The Rules of the Game - John Drake
I don't like chess at all, but as soon as this story (one well
rooted in the intricacies of the game) started I found myself in a
place where the titanic struggle between black and white can only be
fought on a wooden board. The writing is great, the characterisation
is spot on and the ideas, right through to a superb ending, are flawless.
Brilliant. [5/5]
Family Matters - Queribus and Roguewriter
Despite its high pretensions (a guest cast?!) this story turns out to
be a solid addition to the Virtual Second Season of American Gothic.
The writing is good, though sometimes amateurish cracks appear. There's
not much of a driving plot - the story is almost entirely character
based - but the portrayal of "family", a very strong theme in the show,
is well dealt with: all the characters in the fanfic have something
to say about their own families. A good piece of fan fiction, even if
it's nothing too special. [3.5/5]
Caleb's Informative Day - Claire Pritchard
This is almost endearingly bad. Tenses switch soon after the start of
the story, there is no plot, the characterization is terrible and
lines like "Caleb makes that cute little face that he makes when he's
distressed" are hysterical. Awful. [1/5]
That Old Black Magic - Shari Osborne
The story is absorbing and well written, but the author seems
indecisive about the way they want to portray the events within - the
prose keeps lapsing into script, with camera direction and scene
setting and the like. While there is little plot, the atmosphere is
almost palpable; the whole story has a very gothic feel to it. If
more work had been put into the storyline, I would have rated this
story highly: as it is, I cannot. [3/5]
If Your Memory Serves You Well - John Drake
A simple idea, though worthy of the series, leads to a number of
flashbacks into the characters' pasts, all to emphasize the power of
Sherif Lucas Buck in this solid story. The writing is good, and the
horror is genuinely horrific. [4/5]
American Gothic: Eye For and Eye - Thomas Staab
After a dismal opening, I was prepared to dislike this story.
Thankfully things soon improved. The plot is simplistic; the writing
is (at times) comical due to the outrageous hyperboly and bizarre
choice of similies; the ending is a bad deus ex machina. Still, there's
nothing here to offend anyone and the whole thing is a reasonable
read. [3/5]
The Circle Closes - Zlatko Spralja
Love At First Bite - Leigh Nuriden
Devil's Judgment: The Trial Of Lucas Buck - J Douglas Burton
The Heart Is A Prison - Thomas Staab
A Town Of Evil - Gabby
The Power - Gabby
Genesis - Queribus and Dana
I'd Rather Have A Bottle In Front Of Me . . . - Sean Elliott
Devil May Care - Rosebuck
Everything Changes In Time - Tam Cox
© Dan Ness, 1998. So you want to redistribute this, huh? Well tough! This is my work, and it stays here. Link to the title page.
The story centers around the redemption of Selena Coombs, but the writing is far too flat to portray such a woman. The paper thin plot seems somewhat pointless, and the fight scene is certainly bizarre, with an unbelievable ending. Fans will hate the demasculisation (it's a word, *now*
Hardly the most original title for a vampire story, is it? It's just as well that it's a load of tosh, then. The spelling is wildly (deliberately?) wrong, the story (vampires take over Trinity . . . ooh!
The writing is good; the plot isn't bad; so why isn't this story scoring higher? I'll tell you why: it's a complete ripoff of the American Gothic episode "Ring Of Fire". In this version, Lucas Buck is arrested on suspicion of murder, while in the TV show, reporter Gail Emory suspects Buck of the murder of her parents. If you've seen that episode, then you'll find lots of familiar moments throughout the fanfic. Minus points for unoriginality - and let that be a lesson to all of you! [2/5]
Caleb Temple meets Matt Crower's deceased daughter in this warm and moving tale. It is well written (though I *still* don't like the way the dialect is portrayed) and is an original idea. Though it's rather short, it is an enjoyable read, and contains a good and ominous ending. [3.5/5]
Tense switching, bad paragraphing, awful dialogue, pointless plot; these are *some* ofthe things that I don't like about this story. And why are there two non-meshing plotlines, that refuse to tie up? [1/5]
You can tell by the way the paragraphs seem to be almost accidental that this is bad. You can tell by the inane dialogue that this is bad. You can tell by the incomprehensible ending that this is bad. Yes, it is bad. [1/5]
There is something bad in this story, and I *can't quite put my finger on it*. Maybe its the way that lines of dialogue so often appear on there own, as in a script. Maybe it's the way that the whole story is about the very beginning of the "family" plot line in American Gothic. It just seems like a wasted oppurtunity to me. The carnival scenes were okay, but far too short, and the ending wasn't anywhere near as horrific as it thinks it is. [2/5]
Nightmares, visions, mirror scenes, bargains, gohsts and prophecies - yes, it's the American Gothic Megamix! Actually, this story is more of a retelling of real life events (acknowledged in the opening) in the setting of Trinity, and uses many of the themes we've all seen before. It is competently told, but is too, well, *dull* to be enjoyable. [2/5]
The plot of this fanfic is an intricate web of favours and black magic - in essence this is typical American Gothic - but unfortunately, the writing is not quite up to standard. That's not to say that this is bad, but it would have been better the the writing were more explanatory, and the scenes had been expanded. It feels hurried - we see the event, but none of the lead in or lead out, and so the story is disjointed. It could have been so much more, which just a little extra work spent on it. [2.5/5]
I'm not sure that I understood this story, and I'm not sure that this was because it was "over my head". No, this story aims for an existential tale of time keepers, the "Shadow Men", coming to Trinity to replace Sherif Buck, but is actually a load of old nonsense. What was the point of the dead body in the river, or the meeting with Merly (why don't fan fiction authors *ever* call her "Merlyn", her full first name?)? Why did the story read like a bad translation from German? Where was the punctuation? The tense switch at the end was the final nail in the coffin. [1/5]
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