Old School for Younger Readers!

[Star Ranger4]

So, I was talking with Black Aeronaut and Labster the other day, and it turns out one had never heard of Dance of Shiva, and the other had never heard of Uretsa Yatsura: The Senior Year.

So, My question to the rest of the old fogies like myself is:

What older Fanfic would YOU recommend to todays readers as something that defines the genre?  For the record, Undocumented Features and Drunkard's Walk do NOT qualify for this!

[robkelk]

Bubblegum Zone, by SkyKnight - the seminal Bubblegum Crisis self-insert.

We Just Want to Help You, Jeanne Hedge's very first fanfic. It's a deconstruction of the self-insert.

Genma's Daughter, by Deborah Goldsmith - the definitive "Ranma's curse isn't what everybody thought it was" story.


(And as long as I'm providing links: Urusei Yatsura: The Senior Year. I can never remember where the r.a.a.c archives filed Dance of Shiva...)

[Star Ranger4]

I'm not sure either Rob.  I found a copy on MY HARD DRIVE, of all places, and darn if I can remember where I got it from!

Yet another reason why I am reaching out to folks to help the younger folks know some of the greats that we think EVERYONE should know!!!

Oh, and... 


  The Dance of SHIVA by John Biles.zip (Size: 466.47 KB / Downloads: 4)

[classicdrogn]

That infamous one where Akane kills Ranma due to rage disorder, except that it's horrible and should not be recommended to anybody. It pretty much does define the genre of "Ranma turned grimdark by treating it realistically instead of as a slapstick comedy," though.

It's actually hard to remember anything really old enough to qualify besides the big multicrossovers, if only because they have the mass of material to remain as a coherent block in the sea of various stuff I read 20+ years ago... Katchan's Saiyajin: A Dragonball Withdrawal Whim maybe, but I can't find a live link for it anymore. Twoflower's Slayers trilogy? Ranma And Akane: A Love Story? Childhood of a Modern Dynasty? Hearts of Ice? Besides those I don't even remember the titles of much else besides Oh My Brother and Keichi's Magic Trick, though there really should be a R/SM fukufic in there as well. Oh, I know! A Boy in the Hand was fun, though I'm not certain all the Ranma/Hotaru bits I'm thinking of were part of it.

edit: links
HoI: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/264446/
CMD: https://web.archive.org/web/201011190952...rame.shtml
RAAALS (bootleg?): https://m.fanfiction.net/s/179718/
KMT: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/3189273/
ABITH: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/3530833/

edit 2: everything on this page, except The Bitter End as previously noted
http://www.oocities.org/brian_kun/recommended.htm

[Mamorien]

The Raditz's Return series by Dragoness Eclectic, who always considered it at least one shame that Kakarott's Goku's own bio-brother didn't get a chance at redemption within Dragon Ball Z itself.

https://archiveofourown.org/series/75904
https://www.republicofnewhome.org/lair/w...anfics.php

[classicdrogn]

Ooh, yeah! I couldn't rememebr a title for it, or I'd have listed that one too. One more classic R/SM rec to make: Gabriel Blessing's Finishing What You Start

[Bob Schroeck]

I'm not sure either Rob.  I found a copy on MY HARD DRIVE, of all places, and darn if I can remember where I got it from!

Yet another reason why I am reaching out to folks to help the younger folks know some of the greats that we think EVERYONE should know!!!

And as it so happens, I still have the HTML version I created a year ago still on my website, if anyone wants to read it that way -- here.

[Bob Schroeck]

Beyond Dance of Shiva, I can think of a few things off the top of my head.

First off, despite being on the low end to mid-level in quality, Darren "Twister" Steffler's Twisted Path is the seminal godlike self-insert story, responsible for at least a dozen other similar works, including Legion's Quest, A Wolf in Crisis and an obscure story called Drunkard's Walk.

Oh, and I recommend Legion's Quest, if the whole thing is anywhere to be found. I'm actually about to do an intensive search for all its parts because I want to write an ATT page for it.

Most of the entrants in The Bet fic cycle are worth a look, and both versions of the winner, Featherbrite's Tale, are fun if frustrating because of their incomplete state.

