Tag Archives: slice of life

MSPiper’s “Autumnfall Change”

10 Saturday Oct 2020

Posted by in Features

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

You might want to keep a whiteboard handy for today’s story.

autumnfall changeAutumnfall Change
[Sci-Fi][Slice of Life][Human] • 8,419 words

Magic and technology may have pierced the void and blazed a path between the realms, but that was the simple part. Adjusting to the changes that follow can be far more daunting.

Yet despite the complexities involved even in basic communication, Serendipity has found friends to talk to among humankind who can cheer her up when she’s down. And occasionally inspire her to bursts of ingenuity unhindered by such trifles as foresight.

FROM THE CURATORS: As Present Perfect said in his nomination, “we don’t get a lot of well-written, original science fiction that is under novel length,” and despite the magical subject matter, this work still manages to be fairly “hard” sci-fi.

“It presents a truly fascinating world,” FanOfMostEverything said, “and considers a question asked by few others who deal with human-pony relations: Equestria is a whole other universe. What does that entail?” This fascinating world enraptured RBDash47 as well. “I’m a sucker for harder sci-fi that drops you straight into the universe and doesn’t hold your hand when it comes to figuring out the lingo, cultural norms, historical events, and so on. It was a delight trying to piece together what came before the events of the story and figure out what things like ‘the Quench’ are.”

There was a lot of appreciation for the thoughtfulness paid to every aspect of the story’s world. Soge praised “the way that the author plays with the concept of different senses between both species, and how it impacts the way they see each other’s world”; Present Perfect was likewise impressed by the “strong focus on perception, the ways things like a color monitor would be useless to a species with different eye biology from ours.” RBDash47 noticed that thoughtfulness extended to the story’s formatting as well: “The choice to emphasize by underlining instead of italicizing struck me as a little odd, but then I realized it’s not odd at all: all of the ‘dialogue’ here is written, not spoken, and when writing things out we do indeed underline for emphasis…”

For all its charms, this piece might not be for everyone. AugieDog pointed out “this reads to me more as a headcanon dump than a story”; Soge suggested “it feels like the CliffsNotes to something much more interesting.” RBDash47 agreed — “this feels like an excerpt from a novel, not a standalone 8k shortfic” — and loved it anyway — “but what’s there makes me feel like I’m peering through the porthole of a spacecraft, drinking in what view I have and desperate for more.”

Read on for our author interview, in which MSPiper discusses memorable moments, transcendence, and sensorial realism.

Continue reading →

Advertisement

TCC56’s “Glow In The Dark, Shine In The Sun”

27 Saturday Jun 2020

Posted by in Features

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

A villain might just have a bright future in today’s story.

Glow In The Dark, Shine In The Sun
[Equestria Girls] [Drama] [Slice of Life] • 27,035 words

Despite all attempts, Cozy Glow still hasn’t been shown a path to friendship. No pony has been able to get through to her, and she’s only gotten worse with each attempt.

Reluctant to return the filly to stone again, Princess Twilight has one last option. One pony she hasn’t tried. Or in this case? One person.

Sunset Shimmer.

Can Sunset do what no pony has been able to?

FROM THE CURATORS: Stories about late-season characters are relatively scarce.  Happily, though, there are still gems to be found — such as this examination of redemption.  “Reforming Cozy Glow is not a simple task, not least because the show refused to even give her much in the way of redeeming elements,” FanOfMostEverything noted in his nomination.  “Chrysalis had her children, Tirek had his brother, but Cozy just appears to be a young sociopath with no purpose beyond being a manipulative little hellion.”  So who better to redeem her than another former manipulator?  “The core idea here gave me one of those ‘of course!’ moments that only fanfiction can deliver,” AugieDog said, “but the story goes beyond that and executes the idea in a way that makes the Equestria Girls characters shine.”

The solidity of that execution led our praise.  “Sunset acting as a blend of friendship guru and parole officer works magnificently given her tactical similarities to Cozy in her own bad old days,” FanOfMostEverything said.  “Plus, Cozy’s journey in the human world feels natural and earned, with stumbling blocks and false starts that keep it all from feeling too ‘neat’.”  Present Perfect added: “Cozy herself is excellently written.  I was also pleased with Sunset’s portrayal, the bits of foreshadowing preceding the magical storm, and the shape which that storm takes.”  And there was plenty else to appreciate along the way, AugieDog said: “It’s maybe the third or fourth story I’ve come across on Fimfiction that makes good use of different-colored text.”  Its strengths made it a good starting point despite being tagged as a sequel, Present Perfect noted: “This isn’t a true sequel to Three Second Chances — it definitely stands on its own.”

