes a Cup of Tea is in the RCL. But this is, I think, the crown to the scepter and robe,” Titanium Dragon said in A Canterlot Carol’s nomination.  “Whether it be Dotted Line’s conflict with eldritch monstrosities inhabiting his chimney, his conversations with his staff that shows that they are true comrades, to the conversation with the Zebrican ambassador about Prince Blueblood’s non-apology, all the way through to Dotted Line’s plans, every part of this is memorable and enjoyable.”  Voters agreed, and so did we: “This is equal parts amusing, thoughtful and touching, and often in surprising ways,” Present Perfect said.  (Bradel, for his part, so enjoyed the story that he recorded a dramatic reading of it.)

While we found the story engaging throughout, one of the elements that we repeatedly singled out for praise was the way in which it built up themes for powerful later impacts. “It’s the ending where this story truly shines, where we see how far Dotted Line’s compassion and dedication extends,” JohnPerry said.  “For a story dealing largely with bureaucratic affairs, this one is surprisingly heartwarming.”  AugieDog noted that this care with continuity extended to Ghost’s later stories: “Read the sequel, too.  Several things that are set up in A Canterlot Carol don’t pay off till An Afternoon for Dotted Line.  I can’t imagine the one story without the other.”  But that’s worth the effort, Present Perfect asserted: “Dotted Line is one of our fandom’s greatest treasures.  I don’t know how Ghost is so consistently entertaining, save that he, too, is a treasure.”

Read on for a special return interview, in which GhostOfHeraclitus discusses approximate peace, legendary tea-pickers, and Ghengis Khan’s naps.
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GhostOfHeraclitus’ “Twilight Sparkle Makes A Cup Of Tea”

13 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by Horizon in Features

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author: GhostOfHeraclitus, sad, slice of life

Today’s story brews up some potent emotions.

Twilight Sparkle Makes A Cup Of Tea
[Sad] [Slice of Life] • 1,671 words

cup-of-teaEarly one morning, Twilight Sparkle gets up to make some tea.

Sometimes, a cup of tea is just a cup of tea. This is not one of those times.

FROM THE CURATORS: “Yeah, it’s another one of those fics,” Present Perfect said when he nominated the story. “A ‘Pony Does X’ that has no need for a more thought-provoking title, and a story where tea is just the be-all and end-all of everything.”  Appearances, of course, can be deceiving — and beneath the surface clichés lies a story that’s “quietly poignant, and dense in a way that’s a joy to unfold,” as Horizon put it.

A large part of what makes it exemplary is the measured way the story dribbles out. “It traipses along spilling its secrets without putting them together for the reader, and it left me feeling like I’d been tapped by the unknowable finger of God,” Present Perfect said, and Horizon added: “This is one of the finest pieces of indirect storytelling you’ll ever read.  Ghost has written a story that’s a pony-shaped hole.”  Chris, meanwhile, complimented the story’s balance between brevity and depth: “I believe that there’s no best length for stories, but that every specific story has a best length, and Ghost of Heraclitus found it here.”

Cup of Tea‘s other core strength is an authentic look at a pony out of her depth.  “This felt more like a scientific experiment than a hallowed tradition, but that’s because Twilight is approaching her daily ritual as a scientific experiment, one in which science can provide no answer,” JohnPerry said. “She’s grasping at something — the nostalgia of her youth and the memories of her mentor — and she wants to recapture it. And being Twilight, she attempts to do so the only way she knows how.”

While Twilight might be blindly flailing for answers, the clues are all there for us. “There’s something to be said for the ending,” Present Perfect said.  “It peters out like the last few drops poured from a teapot, as if to say, ‘You’ve got all the pieces, you figure them out.'”

Read on for our author interview, in which GhostOfHeraclitus discusses Twilight as confessor, the cut of genoas, and reading irresponsibly.

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