April Author of the Month: frombluetored

Here's the Author of the Month for April! I'm using this social media manager called IFTTT now, and it emails me and yells at me on the last day of every month to make sure I do this XD

Okay, the Author of the Month for April is: frombluetored!

Her beautiful combination of angst, psychology, and suspense is so powerful it's hard to handle. Seriously, I often have to take a break in the middle of a five thousand word chapter because I just CAN'T.

The first of her stories that I discovered was Inside the Ward: A Study of Panem's Mentally Ill. With out ruining the effect of her storytelling, the AU story focuses on college senior Finnick Odair, who is struggling to decide what to write his final dissertation on when a shocking discovery hits surprisingly close to home. The decision is suddenly clear: he wants to write about Panem, Florida's Capitol Institute: the most controversial inpatient treatment center in the area. Somehow this idea leads him to checking himself into a six month stay, and the story is her exploration of that.

"We've talked about this in secret, the faculty members that is. And we know there's only one thing we really can do at this point. We have to make the public aware. We have to thoroughly investigate and present our case with so much evidence that not even the most extravagant lawyer in the country can dismiss the case. We need witnesses; we need to see what goes on in there. But the problem is that no one comes out. The only ones who do are not even in the records of having ever been there once they're gone, and, as you saw, are rendered speechless for the rest of their lives." 

Finnick grasped the back of his head and breathed slowly through his mouth, wishing he had never decided to get up early to go downtown for breakfast this morning. 

"You say you want a thesis, boy?" Dr. Abernathy said suddenly, his voice sparked with a newfound energy. Finnick lifted his head slowly. Dr. Abernathy continued. "You do it. Check yourself in. Pretend you're unstable, see what goes on. Write about it. If you want a way to guarantee a seat in grad school, this is it."

Beginning of the end. Also, some pretty interesting surprises in Finnick's character are included. Love it.

I also really like her story The Art of Escaping. It's a recap of Finnick and Annie's relationship, and although it's far from my headcanon, the intricacies of their characters is beautifully written.

Definitely check out frombluetored's work, she's an amazing author with great potential!

-cindella204

As you can see, we've had a bit of a spruce up here at Nightlock Recs! The 'Pasts Posts' page and 'Sections' part of the sidebar has been removed, since mostly everyone just searches the site via tags.
I've also decided to go with a 'sunny' colour scheme for a while - let me know what you think :)

~ LMM

The Panem Victor's Breakfast Club (Haymitch, Finnick, Cinna)

I found The Panem Victor's Breakfast Club by electrumqueen through a great little rec list over at LJ by lylessweat. For some reason I thought it was going to be a funny fic, like Peeta's Honeymoon Survival Kit or something. Ooops! I shoulda known, coz it's electrumqueen, and she does dark like nobody's business.

The Panem Victor's Breakfast Club is an interesting look at the Victors and how the feel as they watch the Games, and how they feel about their tributes. I like that it's set in Katniss and Peeta's games-era because it gives readers a lot more to connect with. I've read a couple of fics set in the past, and I personally find OC's really hard to relate to (and often not terribly original...). Anyways, here's an excerpt for you:

In the 74th year of the Games, The Watch is held at Haymitch's Capitol residence (where it often is, for ease of access to alcohol: even amongst those-who-survived, Haymitch is The Alcoholic); they are playing a drinking game, while watching the interviews. You take a sip every time someone looks like they're about to throw up, and when they actually do (there's always one), you down the whole thing. Haymitch is a cheat; he never sips, only sculls.

Electrumqueen's characterisation of Haymitch and Cinna really stood out to me as I was reading this fic. She doesn't fall into the trap of making them one-dimentstional re-representions of what we see in the books, as many authors end up doing. I loved seeing Finnick young and not as confident as he is when Katniss meets him in canon. This fic is great in its brevity, characterisation and flawless writing style, with dark little asides to sweeten the deal.

Now I'm off to read her Finnick/Annie piece 'and we are shining'. I sincerely hope the title's from Florence's 'Spectrum'!

Happy reading,
Little Miss Mionie

PS. I'll be reccing femmeslash fics really soon. Send any you love to nightlockrecs@hotmail.com or tweet me @nightlockrecs.

Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey Hunger Games (THG/Doctor Who Crossovers)

So, AAAAAAGES ago, Fiona sent in a request via our email address for reviews of fanfictions where Peeta and Katniss time travel to stop things in their past, like the Games, and cited Wishful Thinking by JulesP as a great example of such a fic. Alas, I couldn't find ANY time travellin' fics, and so shelved the request. But recently I've been wanting to do a fic recommendation on Hunger Games crossovers, and was inspired to look up Doctor Who/THG xovers. I'm sorry that there aren't any more time travel fics in the fandom (writers, get writing!), but here's a bunch that use Whovian ways to tell timey-wimey stories.