That was bolstered by powerful character work.  “Each of Sunset’s friends is written with a mind toward different life experiences undercutting similarity to the pony characters,” Present Perfect said.  “We see this as Cozy Glow is continually tripped up by the actions of the ‘professors’ she otherwise knows to their cores.”  But far from being just a character piece, this also had some surprises in store.  “I quite liked the eventual revelation of the story’s antagonist, and the realizations that Cozy comes to during their confrontation really made the story for me,” AugieDog said.  “I also like how the story ends with us seeing just the beginning of a path forward for Cozy Glow.  As a plain ol’ piece of storytelling, this takes top marks.”

Read on for our author interview, in which TCC56 discusses antagonist chemistry, Beta Ray Bill, and 3 AM backstory.
Continue reading →

The Red Parade’s “never forever”

06 Saturday Jun 2020

Posted by in Features

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Today’s story never says never.

never forever
[Sad] [Slice of Life] • 1,478 words

Lightning Dust will never be a Wonderbolt. When she left the Academy, she swore she’d never look back. When the Washouts disbanded, she swore she’d forget about them.

Yet after all these years, against all odds, she finds herself here. At a Wonderbolts show. Just on the wrong side of the glass.

FROM THE CURATORS: To those of us who obsess over our editing process, ‘speedwriting’ can be a dirty word — but as this Quills & Sofas first-place winner shows, sometimes that helps authors trim a story down to exactly what needs to be on the page. AugieDog’s nomination summed it up: “Essentially, Lightning Dust is sitting with her wife Fiddlesticks in a private box at a Wonderbolts show, and in the space of 1,478 words, the author gives us a pretty darn complete look at Dust’s post-‘Washouts’ life, both the good and the bad.” The floodgates of praise quickly opened up.  “This was subtly fantastic,” Present Perfect said, and Soge agreed: “A great find indeed.  At its heart it is a very simple story, but looks can be deceiving.”

What impressed us most was an exemplary economy of words.  “The author’s focus is so tightly held,” AugieDog said.  “There are half-sentences here that could be the short descriptions of much longer stories, but while I may have blinked at one or two of them, I never felt cheated that I wasn’t reading that story.”  Soge enjoyed reading between the lines: “It is one of those fics which manages to say much more than its word count would imply – the state of Lightning Dust’s situation, the bitterness that she managed to conquer, the happiness she eventually found.” And Present Perfect appreciated how it managed to play with expectations despite its length: “There are some signs ahead of the twist where you can see it coming, but the one-two punch in the middle that recontextualizes both the ‘Lightning Dust could never be a Wonderbolt’ mantra and why she’s at a Wonderbolts show in the first place was brilliant.”

Along the way, the attention to detail also drew praise.  “It’s always a great sign when little elements like the chocolates serve double or even triple duty, showing us character while they set the scene and do solid worldbuilding by implication,” Horizon said.  Ultimately, that helped the story cohere into more than the sum of its parts.  “This is such a short story, but everything it does, it accomplishes in precisely the way it needed to to succeed,” Present Perfect said.  And, Soge added, “the ending is very effective, and elevates the whole thing.”

Read on for our author interview, in which The Red Parade discusses doubt, lower-case titles and background ponies.
Continue reading →

Somber’s “Broken Record”

28 Tuesday Apr 2020

Posted by in Features

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Today’s story puts all the pieces together.

Broken Record
[Drama] [Slice of Life] • 7,970 words

There has never been an athlete like Rainbow Dash. The sprints. The marathons. The land speed record. She held them all.

Until she didn’t.

Until she had only one left… and met the pony that might take it from her…

FROM THE CURATORS: “We never featured Somber,” Soge pointed out in his nomination, “but that is understandable.” The author’s best-known works have already received 6-star status at Equestria Daily and been featured in our predecessor, the Pony Fiction Vault. With this story from late 2019, though, as Present Perfect replied to Soge’s nomination, “Oh boy did you find a good one.”