I can't remember the title, but there was a set of Ranma fics in which because Ranma and Akane got their act together, the craziness shifted over to Ryoga and Ukyou and kind of recapitulated things with Ryoga getting unwanted fiancees and having a rival (trained by a surprise cameo) suddenly appear out of his past.

Richard Lawson's two big Ranma fic cycles -- Thy Outward Part and Thy Inward Love. Also his unnamed six-story Nuku-Nuku series, the last two parts of which may have vanished from the net.

Jack Staik and Lady Tesser's Tales of Ranma and Ranko

Eric Hallstrom's Ranma and Akane: A Love Story

And there are more that are stubbornly refusing to come to the front of my mind. I'll see what I can add in the morning.

[Shepherd]

That infamous one where Akane kills Ranma due to rage disorder, except that it's horrible and should not be recommended to anybody. It pretty much does define the genre of "Ranma turned grimdark by treating it realistically instead of as a slapstick comedy," though.

I'd forgotten about that one. For a different - and equally disturbing - Ranma darkfic, you've got "Ill Met By Starlight," where Ranma went crazy because Genma never finished putting him through the catfist training. Spoiler: most of the cast dies by the end.

Ranma Saotome is invincible

If it's got martial arts in it, he'll win, eventually
This is a good thing....right?

What if things had gone a little differently, though?
One day, one different decision,
one event out of place,
changing....
cascading....
What if Ranma wasn't the hero, but the villain?

Ill Met by Starlight
By Susan Doenime and Mike Loader

The original website is either temporarily or permanently down, but it looks like someone made a copy of it and a bunch of other old fics here:
http://web.archive.org/web/2003071110401...shop/2939/

Of those fics, "Relentless" is complete on the author's original page. Happosai interrupted a funeral, so now has an unstoppable supernatural monster after him. He tricks it into targeting Ranma instead.

A tale of power, gags, and intense vengeance...

http://talesfromthevault.com/relentless/


There is also Fire's "Destiny's Child".

What if, Ranma had been born during the 1600's, and on his visit to Jusenkyo, he fell into the spring of Drowned Young Girl. Now, when he is splashed with cold water he turns into a 12 year old girl that never ages, and the only way for him to turn back is with nearly boiling water.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/26926/1/Destinys_Child

[batzulger]

Neil Gartner's FarScape/SG/BSG multicross The Last Warrior https://www.fanfiction.net/s/700437/1/Fa...ior-PART-I

It was one of the first multicrosses I read that actually held together, and it really got me into fanfic.

[Star Ranger4]

I'm not sure either Rob.  I found a copy on MY HARD DRIVE, of all places, and darn if I can remember where I got it from!

Yet another reason why I am reaching out to folks to help the younger folks know some of the greats that we think EVERYONE should know!!!

And as it so happens, I still have the HTML version I created a year ago still on my website, if anyone wants to read it that way -- here.

OH!!!!  That is where I got the copy on my Hard drive!!!  I can be sure of it because the links all say "AccessDenied" in them!

Now, another seminal Ranma one is Girl Days by Robert Haynie aka Kenko:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/345691/1/Girl-Days

[classicdrogn]

For Potter fic, Wishweavers' Realizations, that just caught up to the original in the rewrite. That covers "Harry is fed up after OotP" pretty well, though I guess we should have something for "Harry bunks off to America, where the magic is modern and blood prejudice isn't a thing because AMERICA FUCK YEAH!" at least if there's anything of decent quality to list. Maybe Bungle in the Jungle and whatever the sequel was called? Something for Wrong Boy Who Lived too...

nonjon's A Black Comedy is worthy, I think.

That one where Harry goes to become a potions ingredient harvester in Africa, or possibly Australia, because it sounds like a fun adventure? I think he ends up being called Jake?

Is The Seventh Horcrux too new to qualify? ISTR it got multiple updates recently.

The quality is maybe a little shaky, but there's no denying Make A Wish is one of the classics of Potterfic.

Got to have a time travel fic or two, too. 30 Minutes That Changed Everything maybe? Palimpsest?