Image by Vadamus at dA

You're Not Alone by Val-Creative
Summary: "You don't look like the Inspector General for the Tributes," is the first thing out of her mouth. Her clever, grey eyes examine his large stetson and the braces. "And that paper is blank." A wide smile perks his long, Time Lord mouth. "Oh, you're good," he says cheerfully, flipping the psychic paper out-of-view.
Verdict: This is my favourite crossover, so it goes first. You're Not Alone features perfectly in-character 11, and centres on a poignant moment of time between the Doctor and Katniss Everdeen. A clear and lovely fic that I think captures both those quiet moments in Doctor Who, and those tense moments in The Hunger Games.

The Time Games by Punzie the Platypus
Summary: Well. That was largely unexpected. Of course, the TARDIS was known for taking them to seemingly random places. The Doctor and Rose just didn't expect a place called Panem, where fighting to the death is the norm and a place called District 13 is really, really strict.
Verdict: I like this story's premise, especially setting it in the Quell, and I like that it's 10/Rose. The author does a great job of injecting Whovian humour into the story. I didn't find it to be a gripping story, but a good one nonetheless.

A Bowtie and An Arrow by bowtiesandredhair
Summary: Four months before the dreaded Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen is stumbled upon by a pair of strange individuals. But who else can the fire-haired girl and odd-smiling man rely on when they're helplessly stranded in the Seam?
Verdict: This author does the Doctor Who characters and dialogue so well, positioning them perfectly into the THG fandom. The plot progresses nicely and is a great WIP to get excited about!

A Good Man Goes To War by daniellecj
Summary: AU: The TARDIS takes the Doctor and his companion, Ronan Odair, 20 years back into the Great War of Panem, where their presence could either change the future of Panem or worsen it.
Verdict: A cool idea, with a plot everyone loves: future-kids-g-back-in-time! The execution isn't quite as brilliant as I hoped (the actual writing format isn't very crash-hot), which turned me off, however.

The Girl And The Boy by hawthornhedge
Summary: The Doctor, Amy, Rory, and River arrive at the Third Quarter Quell to make sure that the rebellion doesn't end before it can begin. 
Verdict: The plot is awesome, and it's written so well. I LOVE THIS FIC COZ EVERYONE'S IN CHARACTER. Makes me happy. This is as fabulous as fish fingers and custard.

If you'd like use to recommend any other fandom xovers, send us an email at nightlockrecs@hotmail.com or tweet us @nightlockrecs. I'm a bit of a Doctor Who nut, as you can see, but I know quite enough of Harry Potter, Twilight, Buffy, Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Gossip Girl for me to give good, in-the-know recommendations too!

~ Little Miss Mionie

What's coming up at Nightlock Recs?

We're all busy little bees at the moment, so in lieu of an actual fic recommendation (ha, ha), I'm going to give you a sneak peek at what we'll be recommending very soon.

• Time travel fics and Doctor Who/Hunger Games crossovers
• 'The Panem Victor's Breakfast Club' by electrumqueen
• Femmeslash fics
• 'Younger Revolutions' by Falseeyelashes
• Fics featuring Peeta with a disability
• 'The Love Games' by OddCoupler222
• We've also just received confirmation that we'll be hosting a challenge in the Project Team Beta's Writing Challenge 2013. Our challenge will be held in the month of November, and is something about music... :)

If you want us to recommend any of your fics, or a fic you love love love, why don't you email us at nightlockrecs@hotmail.com? (Or fill in one of these handy forms).

~ Little Miss Mionie

Weekly Fan's Fic Rec: Till The Sweet Apple Grows

This week's fan's fic rec is being shared by the lovely iwriteincoffeeshops!

Title: Till The Sweet Apple Grows
Author: fortesfortunaiuvat
Summary: 15 year old Bonnie MacFarlane wins the 49th Hunger Games and is District 10's first victor. A one-shot about how she wins and what follows.
Why do you love this fic? "We hear a lot about District 12, 4, and the Career districts, but not much about District 10. The author makes the district come to life in her various stories, and this one is my favorite because of the characters. It's really great."

~ Little Miss Mionie

Weekly Fan's Fic Rec: The Golden Mean

This week's fan fic rec is a sequel to a previous week's recommendation by maraudercat of the fab Fernwithy's HG fics. This rec comes from Suzume.

Title: The Golden Mean
Author: FernWithy
Summary: As Katniss and Peeta prepare for the Victory Tour and-eventually-the Quarter Quell, Haymitch Abernathy is preparing for a much bigger fight. Continued from "The Final Eight," which was in Delly's point of view.
Why do you love this fic? "At its most basic, "The Golden Mean" is Catching Fire from Haymitch's perspective, following after "The Final Eight," which provided Delly's point of view to the later portion of The Hunger Games.  However, this is no thin breezing through the events, but a full-fledged counterpart to the actual text.  FernWithy has a great Haymitch voice and peppers the story with intriguing backstory (which is filling out gradually) and well-integrated world-building.  Despite knowing the general outline that events will follow, I still find myself on the figurative edge of my seat waiting to see what will unfold."

Suzume also left us a cute message at the end of her rec which I thought I'd share!

"By the way, I suppose this is as good a time as ever to let you know how much I love Nightlock Recs!  Please keep on updating!  I read a lot of fic (a combination hazard/perk of being underemployed) and you've helped me discover a lot of gems!  Good luck keeping up the good work! :D"

Thanks Suzume!
~ Little Miss Mionie