“This is a really layered story,” Present Perfect went on. “On the one hand, we’ve got this pulse-pounding, high-stakes tale of advancements in physical training leading to doping scandals, and the tribulations of those in authority trying to determine what counts as innovation and what counts as cheating… Then there’s the real story: Getting Old Sucks.”

AugieDog also commented on the Time Marches On aspect: “The story itself has exactly that same sort of unrelenting pace, too, the tick-tick-tick of Dash’s records falling leading straight to an actual ticking clock at the climax.” “The only race she can’t ever win,” Soge added. “That against time.” But AugieDog enjoyed that “in a story so very concerned with physical prowess, everything comes down to Dash sitting in a room alone with her thoughts — the one place Dash never wants to be — with a decision that only she can make.”

“A poignant and captivating tale,” Soge concluded, while Present Perfect called it “a hard-hitting look at Rainbow Dash struggling with the aging process” with AugieDog commending the story’s final scene for “perfectly winding things down and sending Dash off onto the next stage of her life.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Somber discusses general outrage, warping characters, and just writing the damned thing.
Continue reading →

TwilightFlopple’s “The Celestial Mechanics in Midsummer”

01 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by in Features

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

It’s always the season for a fic as great as today’s story.

The Celestial Mechanics in Midsummer
[Slice of Life] • 8,716 words

“My dear Twilight Sparkle,

Thank you for your recent letters. And I must apologize to you first and foremost that I have not responded back in kind to each and every one. I imagine has this concerned you, but please don’t worry. Things have been very unsettled here in the castle as of late. Princess Luna has been researching Equestrian history, and I find myself in a strange kind of mood…”

FROM THE CURATORS: One of My Little Pony’s greatest strengths was always offering us characters we loved to spend screen time with.  And when it comes to fanfic, sometimes a story can earn its power simply by giving us that quality time.  “This story is absolutely gorgeous,” Present Perfect said in his nomination. “Very little actually happens, but through these glimpses of day-to-day life, we see just how much Celestia and Luna love and care for each other.”  AugieDog was similarly enchanted: “The ‘slicier’ a slice of life piece is, the better I’m likely to like it. And this one’s that in droves.”  That was also wrapped around excellent character work, RBDash47 said: “It’s all a perfect exploration of how Luna might have evolved in the early seasons of the show.”

But while we were united in our appreciation, there was one issue on which we split down the middle.  “It’s told from Celestia’s and Luna’s perspectives in turn, and though Celestia’s scenes are the stronger, each princess has her own unique voice that suits her perfectly,” Present Perfect said. Horizon immediately disagreed: “I think the Luna scenes are stronger, thanks in part to the pitch-perfect Rarity cameo. But both parts work in concert to set up a fascinating portrait of reconciliation.”  That led RBDash47 to quip, “it’s so interesting to see how the same story affects different people,” before agreeing with Horizon: “I absolutely loved the middle section, from Luna’s POV. Everything from the worldbuilding vis-à-vis seasonal day/night cycles to the wonderful Rarity appearance to the celestial scarf-gift.”

Ultimately, all those things anchored an exemplary exploration of the show’s mythic princesses.  “What struck me especially was how the story starts with the easy characterizations of the sisters — Luna the bratty younger, Celestia the patient elder — and then starts deepening them, opening them up as they become reacquainted with each other and in the process become reacquainted with themselves,” AugieDog said.  That added up to a classic, Horizon said: “Later canon developed the sisters in different directions, but this nevertheless stands the test of time.”

Read on for our author interview, in which TwilightFlopple discusses film shooting, Nintendo inspiration, and Disney distaste.
Continue reading →

Heartshine’s “We Were Bunnies”

01 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by in Features

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, ,

We think you’ll come back to today’s story.

We Were Bunnies
[Mystery] [Slice of Life] • 5,231 words

Fluttershy asks Twilight what happens after death. Or if there is anything that occurs before life. The answer, it turns out, is complicated.