[nemonowan]

Richard Lawson's two big Ranma fic cycles -- Thy Outward Part and Thy Inward Love.  Also his unnamed six-story Nuku-Nuku series, the last two parts of which may have vanished from the net.

I think those Nuku Nuku stories were only five? At least that's what allthetropes says.

You can find the five of them on Google's usenet archives: https://groups.google.com/g/rec.arts.ani...son%20nuku

[Jinx999]

I can't remember the title, but there was a set of Ranma fics in which because Ranma and Akane got their act together, the craziness shifted over to Ryoga and Ukyou and kind of recapitulated things with Ryoga getting unwanted fiancees and having a rival (trained by a surprise cameo) suddenly appear out of his past.

That's "The More Things Change" and "The Pursuit of Happiness" by RPM.

I'd also like to add "Sailor Moon Expanded" or at least the original stories and "Ryouga Crossover, by Mark Latus.

[Bob Schroeck]

Right! Thanks!

And I realize I don't have the time this morning to dig through my memory for more recommendations, but I can do so after work because I have most of the FFML's 1990s and early-2000s output in my computer's "fanfic" directory. I'll delve that for good'uns tonight and see if I can find links for them (and for my other recs above).

[Bob Schroeck]

I think those Nuku Nuku stories were only five? At least that's what allthetropes says.

D'oh! And that's my recommendation, too. Sadly, that link, while active, doesn't seem to go to any of Lawson's fanfics now. Fortunately, there's the Wayback Machine.

[Bob Schroeck]

Maybe Bungle in the Jungle and whatever the sequel was called? ...

Turn Me Loose. And while we're on stuff by JBern, The Lie I've Lived.

You can find his stuff on ffn.net here and also on fanficauthors.net.

[Jinx999]

There was also Quantuum Destinies by Jurai Knight. A scientist Ranma from a rather dystopian alternate universe invents a machine that allows him to project his conciousness into other timelines. Wackyness ensues. Unfortunately the author tried to shoehorn in every major Anime series he could think of, turning it into an incoherent mess and having the plot grind to a halt, but it was great fun before then.

[nemonowan]

I think those Nuku Nuku stories were only five? At least that's what allthetropes says.

D'oh!  And that's my recommendation, too.  Sadly, that link, while active, doesn't seem to go to any of Lawson's fanfics now.  Fortunately, there's the Wayback Machine.

I guess you mean the alltropes links are dead?  Because the google groups one that I posted works for me and has all five fics.

[robkelk]

... I can never remember where the r.a.a.c archives filed Dance of Shiva...)

Here it is! Filed under "Miscellaneous/Crossovers".

Read the old-school fic the old-school way - in plain text.

[Kilroy]

I think the list should have a Macross/Robotech cross fanfic on it. Perhaps Dragon Lady of Macross (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2616176/1/D...of-Macross )? Or Tail Kinker's Wednesday's Child (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5218374/1/W...ay-s-Child )?


Kilroy

[Bob Schroeck]

I think those Nuku Nuku stories were only five? At least that's what allthetropes says.

D'oh!  And that's my recommendation, too.  Sadly, that link, while active, doesn't seem to go to any of Lawson's fanfics now.  Fortunately, there's the Wayback Machine.

I guess you mean the alltropes links are dead?  Because the google groups one that I posted works for me and has all five fics.

Yes, that's what I mean.  I'll have to grab your link and update the ATT pages.

[robkelk]

This one's more a writing meta-example than a fanfic example.

What happens when you let a spelling checker have its way with your story: A Day in the Life of Ranker Saitama.

[Rajvik]

Advice and Trust is a story by SpaceBattles/SufficientVelocity's Strypgia and is probably the absolute best Neon Genesis Evangelion rewrite out there

[robkelk]

Now that we've all recommended some pretty grim stuff, I'll offer as a corrective The Replacement Ranmas, which takes the "character is an actor playing a role in the story" idea to its illogical conclusion.

"Are you nuts? Who _are_ all these people? This will never work!"

"Hey, look, I had to take what I could get! Anyway, they're all getting
bored with their own series, so they thought it might be fun to have a
go at this one."

"'Fun' is not the word for how it's going to be."