FROM THE CURATORS: As we read through this fic, we found the things we appreciated about it multiplying like … well, bunnies.  “I was just continually surprised at every turn this story made,” Present Perfect said in his nomination.  “What starts with a fairly common but ultimately limitless philosophical question bends around Fluttershy’s inability to express herself easily, diving into the realms of dreams and finally landing with a surprising connection to another pony.”  AugieDog agreed: “I really enjoyed the long, odd meander from the question that starts the story to the largely unrelated answer that ends it.”  And that journey inspired FanOfMostEverything to say, “This is a fascinating piece both metaphysically and metafictionally.”

The core of that was an exemplary look at Fluttershy’s character and her friendships.  “The rest of the cast dragging Fluttershy through the process of discovery is also a plus for me because of the way it illuminates so nicely how the six of them fit together,” AugieDog said.  “The idea of ‘not wanting to be a bother’ is so fundamental to some of us that it can easily override every other consideration, so the moment when Rarity tells Fluttershy that the others are already getting together at Twilight’s to talk about all this just made me grin.”  FanOfMostEverything agreed: “The way she has to have plot developments dragged out of her makes perfect sense from a character and cultural standpoint. It’s also a great way to preserve the mystery.”  But Fluttershy was far from the only highlight, AugieDog said: “The others are equally well-voiced throughout.”

And along the way there were plenty of details to appreciate.  Horizon praised “moments of brilliance” such as “the ‘somepony’ distinction and the bit about tea and dinner and breakfast.” FanOfMostEverything appreciated how neatly everything wrapped up: “The conclusion is satisfying and matches the hints we’re given.”  And the story kept its greatest strengths front and center.  “No one writes emotionally vulnerable characters like Heartshine,” Present Perfect said.  “This is the best Fluttershy I’ve ever read.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Heartshine discusses rainbow-pilling, British surliness, and equine Johari windows.
Continue reading →

DungeonMiner’s “A Little Chat”

17 Tuesday Sep 2019

Posted by in Features

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

We’d just like to say a few words about today’s story.

A Little Chat
[Slice of Life] • 2,008 words

Sunset was enjoying her day, going through school as she was expected to do, when she’s suddenly called to the Principal’s office.

Confused, but with little choice in the matter, she answers, heading to Celestia’s office. There, she finds the Principal sitting, wanting to have a chat.

Sunset was not prepared for anything like this.

FROM THE CURATORS: “Stories about how various characters work things out after their respective redemptions are a staple of the fandom,” AugieDog said in our discussion, and one nice thing about Equestria Girls is that it lets authors explore redemption from a different angle than the pony side of the show.  “With Sunset and Starlight,” AugieDog continued, “I’ve always felt that Sunset is the more traditionally ‘heroic’ of the two … she’s more self-reflective, more critical of herself, more likely to stop and weigh her present actions against what she did in the past, and that quality gives her overall struggle toward the light a very different feeling from Starlight’s.”  That was one of the factors drawing Present Perfect to the story, as he said in his nomination: “I’ll never get tired of fics centered around her redemption, or the concept of self-forgiveness, and this hits all the right notes.”

One of those was deft handling of a reveal that worked with or without the benefit of surprise.  “The twist is likely the kind of thing an experienced reader will see coming, but it isn’t the point,” Present Perfect said.  “The effect that reveal has on Sunset is what makes this story.”  Soge agreed: “Predictable as it was, the execution of the reveal was great. It never leaned too heavily into it being this huge mystery, while not giving so many clues to give Sunset an idiot ball.”  As FanOfMostEverything noted, that made the story all the more satisfying: “That reaction at the end is more than earned.”

The story was rounded out by exemplary character work.  “I appreciate how it fleshes out Sunset’s background in a believable way that the show can’t really touch,” FanOfMostEverything said.  “It also presents the sheer quantity of baggage she has regarding the princess in heart-rending detail.”  And that offered plenty of food for thought, AugieDog said: “I also like how the story shifts the ground under Sunset’s rationale for remaining in the human world. Before this, she’s only stayed out of fear of returning to Equestria. After this, she needs to make a choice. That’s always a nice place to leave a character.”

Read on for our author interview, in which DungeonMiner discusses publisher hoops, spy keys, and winning overlords.
Continue reading →

Cillerenda’s “Relevé”

30 Friday Aug 2019

Posted by in Features

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Today’s story is on point.

relevéRelevé
[Slice of Life] • 1,437 words

Relevé: position in which the dancer rises from any position to on one or both feet on at least demi-pointe, or possibly full pointe

She’s done the simple Rainbooms choreo, the square dancing with her family, the silly free-styles with her friends. But today, Applejack wants to try something a bit different, something she’d never expected to be interested in.

You would think attending Canterlot High would teach her to expect the unexpected.

FROM THE CURATORS: “An important story,” Present Perfect mused. “Not just a story about a tomboy trying to be feminine, this is about Applejack trying to break her own mold.” Soge called it “a delightful tale of societal expectations—both internal and external” in his nomination, and FanOfMostEverything likewise appreciated choosing Applejack as the story’s focal character, because “the fact that it’s so unexpected for her only makes the concept work better.”

“She’s getting out of her comfort zone, doing something that no one would expect her to, because it mystifies, intrigues and delights her. Her own joy when she accomplishes just one tiny bit of what she set out to do is palpable,” Present Perfect went on to say. And that joy, that excitement, is tempered by insecurity—Soge saw right away that “her passion for something which she thinks others will misjudge her for … is instantly relatable for people in all walks of life.”

FanOfMostEverything acknowledged how easy it would have been for this particular conceit to fail, pointing out how “stories that draw on the author’s experiences can sometimes feel both invasive and false to the characters used to replicate those experiences,” but he was happy to find that this work “avoids that entirely.” AugieDog agreed that the author completely sold him on “how Applejack might actually find something in the artistry of ballet that speaks to her” and felt it succeeds as “a nice insight into the character … I always enjoy it when authors have such a good feel for one of the show’s characters that they can take that character to a place the show never would and still have it entirely work.”

A classical ballet can mean hours of dancing, but “Relevé” economizes, distilling its story down into just one movement, and that was all it needed. Soge appreciated that “its core conflict is so well built, and the character work is so precise, that it feels much weightier than its paltry word count would suggest.” FanOfMostEverything felt the same way: “It’s brief, but uses what’s there with incredible efficiency. This is a single dance, not a full recital, but the artistry involved is undeniable.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Cillerenda discusses reading above your grade level, the freedom of artistry, and juxtaposition.

Continue reading →

Eakin’s “The Mare Behind The Mare”

19 Friday Jul 2019

Posted by in Features

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

There’s some impressive work behind today’s story.

The Mare Behind the Mare
[Slice of Life] • 9,688 words

What sort of mare would turn down the chance to help a friend? Twilight’s been there for me so many times in the past, but now she’s a princess with all the new obligations and duties that come with that. The transition… hasn’t been an entirely smooth one. Who better to lend her a helping hoof and show her how one deals with nobles, courts, and politics than moi?

I only hope it doesn’t end up costing one of us our sanity along the way.

FROM THE CURATORS: There are some stories so powerful that it’s always a little shocking to see their author featured for anything else. Hard Reset — one of FIMFiction’s top-10 upvoted stories, and a contender in our upcoming “Ponyfic: There Can Be Only One” Bronycon panel — is one of those. But it’s ineligible for RCL refeature due to its Pony Fiction Vault interview, and Eakin has written no shortage of other strong contenders.

What caught our eye about The Mare Behind The Mare was how effortlessly it demonstrated strength in a very different genre from Eakin’s biggest hit. “It is this delightful mix of comedy and political intrigue, with the kind of sharp-witted prose that really manages to elevate the whole thing,” Soge said.  It even sparked favorable comparisons to an acknowledged master of that genre: “This was supremely funny,” Present Perfect said, “in precisely the way GhostOfHeraclitus’ Civil Service stories are.”  AugieDog felt similarly in his nomination. “It starts from a premise that I’m sure I’ve seen before in Ponyfic: Rarity tutors the new Princess Twilight in the ways of the Royal Court,” he said.  “But even though it doesn’t have a Comedy tag on it, its second chapter takes it off in a a delightfully devious little ‘comedy of manners’ direction that’s reminiscent of GhostOfHeraclitus’ Civil Service stories. (Dotted Line even makes a Ghost-approved off-stage cameo.)”

That cameo was virtually the only character not singled out for praise. “It’s a pure pleasure to watch Rarity work here,” AugieDog said. “Twilight’s written a bit naïvely throughout, but she steps up at the end to put together all the pieces Rarity’s laid out for her.”  Soge admired the princesses: “It is propped up by some amazing characterization for all involved (I particularly like Celestia hamming it up for the benefit of the court), and a vision of a might-have-been for Twilight getting used to power. Great work all around.” And Present Perfect’s protagonist praise was part of a broader compliment: “Every time I think I fully understand the concept of ‘show, don’t tell,’ a good author like Eakin comes along and shows me how to step up my game,” he said.  “The scene with Rarity talking to the disinterested reporter, turning an off-handed comment into an Equestria-wide panic, was a marvelous linchpin for the entire thing.”

But even more than that, we appreciated the tale’s balancing acts.  “Stories like this need a very delicate balance of idealism and cynicism, and Eakin pulls it off exactly right,” AugieDog said.  Horizon cited another: “The first and second chapters are fantastic in very different ways. While the plotting is indeed tightly written and gorgeous to watch, the extended tea metaphor in Chapter 1 is exquisitely balanced — strong enough to carry the story, but not so strong it drowns out the nuances of the surrounding writing.”  Ultimately, all those factors led to no shortage of enthusiasm for the feature. “This was a very good fic,” Present Perfect said.  “I love watching a plan come together, and I will heartily support the nomination.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Eakin discusses Platonic alicorns, cooking chickens, and butchered quotes.
Continue reading →

Vivid Syntax’s “Not In Bluff Nor Bravado Nor Loneliness”

05 Friday Jul 2019

Posted by in Features

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

(RCL NOTE: We’re attempting the hopeless task of choosing the fandom’s Single Best Story™ at a special panel at Bronycon.  Help us pick the competitors!  Details here.  Voting is open until July 13.)

If your reading is stale, TRY TODAY’S TALE!

Not In Bluff Nor Bravado Nor Loneliness
[Slice of Life] • 7,389 words

Ponies? Yeah, you hear a lot about them growing up in the minotaur homelands, and it isn’t all positive. Actually, almost none of it is positive. They’re different. They’ve got those weird pictures on their flanks and those little prayers they mumble to their princesses. Ponies are gentle, passive. They’re not like us.

See, a minotaur is supposed to act a certain way. You bulk up. You get aggressive. You don’t let anyone else push you around, and you don’t associate with ponies. I’ve heard the same thing my whole life, ever since I was young.

FROM THE CURATORS: Like last week’s feature, this started with an examination of stories we’d overlooked earlier in the fandom — and once it was brought up, we immediately wondered how.  “I saw the thread title,” Present Perfect said, “and went, ‘Didn’t I nominate that years ago?’ I guess I didn’t!”  AugieDog similarly had fond memories: “I was one of maybe eight or nine judges in the contest where this story got an Honorable Mention. That’s why this seems familiar!”  But there was more than nostalgia in FanOfMostEverything’s nomination: “This is an especially interesting story, tackling similar themes on a lot of different levels. It’s about the knee-jerk mainstream reaction to ponies. It’s about toxic masculinity. It’s about stereotypes and prejudice. And the use of Iron Will as a perspective character makes the whole thing work.”

Our praise on that framing was unanimous.  “The decision to approach toxic masculinity along species lines was a good one,” Present Perfect said.  “It makes the topic more approachable and easier to deal with.” AugieDog agreed: “It’s a nicely nuanced view of Iron Will.  Growing up, he feels a kinship with the ponies at school, but since he’s told he shouldn’t, he makes it his life’s mission to change ponies into people that he can feel kinship with.  The only acceptable way for him to be more like ponies is if ponies become more like him, and this inherent paradox drives the story right through to the end.”  And Horizon was impressed by how much was communicated via showing and structure: “With nothing more than a few conversations with authority figures, we’re shown the ways that a bad system harms both its victims and its beneficiaries, and how it can make even well-meaning people excuse its harm.”

If we had one disappointment, it was that later show canon didn’t back up the story’s sympathetic view of one of the show’s antagonists.  “I found Iron Will inherently relatable, and this is a really strong possible backstory for him … before ‘Once Upon a Zeppelin,’ of course,” Present Perfect said.  But even though the show hasn’t been kind to the premise here, we found the writing strong enough to carry this on its own merits.  As FanOfMostEverything said: “The story is meticulously constructed, every moment coming together in the greater scope.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Vivid Syntax discusses Gandhi quotes, goat symbolism, and parental ponycons.
Continue reading →